After having a good breakfast from the combined cafe/bakery/supermarket at the Marina, I go to pay the customs office a visit. They are open, the customs guy look at me with an amused look, and he answers that it is a “Guernsey thing” that has nothing to do with France. We are welcome into the country and we have not been illegal aliens. Good to know and we continued westwards. The original plan was to visit Ile-de-Batz that should be beautiful but the weather gods thought otherwise. In the fog and cold weather, we steamed on in the absence of decent wind and reached L’Aber Wrac’h that is one of the central villages in the Finistère Oyster industry.

Leaving Roscoff

As we came in at high water – these spots of delicacies was marked on the chart but not visible but as the water level came down – we could see them everywhere. The village also hosts a lot of youth sailing activity and the neat memories from my own sailing schools as kid comes back. So fun to watch these kids getting skilled in handling their dinghies, surfboards and small cats.

The village is very down-to-earth and we decided to take a Crepe lunch before going for a real seafood experience later on. Here I drank the French cider for first time. I normally do not like cider since I think it is too sweet. English dry cider is better but being in a pub – I rather go for the excellent Ales and Bitters. Turns out that this dry cider was perfect to the crepes and I learnt a new good combination.

Young sailors learning to handle their equipment

The boat was filled with wooden boats and ships and it turned that there had been a wooden boat festival the weekend before in Brest. I always get happy when I see a wooden boat or ship. Knowing my limits – the maintenance would kill me.

The oyster beds start revealing themselves

Tasting dry french Cider for first time. Turns out to be perfect to crepes

Low water in the harbour.

Then it was time to take a closer look at the oyster beds so we take a walk to the closest ones. Sadly, we could not come that close without proper boots but it was still nice to know that they were there so close. We also got a very nice walk up to the semaphore and through a forest.

Another angle into the bay

The view out to sea from the semaphore

The oyster beds

The top of the visit was however the seafood house ““L’ Ecailler des Abers” that we got recommended. We had to wait for a table a couple of hours but it was sure worth it. The place is small and the exterior does not indicate the cosy interior and superb food. Having local oysters and the Seafood Cassoulet was a true experience. Five out of five oyster shells in “Guide Hugo”.

At the restaurant, we start talking to Alain and Cecile who were in their nice wooden yacht next to us. I have this passion for wooden boats and I would love to have one but knowing my limitations – the maintenance would kill me. As they had been cruising around a lot – we invited them to our boat, went through the plans for the next weeks, and got some useful tips. It turned out that Alain grew up in Les Sables d’Olonne so obviously – this was the right guide.

Having really fresh oysters

The Seafood Cassolette