The French Leg

As the weather got sunnier we departed the Channel Islands and did the short hop round to Cherbourg. Cherbourg is a much maligned place. It has a vibrant Saturday market, good facilities and a rich history (even if it is centred on Umbrellas). We did plenty of geocaching, bring up our 1000th find at the Le Redoutable Submarine. We found that the Dutch sailing vessels had also decided to move from Alderney to Cherbourg.

From Cherbourg we went for another short hop around the corner of the Cherbourg Peninsular, past Barfleur and into St Vaast. St Vaast is a charming French fishing port. It was voted the Best Village in France in 2019 by the French. Whilst we were there we were treated to an entirely different set of attractions to those that won it the award. We had the ‘pleasure’ of a large funfair covering the whole marina front next to Valent, and a fantastic firework display on the Sunday night.

Valent can only enter St Vaast around 1 hour either side of high water. The lock gates close when the depth falls to 2.3M in the marina, to keep the water at that level (though it seemed more like 2.1M). Our draft is 2.3M, so this felt as though we were touching the bottom.

St Vaast entry – high water vs low water. Once the height of tide is around 2.3M the lock gates shut.

St Vaast is one of the ports that claim William The Conqueror set sail from. It is also where the British Navy burnt 12 French ships of the line back in 1692. The action is known as the Battle of Barfleur and was between the French and an Anglo-Dutch fleet. This was all part of the French plan to invade England and restore James II to the English throne thus forcing England to return to the Catholic Church. In more modern times St Vaast is one of the largest production areas of oysters and mussels. The town also has the Chapelle des Marins, a small chapel dedicated to the memories of those lost at sea from the village of St Vaast. It is a pertinent reminder of how dangerous the sea can be. Most of the lives were lost by local fishermen, often several people from the same family. St Vaast also celebrates its association with the sea and our visit coincided with a regatta for old wooden gaff boats that provided an excuse for the fireworks and funfair.

One other major attraction of St Vaast (apart from great restaurants specialising in local produce) is Monsieur Gosselin. This masquerades as an extensive deli, but really it is the most amazing wine merchant. Cellar after cellar of different wines, dusty locked rooms with the ‘special wines’ and other side rooms specialising in whisky. The scent of old wood is mixed with coffee (they have a coffee grinding business), faint aromas of wine and that friendly musty smell that cellars often have. On our return from town we found an area taped off and a crowd stood around. It turned out to be a bee keeper removing a swarm of bees that had congregated on the bonnet of a car parked by the marina office.

Whilst in St Vaast (an extended stay to ensure the girls got to enjoy the funfair and fireworks) we took the opportunity to visit Tatihou Island, a small island just off St Vaast. Around low water you can walk there across the oyster beds, but the island is mainly visited via a ‘duck’ boat which can also drive on land. On our trip out we went in boat mode, and for our return we were in bus mode. The island has records of human settlements dating back many thousands of years but is now notable for its 17th century defensive fort and as a nature reserve. No dogs are allowed on the island and areas to the east are closed to preserve the fragile ecosystem. A big bonus on Tatihou was coming across an amazing area of blackberries – ripe, juicy and just asking to be picked. Luckily we had a large shopping bag with us, and despite Sophie’s prodigious blackberry appetite, we did manage to fill the bag and now have a delicious feast in the freezer awaiting conversion into a crumble.

It was then back to St Vaast where the funfair was in full swing. Yes it was loud, yes it was bright, but it was all good fun and the girls loved it. The fireworks on the Sunday night were very impressive too and from our deck we had a front row seat. We were so close to the action that we had to persuade the security guard to let us into the cordoned off area to get back onto the boat.

Having had our fill of St Vaast we decided to head to Ouistreham where we could enter at any state of tide and hopefully immerse ourselves in a bit of D-Day history.