Cruising Brittany: We cruised to seven ports in seven days

A solo cruise along the coast of Brittany gave Gilbert Park the perfect excuse to visit seven ports in seven days while feasting in seven different restaurants

Compromise was key during this cruising adventure. My wife, Maire, is not a keen sailor but is happy to indulge my passion for boats on her own terms, so I agreed to cruise our Mitchell 28 Let’s Go from Plymouth to St Malo in Northern France, where Maire would join me for some gentle exploration of the surrounding area. I had three weeks to get there.

Picking a suitably calm day, I ambled across the Channel from Plymouth with just dolphins for company and the odd huge container ship. After about 100 miles I arrived in St Peter Port, Guernsey, for a couple of days rest and recuperation then carried on to Jersey for another few days before moving on to France.

St Malo would have been my easiest port of entry but having been there before, I decided on St Brieuc instead as the place to get my vital passport stamp showing I’d entered the Schengen Area.

I filled in the form and got a reply saying I had an appointment at 1400h on my day of arrival. It was time to get going.

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St Brieuc

St Brieuc’s port is Le Légué (pronounced Leggay) and entry is via a lock. I was in it at noon, the lock filled and then emptied without letting me out because more boats were coming! An hour later the gates finally opened. There was no instruction where to go so I moored next to a boat that had been in the lock.

They told me I was in a private mooring, but after a little explaining in my best Franglais, they understood that I was a little stressed about my 2pm customs meeting. Google maps showed the office was a 35-minute walk away! They kindly got their car and drove me up a very long, very steep hill to the office and waited while my passport was stamped.

Once back at the boat I moved it to the visitors’ pontoon further up river. There are all the essentials there, such as two boulangeries, a small supermarket and a chandlery. Despite this, the next day I couldn’t resist a bus trip to St Brieuc itself for the amazing (and not to be missed) Saturday market.

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There are quite a few restaurants in the town, but the one that attracted me the most was 20 metres from the boat – La Passerelle. The three-course set menu was €28 comprising a wonderfully zingy and colourful tartare of tomatoes with raspberries and rhubarb compote to start with, followed by fillet of pork and rounded off with forest nuts in the style of the chef. All washed down with a small pichet of a nice Sauvignon. One word describes this meal – fantastic – both for the quality of the food and value.

It was here that the idea of visiting seven ports in seven days was born.

At each port I would also have dinner in a local restaurant offering a similar set menu for about €30 before meeting Maire in St Malo in 7 days’ time.

The only problem was that nearly every port has some tidal constraint, with a cill or a lock to negotiate. This meant the earliest I could leave St Brieuc was early the following afternoon. I had decided my next port of call would be Erquy, around 14nm miles away, as I knew I could dry out there, utilising my boat’s custom-made legs. This would give me a chance to check the sterngear was all present and correct, after a slight tangle with a fishing pot on the way over here.

Erquy

Erquy is a lovely seaside town and by the time I arrived on a hot Sunday afternoon it was in full swing with packed streets and a harbour full of boats. I got a water taxi to the shore (included in the mooring fee) so I could find a restaurant, having been assured that by the time I’d finished my meal, the tide would have gone out and I’d be able to walk back to my boat on firm sand.

I wandered up and down the quay before eventually choosing a restaurant called the Table de Jeanne where the Old Lighthouse fixed price menu came to €29.50. From that I chose fish soup, followed by pork cabecero with honey and thyme and for dessert a Breton tart, all washed down with a little white wine. Not quite as tasty as the previous night, but still pretty good.

As the tide still hadn’t ebbed fully out by the time I’d finished my meal, I lingered a little longer in the warm evening sunshine sipping on a glass of wine and reading my book. When the harbour finally dried out an hour later at 9.30pm, it was still daylight and my inspection of the sterngear revealed all was well.

Paimpol

The longest trip across St Brieuc Bay at 48nm was well worth it on a sunny day with calm seas. There is a long drying plain on the way to Paimpol, and following the channel markers is essential but straightforward. As I came through the lock my Cruising Association flags were recognised and the Dutch crew from another CA boat came to help me moor up. Spaces in this marina are the tightest I have ever seen so the help was invaluable.

The town was a blend of tourist traps and old Breton – most enjoyable, especially the “Petit Train” tour around not just the town but also the area around it.

With my new friends from the Dutch boat, it was time for dinner. A small restaurant off the beaten track called Balthazar had been spotted by all of us and we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be the best yet and only €25 a head! It was clear there was a real passion for food in this restaurant.

Even mobile phones were banned so there could be no distraction. Yes, there was no choice on the fixed price menu, we all ate smoked salmon with hummus and pickles, roasted red mullet with thyme and fennel tandoori, and red fruits for dessert, but the food was amazing. Next time I’m in Paimpol, I’ll be back. In fact, I was tempted to stay an extra night just to go there again.

Paimpol is locked so you can only get out a few hours either side of high tide. At the time of my visit, that meant an early morning departure so my routine for the next few days would be to carry out engine checks the evening before, awake early the next morning then head straight out of the lock/cill to catch the tide. Tomorrow I was heading to St-Quay-Portrieux around 11nm away.

St-Quay-Portrieux

This is one of the few ports along this stretch of coast that has all-states access – handy for me because my Humphree Interceptors initially refused to work, limiting my speed to 8 knots, before they magically cured themselves.

The slower-than-normal speed did help me to identify probably the worst fishing pot markers I have ever seen: white, about 20cm long and barely visible in the bright sunshine reflecting off the surface. These were littered around harbour entrances, inviting trouble from visiting craft.

St Quay is a huge marina and the visitors’ pontoon is some distance from the capitainerie. The staff here are fabulous. I was met by a RIB and taken to my mooring where I was helped with the lines. Check in was easy but walking into town is quite a mission. On the way there I took the scenic route along the coastal path, past a signal station (with dire warnings about entering or even photographing the area).

The way back along the roads was easier but still about 30 minutes.

I couldn’t find a restaurant with a fixed menu so I settled on a fusion restaurant called La Cachette and had an enjoyable meal consisting of spring rolls, red Thai curry, and entremet Biscoff (a decadent cake combination) costing €40, including a pichet of wine.

Binic

Binic is a mere 4.4nm from St Quay but another tidal port, with limited access times. At low tide there’s nearly a mile of drying sand in front of the gate, which has the usual light signals to show when it’s passable. The visitors’ area is a long pontoon adjacent to the harbour wall.

The harbour master couldn’t have been more helpful. The facilities were excellent, including a handy DIY laundry in the marina. The town itself starts at the far end of the visitors’ pontoon and has a street next to the harbour full of restaurants and a further street behind it with a mixture of yet more restaurants and shops selling trinkets and the like.

In the evening I went to the La Sentinel for their bistro menu (€36). I chose scallops in a creamy sauce, followed by beef. I asked for it to be cooked in English-style (well done) and unlike most French restaurants, they did as I asked. The dessert was kouign-amann – a rich Breton butter cake.

Dahouët

The next day was another short trip to Dahouët, just 10.75nm from Binic, and as with every other day that week was blessed with a calm sea and brilliant sunshine. There were some fish farms to detour around, as well
as the odd rock or two, but with weather this good it was hardly a chore.

The entrance was fascinating with a large port hand marker and a cardinal marker on a pole showing the way. Once inside there was a drying channel that leads to a cill marked by a pair of port and starboard hand pole markers. Another really helpful harbour master came out in his RIB to help moor up.

I was expecting to have to walk into town to see anything of interest. How wrong I was! The far quayside had a market selling excellent food and there was a variety of shops. The pick of these was an extraordinary second hand book, newspaper and magazine store that filled an entire shed, with the odd boat inside it as well.

The town itself was a 30-minute walk, albeit with a handy supermarket on the way. It’s a pleasant if unremarkable seaside town but I can highly recommend the walk back along the coastal path for the views it offers.
In the evening I went to La Voile (the sail) a few hundred meters from the boat.

I had the beetroot and feta cheese capuccino, pork collar marinated with thyme and honey, and then ‘far Breton’ – a rich, dense custard with dried fruit soaked in armagnac. Delicious and only €29.50.

St Cast

With 19.5nm to cover before reaching St Cast, I was a little dismayed to see that the weather was changing, with more wind and a moderate beam sea of 1.5-2m. My boat took it in its stride and once we’d rounded Cap Fréhel, the seas calmed down and the wind eased.

The thing that struck me most about the entrance to the marina was the extraordinary number of fishing pots. Once inside, I was met by a dory, taken to a finger berth and helped to tie up. This port had far and away the best facilities and organisation. Once moored up and paid up, it was off to town, about a mile away along the coast.

The sun was shining, the wind had died down and there was a huge beach to walk along. It felt like being in the Mediterranean again.

The town had a plethora of restaurants to choose from but very few were offering a fixed menu, so it was off to Le Caravel Café just up the passageway next to the marina. Since it was my last night, I decided to have all sea food starting with a big bowl of shrimps, followed by – what else – but fish and chips! Not the usual heavy British offering, here the fish was coated in a thin layer of batter and gently deep-fried, giving it a much more delicate flavour. For dessert, the chef’s interpretation of tarte au citron – just a bit too sweet for me. Total cost, €31.

St Malo

With conditions deteriorating further, I was relieved only to have a passage of 11nm to St Malo. I had to be there today though because my wife was due to arrive. Besides, I wanted to complete my seven ports in seven days!

Again it was an awkward beam sea but the boat coped and I caught the 0800h lock into Port Vauban, giving me 24hrs to get Let’s Go cleaned, victualled and ready for inspection by Maire. It had been a most enjoyable seven days.

The huge tidal ranges were really something to witness and added to the challenge of passage planning. All of the marinas were staffed by helpful people and by Solent standards were unbelievably inexpensive at about €20-25 a night. And the sheer variety, flavours and value for money offered by the multiple restaurants en route were worth the trip alone. But after seven days cruising on my own it was wonderful to see Maire again and enjoy a rather more relaxed and relaxing schedule.

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