Lezardrieux and Ile de Brehat

We had read several magazine articles that raved about this little Breton town so it had a lot to live up to.  Having managed to make the harbour master smile with our attempts at French (or more likely because we had paid for three nights in advance) we set off to find a chandlery to buy a shore power extension lead.  No luck in the first shop but just a few yards up the road was Trieux Marine.  Armed with a little diagram of the plug shape and a word in French for electric cable Chris began to explain our requirements to the engineer who had come, eventually, from the workshop at the rear of the showroom.  Several hand gestures, nods and Franglaise words later with two connectors in his hand and instructions for 12 metres of cable he said something along the lines of "Un demi heure".  We took this to mean he had offered to make the extension lead for us!  We thanked him and left the Jeanneau showroom and headed off to the town.  Moments later we saw him jump in his car and drive off - toute vitesse.  With our little bit of food shopping completed we wandered back not totally sure what to expect, or quite how much he was going to charge us!  But what service!  He had popped out to buy the cable which he had not got in stock, wired up the two connector ends and was writing out the invoice as we walked in.  We were so impressed.  Our stay in Lezardrieux could not have got off to a better start.

Possibly the most striking aspect of cruising this area of Brittany is the vast tidal range.  We were here over Spring tides and the rise and fall was twelve metres, or forty feet.  As the photos show, the view at high water is startlingly different to that at low water.  The only downside is that the walkways onto the pontoons descend from horizontal at high water to a fair simulation of the North face of the Eiger by low water.

The magazine article, mentioned earlier, explained that the laundry could be done at the Yacht Club.  This didn't strike us as particularly unusual, and we fully presumed there would be a laundry room to one side of the building.  We walked a complete circuit carrying our rather full to overflowing laundry bags and finally plumped for going into the Yacht Club Bar to ask.  A few locals were seated at the bar and turned to stare as we entered.  "La laverie?" we enquired.  The landlady nodded, beckoned us to a door behind the bar and led us past the barrels and into the Gents toilets!  Behind a curtain she revealed a top loader washing machine and tumble dryer.  Seventy francs later we set to the task.  It then dawned on us that while we waited we could go back to the bar for a drink!  Excellent.

Another day we decided to explore the area a little in the dinghy.  First we went down river to the Isle de Brehat.  Many local yachts had already arrived there and were anchored in a little huddle in one of the most beautiful spots.  We edged the dinghy ashore and spent a short while picking our way across the pink rocks.  Following a coffee from our prepared flask we headed back up river, past the marina and under the suspension bridge.  It was low tide and the mud was quite a sight at the rivers edge. Despite the weather being rather misty we were impressed by the beautiful surroundings and fully understood why this area is so popular in the summer.  We felt lucky to have it to ourselves, even in the chilly May mist.

The passage for our next port of call, Tregieur, was prepared and though the morning had been rather foggy it was apparently lifting so we set off.  Before we reached the end of the river, however, we decided it would be unwise to continue as we couldn't even see the green and red markers, let alone either side of the river, and turned back.  Rather than spend another night on the pontoon we opted to pick up a mooring buoy.  It was so peaceful and the mist kept billowing and swirling past offering glimpses of the scenery as the sun battled to show through.  I decided the little tower building was Rapunzel's prison and the other little stone cottages could well have existed in various fairytales  (Too much time waiting for the weather affects one somewhat?).  A couple of traditional looking boats were also moored up and, for once, neither of us were bothered at having to wait, yet again, for an improvement in the weather.