Bye England, Hi France

After three days of exploring Salcombe in south Devon and with the intention of reaching the North of Spain by early August, we set sail from Salcombe to Brittany on July 20. Our friends, on the yacht Bella, accompanied us on the crossing.  This was a 20 hour crossing of which we sailed for the first ten hours and motored for the remaining time.  Conditions on leaving Salcombe were great for sailing (20 knots, westerly), but with wind against tide on departure, it proved a very choppy first six hours.

Such conditions tested our resilience for sea-sickness; something which only Nora has suffered from lightly over the years we have sailed.  Filippo and both the boys felt fine on the crossing; but Nora suffered badly – not having taken sea sickness tablets. A mistake not to be repeated 🙂

After a cold clear night of sailing, rotating watches and fuelled with chocolate and hot cups of tea, Tabasco and Bella arrived at the port of L’Aber Wrach in time for breakfast with fresh croissants.  We spent two restful days in L’Aber Wrach before sailing down the Chenal du Four to Camaret- Sur- Mer, a well know departure point in Brittany for the crossing of the Bay of Biscay.  On arriving in Camaret, we realised that many other sailors are undertaking our same adventure of crossing the Bay of Biscay – all, like us, waiting for the right weather window to cross.  The port is also busy with Irish boats, thirty of which crossed from Galway to Lorient in an organised flotilla (the towns of Galway and Lorient are twinned). Seeing the Irish boats was a fun reminder of the adventures the sea and sailing open to us.

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  Our new friend

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  Catch of the day

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A large low pressure arriving from the Atlantic meant we had spent a lovely week in both Camaret-sur-Mer and Brest, enjoying the beautiful beaches, towns and food of Brittany.  As we write, we are sitting on Tabasco in the port of Brest as forty plus knots of wind roll past. 

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  Good to be in a safe harbour

The low pressure has arrived from the Atlantic and will be followed by our sought-after weather window. On Wednesday we hope to set sail for Galicia; a sail of three days and our longest yet. Spain, here we come!