Port Blanc via Les Sept Iles to Morlaix River

Breakfast on deck as usual, and then dropped to mooring line. The weather was overcast, a contrast with what we have seen before, and there was clearly a little more wind. We were able to put up the main and sail out of the wide entrance to the harbour.

We had no particular plans, other than to push a little further westwards; there were plenty of locations to anchor or moor along the coast. Our reference guide was the "Secret Anchorages of Brittany" by Peter Cumberlidge. Chapters went from east to west, and we had jumped in at chapter 2 - Paimpol to Roscoff. I was chatting with someone in St Helier and they had the same book - so not so secret!

Once we had all the sails out and sailing best course to windward on a port tack, we found we were just pointing to the east of east most of the Les Sept Iles. This is a bird sanctuary; you cannot land. Clearly occupied by several thousand pairs of gannets. Not quite on the Grassholm scale but impressive nonetheless. Studying the charts, there was an anchorage at the most westerly end (Ile aux Moins and Ile Bono). A lot of tacking to get there, but great fun, and we needed the exercise.

There was one other boat there, but a very large mooring buoy that the other boat owner pointed us towards. David picked up the line with no difficulty and we were secure for lunch. Pork pie, coleslaw; hardly French!

We were towing the dinghy (how tacky) so David rowed ashore to have a look at the lighthouse. After he left a rather lovely old yacht called the Saint Guirec sailed in. Had I taken its mooring spot? Normally the French would let you know, but they quietly dropped the anchor. Clearly a tourist trip as it disgorged a large number of perhaps rather elderly folk onto the slipway (well we are rather elderly too).

Saint Guirac

David reappeared and rowed back to the mother ship. He reported it was all rather barren and dilapidated, but the seascape/landscape was spectacular.

We slipped the mooring, put up the sails and tacked west. I had spotted an anchorage that would be protected by from the westerly winds some 20nm away; the river Morlaix. The winds picked up, and backed so we shortened sail to something more comfortable; we were not in a hurry and we had no one to race. At one point we were trying to pass some submerged rocks and were pointing as high as we could. We could see some pots right on our course. Dropping below them would have been the best option, but we tried to get past on the high side. We were hooked. We backed the main to bring her to a standstill and the lines floated away - close shave.

We sailed on in an increasing wind. When about 6nm from our destination we put the engine on (we needed the batteries charging anyway, but had had enough). The entry to the river Morlaix is well marked but I would not want to do this at night. There was no one there (always a bit of a worry). Eventually we found our way in and found a rather large mooring buoy in about 4m. We were at low tide. Reversed up to it and tied on with a line fed aft from the bow. We swung the boat around and tightened up. A good manoeuvre practised many times in Salcombe.

The timing was good. It started raining heavily, but we were secure and out of swell and wind. David was in the chef's chair and did a fantastic meal with sausages, sweet potatoes, squash and goodness know what else. With a nice Cabernet and (for some reason) with the sounds of the Mamas and the Papas it was perfect.

Another very good day.