After exploring Cherbourg for a couple of days and celebrating Jenni’s birthday there with a thermos flask of wine and a bike ride, the question loomed … where next?! We aimed to sail Yanula Blue along the Normandy coast.
The timing of the tides and the restrictions in tidal marinas meant that it was difficult to access the smaller, sill restricted ports on the Northern French coast. A sill holds the water in a marina when the tide goes out, maintaining a certain depth for the boats in there, however it requires a higher depth of tide to get over it on the way in and out. As it was still April we had less daylight hours to get from one location to another, and didn’t want to risk entering unknown areas in the dark! We made a conscious decision to stick with the larger marinas where the tides weren’t as much of a consideration. We were fortunate that we had Transeurope Marina membership (thanks Poole Quay Boat Haven) and this gave us an amazing discount on marina fees. We still didn’t miss out on many of the areas though, and ended up hiring a car to explore inland places, which was also great fun. Our destinations between 10 April and 10 May were:
13 April – Cherbourg to Le Havre (74 miles, 13 hours)
The first destination was Le Havre – we had read avidly about anything to be aware of and knew that the entry to the marina could be shallow at low tide, so to be careful. We also knew it was a HUGE commercial port with many cargo and cruise ships to watch out for and areas to keep clear of.
We set off at 0704 and it wasn’t lost on us that our third trip of the year was the longest one so far. A couple of years ago it would have been daunting, but we were beginning to see it as normal! It was a good weather sail, with calm seas and light winds of Force 4 downwind throughout, with the wind dropping through the day. We sailed virtually all the way, playing with sail trim and testing music through the speakers on deck. We made a chilli in the Mr D Thermal cooker kindly given to us by Linda and Tim – what a great device!!
It was indeed tight arriving at low tide, but we followed all the advice, and didn’t cut any corners and arrived at 1950. WooHoo!
We ended up spending a few days in Le Havre due to a weather front coming over and enjoyed exploring the town. Le Havre’s architecture is relatively modern, as it was flattened during WWII – but the town is still interesting and pleasant to walk around. There is a massive promenade and when the sun was shining we enjoyed a bierre blanche or vin blanc whilst watch people (mainly men!) playing pétanque.
Walking further along the coast to Saint-Adresse the architecture changes again with big villas and more affluence. All along the coast are information boards about the area which we always stop and read! Many were about the painters from that area such as Monet, and his disciples.
17 April – Le Havre to Dieppe (51 miles, 10 hours)
Eventually we had a window to move on again with another decent passage. Leaving Le Havre was an event in itself as we met the MSC Prevezia on its way in to the port!
The tide turned to help us on our way and we were soon making good way … until we lost the wind and decided to put the engine on! We were passing Fecamp and had a diversion in there as a back up plan but we decided to motor on. The wind was light all the way and even though we had the gennaker prepared there just wasn’t enough wind to even try it – it was a long motor!
We arrived in Dieppe and chose a berth to go into – then realised we were right next to a huge pile that creaked as it rose and lowered with the tide. Will remember that in future when picking the best spots.
It was a long way to the marina office and we had read that you needed to take all your boat papers with you, so we dashed off to see if we could make it to check in, which we did! They did indeed check our papers – the first port to do so – and we proudly provided our prepared folder.
Although it was our intention to only stay a few days and carry on to Dunkirk, we realised that Jenni may need to go back to the UK for a medical appointment. So after researching the best routes for her to return to UK, we realised the further East we went, the harder it would be to get back. Ferries from Calais and Dover were not accepting foot passengers, and went to Dover or similar places that would make it hard to return to Poole. Whereas from Le Havre, Caen or Cherbourg they went to Portsmouth (or Poole) and so it was much easier. With this in mind, and waiting for an appointment to be made, we decided to hire a car to visit Dunkirk (see separate blog on that!) and wait it out in Dieppe.
It was here in Dieppe that we had our first encounter with other travellers. The crew of Brighton Belle were berthed just across from us and we spent an enjoyable afternoon, chatting, fixing their lazy jacks whilst drinking wine and we vowed to follow them and meet up again if our paths crossed.
Jenni also had an old work colleague who she knew was somewhere in the area and had always said to get in touch. After messaging Nicholas on LinkedIn we discovered he was actually in Dieppe and he kindly took us out for a day to explore the local area, including the beautiful town of Veules-les-Roses where he had spent much time as a child, and his maman still lived. We also had aperitifs at his beautiful home one evening, meeting his lovely family and cats. We in turn, showed him and his son around Yanula Blue. Spending time with people you know really makes the time even more special!!
26 April – Dieppe to Fecamp (34 miles, 7 hours)
With an appointment in the diary for Jenni, on 2 May, we knew we had to make our way West again and set off to Fecamp. The destination had mixed reviews. Some people said Fecamp was lovely and others said it was hard to get into, but we decided to try it as the weather was behaving!
Jen helmed us out of the berth at Dieppe as there was no wind so it was a perfect day for practice! It was another opportunity to try the gennaker – which was great for most of the journey until we were ready to enter Fecamp.
The entry to Fecamp was very rolly with strong tides pushing us aside – the strangest thing about sailing is the effect of the tide when it is across the bow! You look like you will be hitting the land … but actually not! We made it in ok, but could absolutely see how it would be difficult in any stronger tidal conditions. We tied up with 30cm of water underneath our keel – that would have to do!
Fecamp is quite similar to Dieppe we thought – another lovely French fishing town, so we enjoyed more walks and did more provisioning, but we moved on quite quickly. We have learnt that 2-3 nights is usually enough in a destination, unless there are errands or similar to be done in the bigger ports.
29 April – Fecamp to Ouistreham (via Le Havre 26 + 20 miles)
We had to wait for enough water in order to leave Fecamp, and as we aren’t naturally early risers we decided to wait for the later rising tide, rather than the earlier falling tide. We actually ended up motoring all the way as knew the tides would also be against us, but hadn’t realised just how much! Another learning point – we should have got up early and gone with the tide!
But motoring enabled us to sail close to Etretat – which is like a French Durdle Door with very impressive rock formations in the cliffs. Another light wind sail, but we had put the gennaker away, so sailed under the head sail only. The fishing line was also put out but nothing was biting!
Given we were fighting the tide so much we knew we wouldn’t make the lock times at Ouistreham very easily, so decided to stop in at Le Havre as our backup plan. We got there in enough time for a quick stroll down the Promenade and called in at Super-U, which is a bit like Waitrose, and bought a ready meal for dinner!! We also chatted to a newly arrived boat who had been grounded on the shallows entering Le Havre – the reports of that were correct and we were glad our research had paid off!
We left first thing the next morning to carry on and make the lock to Ouistreham. It was a very quick departure as lots of boats suddenly arrived so we were able to offer our berth. There was mainly no wind, but we did manage the gennaker for a while, and arrived in good time for the lock.
We have only ever been through locks with other friends, so going through single handed was a new experience for us, but we had done lots of research on what to expect. We pulled in to the waiting pontoon as we had 30 minutes to wait, and entered the lock when the signals indicated to do so. There were metal cables to hook our lines around and there were only a couple of other boats, so it was reasonably stress free.
When out of the lock we found the Visitor berth at Ouistreham and got ourselves tied on … only just!! After leaving the waiting pontoon one of the lines hadn’t quite been tied on again and as Jenni was on Ouistreham pontoon and tied on, Chris noticed it slipping off the boat!! He quickly ran and got a foot on it whilst Jenni brought the long end of the line on the pontoon back to the boat and was able to tie it on the boat! Phew! Another lesson learnt!
Ouistreham was definitely one of the nicest marinas we had visited – just outside the main town the Visitor pontoon was lined by trees and you could actually hear the birds singing! How lovely! Good job really as we ended up staying till 9 May so that Jenni could take the trip home to the UK. Chris spent the time on his own, shopping for fishing tackle as an early birthday present and we both explored this lovely area together when Jenni returned.
We also wanted to visit the Bayeux Tapestry whilst we were there and set off on the bus to Caen, intending to get the train to Bayeux and found they were mainly cancelled!! We decided to spend the day exploring Caen instead, which is very worth it (see separate blog on museums!) and hired a car for Bayeux.
Bayeux is a beautiful town in itself and the tapestry is just fascinating! It is very well organised with a constant narration via a headset. The headset makes you walk at a certain pace along the length of the tapestry. We did go back and repeat it though, as it was so fascinating! Whilst we had a car we also toured many of the D-Day beaches in the area, and took the time to do a ‘big shop’ to fill up with beers and bulky items.
Eventually it was time to leave again and we decided to keep on heading West towards Brittany.
9 May – Ouistreham to Cherbourg (70 miles, 12 hours) and 10 May on to Dielette (29 miles, 4 hours)
Once again we were preparing to cross the Bay de Seine, but the weather forecasts this time were mixed and confused. Would there be any wind, enough wind, too much wind?!
Given we needed to go through the locks again, we had to leave at a set time in order to get the tide to Cherbourg and the lock only runs about once an hour! We went to bed with a degree of uncertainty as to whether the weather was ok or not and Jenni woke early to check the updated forecast. It was touch and go and we snoozed for a while making the decision, but we decided to go for it and dashed off to get ready.
The lock was opened on time and we entered with a small single handed sailing boat rafted next to us! We chatted with the sailor in our pidgeon French and discovered he was sailing to Roscoff. Chris took the opportunity to go and have a nosey on his boat and when the lock opened we all set off.
It was certainly a lively sail and very rolly all the way, even with a bit of water sometimes crashing over us! The solo sailor disappeared into the distance and we kept on our track… until hearing our boat being hailed on the radio!! There was something on the horizon which we couldn’t quite see, but Chris had seen something on the electronic chart that wasn’t on the paper chart. We realised it was a new wind farm in the process of being built, so quickly manouvred around it.
We sailed all the way to Cherbourg with the weather eventually settling and tied up at the berth… again!
The departure the next morning for Dielette was very tide dependent as we needed to be careful to not be against the tide as we went through the Alderney Race. We cast off at 1400 and it was still quite windy from the day before, so we started with 2 reefs in (a reef is where we reduce the size of the sail to reduce the power in provides). It was a great sail, where we experienced every point of sail and had reefs in and then out! Going through the race was a great experience and amazing to feel the tide taking us where we wanted to go. There were lobster pots everywhere down that coast, so we had to keep a close watch.
Dielette is a lovely port with just a couple of restaurants and a sill to maintain the depth in the main harbour. We moored up easily (as we got our timings right to cross the sill) and decided to go for a drink and to eat at one of the restaurants for a change!
We didn’t stay long in Dielette as decided to head back to the UK for more appointments for Jenni. So we returned to Cherbourg on 12 May in order to check out of France and return across the UK. More on that will follow …!
**We decided to include the miles and hours for all these passages to help our non-sailing friends understand just how much the tides and winds can impact us!! Short journeys can take a long time, or vice versa, and even with the best planning to pick the best windows, we don’t always get it right!
