Cherbourg, Alderney, Sark and onwards to Treguier

After a pleasant stay in Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue, it was time to move on – thankfully to places without hyphens as a part of their names! They’re not easy to type you know…

Cherbourg was an obvious stop off en route to Alderney and we were soon whisked past Pointe de Barfleur by the tide – if not by the wind which had all but given up by the time we reached there.

Pointe de Barfleur

Cherbourg is a very easy port to enter and we did so without drama – except for the blooming engine overheat alarm sounding on the way in. I thought I’d fixed that back in the Gota canal, but clearly all’s still not entirely well. Ultimately I think we’ll have to bite the bullet and replace the heat exchanger (£1000) or the engine (£8000). Then again, we could put it off for a bit longer and just keep the revs down below 2000rpm. All seems ok then…

Bombed fort on Cherbourg's outer breakwater - eastern entrance

OK, we'll get out of your way then

Entering Cherbourg marina

We’d only intended to stop for one night at Cherbourg. Our plan was to get our C-Map chart updated there as, according to Jeppesen’s website, the local chandlers could do it on site. In practice, of course, the dealer knew nothing of this and so we’re persevering with what we have…

Our plan to leave after just the one night was thwarted too – by fog. We have a chartplotter, AIS and radar so can deal with fog if we need to, but my preference is always to avoid it if possible. We actually left as planned but turned back when we saw that the visibility outside the marina was between 100m and 200m. We’re not on a schedule, so why risk it?

Fog in Cherbourg's marina

Dry dock in Cherbourg

Lord Nelson visited while we were there

Wednesday dawned clear and (reasonably) bright with good visibility forecast, so we set sail as soon as the tide permitted. All was well past Cap de la Hague – a horrible place in strong winds, eh Nigel? – and, in fact, to within about 4 miles of Braye harbour. The wind had deserted us by then so I dropped the mainsail. It was only after I’d completed this task that I noticed the visibility had got markedly worse and within minutes we were completely enveloped in dense fog – 10m visibility at best.

Good visibility leaving Cherbourg by it's western entrance

Not so good as we neared Alderney!

Jo got busy blowing our fog horn – she enjoys making a noise; maybe a small person thing? – while I concentrated on getting us into the harbour. It was only really when we were in the harbour that I realised quite how thick the fog was. We never saw the breakwater – scroll down to see what that looks like if you haven’t visited Braye – and I thought the first mooring buoy that loomed out of the murk was a more distant boat as I didn’t realise how close it was! Suffice it to say that we were very pleased to have arrived!

On our mooring as the visibility improved. Look closely and you'll see a boat about 20m away

The next day was wet and miserable; we never left the boat. Friday was lovely though, so we set off on a few guided walks that Jo had (mistakenly?) pointed out to me while we were in the harbour office. These included the Alderney Community Woodland Trail, the St. Anne town walk and the Burhou & Fort Clonque walk – a total of more than 11 miles! We rewarded ourselves with cod & chips and scampi & chips from the Divers Inn near the harbour - our first meal out since Brighton and delicious!

Braye harbour moorings from Cyclone. Not that busy at the moment!

View over braye harbour from the woodland walk

There are reminders of WW2 everywhere

The only British war grave on Alderney - sadly killed clearing mines in June 1945

St. Anne house

Rob forcing a smile for the camera

The hostelry in which the above photo was taken - complete with cattle watering trough

Fort Clonque - a Landmark Trust property for rent

It's rocky round 'ere

Fort Tourgis

Platte Saline beach and Fort Doyle

Eeugh!!

Inner harbour for locals 

Cyclone on her mooring

Braye harbour breakwater - it's big, but was invisible to us in the fog

To make the most of the tide from Alderney towards Sark – and you have to in a sail boat because I doubt that many have sufficient power to make progress against it – meant an 0600 departure. This came after a rotten night with a north easterly wind blowing waves straight into the harbour and under our boat, ensuring that it tugged and snatched at our mooring buoy all night long. I’d got up and dressed twice to check our lines were still ok and not chafing through, so was less than delighted to hear the “beep beep beep” of my watch alarm at 0515!

An uneventful sail saw us on a mooring in Havre Gosselin, Sark, a little after 1030. This is a beautiful place and very popular in the summer apparently. I can believe that as there were another half dozen boats there during our visit and there don’t seem to be many boats moving around this area in May.

Brecquou island - owned by the reclusive Barclay billionaire brothers

Jo enjoying the fantastic Sark scenery

View from our Havre Gosselin mooring...

...and another...

...and another

Sunday saw us beating towards Treguier, mid-way along the north Brittany coast, against light winds which were forecast to veer to the west – potentially giving us a decent sail – but which actually gave up altogether soon after midday. We’d only made about 20 miles towards our destination in 5 hours and now had the prospect of completing the remaining 34 miles under engine – with limited revs available to avoid overheating. 

Still, there’s never a dull moment on a boat as you can see from the photos below which depict some of the on-board entertainment. The 8 remaining hours just flew by!

Charades

I spy

Dancing - that's Tiger Feet

Yoga

Sunbathing

We anchored in a designated anchorage (at least according to our chart) near to Treguier’s marina. We were too late to take advantage of their facilities so we thought we’d save the cash.

We were woken at 0900 (it was an 0630 alarm call in Sark, OK?!) by a cheery chap in a RIB who informed us that we weren’t permitted to anchor there and would have to anchor further down river or stay at the marina. We’d intended to move to the marina that morning in any case, so doing so was no hardship. My sneaking suspicion that he might be connected with the marina in some way was confirmed when we were met by him on arrival!

It’s another French bank holiday today – doesn’t anybody ever go to work? – and we’ve yet to explore the place properly. We did get a load of laundry done at the local launderette though.

So glamourous, this yachting lifestyle!

Thanks for reading.