I flew back to Brest with younger son Jonty in order to take Spellbinder north and back to SW England. We were joined by my god daughter Lottie.

The journey was a bit convoluted, and I was impressed by SNCF who despite cancelling a train put us in free taxis so we could make our connection. Not something that would happen in the UK I think!

After 2 taxis and 2 trains we arrived back at Port Haliguen to discover that I had mislaid my boat keys. We found a way to get in though, and had an excellent dinner at the marina restaurant.

We headed off north the next day, motoring in light conditions and after several hours in reaching Glénan, anchoring off the island of Penfret, and enjoying a walk ashore.

Our next stop was Cameret, which involved another long day of motoring north, through the Raz de Sein. It had been a few years since we had gone there, and we enjoyed walking around the town, and shopped for the days ahead.

We had a quiet night in Cameret, then headed up the Rade de Brest to the Marina du Château, where we checked out of France at the local douane. An afternoon motor then took us to the Ile Molène, near Ouessant – an island that was new to me, and which I had long wanted to visit. We anchored in the harbour, in thick weed, and enjoyed the walks around.

We did a last minute shop the next morning before preparing Spellbinder for her cross Channel return. We left at the most opportune moment for the tides, and managed to sail a fair amount of the way, taking 23 hours in total. We enjoyed a huge, low moon which made night visibility excellent.

As we neared the English coast we were joined by a racing pigeon. Its tag suggested it was Belgian. It hitched a lift all the way into Salcombe.

On arrival in Salcombe we said goodbye to Lottie – great to have you on board!

It was time to start another cruise in company, this time with the Royal Cruising Club (RCC). We enjoyed heading gently south west, via the Erme, Yealm, Plymouth, Fowey and the Fal to Helford. We were joined by Jonty’s friend George for a few days.

On leaving the Yealm we responded to a call from another member, who had suffered an engine failure (blocked seawater inlet) when heading out of the river. We took him under tow into Plymouth, then helped him resolve his problem.

After Plymouth we headed to Fowey then the Fal, enjoying old haunts and socialising with the other RCC members.

It was a bit damp and windy up the Fal, but it is a fine place to ride out poor weather, as the mud is part clay and very, very sticky. We revisited the Heron pub at Malpas, enjoyed a pontoon party and safari supper on one of the midstream pontoons, and then sailed to the Helford for a final gathering. It was all great fun.

We have left Spellbinder in Falmouth for now, hoping for a final cruise in the West Country at the end of July.