Fortunately the strong wind had relented by morning and we set off at 0830 with 57 miles approximately to Benodet. We had the sails up and everything stowed away very shortly after rounding the harbour wall and headed out around La Teignhouse lighthouse deciding not to go for the narrow rock hopping passages described in the pilot book and stick to the wide buoyed channel which enabled us to keep the sails up on a heading towards Belle Ile. I had hoped we would tack and be able to head for Benodet on port tack but sadly the wind (and the tide at this point) were against us so we motored for a couple of hours to cover some distance - it was going to be a good 10 hours to Benodet. There was still some swell from the storms of the last 24 hours which was a bit uncomfortable, but fortunately this soon went down and by the time we reached abeam of Ile de Groix the wind had veered more in our favour, the tide was helping us, and the sea state slight - we were charging along again at about 7 to 7.5 knots. This is a nice area of water to sail as the Iles de Glenan provide a natural breakwater and like when we were going the other way some months ago, it was a comfortable sail. I took plenty of pics (see gallery) and Bells was asleep on the cockpit floor - she was happier now the boat was steady (having lost her lunch earlier). A mixture of Bob Marley, Guns N Roses, and Eminem kept me going. The 'local Basque' tobacco I had bought in Hendaye was still going strong and we made good progress as the hours went by. Traffic increased as we approached Benodet with a few yachts playing with their spinnakers. We took the sails down before it got too congested, and slowed down to let a large new yacht passed us - they were determined to show off their shiny vessel and I didn't think it a good idea to go through the narrow entrance two alongside each other - plus it's annoying people whistling at the dogs (not exactly helpful). Having stormed past us, the usual happens, the yacht slowed right down with the lady at the wheel obviously not as confident at what she was doing now she had achieved her goal of overtaking us (?!?) We were ready with fenders and ropes already set and went up the river Odet - we considered the marina on the left at Sainte Marine as we had not been there before, but decided in view of the convenient Laverie and Supermarche we would stick with plan to moor at marina up by the bridge on the Benodet side. We carefully ferry glided into a spot on the outside of the visitors pontoon – have to be careful as the tide fair rips out through this area – we further downstream on the pontoon which meant we would not be so pinned to the pontoon with the current which comes around the bend in the river as it comes down under the bridge. We had times our arrival shortly before low water so (plus it was neaps) so not too much trouble at all.
I popped up the very welcoming Capitainerie who recognised us from months ago as ‘the English boat with the dogs’ to book us in (and get the code for access to the Orange wifi which is very useful) and Kim did the usual with putting the sail cover on, and set up camp etc. Then it was on with dinner – spaghetti bolognaise! It was nice coming back to beautiful Benodet where everything is convenient and we both feel much happier now we’ve covered the bulk of the trip back up Biscay – really feels now like we’re nearly home. Still the small matter of another 300 miles to go through the Raz de Sein, Chennal Du Four, and a crossing of the English Channel.....