St Cast
15 May 2017
Current Position
48 38 40N
002 14 75W
St Cast Le Guildo
We had a great sail to St Cast with wind from the SW Force 4. It hasn't been shorts and t shirt weather yet whilst sailing and we have been wearing hats and gloves on some occasions. This was another "bunny hop" - 11 miles port to port. St Cast is a classy summer resort with a walkway all the way along the beach - perfect for promenarding. It is one of the few ports along this coastline that are easily accessible whatever the tides so doesn't involve a sill or a lock. Although to be honest, we are well in the groove now regarding both and as long as you work the tides right they are not as daunting as you first think. This coastline is VERY rocky and when looking at the charts it appears very scary but we are also in the 'rock' groove and realise that actually, sailing around at low tide is better than at high tide. You can see them and they are also very well marked. Quite often we would see a big concrete marker looming out of the water which when you see it at low tide is sitting on a massive rock. We are very bemused by the fact that, so far, we have had the places we have visited pretty much to ourselves. The season does not start on this part of the French coast until June so up until then it is all very quiet and very relaxed, each marina we have stayed in closes for lunch between 12.00 and 14.00 and does not open at all on Sunday. The staff are not interested in grabbing your money the minute you rock up and simply tell you to pay when you are ready to leave. How refreshing after the UK south coast. Fees are significantly cheaper here and there are deals to be done. In Guernsey if you stay 3 nights you get the 4th free. Jersey was similar. So we rocked up at St Cast and chose ourselves a berth. It was a gorgeous location - a one mile long sandy beach so we were keen to get off the boat and do some walking. We are missing our weekly Pilates class and can feel ourselves stiffening up. Stiletto is just not quite spacious enough to stretch yourself out so we have promised ourselves that we will make a real effort to do some Pilates each time we get off. We walked the length of the Boulevard de la Mer and along a footpath up the cliff. A wander through town led us to another pastry and cake stall - where we succumbed to something I cannot pronounce or spell. I fear a bad habit forming!! It was a glorious day, warm and sunny and we walked back along the beach and paddled in the beautiful crystal clear water. Not quite warm enough for a dip yet - 13.8 degrees . Supper was at a local seafood shop that had a restaurant attached. We arrived at 8.45 and the waitress was not sure we could have a table, so spoke to the shop owner who smiled and said OK. Freshly caught prawns as a starter and then I had the most gorgeous Mackerel fillets which taste sweet when really fresh. Andreas had Dorado. At 9.30 the waitress came and explained that she was now going home, so the shop owner took over and looked after us as we were the last customers of the day. Next day, as we walked past his shop he called out "bonjour" and waved. Nice.
Song for this post: Cake by the ocean by DNCE
Thought for this post : Everyone in the UK should take a leaf out of the French book. A proper lunch break. Shut up shop. Go out for lunch. Sunday is family day. I am sure there would be less stress in the workplace on the back of it and probably happier families. A bit like the old days!
Highlight for this post: Paddling in the crystal clear water of a beautiful sandy beach