Postscript - long shadows on the way home

Summer's over and the boat is back in Plymouth. We (my father and I) had a great sail home, through the channel islands and back across to Plymouth last week. It was cold, but sunny (albeit not at 3 am Tuesday morning when we crept into a sleepy Plymouth) but reminiscent of lots of trips we did together 20 odd years ago now. Fidelio seemed reluctant to go home and the wind seemed to be forever in our face, but some cultured tacking (and use of the engine) got us in eventually. Until next year...in the meantime the beard's days are numbered.

Guernsey and France

We are now back at home and finally, after the flurry of activity getting the girls ready for school, have the opportunity to update everyone on the last part of our cruise.

We left Alderney and had a great sail to Guernsey, staying in the marina at St Peter Port for a couple of days. It was good to stock up on supplies and enjoy some great food before moving on. We also had a lovely day on Cobo beach (pics above).

Next stop was St Quay Portrieux, a town on the North coast of Brittany. By chance we already knew it well, having stayed there for the last three summer holidays in a cottage nearby. Little did we know that we would be visiting again quite so soon, and this time by sea. We had a good, if slightly bouncy sail there from Guernsey and settled into the very modern and typically efficient French marina. We returned to old haunts – our favourite beach, seafood restaurant and boulangerie. Simon returned to the UK for a few days, leaving the girls and I to explore local towns and markets using the very efficient bus service. Ellie started to gain some confidence in using some French phrases and Flora even managed the odd “merci” here and there.
On Simon’s return we started planning the sail back to Plymouth, but the legacy of hurricane Danny was forecast to sweep the channel throughout the week with very strong winds, making it unlikely that we would be able to get back in time for the start of school. So we made the decision to return on the ferry, leaving the boat in France. Simon is returning this week with his father to sail the boat back to Plymouth.