23/08
Well, it is now two days since we arrived in Spain and we have recovered our sleep from the passage across The Bay though I still find myself waking up around midnight. We will be eating aboard tonight and I hope that will help to re-establish the shore based routine.
The weather yesterday was really not very nice which thoroughly discouraged any sightseeing so we concentrated on other things like the laundry- more of which shortly.
The marina here is a nice one and the staff are friendly as ever. It is also nice that it is significantly cheaper to stay here than it is in England. A night here for us is Euro 25 as opposed to £35 in Plymouth. It is however, just a marina and they tend to be pretty soulless places and uniform the world over. We are looking forward to getting away and visiting remoter places where you have to anchor. Matthew observed that we have the largest anchor on display of anyone on the marina.
The weather on Sunday slowly brightened though the visibility never really completely cleared. We took a walk out to El Torre de Hercules - the oldest working lighthouse by all accounts. It was certainly dramatic with the top in the mist and more rolling in from the west but with sun shining as well. It was particularly noticeable that there were only really Spanish tourists around. This is not an area on the regular tourist route in Spain except for yotties.
Anyway, onto the saga of the clothes washing. Superficially, the facilities here are quite good with three washing machines. The problem is when you want to dry your clothes. In the normal course of events we would wash in the washing machine and then festoon the boat in our underpants and t-shirts. The rain, however, put paid to this and this was when the fact that there was only one dryer. Everyone seemed to be doing their clothes and I started to develop a bit of paranoia about Scandinavians and the amount of clothes they needed. It took till today to finally get at the drying machine by which time the rain had stopped and some of it got air dried.
La Coruña itself is a nice enough city without being spectacular. It is typically well served by bars and is very like other Spanish cities I have visited – except for the weather. It rains here in a way it doesn't in other parts of Spain.
24/08
Finally, having got marina fever, we pushed off from Marina Coruña at about noon with a view to sailing off somewhere. Where we have got to is Ares in a Ria of it's own just to the east of La Coruña. It is a very nice spot and we are anchored with two other boats, one Dutch and the other an English AWB. We went ashore and found the small supermarket and got some bread as well as a couple of other basics. Now we are sitting in the cockpit watching the rain clouds build up to the south west but the wind is dying steadily and is almost nothing now.
This is what cruising is really about. We had a nice gentle sail round here, a nice meal with some good localish wine and now near complete peace and a nice bit of distance from the impending disco in the yacht club ashore.
On our way into the ria, another rival a 41 was heading out and we had a bit of a chat with them on the radio. I hope to be able to catch up with them later on further south.
While anchored in Ares, a traditional fishing boat design got underway.
26/08
Yesterday, we left Ares for Cedeira back round the the east. En route a Dutch catamaran, Miss Poes overtook us. We knew her name as they were also on AIS. They called us and passed on some very helpful advice about where to anchor in Cedeira. As we arrived we agreed that they should come over for a quick drink which became a longer drink and an invitation to dinner on their boat. Several bottles of wine, our whiskey and their excellent Spanish brandy later and we are now nursing some mild hangovers in a rather breezy Cedeira. Today isn't a day for going anywhere so I am sat here writing this at the moment.
The coast round this side of Cabo Prior which, to us at least, seems to form a corner where you are either on the north coast of Galicia or more on the south, is considerably more rugged than that around La Coruña.
A few miles short of Cedeira we were following a catamaran on the video game when a call came over the VHF from Miss Poes to ask us where we were going. They had been intending to go further east but the lack of wind had persuaded them to head for Cedeira as well – to our benefit.
We invited them aboard for a drink and some wine was drunk, snacks were consumed and it culminated in an invitation to dinner on their catamaran. As ever, too much wine was drunk and then, when it transpired that they liked whisky, Matthew went back to Sarah G and fetched his bottle of Talisker which was then finished along with some very superior Spanish brandy called Cardenal Mendoza – I shall have to get a bottle of it for myself. Jef and Marin, if you are reading this, thank you for a very enjoyable evening.
The next day brought strong westerlies and intermittent heavy showers so we stayed at anchor and had more time to admire Cedeira which really is a lovely spot. Matthew went ashore for a search and tobacco but I was feeling very lazy and stayed aboard.
The next day, being Saturday we motored out into a fairly large swell to get back to La Coruña in time to meet Audrey. As ever, the wind played silly buggers with us and never quite filled in enough to sail with. We did manage half an hour of beating but then it died on us though it did fill in on the approach to Coruña but by then we didn't feel inclined to fight with the sails and being downwind only really noticed once we realised there was a bit of a cross wind to contend with when tying up.
It was great meeting Audrey at the airport and we treated ourselves to a taxi back to the marina. A good meal of tapas was consumed in a restaurant behind the Plaza de Maria Pita before poor old Matthew had to make his way to the airport and back to blighty. I never saw anyone drag their heels so much about packing their bags!
30/08
Yesterday, we had a fantastic sail from La Coruña to Ria de Corme. Originally, we had planned on anchoring in Corme itself but after looking at it we decided to cross back over to Laxe where we spent a very comfortable night while Audrey cooked a splendid Tagine like dish in the pressure cooker. The sail was the first really good sail for us as there was a nice force 5 from the north east. It was marred a bit by getting a line round the prop ouside La Coruña and then the shackle holding the mainsheet to the traveller also gave way at an inopportune moment while closing the coast but we still had a good sail – the first on this coast.
We had another drama while motoring just past La Coruña when we picked up a bit of rope round the prop as this photo shows once I had managed to extract it - thankfully only needing the helpo of the boathook.
Today was quite different though we are happy to be in Camariñas and will likely spend tomorrow here as well. Talk is of walking out to Cabo Villano. It is five km according to the rough guide and as it took quite a lot of rounding as well as looking very dramatic it will be of worth to do so I think.
Camariñas is a pleasant little town and we are looking forward to exploring it a bit more. There is also, reputed to be a wifi network around where we should be able to update the blog a bit.
31/08
The wind is continuing to blow hard from the west so we decided to spend a day here and walked out to Cabo Villano which had taken us so long to get round. It was certainly dramatic and there is an interesting little museum in the old lighthouse keepers house which explains some of the history of the lights along the Costa do Morte as they describe this coast. The most amusing bit of the light at Villano was that the first one, completed in 1853, proved to be partially obscured from seaward. Their solution was first to try blasting the rock out of the way but after the “expenditure of much powder and money” this was abandoned and a new lighthouse tower was built on the partially blasted rock!
We had lunch in a cafe recommended by the rough guide and are now out on the boat being battered by wind and rain while hoping it eases enough for us to get round Finisterre tomorrow.
01/09
After getting a severe case of harbour fever, we left Camarinas in rather a hurry and headed out to round Finisterre. Like all major headlands, it has taken on a bit of a totemic and looms ever larger in our consiousness. Until it is passed that is. Today wasn't to be the day for getting round it though. We got out past Muxia and were thinking of getting the jib set and doing some sailing but the easterlies we hoped for hadn't materialised and we both – almost simultaneously – expressed doubts about continuing. We duly turned round in disappointment. I suggested going to Muxia rather than back to Camarinas which turned out to be an inspired decision.
Muxia is a much nicer place really. There is a new marina but money has run out and there is only the marina with no other offices. It is therefore free to tie up and so is inhabited by serious budget cruisers, particularly those in multihulls. There is even a Wharram cat here.
The town is really lovely with lots of much older houses and a good selection of shops. It has a nice laid back feeling as well as some fantastic views from the point where there is a church dedicated to “nostra senora del virgen del barca”. This was apparently a site of an old animist religion based around the granite boulders which are now reputed to be the remains of the ship that brought the body of St James from Jerusalem to Santiago de Compostela. It is a beautiful place nonetheless. I also climbed the conical hill right outside the town as the photos show.
The forecast is not promising so we are likely to be here for a day or so more.
02/09
Well, after assuming we would be stuck in Muxia for a couple of days we proved ourselves completely wrong. We got underway with the intention of pumping out the holding tank once a decent distance from land but the bright sun and lack of wind persuaded us to push on and a good idea that proved as well.
We quickly made it to Cabo Toriñana and comleted our western travel. I looked at the chart and Cabo Torinana is 9 degrees 17' west which is further west than Fastnet Rock is. Now, it is alll south till we reach Tarifa though Cabo Sao Vincente will mark a point where we make much more easting. I am enjoying marking these literal turning points in the cruise.
The coast around Torinana and Finisterre is very wild and you can see why it has got the name of Costa do Morte. We were very “lucky” in that it was nearly completely flat calm
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