Newlyn to Aber Wrac'h or Camaret

Bonjour!!!!!!!!

The big one the Channel.... bring it on!!!!!!!! I just knew whatever happened it could not be any worse than Lands End, anyway, I woke on Friday to a beautiful day with a forcast of a F3/4 NE which would be so perfect so I set off about 8 a.m and off I went.

This is my last view of England as I sailed off due south across "la manche" and to prove that I'm actually in the boat and to satisfy all those requests for a photo here's one of me with a "Brad Pitt" beard (in fact he stole the look from me.....honest!!!) The main problem with crossing the Channel at the widest point is the distance and the time, the shortest crossing here is 100 NM ( thats about 115 earth miles). Anyway off I went with a sunny dry day and a beautiful wind over my right shoulder, the motor was off for the first time and everything was perfect. I even had a Naval escort for an hour or so. In fact they were obviously patrolling a sector and must have passed me 3 or 4 times.... a bit boring I would have thought so Ted maybe getting out of the Navy was a good call. In busy shipping lanes they have what are called TSS which are separation zones like a duel carriageway... so for 12 miles all the ships come from one way then for the next 12 from the other. The lanes are very busy but its not the problem I was led to believe it would be if you plan ahead. In fact the majority of the ships move very slowly at no more than 15 knots (about 20 mph) so its not hard to get out of the way. I must have been passed by 30 ships and the ones that present the biggest problem are the Cruise ships and ferries which move much faster and at night they have so many lights blazing that its hard to pick out their navigation lights which let you know which direction they are moving. The sun fell at about 10 p.m. and the navigation lights went on. It's slightly surreal bobbing along at 4.5 knots on the inky blackness, which you cannot sea, to a place you cannot see, you have no reference point and only the motion of the boat and the waves let you know you're still moving. The best part by far is the canopy of stars above, the lack of light pollution make the stars so bright & so beautiful. I saw a number of shooting stars and I think I saw my first satellite, although it might of been a plane there certainly was enough of them. I arrived at the N. Brittany coast 4 hours earlier than expected and since the navigation up the river to L'aber wrac'h was to difficult in the dark I decided to carry on around the eastern tip, through the Chenal du Four and head for my next destination at Camaret. The Chenel du Four has a powerful current so I had to heave to for 3 hours until slack water at 7.30 a.m., as my little engine, which has developed a mysterious oil leak, is not powerful enough to push me through it. The wind had died at around 4 p.m. so I motored slowly, to protect the engine, down the Chenal and across the bay to Camaret which lies on the south side of the River Aulne estuary, just east of Brest. I picked up a mooring at about 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, went for a shower and a shave then went to sleep waking on Sunday at 8 a.m.
I've hoisted my Tricolor courtesy flag, bought some bread, developed a galic shrug and know I'm off to be rude to some Germans. Entent Cordialle?...... we'll see.
I'm staying here until Tuesday morning so I'm off to Cameret town tomorrow..... so I'll take a few photos and post these then.
Thanks again for the posts and yes Lou I did need that extra chocolate supply!!!!!