The River Rance

After St Malo we headed up through the barrage into the River Rance.  It is strange to be inland after so many days on the coast.  The river is wide and peaceful and we were able to sail up slowly.  We spent a night at the marina in Plouer - attracted partly by the assurances in all three of our books (even Reeds) that Mademoiselle Lilian Faustin would ensure we were well looked after (she did) but also because they have a book swap in the office with English books - hooray! We wandered - or rather hiked - up the hill into the town, unfortunately it was half day closing but we managed to find a beer and the Super U to stock up.

Next day was a trip a little further up through another lock to Le Chatelier.  From here we abandoned Blithe Spirit in the marina and continued in the dinghy for three miles up to Dinan.  Dinan is a really pretty ancient walled town and we had a lovely afternoon wandering the streets and walking along the ramparts followed by dinner overlooking the river.

This morning we headed back down through the lock and back to the barrage.  Unfortunately we hadn't reckoned on the inability of the french to queue and we missed two openings of the barrage as they pushed their way past.  So we turned around and picked up a buoy outside St Suliac, another picturesque riverside village with a few simple shops and restaurants.  We cooked our dinner on the boat and then after watching the sun go down we buttoned up against the mosquitoes and went to bed.