Any suggestions appreciated

[TargaLout]

Two things really.
Can anyone suggest a good fairly recent reference type book that shows and discusses the approaches, recommended routes, bouyage, chart datum info, pictures etc., with cross references to actual charts of the Channel Islands, Brittany and the whole "Golfe de St Malo" French ports area?
I went there last year a few times, Guernsey, Jersey, Ilse de Chausey, St Malo, Granville etc but it was always with other boats, although we did do Poole to Shell bay alone. This time want to do this just on our boat and for longer and perhaps even go further afield, Westerly. Might even poke her nose into the Bay of Biscay? So would like to read up before hand.
Secondly.
Any suggestions of good beaches, bays, anchorages etc that we should visit west of St Malo. We like to marina berth at night, well SWMBO and kids do power for the Play Station and all that, so I need suggestions of some of these also. I nearly got her to over night anchor in the Channel that goes through the Ilse de Chaucey last year after spending a fantastic day anchored up there in 0mph winds and glorious sunshine. Dont get me wrong I can sit down and work all this out but I thought I would get some feed back from the forum of good spots in case I'm missing out.
Thanks in advance. <TargaLout> (I can never seem to get these links to work!).

<hr width=100% size=1><http://www.fairlinetarga37.com>

 

[tcm]

hm, good questions, but there aren't any utterly comprehensive single books of the type you describe.

Pilot books like The shell channel pilot has pics for boaties and marina and passage info. Something like reeds almanac is needed for tidal info. For more leisure details, the green Michelin guides ruthlessly grade every place of interest and beach in france, all along the coast, region by region.

If you do plan to possibly go west, the trick is to do it as soon as the weather allows, rather than sticking to some preset plan. The channel is generally graded as having a prevailing sw force 4, so you can bank on a following wind soon enough on the way back - it's getting out there that is often a problem.


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[jhr]

Macmillan/Reeds or "Votre Livre de Bord" (French equivalent) will give you the basics. To be honest, I reckon the best source of information is to be found in the articles written by Peter Cumberlidge in MBY (one this month on the area around Trebeurden, for example). A quick look at Amazon indicates a book by him on North Brittany & the Channel Islands which looks worth a punt, otherwise I guess it's a question of scouring the archive section and getting reprints.

Hope this helps.

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[tcm]

Re: Uh-oh : NOT cumberlidge

The piece on trebeurden was written by Alan Harper. Although I must say trebeurden is a very cumberlidgey place. However the text is disntinctly uncumberlidgey (?) especially the first sentence.

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[jhr]

Minor, unimportant detail

B*gg*er. Have just had another look at MBY and you're quite right of course which is hard for me to bear, as founding Chairman of the Society for the Encouragement of Pedantry. Cumberlidge seems to have moved to the Vendee area this month, which strikes me as a very un-Cumberlidgey place. I was, of course, misled by the fact that he normally writes either about Brittany or about obscure French waterways and I must say that I think it very remiss of him to start writing about points further South.

Agreed about the first sentence of the article, both in the sense that Cumberlidge doesn't strike me as the family man type and that the Brittany coast is a brill place to take kids. Or anyone else.



<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

In my experience and depending on the age of the kids, anywhere with a beach usually goes down well. St Malo itself, providing you get into Bassin Vauban, is a very good spot as there's a nice beach and rockpools etc just across the road whilst the adults can do St Malo itself. If you've got time its worthwile going up the River Rance to Dinan which is very attractive but not really a kid place although there is a watersports centre opposite the moorings which hires out kayaks
Further west we liked Binic because its a pleasant little town with a good market and a beach at the end of the marina. I would give St Quay a miss, though. Going further west, there is Paimpol which is worth a 1 day visit, there was a large ferris wheel near the port which will amuse the kids for about 2 nanoseconds. Treguier and Lezardrieux are nice enough but as far as I can remember there's nothing much for kids there and, in Treguier at least, the tide runs v. hard through the marina so a kid falling in the water there could be very dangerous
South of Ile de Brehat there are pleasant fairweather anchorages and the island is well worth a visit; hire bikes for the day. You can also anchor in the Anse de Perros and Perros Guirec is worth a 1 day visit. A really spectacular place to enter by boat is Ploumanach but once you're in there's only buoyed moorings but worth poking your nose in. Next you've got Trebeurden which is great for kids because of the large beach nearby and there's a cheap restaurant across from the marina but the town is a hike up the hill
Its best to work your way from west to east on the Britanny coast because high tide is later as you go east and virtually all the ports are tidal. So you can leave a port as soon as the gate/cill opens, anchor up for 2-3hrs and zoom onto the next destination to enter on the same tide. The second reason for going west to east is that any heavy weather is likely to come from the west so any port hopping in marginal weather can be done in a following sea
A good 2 week plan would be Guernsey to fill up on cheap diesel, then straight across to Trebeurden but you will need fair weather for these legs. Then work your way east visiting ports as you want. If any really bad weather is forecast, aim to be in St Malo to ride it out because there's plenty to do there, you can cruise up the Rance even in bad weather and if the worst comes to the worst, you can dump the boat there and catch a ferry home

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