La Moira, Our last day

26 August : The expected bad weather had passed through during the night. The morning forecast on the VHF tallied with the printed forecast that the Skipper charmed out of a Mooring Fairy (female): good sailing weather in the morning, but thunderstorms later in the day. We decided to fill up the diesel tank here rather than at the relatively cramped fuel dock at La Trinité. We had kept a log of engine hours, but a lot of the motoring had been into and out of port, and we didn’t know what fuel consumption would be like at low speed. The fuel gauge was still showing full, so we wondered if it was broken. In the event, we had used very little, but at least it left one fewer thing to do later.

We had a fun sail eastwards across the bay and then north to La Trinité. We were one of the first to arrive, which was good, as we could choose our berth, and for once there happened to be someone there to give us a hand with the mooring lines. While I finished packing, the Skipper made the lengthy trek round to the harbourmaster’s office to get a trolley. We hosed down the decks and loaded the car during the gaps between really heavy thundery showers. We were pleased that people from the charter company were already around, so everything was sorted by about 4.30.

River Crac'h from La Trinité

Next to the harbourmaster’s office is a little gallery selling paintings and drawings by Stéphane Lauro, an artist from nearby Vannes. They are slightly wistful Morbihan scenes, in gentle colours, many of them showing small boats at low tide. We bought a couple of prints and an original ink drawing, and we’re very pleased with them now that they’re framed and hung in the Skipper’s library and our in our bedroom. We ate at L’Arrosoir as planned, and it was really good – must remember to book there next time we visit La Trinité!

Cale Sèche en Bretagne, Stéphane Lauro

We had thoroughly enjoyed our week on board La Moira. We had visited some beautiful and interesting places around the Baie de Quiberon (oh yes, we also went to Le Crouesty), learnt about yet more imaginative mooring arrangements, and met lots of friendly fellow sailors. We certainly appreciated the space and comfort of a relatively big boat, and our reservations about how easy to manage she would be for just two people proved unfounded. But… we both felt that the little Nordic Folkboat had been much more fun!