Thoughts from French/CI cruiseabout last couple of weeks

[brianhumber]

1. Boy the lower pound/euro rate makes a difference.
Most expensive St Vaast ( 42E plus showers) and only 2 places to eat open will not return - Carentan much much better.

Cherbourg was offering good weekly rates

Lezardrieux was getting tired but I liked the in river pontoons - and what a lot of moorings seem to have been put in over the last few years

Best place was Binic - for value, quality of marina and as a place to visit
well worth avoiding the plastic St Quay P marina for.

Best reasonable meal ashore was in St Malo Le Spinnaker - 26 rue des Bas Sablons with view over marina. Get there early as was full by 8 with locals even midweek.

France seems to have got expensive all round including Carrefour, U market etc,it was nice to going back to the local markets to buy food etc etc as I did when I first sailed over there.

Also had loads and loads of Dolphins come play with us, this together with some good sails made the trip in spite of dodgy wet weather -and had lots of Fog yesterday coming back across bless the JRC radar.

What was the reason for 3 hotel barges to be in Southampton yesterday together ? a Silja lump, the Supermarket trolley called Grand Princess and the block of flats called Queen Mary 2 all passed us in the evening. They blotted out Nab to Selsey with yellow flue muck as they passed
times have changed since I was at sea as i used to kick the firemans ----- if he let the boilers smoke in those days cause the chief would kick mine if he saw us having anything but a faint haze from the funnel

Brian

 

[liverpool]

Agree France is very expensive at current exchange rates. And Binic also the highlight of our Ch Isles/Normandy/Brittany cruise to date - but St Quay- Portrieux was useful as a base which one can enter/leave at any state of the tide. Made it much easier to go to Paimpol, Binic etc. Wonderful seafood in Binic - Poissonerie even cooked a fruit de mer platter for us. Great cruising ground - but weather disappointing in last week (esp Wed which was the wettest day I can remeber for a long time) so will head south now.

 

[chubby]

Sorry to hear about St Vaast, it has always been one of our favoutites, what has happened to all the eateries along the quay side and in square close tothe lock?

We are deciding between france and the west country for our cruise in a few weeks time, is france that bad?

 

[Sailfree]

Thanks for informative post.

I have 9 days in July and intended Hamble - Guernsey - St Malo - Pampiol - Tregier - Guernsey - Hamble.

I like to sail one day and stay 1 day.

Would you recommend Binic instead of one of the others? l have never been to Binic but have enjoyed the others so perhaps its time to give it a try. Haven't got reeds to hand is Binic Ok for a 43' 2.1m draught sailing boat? Are there enough visitors berths?

I should add that 4 Crew have only previously done Cherbourg & St Vaast so Brittany will be a big step further South and I would like them to enjoy the bestplaces

 

[brianhumber]

Most were not open yet, to be fair even the one we found was only half full so cannot blame owners for not opening up I suppose but my past favourite, the family run one at the back of the square has changed hands and is now a piazza type outlet.

Brian

 

[brianhumber]

I might swop Binc for St Malo - St Malo is good ( and very expensive ashore) but to be near the town you have to go through the shipping locks , not a problem but if you miss the openings c 2 hours around HW its a long wait on the bouys. Sablons ( 2M sill) is a long walk to town but closer for the ferry. We had a NW 6 overnight in Sablons and had a very bouncy night as the swell comes right in at HW - some where up most of the night attending springs/cleats etc.

You could go to Binc instead, gate opens up to 2 hours before HW and shuts at HW, you should have no problems we are 45' and found minium of 3.1M across the outer harbour 10 minutes after gate opened. You now berth on pontoon on harbour wall with tab key security access plenty of room last week, and also spaces in marina. Details of openings on the Web, (showers were the the best we found by the way )

Hope you have better weather than us!!!!!

B

 

[Twister_Ken]

It's not just exchange rates that hit you in France - even the Frogs are whinging about the rise in food prices - from local markets, local shops, supermarkets, cafes, restaurants. Our local restaurant used to offer a 15€ menu. That's now become a 20€ menu. Asking la Patrone why - "because all the prices I pay 'ave gone up."