Maiden and St Malo

19th March

So, it is definately St Malo or bust today. Only 25 miles or so and we head for an Aire near the marina and old town. I was last here in the early 1990's with my great friend Vicki competing in the Cowes Dinard race on the 58' yacht Maiden. The boat sailed by Tracy Edwards and her all girl crew in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World race. Our race was somewhat different with 3 professional crew on board and 7 amateurs. But it was a memorable couple of days. The boat is stripped out inside and we slept ( although we didn't do much of that) in pipe cots hanging off the sides of the hull with approx 12" of space above you to the next cot. The galley equipment wasn't working, and I remember having a banana for breakfast. The sailing was exhilarating and we reached the finish on the Saturday afternoon, so had the evening in St Malo before an early start home on Sunday. Well, that was the plan. A couple of hours after we arrived there was a gale warning, and we had to grab something to eat and head back. We were divided up into watches, and Vicki and I given the early morning slot 3.00 - 6.00am with one of the professionals. So we saw in the new day with a great sunrise and an amazing reach home. The boat is like a thoroughbred and needs to be constantly taken in hand. I loved it.

So here again in the sunshine. Not such a fantastic visit. The moules frites at the Chateaubriant restaurant in the square were not good. Most of them had hardly opened and even after sending them back, they came back in a similar state. But the old town of St Malo is lovely, with a great beach, heaving with restaurants and a good place to visit and stay for a couple of days.









Next up is Mont St Michel and JC has found an Aire on the beach close by.






When we get there there is the familiar rubble and grey cement evidence all around. Oh no, even the beach has gone grey. The Mont is under serious renovations and obviously there has been gallons of cement used. It is all over the Aire and on the causeway to the Mont. we have paid our €12 for the night so suffer it as we want to look around in the morning.

Not a good decision. There is no where to take the dogs as the beach is sludge and there is no grass nearby. By the evening, the van has grey grit everywhere and we are thinking NOT DOING THIS AGAIN.



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Location:Mont st michel