This morning when all the rafted boats started moving it was all a bit chaotic, with boats hitting the rocks on the breakwater and others hitting other boats, as they all fought for a bit of water to manoeuvre their boats……bizarre!

We left them all to it, and waited until the chap to whom we were rafted was ready to leave, and we then slipped our lines turned the boat as there by now plenty of room, and out we went to head for Royan.

As we had plenty of time to get to the entrance to the Gironde River I decided to keep well clear of the headland where I had watched big breakers yesterday. Our plan was to stay well offshore and keep clear of all the wrecks inshore and make a final decision on our entry point into the Gironde Estuary, until we were further down the coast and able to see the effects of the tide/swell etc at the entrance.

The sun was burning away in a clear blue sky as we sailed along at the heady speed of 3kts over the ground, until that is, we needed to get a bit more speed to ensure we arrived at the entrance at least two hours before high water allowing us to arrive at Royan at slack water as per the pilot book.

Now our friends that write these pilot books have a field day about the entrance and have dire warning about not cutting the corner over the Bank de Mauvaise/Banc de Coubra. Indeed one book suggested staying out to the BXA marker buoy which is about five miles west of the first lateral buoys…………………I deemed the conditions to be good enough that we could pick up these lateral bouys between numbers 2 and 2a, so that’s where we headed.

The leading lights/line on the run in through these first few pairs of markers takes you pretty close to the Banc de Coubra and we could see huge breakers coming onto this bank, and when I say close I mean close. I navigated more to starboard and went south of the cardinal marker, but even then I was struggling to keep my eyes off these breaking waves. We were bang on spring tides and the sweep of the current means close attention needs to be paid to maintain course, and a constant check behind looking at the markers we passed helped us stay on track. Now at this point I would have to say that the warnings in the pilot book are warranted and should be heeded – to attempt coming into the entrance in adverse conditions, could lead one to discover religion quite quickly.

Approaching Royan the sky went a really peculiar colour, and the contrast with the colour of the sea/estuary was something to behold. I tried capturing it in the following photograph, but didn’t manage it too well.

About half an hour after we got into Royan and tied up at the visitors berth, a few things happened simultaneously. The wind increased dramatically and spun around 180 degrees, fork and sheet lightning filled the sky, and the rain pelted down in Biblical volumes. Thank goodness we arrived when we did, and that didn’t have to contend with these conditions on our way into the Gironde.

When we left Scotland we had agreed that Royan would be our “decision making point” in that we could either cut across Biscay to the Spanish Rias on the North Coast of Spain, and then work our way down the western coast of Spain and Portugal. The alternative would be to drop the mast at Royan and go down the Gironde River to enter the canal system that cuts through France and come out at the Med. However we really needed to find detailed information on this canal system to ensure Sun Dog could make it through with Air Draught (height of wheelhouse etc) being the main consideration, but our draft will also increase as we will be in fresh (sic) water in the canal system so caution will be the watchword.

If she doesn’t fit then across Biscay it will be, as there will be no point in spending weeks going through the canal to find out we cannot fit through the lowest bridge on the route, and have to turn back.