Benodet
13 August 2014
Of all our experiences since leaving Chichester marina, the most enjoyable seem to be while we’re anchored. Life aboard tends to be distilled down to the simple things, but mostly it’s about the quiet peacefulness without other boats or people around. Benodet, specifically the river O’det, was all this in spades. Once past the town of Benodet at the mouth, the river O’det is navigable for at least 5 or 6 miles inland. We chose a sheltered spot upriver perhaps three miles from mouth, opposite a beautiful old tree and ancient thermal bath on the river bank. We spent a glorious 10 days on the river chillaxing and catching-up on boat chores. We also had an opportunity to use the dinghy with the outboard, which up to this point was just an ornament on the stern rail.. Benodet was just a 20-minute dinghy ride and offered a thriving beach scene, a large supermarket and all the usual shops.
Benodet was the first town that had large expanses of sandy beach filled with people. The view upon entering the river reminded me of Santa Cruz, California with its long curving ribbon of sand writhing with beachgoers, lots of kids and dogs. It was backed-up with a boardwalk full of tourist shops and ice cream stands. The opposite bank held large, stately homes with views to the town and the sea. The river mouth was equally crowded with large ferries heading to the offshore islands, smaller boats of all kinds, windsurfers and kayakers. In short, the perfect seaside tourist town. The contrast between the river mouth and further upstream couldn’t have been more dramatic.
We did stay a night at the marina to top-up with water and met an Irishman who recommended a nice anchorage upriver accessed by a tiny little side channel. The next day found us very tentatively entering a cleft in the rock barely 40 feet wide on a rising tide. We were both on pins and needles as we inched along, our eyes glued to the depth meter. It was like one of those water rides at Disneyland that have coursing around a dark cavern, waiting for the inevitable. The winding inlet through the rock opened onto a wonderful pool perhaps 200 yards across, easily accommodating an anchored boat or two. However, we chickened out and turned back when the depth hit two meters. We likely would have been OK is it was near low tide (Déjà Vu draws 1.5 meters), but that was a little too close for comfort. Later, we went back in the dinghy and confirmed there was at least 5 feet of depth at low water.