Port Le Douhet is only some 4.5 miles down the coast and this made it an ideal objective for a short morning sail, - short because it was necessary to leave St Denis and enter Le Douhet on the same highwater. The concrete sill at Le Douhet dries within an hour of low water and once inside it is important to leave the yellow post to starboard so as to avoid an underwater obstruction. Close to the harbour a line of restaurants provide a good variety of food.

Le Douhet, like St Denis, is a modern yacht marina, but a few miles further south lies the older harbour of Boyardville. This port lies on a tidal river, La Perrotine, and caters for a number of fishing boats. The harbour itself is locked, the gates opening and closing automatically about 2 hours either side of high water. We used Boyardville for a lunch stop and to buy provisions but not wishing to get trapped by the lock gate, we left to sail via Fort Boyard to the Ile d'Aix. The fort, built by Napoleon and resembling one of the Solent forts, was used as a prison but today is a tourist attraction. The wind was north westerly making the moorings on the southeast end of the Ile d'Aix just tenable for an overnight stop. We picked a mooring buoy fairly close inshore which would allow us to dry out at low water.

Facing the entrance to the River Charante, the mooring was ideal to begin the 17 mile trip upriver to Rochefort. The river can carry a stream of 4 knots in places and so we choose to ride the flood tide right up to the lock gate, which only opens at exactly high water. The river carries commercial traffic and is therefore well furnished with a succession of beacons and leading lines. The lifting bridge just above Soubise has now been replaced by a high road bridge. Just outside the lock at Rochefort there is a waiting pontoon for early arrivals. As the lock would not be opened again until the following afternoon, we spent a full day at Rochefort, exploring the town. During the Napoleonic period it was the centre of shipbuilding for the French Navy and far enough upriver to be safe from marauding English fleets. The 'Corderie Royal' just alongside the river manufactured most of the rope for the French fleet but now houses a nautical museum.

Leaving the river is more of a navigational exercise - boats can only exit the lock at high water and by the time they reach the mouth, the ebb stream has set in strongly. This can create a heavy sea at the bar particularly when a north westerly wind blows directly into the river mouth. As this was the case on the day we left, we chose to pick up a mooring buoy near the mouth and wait for the high water slack, occurring at 5am in the morning. Although still dark at this time, the two outermost pairs of leading lights were visible making navigation easy.

Back at La Rochelle, it was time to check the car and trailer and then take the Tiger Lily into the old harbour in the centre of the city. The narrow approach channel and the 2 imposing towers make the harbour impregnable and it is easy to see why it was used as a submarine base during the second world war. There are a number of visitors berths in the old harbour, but being right in the middle of town, it could be noisy compared to the Port des Minimes.

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