Speedbird spent a week in July working her way along the north coast of Brittany, starting and finishing at St Malo. Suzie, Angus, Mike and skipper Chas sailed her, and the route went Saint Cast-le-Guildo, St Quay Portrieux, Lezardrieux, Paimpol, and back: 130 nautical miles in all, with the wind getting up to force 7 along the way. This is a coast that rewards attention. The pink granite that gives the Cote de Granit Rose its name runs out into the sea in long reefs, and between them sit the lighthouses and beacons that make the pilotage here both the work and the pleasure of the passage. Several of the day's photographs are of rocks, which tells you something about where the crew's eyes were. Midway through, the crew took the dinghy across to the Ile de Brehat, the rose granite island off Paimpol that has no cars on it and not much hurry either. The weather did what Channel weather does, which is to say all of it. There was a stunning sunrise one morning and oilskins on another. There were meals ashore in four different harbours, which is a large part of why anyone sails to Brittany rather than round the Island. Trips like this are posted by club skippers and open to any member to join. You do not need to have sailed in France before, or to own a thing beyond your own kit.
Jane Wiggins
Jane WigginsMore photos
