Debi and Jack sailing on SV Iroquois

We're in Brittany! ! With buckwheat crepes and cider and gateau Breton. It's so beautiful, rocky and a little tropical. They grow artichokes here and lots of vegetables. They are famous for the Roscoff pink onions which are shipped across the channel and sold in England along with salads, potatoes and other vegetables. It's like a tiny California, only colder. Unfortunately,  market day is Wednesday and we arrived Thursday. Reading about it in the guides I thought it was just a ferry port with a big new fancy marina but it turns out to be a totally charming fishing village with old stone buildings and winding narrow streets. There is also a giant ferry port and a small casino, but it’s possible to take a scenic path to town and not see either of them.
We chose Roscoff because of the new marina which can be entered in any tide and weather at any time. We crossed from Guernsey and had a bit of a rough start. The tide was with us but the wind against. We had expected a northwesterly wind and sailing but found a southwest wind and motoring so it was not very comfortable. A few hours out of Guernsey, Jack was resting and I suddenly noticed a boat that appeared out of nowhere. At first I thought it was a fishing boat because it was sort of standing still and moving erratically. But then I didn't see any fishing gear and saw a lot of antennae so decided it was a military boat of some sort. It also didn't appear on the AIS, which is odd even for military training ships. It moved along a track parallel to us for a while then turned directly toward us and launched a RIB with four men aboard. At that point I woke up Jack and said I think we're going to have visitors. French customs requested to come aboard. They asked us to turn upwind and hold our speed. It was tricky for them to board us as the rib was almost a long as Iroquois and its  bow and a good portion of the rest was above our deck level. Three uniformed men came aboard carrying side arms and wearing topsiders. They were very polite, asked for the boat papers, our passports and if we wanted to declare any drugs, guns or cash greater then 5000 euros. They filled out some forms and made a show of searching down below. It seems they don't see many boats like ours. They were impressed with the pumps for water in the galley and admired the woodwork. But their searching was very cursory. I think they were just making sure there was no one else aboard. After using our electronics to determine the longitude and latitude, everyone but Deb signed the forms and they were off, after we warned them not to lose their footing on the jib sheets and preventer lines on deck. The whole thing took about 30 minutes. We both wanted to take their picture but neither of us asked. We both wanted to know why one of the three was wearing a helmet, but neither of us asked. The mother ship was an impressive craft, complete with machine guns, and moved very quickly, skittering over the water like a waterbug.
We've walked into town twice and got lost on the way back both times. Last night we walked around and ate moules et frites in a small cafe then on the way back ended up walking past the casino and ferry terminal. Today we walked in to visit the shops. We stopped at a small grocer where they chose our tomatoes and peaches based on how soon we wanted to eat them. We also got some local lettuce, when I pointed out the snail on the bottom of it she said it's biologique (organic). She picked it off and put in the planter on the sidewalk. We also got some wine and cheese there. Then we went to the butcher shop where the guy actually chopped the lamb chops and trimmed them with a giant cleaver on a block that looked hundreds of years old. Our last stop was the delicatessen where we got roasted pork slices and a cooked artichoke. Then we turned the wrong way and ended up walking to the opposite end of town. I knew we were in trouble when the road signs had all names we hadn't heard of and nothing that said port. So we had a long walk back but we got to see the fields where the potatoes and onions were growing. There are actually several harbors here. In town is the old harbor which dries at low tide. It looked like the fishing boats did not go out today,  so maybe we won't be buying from them. We watched a guy walk out to his boat, carefully remove his muddy boots and climb aboard. Then there's the ferry port with ferries to Ireland, England and it looked like Bilbao was also listed. And off the side of that harbor is the walled marina where we are. It's relatively new but has normal marina facilities,  just not very good wifi or cellular reception. It does however have bread delivery. You order the day before and pick up your croissants and baguette after seven the next morning. These are the real thing, not the commercial Dutch versions.