It was nice rounding Finisterre as it really is a corner and looks the part as well though Torinana is the most westerly point in mainland Europe. It is actually a good bit west of Cork and even west of the Fastnet rock in Ireland.
There is quite a lot of regional pride here and a lot of people speak Galego rather and Castellano so we have deemed it politic to purchase and fly a Galician courtessy flag under our Spanish one.
The Ria de Muros was particularly nice and we really liked Muros itself and have it down as somehwere to stay a bit longer if we make it back here. Although it is a lot bigger than the northern rias, it is still fairly small being only about three miles wide and perhaps five miles deep. We also had a very social time. On one side were a family cruising slowly to Vilagarcia here in the Ria de Arousa where they were planning on laying up. I gave them a bit of a hand changing a taxi booking as they were dropping their daughters at the airport at Santiago and hiring a car to visit the Picos de Europa. On our other side was a past local vice-president of the Ocean Cruising Club who knew this coast extremely well and was making his way to Vigo slowly.
Since rounding Finisterre we have noticed a subtle change in the landscape and feel of the area. Although it might be part of the improved weather, things feel much more southern down here. The trees are a good bit scrubbier and some of the hills are a lot barer. Of course, I am sure that we would feel quite differently if we the weather continued as it had last week with lots of rain and strong westerlies. The scenery is spectacular and this current ria – de Arousa – is very large and very picturesque though it is a lot more developed than the more northern area. Once again, I suspect that this is at least in part a function of the remoteness of places like Camarinas and Muxia.
The sail the day before yesterday was nice as we were able to see Cabo Sillero in the distance which marks the southern extremity of the rias and Baiona behind it will be our departure point for Portugal. We are also starting to get excited about heading into Portugal and where we might stop. The Atlantic coast is quite forbidding and it is unlikely we will stop at more than two or three stops. Cabo Sao Vincente will then be the next major turning point leading to the Algarve and the final stages of the voyage.
Meanwhile our enforced stop her at Vilanova has shown a very picturesque fishing harbour!
The fishing here is of a different kind where they cultivate shellfish on huge floating "viveiros". These are squares of timber with hundreds of lines hanging down where the mussels are grown and then harvested before being loaded into huge trucks to be shipped off to processing plants somewhere. There are also some smaller boats with a cage contraption that they drag across the seabed collecting bottom dwelling shellfish. There are, apparently, 1400 viveiros alone in the Ria de Arousa!
Next update will hopefully be full of praise for our engineer and the alternator!
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