The La Penze river is silent, save for birdsong and the occasional returning shellfish boat. Stargazer gently swings to and fro, at her anchor. Lightly jostled by a tide impatient to fill the coves and bays, before it is time to leave once more.
We navigated, gingerly, in from the outer estuary - sketch chart in hand, French large scale chart spread on the hatch, eyes on plotter and depth guage. And watching the channel markers. Ticking them off on the sketch chart - to be sure that we don’t accidentally miss one, cut a corner and end up impaled.
Threading our way between crags. Seen and unseen. The tide increasing the depth - and driving us relentlessly onward.
The deeper into the estuary we go, the tighter the channel and the smaller the markers.
Villages and beaches crowd in.
Stargazer has granite walls close to either side. The engine is on tickover, in case we need to stop by swinging one hundred and eighty degrees and stemming the three knot tide.
Oyster farmers, tending their fast submerging tuiles, work only a boat length or two away - marking the edge of the rock channel.
Cormorants look on. Too languid, in the heat of this midsummer’s afternoon, to hold their wings up to cool off in the gentle sea breeze.
Around one last bend in the channel, the water shoals so that Stargazer will only just float at low water. We round up, under the lee of the rocky point marked by the green perch, and anchor.
A beaming grandfather, grandson at the helm, madame and grand daughter waving from the sternsheets, puts out from the village shore to say “Bonjour.” To welcome us to the La Penze river. We are well and truly off the beaten track.
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