Bay of Biscay

With our time in Spain coming to an end we sailed to the Ria de Muros and kept an eye on the weather forecast for an opportunity to sail across Biscay to Brittany. We arrived at the Ensenada de Esteiro, where we decided the late afternoon sunshine was hot enough for a swim. The following morning we were awoken to the noise of numerous fishermen and at least 20 boats working along the shore just a few metres from our boat. We were clearly in their way, so decided to move across the ria to Playa Aguieira, a delightful bay, so we decided to anchor for another night rather than head into the nearby marina. Finally we were running out of food and water so headed for the marina at Portosin, the helpful marineros guided us into a berth next to a large Spanish race yacht!

The prevailing wind direction along this coastline is northerly, not much good for sailing north. So with a weather forecast of southerly winds for a few days, we decided not to head to A Coruna, but sail across Biscay starting from Portosin. The distance of just over 400 miles to South Brittany would take us at least 3 days. We made an early start and motored to the end if the Ria until the wind picked up and we could sail north past Cabo Finisterre. Dolphins followed us for many miles, the sea was fairly calm and the light winds made the sailing easy.

As we approached the end of the third day we could see the Ile de Groix near Lorient. We had decided to explore the River Blavet that is navigable for several miles inland to Hennebont. However, we arrived at the entrance to the river at Lorient at 2 am, so decided to anchor for the night and continue the following day. The River Blavet was amazing, similar to the Helford River in Cornwall, we enjoyed several walks along the wooded banks. The weather was hot and sunny, with the river water clean enough to swim, just what we needed to recover from the trip across the Bay of Biscay.