Camaret

Camaret

An early start and an uneventful sail to Camaret through the Chanal du Four. The scenery is spectacular with lighthouses, towers and cliff top structures. Really not to be missed.

We motor sailed into the wind to begin with but a veering wind allowed us to sail from the top of the Chanal du Four all the way to Camaret. Once again ‘Arry was doing his bit until fluky winds off the cliffs near Camaret forced us to hand steer.

All the names around here sound very Welsh! We even passed a buoy called Swansea Vale!

At last a day with some sunshine and fair winds.  

Our plan is to overnight in Camaret and then sail from here to Spain on Tuesday evening with a fair tide through the Raz du Sein (weather permitting).

After a very easy entry we tied up in the marina at 12:30 in front of Sandpiper and our new friends on Tumbalong. The marina is in a lovely setting overlooked by Tour Vauban (1696) and La Chapelle Notre Dame du Roc (1527) on a spit which must have been the old fisherman’s careenage.

The name Camaret means curved spit in Breton, after the curved shingle spit which formed the original harbour’s shelter.

There are several old wooden fishing boat hulks rotting on the shingle spit. The Breton’s do seem to make a statement about their boats.

The harbour frontage is just cafe’s, restaurants and bars (even an Irish bar!) The whole place has a very Gaelic feel. In the back streets we explored the St. Thomas quarter, a network of tiny narrow streets with many artist’s studios and galleries. We saw the sign for the market on Tuesday morning but we need not have bothered. Expecting interesting food stalls and crafts, all we got was handbags, ladies clothes and Tupperware. A bit of a let down.

 



Checking the weather, it looks like we will not be crossing Biscay just yet as another frontal system is expected.

Plan B,C,.....XYZ? Is to go to Audierne via the Raz de Sein.

Our plans are to keep moving south but no further east than Audierne, where we will wait for a 3 day window to cross Biscay to Spain.

We left Camaret Tuesday afternoon and had a lovely sail through the Raz de Sein to Audierne. (About 30 miles). We caught the HW slack at the Raz and a fair tide to Audierne arriving at the anchorage in Ste Evette at 1930. The anomalies of the tide mean that we cannot get up river to Audierne as access is HW-3 to HW+0.5. 1930 being HW+2 locally. Despite dire warnings in the almanac, the Raz was very easy and uneventful.