The gate opened in St Vaast at 1030LT with the rain coming down as heavily as when we had arrived the previous day. Undeterred we decided to make the short passage down the east coast of the Cotentin peninsula to visit Grandcamp(-Maisy), keeping to a low speed for fuel economy. We have several more weeks before we get to tax free Belgium and want to eke out the diesel until we can find a friendly fishing port! It was a straightforward trip passing Fort de la Hougue to starboard and a little later the Iles St Marcouf, named for the missionary who apparently made his mark as the patron saint of skin diseases.

The approach to Grandcamp is across a smooth rocky plateau, and we stuck to the leading line to be on the safe side, hoping that this would also help us to avoid the plentiful kelp which grows all around the area. It was difficult to locate the dog-leg harbour entrance, especially as we had found ourselves without a detailed chart of the entrance. However, our PC based chart plotter and GPS delivered us straight into the mouth of the harbour with pinpoint accuracy.

The harbour master was, as advertised, very helpful and friendly, breaking off from his toilet cleaning duties to discuss pilotage into Caen with us, and to provide us with a free marina guide for the whole of northern France. The town itself does not have a lot to recommend it, other than the reasonable supermarket quite close to the marina. Famous for the nearby Pointe de Hoc, where American Rangers made a costly advance landing to disable gun emplacements prior to Operation Overlord in June of 1944, Grandcamp is home to the Musee de Rangers, which tells this poignant and oft forgotten tale.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 15nm

Total to date: 1341 nm

Avg Speed: 8 knots

Duration: 1:50 hours

Diesel: 60 litres (est)

Wind: SW 3-4

Mooring: €18/night

Electricity: Free

Waypoints
(European Datum)

St Vaast
49 35.27N 01 15.30W

St Floxel ECM
49 30.76N 01 13.51W

Rade de la Chapelle
49 25.54N 01 04.98W

Grandcamp Entrance
49 23.48N 01 02.76W

Charts

AC2135

AC1349