Port de Lorient

[mcalan]

SWMBO and I have a house in Brittany and for the last few years have attended the interceltic festival in Lorient.
the festival is very good and lasts for 10 days in August, and is centred around the quayside.

We had always said we would love to bring the boat across and get a berth in the main marina basin.
I sent an email to the marina and have been allocated a berth.
My boat is at Tollesbury and although I have sailed across the Chanel before it's usually been from Portsmouth or Plymouth on friends boats.
Would the learned forumites have any opinions on the best route and stopover points.? I need to arrive in Lorient on August 1st so when should I think of departing ? Would there be any advantage in obtaining a pas de Morbihan.

SWMBO is thinking about driving over as we will need the car as we're staying for a couple of months, so am relying on crew who are constrained by leave etc. so may have to do a crew change somewhere on route I would be grateful for any advice.


Also posted In scuttlebutt

 

[PeterWright]

Sailed down that way last summer, out of SYH. We took it leiusurely on the way out, via Ramsgit, Eastbourne, East Cowes, Weymouth, St Helier, Treguier, Roscoff, L'Aberwrach, Camaret, Brest, Camaret, Audierne, Concarneau. we enjoyed the Celtic festival in Lorient, before continuing further south, then worked our way back to Brest. All went fine, apart from being stormbound for a week in St Helier, so we flew back to the UK for that bit.

From Brest we took a more delivery trip approach for the trip back, with three guys aboard. This went Brest, Roscoff, St Helier, Sark, Eastbourne, Ramsgit, Harwich. The Sark bit was a stop for a day of tourism, as one of the crew had never been there before, but otherwise we just got on with it. Made it in 6 days, including a day walking around Sark.

For East Coasters, St helier is a great crew change port - Easyjet from Southend. For most of Britanny, Stansted - Dinard works well, but be prepared for no train or bus services at Dinard. Hardy types talk of a 20 min walk to a local village to catch a bus, but I go for a taxi across the Rance barrage to St Malo station. Usually there are all sorts of confused people at the airport taxi rank looking for a ride, so it's easy to share costs with them (last time two delightful young ladies, Polish and Irish). Once you get to a rail or bus station, the French public transport system shows you just what we are missing in the UK. Brest station is a short walk from the Marina du Chateeau and for Kernevel marina in Lorient it's a short walk to a bus stop which will take you to the rail station in about 20 minutes. Roscoff, of course, benefits from a Ferry Port adjacent to the new marina, but the ferries go to West of England ports, not so convenient for East Anglians.

Hope this helps.

Peter

 

[johnalison]

I've nothing against the Solent but an alternative that has worked for us is Dover, Brighton, Cherbourg and on. This breaks the trip up into manageable sections and it is possible to work the tide on the Brighton-Cherbourg leg.

 

[Tomahawk]

We did along the S coast to Plymouth then across to Roscoff. (New marina which is easy to get into). Plymouth to Roscoff was about 12 hours.
Then along to L'Aberwrach, then through the Chennel du Four. All quite easy.