I get up early to do some laundry. As I walk on the pontoons in the beautiful weather – I get a rush of gratefulness of being born in a peaceful time where people can just get along and you are able to travel like this. Throughout the history, it has been difficult to explore, meet new people and exchange experiences and ideas. I feel sad that so many people want to drag the world back in that ignorant direction where “our way” is the correct way and that every other way is wrong and should be (at best) corrected or ignored and at worst overturned by violence. This fear track does not make the world a better place to live but is sold by so many people. I will never be one of them. In this mood, I put on my morning coffee and write yesterday’s blog post that incorporates a number of pre-written ones that I have not been able to post due to lack of “wiffeee”.

We fill up the fridge, as it is uncertain if we will go into harbours the next days or just stay at anchor. Today we will go to the Gulfe du Morbihan, which was actually the original plan. This gulf should be like an archipelago and from the pictures it looks nice and people have been talking about it ever since I start asking about it. It is like a lot of other things in life. I have lived a whole life thinking (“knowing”) that the French coast was a stretch of sandy beaches and rocky cliffs with some rocky islands outside Brest. When you learn more you get curious, find out new facts, and start hearing (and understanding) more and more. The more you get to know, the more you get interested and the more you learn. The spiral works perfectly because you want to experience and learn so much more. I think that the moral here is that it is it is nice, comfortable and easy to stay unaware and live in a comfortable world where you have all the “facts” – especially if you get them confirmed by the outer world (like news or large-scale maps). The more you learn you see a detailed coast line, interesting people and places, interesting history and development and the life experience grows so much larger and complex. This goes with everything in life and travel is not an exception. Gulfe du Morbihan is such a place. At best, it is a lake on the French map to me before. Understanding that we have limited time to explore, we decide to pick three main spots. The city Auray and its oyster river, Ile au Moines with its views and Vannes, the capital of Morbihan.

We do as recommended by the pilot book and enter the entrance just before high tide. Even so, the currents are considerable. I can imagine how it should be half tide when the lake should move through this tiny inlet with its islands and underground rocks. After this section of currents, the slow trip up the river is pleasant.

Before Auray, there is a bridge that is too low for us so we ask another sailor if there are visitor boys and he points us to a unmarked buoy. Settled down, we take the dinghy to the city and tie it up at a pontoon.

The east river bed is actually the original town of Saint-Goustan and Auray is on the other side. Saint-Goustan/Auray was a pleasant surprise – nice houses and nice relaxed atmosphere. We walk through the cobbled streets, sit down for some crepes and climb the hills of the town.

We then head out to Melody to relax. I take the dinghy down to the neighbour village of Bono to have a look. Nice village but nothing compared to Auray. I head back and we have a dinner on the boat. The moon comes out aft of us and it feels like another good day.