Morlaix to L'aber Wrac'h

An early start this morning. Off the mooring at 7. We had a tidal gate to get through at Isle de Batz just north of Roscoff. This was a passage between the island and the mainland and would save some time if we could navigate through it. David was navigating and had a few "dry mouth" incidents at channel shallowed suddenly. Otherwise no incidents and we passed though safely.

The coast for this section of Brittany provided no safe havens for about 35nm L'Aber Wrach being the first, and a great jumping off point for le Chenal du Four (between the mainland and Ushant). An uneventful motor along the coast in a relatively flat sea was the order of the day. We arrived at the entrance to the river quite early, and motored in. The only real option was the marina, there were few opportunities to anchor, so we tied up on the wave break at the outside of the marina and I went to talk to the chef du port about staying overnight. No problem, that will be 40 Euros!

We managed to find a hammer head inside the marina - rather than perched on the outside as we were, and the berthing man in the rib was willing so we moved the boat there. We could charge up the batteries and if only we could find a hose, we could top up the water tanks. Bob spotted someone flying the ensign and went to borrow a hose from them. A result.

David and Bob decided to go exploring (with a shopping list) and came back an hour and half later with pretty much what was on the list (tagliatelle rather then linguine). They had walked to the nearest town - some mile and a half away, but managed to get a lift back (no idea how). They had spotted a nice looking restaurant nearby - le Pot de Beurre - so that's where we went for dinner.

David had been itching to try the local delicacy; oysters and was just debating whether 6 or 9 was sufficient. We advised 6. Bob had what describes as a warm lamb pate; odd but nice. I had soupe de poisson; lovely. David did well with the oysters and said he enjoyed them and would have them again; well at least until Bob described what they thrived on in the local rivers. Mains were good, although I should have had fish; a burger in France? What was I thinking of?

We were pleased to have got to our jumping off point for le Chanel du Four, although rather too much motoring to get here. Tomorrow would be the culmination of our sailing objective when we would set off for Brest.