Time to move
We have 2 months to enjoy southern Bretagne before we head into Loctudy to tie up to a pontoon and switch the heating on. We don’t want to move far, just venture into some spots that – funny enough – we haven’t seen yet although we have lived in the area. Mainly Benodet, the river Odet and the Golf de Morbihan.
We are thinking as well that it might be wise to stay close to the harbour we booked for winter because the COVID infection numbers in France are going through the roof again. In case of another lockdown, Loctudy is where we are heading and then we stay on board and wait.
Hauling out in Brest
The last thing we decided to do in Brest was to dry out and clean the hulls a little. We need to have a final look if there is any damage we might have missed from hitting the tree trunk in the Indian (haven’t been on the hard since then), and exchange an overdue anode. Re-painting the antifouling will wait until springtime. We don’t want to start sailing again with an already old antifouling.
The boat ramp in Brest is cost-free, this is a ramp and a work area. You go there – first come first serve – and wait for the tide to go out. When the water is gone beyond the dirt water collection grids, the area gets rinsed and after that, you are allowed to work until the second rinse just before the water comes back. The pressure washer is paid per 15 minutes and as this was a very small tide, we didn’t really use it. Anyhow, Sleipnir is reasonably clean, the antifouling is unreasonably thin after 3 years 😊 and everything looks fine. The antifouling comes off as well in large areas but we knew the painter Fairspray at Boat Works did a bad job and we’ll deal with that in springtime.
Lighthouses
But now to the fun bit. We stayed in Camaret for the night and headed out with the first morning light with a beautiful sunrise:
The tides are weak, hardly any wind forecasted and the slack time at Raz de Sein is between 10 and 11 am, from then on helping current. In the Raz de Sein, you want perfect conditions. A little wind would help but tides and tide times are so perfect we decided to go anyhow, it’s only 60 miles to Benodet after all.
Anyone knowing me (Ellen) knows I’ve got a soft spot for lighthouses. In every job interview when asked, “what would be your dream job?” I think lighthouse guardian or tug boat driver and then I give them all the dynamic, motivated, positive BS they want to hear (😊 hope no-one reads this).
So this is my big day and I have been looking forward to this:
Leaving the Goulet de Brest – Pte de Toulinguet, first lighthouse, and lots of rocks, it’s good to have super easy conditions. Would not get to see anything close up otherwise. There is a channel to sneak through between those rocks, which is perfectly fine on a day like this.
The most exciting ones are the Raz de Sein lighthouses: These guys are spectacular even in light conditions and you can get really close to them 😊. Tévennec in the shade arriving from the north and showing sunny side leaving to the south.
La Vieille – together with La Plate and on the next corner is Pte de Penmarc’h – 3 lighthouses in one shot, but these are all ashore so no close-ups were possible.
Benodet, at anchor in the Anse du Trez, with Benodet light house in the background. This is just a lengthy beach at the entry to the Benodet river with a casino and a few creperies and good protection except from any southerly or south-westerly wind.
And on the other side of the river another little light house 😊. We are now on the Riviera Bretonne – it looks much sunnier and the water is 1/2 a degree warmer.
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