Fortresses … as far as the eye can reach
St. Malo has a marvellous reputation when it comes to its old town, the architecture and is recommended by every sailor which we have met. That said, we were even more impressed with our approach just before making landfall.
The scenery started to change shortly after leaving Granville and Normandy. The coast had become more rocky and rugged with lighthouses and buoys marking dangers and shallow waters. At the some time a lush green was shining from the hilltops with a beautiful green water colour: no wonder this is called the emerald coast. We followed the advised route from one of our pilot books and found ourselves in the middle of old rocks which were built into fortresses guarding the larger fortress of St. Malo. And from a far, the city of St. Malo was greeting us impressively with its high walls.
The first to fortify this strategic important position had already been the romans with stationing a Garnison here, later followed by Duchess Anne of Brittany, Louis XIV and of course Nazi Germany as part of their Atlantic wall. The latter are also implicitly responsible for causing the full destruction as they held their fort until the very end which is why the Allied forces started to shell the town with artillery and covered it with air raids. However, a marvellous job has been done in rebuilding it and the town locks and feels authentic. When walking the narrow alleys and cobbled streets, despite being a prime tourist location, it feels as it should be exactly this way.
After strolling the streets and having a lovely dinner at a Italian-Libanese-Turkish-Israeli fusion restaurant, we eventually had to make way for some larger trimarans in the marina which are part of the Ocean 50 series. Additionally, we were looking at a favourable weather window to cross to St Quay, some odd 30nm away.
That said, we left early on our fourth day. The alarm clock rang at 4 am, everything was wet and the wind was stronger and cooler than expected. Lisa already asked the skipper who was suffering from the first symptoms of a man flu, whether he wanted to stay. André neglected and we prepped the boat to leave only to notice after an hour that it was still wet, cold and too much wind. On top of that the wind was coming from completely the wrong direction. It was time to activate plan B.
Plan B meant sailing only 10nm into St-Cast-le-Guildo and probably staying here for the next few days. I am writing these lines after we both are freshly showered, caught up on our sleep and are happily moored right here. The marina is clean, has amazingly hot showers and the berth is quiet with no rocky swell as we had in St. Malo.
Stay tuned for our next trip and us exploring the Guildo(-Horn)-town and surroundings
