A little detour to Granville

Back to Îles Chausey

After our slightly traumatic but impressive visit to Mont Saint-Michel, our next stop was an overnighter back out at the Îles Chausey. With light SW winds and under a lovely sunny sky, we headed east on a reach towards Mont Saint-Michel before tacking north-ish towards the Îles Chausey.

Here we anchored in our previous spot. Douglas, having kept watch in a horizontal position in the cockpit for much of the sail, braved the water for a brief swim, and emerged fresh and very much awake from the cold shock.

Wallowing to Granville

After a rolly night we set out the next morning for Granville where Douglas was booked to catch a train to Paris to begin his term as a volunteer at the Paralympics.

The trip across was a slow wallow that happily only lasted a couple of hours and left Douglas feeling like land was going to be a very good option. Then we were tied up before hustling him off onto his train.

One of our favourite towns

Granville turned out to be a very pleasant harbour town. A beautiful old fort dominates the hill top while behind it there is a tangle of buildings, old, new, cute and charmless.

Despite having extensive fortifications on its headland, the town is apparently without Vauban’s influence. The word on the street is that he did study possible improvements to the town’s defences after the English visited in 1695, but that he got too busy with sieging, being besieged or building stuff to follow through with them.

On the northern side of the peninsula are beachfront houses and low-tide beaches above which parasails patrol silently and colourfully.

The town itself is a bustle with narrow streets and, on the right days, busy markets bursting with stalls and people. A beautiful spot!