Dream Weaver Cruise - update 11

31.5.15 St Cast le Guildo

(Having a few connectivity issues posting this. Maybe the stormy conditions? Going to try posting with no pictures and then adding each of the 3 separately later, to keep the file size down. Here goes...)



Stargazer's ensign streams in the morning breeze and patches of blue sky scurry between rain showers. The lows have tracked in early and the wind booms and roars above our heads.



Early arrival of the channel gales should mean their early disappearance....and hasten the day when Stargazer and I put back to sea.



I take a brisk birthday walk out to the point, where wild yellow gorse and green fronds of bracken jig merrily in the breeze above craggy cliffs and island strewn seas.

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Location:Chemin des Douaniers,Saint-Cast-le-Guildo,France

Dream Weaver Cruise - update 10

30.5.15 St Cast le Guildo




A sunny Samedi in St Cast. By the way, Monsieur's shiny 2CV doesn't have a flat front tyre - it's just rolled in against the tarmac kerb.




Stargazer lies snug in port, literally recharging her batteries.




Pastel houses nestle amid sinewy trees, both clinging to the steep hillside.




Carefree sailors, out for the weekend, scud about the bay on a spangled sea.




Mare's tails thicken above the Point de St Cast and the barometer is falling. The forecasts are warning of gales in La Manche overnight Sunday and into Wednesday, maybe beyond.




I savour the memories of settled weather and sunsets amid the granite rose of Brehat, and reflect that Stargazer must soon point her bows homeward.




It depends how fast the lows move, whether we have time to make Jersey or Guernsey tomorrow - before the gales set in.

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Location:Saint-Cast-le-Guildo,France

Dream Weaver Cruise - Update 9

29.5.15 St Cast le Guildo




A change in the weather overnight: Last night soft evening sunshine temped me out for an after dinner row. (I added this picture of tranquility to yesterday's post when I got back). The warm glow of the angular stone house. Black formless shadow blending into layered green bough. Silver light dancing over blue sea.




This morning the wind moans and roars above the Ile des Hebihans, although our bay remains still. We sail off the anchor under jib making 4 knots. Stargazer clears the lee of the island, leans her shoulder into the swell and turns to face 25 knots of SW breeze. She beats towards St Cast - making 6 knots still under jib only.




It's a down wind berth, when we arrive in port. The ensign cracks like a whip across the cockpit as Stargazer swings in towards the finger.




Our landing is not elegant - but it's a soft one, involving much use of my "get out of jail free"endless loop mooring line. Dents to my pride but none to Stargazer's gleaming top sides - and that's the main thing.




All this island hopping and anchoring has meant no chance of a brie and baguette supper yet this cruise. A state of affairs which I am about to put right.

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Location:Rue du Port Jaquet,,France

Dream Weaver Cruise - Update 8

28.5.15 Ile des Hebihans




A patch of blue sky appears above the pointing finger of the Cap Frehel lighthouse. We've broad reached East on a making tide through the mizzle of the morning.




Now Stargazer scuds inshore under clearing skies - towards the shape of a surfacing dragon. The black saw toothed tail lies extended towards us. Its emerald green body away from us. Just as the Belgian crew on the beach at Men Alan described.




We round the tail and creep in under tawny cliffs, streaked yellow with lichen - a wary eye on the depth gauge. Stargazer is beam on to wind and swell, rolling heavily as she reaches along under jib only.




A tree lined bay opens to windward. Stargazer rounds up. I furl the jib and rattle down the anchor.




We lie still, surrounded by birdsong and the musical lapping of water in the evening sun.

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Location:France

Dream Weaver Cruise - Update 7

27.5.15 Men Alan Bay, Ile de Brehat




I row into La Chambre on a glassy morning. The May sun chases off the last tendrils of sea mist as it clambers high into the sky.




A sentinel cormorant, perched on a stone battlement heaped with popping weed, guards the sinuous channel.




Yesterday I had planned to take today's flood tide inland to Lezardrieux. My morning row, amid the tumbled dice of Granite Rose, changes my mind.




I row back, past Stargazer, her flags momentarily fluttered by a zephyr of breeze. She nods gently as I pass - as if to agree that this is a day for dinghy exploration.




I skim, on clear clean water, above the rocky shallows which lie between the crags sheltering our anchorage.




Ruddy Tors, pierced by blue sky tower above us.




I run the dinghy ashore and feel the cool firm sand scrunch between my toes. On the beach I meet a Belgian crew who tell of an island anchorage east of Cap Frehel.

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Location:France

Dream Weaver Cruise - Update 6

26.5.15 Men Alan Bay, Ile de Brehat




The stocky stone Men Joliguet beacon sits, like Humpty Dumpty, in a yellow and black striped shirt astride a wall of Granite Rose. Stargazer lies at anchor below.




Puffs of white cumulus drift slowly across the sky like thoughts through my day dreaming mind.




Ashore, emerald green lollipop trees stand silhouetted above a beach of white gold.




I row round to La Chambre through a maze of tumbled granite dice, rolled into the sea by the hand of a playful giant. (Pictures tomorrow - I need mains electricity to download them).

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Location:France

Dream Weaver Cruise - Update 5

25.5.15 Men Alan Bay, Ile de Brehat





Stargazer swoops South. Wings spread to the west wind. Down past Roches Douvres....




...and on between the unseen reefs of the Chenal de Brehat.




Deep riven rocks of Granite Rose stand like fairy tale castles above silvered waters.




We trade tacks with a gaff cutter, foaming along with a bone in her teeth. Off the south shore of Ile de Brehat she bears away for Lezardrieux.




Stargazer folds her wings and sounds into the beach in Men Alan Bay to anchor for the night.


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Location:France

Dream Weaver Cruise - update 4

24.5.15 Havelet Bay, Guernsey
( Delayed posting - No data signal)





The morning sun eagerly unwraps the jewel island of Sark from its cotton wool shroud of sea mist. Cats paws of breeze pad across a still sea, fluttering ensigns and sending Sunday dinghies scampering. Church bells sing out over the stillness of our bay.




I'm rested now. Ready to catch Monday morning's tide South to Brittany. We're promised a passage making N5. Ile de Brehat beckons.

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Dream Weaver Cruise - update 3

23.5.15 Havelet Bay, Guernsey
( Delayed posting - no data signal)





Stargazer ekes out the last of the dying breeze to anchor in the lee of Castle Cornet, in the wan light of dawn, 18 hours out of Poole. Out in the Little Russell channel a towering cruise liner silently follows suit.




The sun climbs higher, glinting off the ornate rooftops of St Peter Port and turning the waters of the bay a deep shade of holiday blue

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Dream Weaver Cruise - update 2

22.5. 15 Poole Bay







The morning drizzle lifts as we clear the bridges and motor past the Quay.







Under way - hoping to be in Guernsey before the wind disappears for the weekend!


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Dream Weaver Cruise - Update 1

21.5.15 Poole Harbour




I head into the supermarket on the way home from work and pick up provisions.




Stargazer lies waiting on her berth, eager to cleave the waves once more.




A perfect W 4-5 is forecast for Friday, going light by Saturday afternoon. Plan A is to sleep off the working week tonight; eat a hearty brunch; catch the ebb down harbour; be off Anvil for High Water Dover at 15.00 Friday; ride the breeze across the Channel; catch the turn of the tide off the Casqets at 03.10 Saturday; and arrive in St Peter Port around 07.00.
Let the Dream Weaver Cruise commence!

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Location:Woodlands Avenue,Poole,United Kingdom