Heading for Ireland, ended up in France

The weather hasn't be great so far this summer, so we were watching the long-range forecasts for mid-July with interest as we prepared for a 3-week cruise on Maunie. The original plan was to head west and then across to southern Ireland but it just looked as though we'd be beating into brisk NW winds and the temperature forecasts showed highs of about 15 degrees on a good day. Time for Plan B! 

We elected instead to head south to Guernsey, a 77 mile, 12-hour run that would allow us to have the wind on the beam, much nicer than thumping to windward. Our crossing day coincided with spring tides (delivering the fastest currents) and a brisk westerly breeze so we let the flood tide take us east, up Channel, and then the ebb tide brought us back to the west - hence our curved track on this chart.

As the tide started to take us west, the seas built up in a typical Channel wind-against-tide manner so we had some quite lumpy conditions as we reached the SW corner of Guernsey. Thankfully, we returned to calm water as we headed up the east coast into St Peter Port and our timings meant we were able to motor straight into the marina, where a cill (an underwater dam) keeps the boats afloat at low tide but limits entry to a couple of hours either side of high tide.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the Victoria marina (reserved for visitors and usually crammed with English and French yachts) remarkably empty.

The marina at low tide, with the entrance to the left. We actually settled on the seabed, in spite of the harbourmaster's assurance we'd have enough depth, so moved back to deeper water when the tide returned

Having arrived in sunshine, we then had two days of pretty wet weather but were able to get some hiking done and used the excellent island bus service to explore this lovely island. The Museum of the German Occupation was fascinating and WW2 fortifications are to be seen everywhere.

Finally a hint of red sky at night and the weather improving

Clarence Battery, looking north back towards St Peter Port. Originally a Napoleonic War fortress, with German WW2 additions

St Martins Point at the SW tip of the island. WW2 observation post to the left.

Looking out to the St Peter Port entrance, with the impressive Castle Cornet 

Our next stop was for a night on the neighbouring island of Sark - population less than 500 and a car-free island. It's a beautiful place but relies heavily on tourism and we thought it had a rather down-on-its-luck feel to it. However, our anchorage in Dixcart Bay was superb.

The next passage was to be to France and, after the madness of Brexit, we were slightly concerned about the process of customs clearance. Immediately after Brexit new rules were put in place which required yacht to clear-in only at major ports and the crews to present themselves at the customs office to have passports stamped. This apparently dissuaded a lot of UK boats from visiting, so this year a "Derogation System" is in place. We emailed a completed form to the marina office at our chosen destination, they forwarded it to the French Customs who stamped it and emailed it back to the marina who emailed it back to us! Amazingly this all worked perfectly and we received our clearance email before we arrived in St Quay and didn't have to present passports to anyone.

The 55nm route from Sark to St Quay

We chose St Quay as our entry point because, unlike a lot of ports on the very tidal Brittany coast, its relatively new marina is accessible at all stages of tide. It's not attractive but the staff were wonderfully welcoming.

The old port, which dries out completely

The newer marina next door. The bridge walkways were pretty steep at low tide!

After one night here we motored about 10nm north to Paimpol, an ancient port only accessible a couple of hours either side of high tide.

Distinctly challenging navigation. The brown bits dry out at low tide.

The route to the port at low tide

A lock allows the inner marina to retain about 3m depth at all times

We sailed up this! Looking back along the entrance channel at low water

Low water, looking towards the marina lock

Sunshine at last

We've rather fallen in love with Paimpol. It's very much a holiday destination but has some wonderful buildings and the locals are very friendly - also very patient while we try to remember our school French!

Enjoying the alfresco dining

Yesterday was Bastille Day so we ended a long day, after a great coastal hike, with a superb fireworks display just across from Maunie.

Tomorrow is Market Day so we'll restock Maunie with local delicacies and head off on Wednesday to explore more of this intriguing coastline.