Sailing with Amy Clair

Herve works at Marinarzal and I would highly recommend him as a chap that can fix your rigging at short notice. I am not so sure about his decision to trust his life to me to hoist him up our mast . We had a niggling furling problem with our solent furler and I took the opportunity , whilst Liz came home to a wedding in the UK, to get it fixed. The guys at Marinarzal are very helpful, none more so than Herve who came out on one afternoon , took a look and asked me to bring the boat over the next morning. As I was "nobby no mates" whilst Liz was back in the UK he even offered to help me motor across and moor up by their workshops.  Slightly anxious however when he asked me to winch him up the mast ( we have an 18m air draft) . I did so (happily we have an electric winch) and it all tuned out well though I was much relieved when he was safely back on deck !

Passing through the lock at Arzal is,well, an experience. The first time we went through was tense but we thought that we had worked out how to get through without too much stress.However our new found confidence evaporated when we found that on this occasion one half of the bridge had broken down and so to add the the general melee, boats needed to manoeuvre around the half which would not go up ! Initially things were going well for us, the guy controlling ( I use the word loosely) the lock waved us in and we secured ourselves to the port side. Much relief all around. Unfortunately he came back 2 minutes later to tell us that there were too many boats in the lock so we would have to  back out. Whaaaat ? Of course by this stage the usual scrum of French boats were piling up behind us and they did not seem enamoured about reversing (or indeed even slowing down) . Some still tried to wiggle their way in , only to be told by the lock keeper that they would have to "wiggle" t...

It's always a great pleasure to be able to welcome old friends on board - particularly when the weather is as gorgeous as it has been this summer. Sian and Andrew joined us for a few days and, though we have been to Houat recently, we decided that a night anchored in the calm blue waters would be perfect. The wind picked up for the crossing from the Vilaine which meant that we could sail across and then dies away later to give us a calm night "on the hook."

In this part of the world fast transatlantic trimarans seem to mix happily with 30 year old 25' Jeanneaus. It's the common interest in sailing that seems to link people together. This beauty came flying past us as if we were standing still .

We hadn't visited La Trinite but had heard that it was a regional centre for yachting. We really enjoyed our stay. It's a very lively place with huge trimarans sailed by French national heroes based here. This place really underlines the fact that the French really do love sailing at all levels. It feels like a more inclusive version of Cowes. Sailing feels like it is for everybody (not just the well heeled) and boats of all ages and sizes are sailed with passion.  We also used it as a base to go on our first cycling tour as the Carnac Alignments are close by. Seeing these by bike is ideal as they are stretched over a few kilometres and the parking is difficult. Very different to Stonehenge. After a scorching couple of days on Houat we were glad the the weather was warm and cloudy for our ride. the moules au curry gets the thumbs up the Bromptons holding up well obligatory selfie with alignments in the background Carnac village - another pretty place

We have been hoping to stop on Houat before but previously wind direction has not been favourable. This time Westerly winds meant that we could anchor for 3 nights in the large bay on the eastern end of the island with one of the best beaches in Brittany. It was scorching hot and we managed to swim off the beach every day. Really idyllic.  Local people have stalls outside their houses selling seafood and local grown vegatables. A restaurant Laura ? Beaches all around the island and a great place for a barbecue

Our first crossing with Brittany Ferries for many years. Brought back many happy memories of family camping holidays in our trusty trailer tent. We took the Portsmouth / Caen route arriving around 15.30 on 15th August. The driving was easy with clear roads and we arrived in Arzal to find the summer festival in full swing. We duly paid our Eu5 and had a wonderful evening of Breton culture. Good food, live music and Breton dancing.