This is how I fell in love with Brittany / Part 1: the lightning strike

Marco Zanini, from Bologna, Italy (winner of our contest on the mythical 30 sailing legends) was thunderstruck by the seas where his legend Tabarly grew up, in Brittany, and decided he would like to sail there no matter what. And so he did. In two installments we bring you his adventure. In the first part, with a decidedly tourist slant, “falling in love” with those cold and windy seas, so distant for us Mediterranean lovers (and yet so fascinating), in the second and third parts, boat preparation and sailing. Happy reading!

THE LIGHTNING STRIKE
“For years Brittany has been an almost exotic destination for sailing enthusiasts, like the Galapagos for divers. This land has churned out great sailors, designers and still hosts the most important offshore races in the world. After many years I finally decided to take an “exploratory” vacation there so that I could see if it was possible to possibly rent a small sailboat (not at this round), and see if the much-vaunted France was really a sailor’s paradise. After a 1300-kilometer trip with children on board, we first stop for Chartres, and then continue over the next few days to visit Normandy, and leisurely descend into Brittany to La Rochelle (formerly the Atlantic province).

HONFLEUR
After Chartres we continue to Honfleur in Normandy at the mouth of the Seine River. We cross the bridge, a spectacular work of civil engineering, to make a stop in this beautiful town. From the very first day, simply visiting a port like this one realizes the differences between sailing in the Mediterranean and in these waters: the locks to enter the harbor, the huge tidal ranges, and the weather that changes from hot to pouring rain in a matter of hours, even several times a day. The town is beautiful, uncrowded, and it is a pleasure to stroll the downtown streets among restaurants serving exclusively local fish and shellfish, and various stores selling seafood souvenirs. Having finished the visit after a nice lunch of Galettes (the local name for buckwheat crepes) with goat cheese and shellfish, we head west to visit the landing sites in the following days. We stay overnight in Bayeux, a quiet town in the Lower Normandy countryside, and the next morning we head to Omaha Beach.

OMAHA BEACH
The “landing tour” requires at least one day; in addition to the legendary beach where on June 6, ’44, “the price of peace was very high” there are several interesting shrines and museums to see. The sea views are beautiful, the landscape has remained virtually untouched, it seems unbelievable that in such a place a few years ago a carnage of that magnitude took place. The most beautiful view of the landing beach can be seen from the German bunker positions; several explanatory signs show very well the dynamics of the attack that changed the course of history.

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CHERBOURG
Next stop “la cité de la mer” in Cherbourg. This modern industrial port does not have much to offer but it is probably the only place where you can visit the inside of a French nuclear missile launching submarine. A visit to the museum takes an afternoon, several attractions for the little ones. But the real purpose for me remains the visit of the “submarine.” At the entrance, they give you an intercom that explains the various compartments during your visit, and you can pause it whenever you see fit, since you have the opportunity to watch it as quietly as you want. Aside from the reactor being dismantled, the vehicle has remained virtually intact as it has since the day it retired from service. Missile launcher tubes, bridge, crew cabins mess, engine room, practically could take to the sea.

MONT SAINT-MICHEL
The next stop is the overused Mont Saint-Michel; we decide to go there the next morning. We take a detour to the site and arrive at high tide; the access road is passable except for the parking lots, which are actually waterlogged. The view of the “monument” is indeed spectacular, what spoils its landscape are the thousands of tourists and hundreds of buses that disfigure its harmony. I’ve been promising myself for years to visit as many places like this out of season as I can; I thought I would do it when I retired, but given the timing I suppose it’s time to move sooner. We find a hotel, not even that cheap, in the small village of Pontorson, about 20 km away in the inland countryside. Early in the morning we get up to be among the first to enter or at least find a parking space. It was low tide! At the edge of the road that was flooded the night before, a massive parking lot hosts an expanse of buses and cars. We park and head to visit the famous abbey. It’s like being in San Marino! Beautiful views and very pleasant to walk through the narrow streets of the stronghold, but at the level of artwork we are at zero, in fact the visit ends in less than 3 hours.

SAINT MALO
Direction Saint Malo, well we are in Brittany! The mind begins to process many things related to my exaggerated passion for everything related to the sea. Regattas such as the Québec-Saint Malo, La Route du Rhum, La Course de Grands Voiliers, and La Route du Rock music festival have made this place famous. It may seem unbelievable, but you can drive around inside the walls of this beautiful city; we even find to park in front of a small hotel just a few steps from the ramparts that make it so unique. During the war Allied bombing almost razed it to the ground, but it was rebuilt as it was originally. At sunset the view from the city walls is unique; in this harbor the tidal phenomenon is the most pronounced in all of Brittany; you would have to spend a whole year there to be able to admire the variations in colors that occur depending on the tide and the angle of the sun at different times of the day and in different seasons.

CROZON PENINSULA
From here we head as our next stop to the Crozon Peninsula where we planned to stay overnight in a farmhouse. The place is beautiful, it is called “la Ferme Apicole de Terenez,” and it is run by a family of beekeepers who, in addition to producing very good honey, run this kind of very inexpensive hotel. La Ferme is located on the banks of the Riviere de Chateaulin, opposite the magnificent garden in a bend in the river is a cemetery of decommissioned military ships. From here one makes a base for the beautiful excursions on the Crozon Peninsula, not to be missed are the villages of Morgat and Camaret Sur la Mer, also excellent landing places for an overnight stay by boat.

THE WAY OF THE LIGHTHOUSES
The following day proceeds to La Rochelle, passing through the “lighthouse route.” We will visit the world-famous Pointe de Penmarc’h lighthouse that “virtually” demarcates southern Brittany with northern Brittany. Not far away is the very difficult Raz de Sein, the passage between Pointe du Raz and Ile de Sein. Such passage by sailboat can be really problematic if you have contrary tide and wind, and here the tidal current can be very strong (see current atlas of the area edited by SHOM).
A visit to the lighthouse and lighthouse museum at Pointe de Penmarc´h is most interesting. The day is beautiful, clear sky, fantastic visibility. We are in a time of low tide in “living waters” i.e., sigizial tide, the whole éstran so (they call that stretch of sea that is uncovered with the tide) is uncovered for an exaggerated stretch of coastline (at least for us in the Mediterranean).

LA ROCHELLE
From here we proceed to La Rochelle via Benodet, and Lorient where unfortunately we are unable to visit the Citè de la Voile dedicated to Eric Tabarly (who then lived in Benodet!) with its display of his Pen Duicks.
We arrive in the evening in La Rochelle, impossible to find a hotel! These days we find out that there is “le grand Pavé” i.e., the boat show! We find a place almost 80 km away and the next day we go to visit the maritime museum and the city. Bad luck would have it that the ketch Joshua was moved from its usual location and taken to the exhibition area of the boat show. We settle for visiting the museum, which is in fact the meteorological frigate France1, which did her dirty service from 1958 to 1988, facing nightmarish seas in polar latitudes. (http://www.museemaritimelarochelle.fr). On that day to act as tour guides were the men of the then crew who sorted through the various areas of the ship from the galley to the bridge and told their stories. I was particularly struck by the enthusiasm with which the shipboard baker – confectioner, now in his eighties, told his stories, who was sprightly and full of health . From la Rochelle having finished the visit we head for Italy with plans to return and sail those magnificent waters.”

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CONTINUED…