North Spain, August 2006

The seas flattened out around the NW point of Spain, and hopefully we are rid of the steep lumpy seas of Biscay and into kinder, more regular waves from the Atlantic.  We tightened the rig up a few notches – quite normal to have to do this after 1000 miles of having a new rig – and the boat is so much better behaved as a result, coping with head winds and waves much better than before.
We were rewarded by being joined by about 50 dolphins all around the boat, some deciding to ride the bow wave of the yacht, and happily chirping away at us in dolphinese while we held on tightly at the bow to watch them.

La Coruna offers lots of entertainment for a few days, to replace our batteries (literally), and mend a few bits of boat. The marina is lovely, and in a great position, but the showers are truly appalling, so it has become a motivating factor to sort out our on-board showering facilities. Stuart has set to with the epoxy to sort the woodwork, and Steph has varnished/oiled the wooden shower trays, so it will all be ready to go for when we have left La Coruna. No doubt the next shower facilities will be gleaming marble and gold plated taps!

On our day off, we visited Santiago de Compostela, about 45 minutes away by train.
It was fantastic to see the city that I’d read about and to see the Parador. It’s a great city to wander around the old streets, and to take in the history of the popular pilgrimage that finishes here with a reward of only spending half your time in purgatory. If you complete the pilgrimage in a holy year, 2004, 2010 then you get let off of purgatory entirely.
For more background to this pilgrimage read Spanish Steps by Tim Moore, a very entertaining read about his travels with a donkey, including lots of really bad donkey jokes.

I think we need a bit more practice with panoramic shots:

It is a real challenge everyday to try and communicate to get what you want, and to find parts or equipment when there is a language barrier – for many of the locals, Spanish is their second language after Gallego, and possibly French, so it no wonder that they may not speak English. They are just as likely to receive customers from Scandinavia, Netherlands, France, Italy. Even the Spanish dictionary is not much help, as the words often do not remotely resemble the Gallego equivalent.

So far we have sampled lots of yummy cuisine – amongst our favorites are chipirones (baby squid in it’s ink) and Pimientos de Padron (tiny green peppers fried in salt and olive oil, mostly benign but with the occasional hot one to surprise you). Luckily we were warned about the ‘percebes’ – or goose barnacles. They are a local specialty collected from the waters edge at great risk from big waves and are accordingly very expensive. Just because they are a speciality does not mean that we are going to try them though, maybe you can see from the picture why we’ve not bothered to try them.

We discovered more local customs, including a bar serving only sweet red wine ( a bit like sherry) in small pouring bottles served with peanuts fresh in their shells. The shells are rapidly disposed of, creating an entire layer of peanut shells on the floor of the bar. The guy we are sharing a drink with is Bert, a grandfather from Netherlands, who is single handed in a 40 footer. He has crossed the Atlantic alone, more times than we’ve crossed the channel – a real inspiration, and a beautiful boat.

After the tourist bars close, we discovered that the locals head up to the old town for more drinking at the weekend – but seldom in bars. They take a picnic and their supply of alcohol and sit around in groups in a park just beneath a row of attractive looking bars that are almost empty.

During our walk we discovered why there are so many wrecks marked on the chart as we viewed the lower 30 feet of the lighthouse.

Moving Weather, our weather forecasting program that we subscribe to, predicts that the low cloud will clear on Wednesday, so hopefully if our new starting batteries are installed, we will be off shortly after that to explore the Rias Bajas for a couple of weeks.

Gijon, North Spain, August 2006

After a couple of days of battering by wind and waves day and night from La Rochelle we arrived in Gijon in North Spain – pronounced something like hee-hon – try saying it without sounding like a donkey! We were approached and boarded by Spanish customs officials who spoke no English at all. We filled in their form as requested and they went away quite happy. They assured us that this was entirely routine, but we never came across any other boats that had been welcomed this way!

On arrival, we jumped ship and went to a bar to try and regain our senses and land legs. All around people were buying a bottle of cider with one glass between them. It would be poured from a great height, often without looking at the glass. This resulted in much spillage. The glass was then passed to someone, who would gulp it down except for the dregs, which would be swilled around the glass and chucked on the ground before passing the glass back to the pourer.  This strange behaviour was all around, and we later discovered that it was fiesta time here, and is a local custom. Pouring the cider from a height makes it fizz momentarily and taste acceptable. It’s traditional to share one glass so the dregs are swilled around to clean the glass before it is passed on to the next drinker.

The following two days we made the most of arriving during the fiesta, and attended the firework display on a Monday at midnight on the beach. It was an awesome display of 45 minutes, some of the best fireworks we’ve ever seen. There was an intermission of 10 minutes during the show, which turned out to be a problem with one set of fireworks. We were treated to the missing ones at 2pm the next day – which didn’t quite have the same effect.
There was music for free in the square and down by the port, a huge stage set up with a Riverdance show and various other free gigs. These went on until well into the small hours. We retired to bed about 3am, but the town was still heaving with people of all ages, mostly drinking cider and spilling it in the streets. We didn’t witness a single episode of drunken misbehaviour and the atmosphere was very convivial.

On the way to Gijon, Stuart caught an enormous tuna (actually a bonito) which he butchered on the foredeck with lots of mess and scales running down the sides of the deck. We let the boat drift while he got it aboard and did his dastardly deeds with it, and it was two hours before we were able to set sail again, with it safely in manageable size pieces ready for the fridge.

Stuart made lots of friends in Gijon by distributing huge tuna steaks to the other cruisers there. It was probably around 20-25 kilos. In France bonito was selling in the markets for around 28 Euros/kilo, so it was an impressive catch.  We ate tuna for days and days after this, our favourite solutions to tuna overload being green thai curry, and portugese fish stew (Caldeira).

The cost of living is much lower than in France here- we were starting to wonder if our budget was up to the task when we shopped in the supermarkets. The meat is much better quality here and about ¼ of the price. The wine is abundant, cheap and excellent quality. What more could you want in life??

Ribadeo
Onto Ribadeo next, about 75 miles along the coast. Another boisterous sail with head winds, or now winds and steep short seas, just like the English channel.
The town was OK but a bit run-down, with an annoying swell in the marina (run by the yacht club). Whatever we did with fenders and lines we snatched and jolted around and rubbed fenders with our neighbours. Helen and Matthew joined us for a night on their way home from Pontevendra to the airport. Matthew (8) ran around the boat like a mad thing, pressing every button and pulling every rope he could find – a great adventure playground – while we held our breath and hoped that nothing vital was being activated (like the EPIRB!)
We found a fantastic typically Spanish restaurant with the usual bright lights and immaculately clean kitchen. Helen brought us news that the rain that we found annoying and persistent was very welcome in the region, as they had not had any for 3 months before we arrived. This, combined with some bizarre arson attacks had resulted in terrible forest fires all over Galicia, with loss of life and homes on a scale so huge, that satellite pictures show the smoke streaming out into the Atlantic.

After seeing Helen off to the airport the next day there was an absolute downpour. The steep alleys and streets were streaming with water, the drain covers disgorging their rotting contents. We were quite safe aboard our ark, but the wiff was becoming quite nasty, and we discovered that what had appeared to be just a pile (wide metal vertical pole)  in the marina turned out to be the overflow pipe. We named it ‘Pissypoo’ fountain when we saw what was surrounding our ark!

Viveiro
Moving swiftly on we sailed 35miles to Viveiro, a pleasant old town with a new marina and a friendly harbourmaster. We spent an hour in his office to do our paperwork (one form) and receive Spanish lessons and a comprehensive knowledge of nearby anchoring possibilities.  Met lots of cruisers here, including Dutch and Danish cruisers and a couple heading back home after their yearly cruise of the region. Andy and Carolyn on Trio gave us lots of information about the cuisine and the areas not to be missed and we seriously took advantage of their extensive drinks locker during one pleasant afternoon aboard.
On Monday and Tuesday evenings there was free live music in the town square, for which all the locals turned out. Everyone brings their kids out until late in the evening, and no-one would think about eating before 10pm. We were clearly born to live in Spain, as our bodyclocks have been synchronized to Spanish time for as long as we remember – even as a child, it never felt right to eat at 1pm and 7pm. We’d frequently find ourselves the last customers in a restaurant, or having to negotiate a table before the kitchens closed in the UK and in France.
Peter joined us on Tuesday for a few days. Unfortunately we thought that it would be a  simple connection to Asturias airport where there is a nearby train station. Of course the last train of the day departed 10 minutes before he landed, so the only option was an expensive taxi ride.
We motored around the corner to El Barquero. Here we found a picturesque beach with virtually no-one around, under the ruins of probably an old fish factory. The sand was so white and the water so clear, we had an easy view of shoals of tiny sardines chasing around making the water choppy with their activities and heaps of other fish that avoided Stuart and Peters’ attempts to land them. Steph was quite content with a rest from fish for a while as the tuna had only just been consumed, and we were quite keen for a change of diet.

 After a morning swim to the beach, we sailed off to La Cedeira. Again, no winds/head winds and a lumpy sea and we were pleased to arrive in this fishing village. We anchored behind the breakwater near ‘Offski’ a Glaswegian boat off to the Med. The town was a disappointment in every way. We found it hard to find a decent restaurant, the beach was quite dirty, the weather terrible and Peter could find no way out of the place without another expensive taxi ride (and it was touch-and-go as to whether anyone would take him).
After seeing Peter off in his taxi, La Cedeira’s parting shot was an anchor fouled by the most humungous fishermans anchor/mooring we have ever seen, complete with 2 other anchors that had met the same fate as ours. Now we understood why we had held our position so well in the 25 knot winds that we had in the rain-storms!
Our powerful windlass brought the mass of steel to a couple of feet below the surface of the water, so we could see what was what. You would have to be mad to get in the water to sort it out, as it was all hanging in a tangle of fishing net off the flukes of our anchor, ready to take you down with it, should it decide to drop off at any moment.
Luckily we managed to manoeuver the tripping line/anchor chain up and down to free ourselves of this mess and got ourselves free of La Cedeira in favour of La Coruna.

La Trinite & Carnac, Iles Houat & Yeu, La Rochelle, August 2006

Two weeks into our trip and we are still in holiday mode. We went for a cycle tour along the waterfront to Carnac, a huge holiday resort with enormous sandy beaches, zillions of restaurants, bars and tourists. We continued through the town and out along the route that takes you past most of the ‘Alignements’.

These are menhirs or prehistoric standing  stones, predating Stonehenge and numbering over 2000. They stand line upon line running roughly NE/SW. No-one knows whether these were for astronomical measurements or territorial markers, but they are very impressive.

Back at La Trinite we picked up washing from the laverie- found we’d well ripped off and it cost much more than we anticipated – from now on its laundry in a bucket!

In the morning we nipped up to the Capitanerie to pay our bills and found it was market day, so we had a quick visit. Not having time to look around and compare prices we spent loads of money. Not surprising, as the stall-holders have a never ending supply of tourists to rip off and we are not yet streetwise enough to negotiate or compare prices. Anyway it was a valuable lesson learned, and a hot sunny morning with a force 4 wind blowing so we were happy to slip our lines and head out to sea again, away from cars, tourists and rip-offs.
We had a fantastic sail into the Gulfe de Morbihan – a huge inland sea ( a bit like Poole Harbour) with about 60 islands. 30 of these are owned by film stars, some are holiday resorts and some are uninhabited. The navigation around the islands was tricky, but good fun and we anchored for the evening in a beautiful bay off the Ile d’Arz. We cooked up the last of our frozen food from the UK and gazed out over a sailing playground. There are thousands of people sailing here, it seems that everyone in South Brittany must own a sailing boat and be out on it every day. Despite this there is plenty of room for everyone and our anchorage was certainly not crowded. We would thoroughly recommend this area to anyone who sails- it would be relatively easy to enjoy some time here in a 2-3 week break – bring (or buy) a detailed chart of the bay to make the most of it.

After dinner we went up to the village called The Bourg for a nightcap – at about 10pm there were just enough people in the pleasant bar to make it lively but not packed.
Ile d’Arz, and no doubt the other holiday islands, have something for everyone, and a laid back holiday feel, much like the Isles of Scilly, full of well dispersed holiday accommodation, but retaining it’s character and dignity.

Next morning, after a swim, we went for a walk right around the island and then headed off for an evening sail to one of the small islands about 10miles off the Brittany shore – hoping that no-one else had discovered it yet! Wishful thinking!

Stuart put his fishing gear together, so the pressure was on him to perform. Steph had a backup plan for dinner, just in case.

As we approached Ile Houat we were astounded to see the number of masts in the anchorage. We had previously decided against the small harbour as it could be like the last Island harbour so we browsed the chart for an anchorage that might be a bit more secluded. Well, We have never seen so many boats at anchor in one place – Studland beer festival just comes no-where near! To be fair the bay was huge (Treac’h er Gourhed) and we anchored in shallow water about ½ mile from the beach. A swim would have been great, but for the thought of 239 boats that we could see, (Stuart counted them) most of which would be without holding tanks!

Ile Houat and it’s neighbour Ile Hoedic were really beautiful and in settled weather outside of July/August they would be well worth a longer visit. The water was crystal clear and we could see the bottom some 5 to 6 m down.

We moved on the next day, and anchored off Ile d’Yeu. This looked like a fascinating island, not even mentioned in the Rough Guide. We passed the remains of an old castle perched on the edge of a cliff, and some tiny anchorages, no more than a crack in the cliffs, where a handful of brave yachts were anchored in amongst the rocks. Without local knowledge we headed for a safer option described in the pilot book– Anse de Vieilles. Again, lots of yachts and we were a long way out.  We ate the fish that Stuart caught – probably a bass. It was a reasonable size fish and must have been strong as we were doing more than 5 knots when he took the bait.
Steph flapped about as much as the fish when Stuart tried to put it on the cockpit floor to do his dastardly deeds to it. Stuart and fish were sent up to the foredeck until it resembled something that might be served in a restaurant!

Stu's first tiddler

Our plan to explore Ile D’Yeu the next day was foiled by a fine breeze popping up, that was just too good to miss. So we upped anchor and set off south towards La Rochelle. We are keen to spend as much time in the Spanish Rias as possible, and getting to La Rochelle is a milestone that we wanted to reach as soon as possible.
We arrived at low water, too low for us to risk entering the shallow entrance, so we anchored off the port and spent a very uncomfortable night rolling from side to side in the tide.
An early start the next day rewarded us with a place in the Minimes marina, which appears to have everything – shorepower, wifi and free tricycles for shopping. We walked up to the old town – very busy as the QE2 was visiting.
It is a fascinating city with well preserved 18th century timbered houses lining the main shopping centre. We had a walk around the ramparts and the old port – a real lively atmosphere. The weather is perfect, sunny with a warm dry breeze.
We have a day or two of work to do sorting out various bits of the boat that need improvement. There are 4 chandleries within ½ mile, so this seems the ideal time to get on with a few chores.  It is all hard work really!!

First on the list was a trip up the mast to remove the wind speed sensor/ paddle for overhaul as it had stopped working and afterwards another trip  up to re attach it. This just delayed the worst of the jobs, dismantle the loo pump which had become chocked up with calcium, this requires disconnecting and removing the pump to the pontoon for disassembly and cleaning and replacement of a valve or two. It is a smelly and disagreeable job but the reward is a toilet that works better and doesn’t blow back (I’ll leave that to your imagination). These jobs plus washing the sheets in a bucket and drying in the wind, took most of the day, A mooch round the bars is required before the night is at an end.

Great Place in the evening. Street entertainers all over the sea front and crowds of spectators. Good atmosphere. We will be back there tonight as well.  Today was shopping day. Veg and fruit from the Market then Lunch and back to the boat to unload before a trip to the chandelery to replace some spares used. ( no use there wound up ordering them from the UK). Then we borrowed a crazy sort of a tricycle thing with a box arrangement on the front, terrible brakes and horrible to steer, Rode the thing to the supermarket, about 1 ½ miles away and stocked up. The ride back, fully loaded was not for the unfit or the faint hearted . 50 Kg of out of control beer and bog rolls at rush hour, in the city traffic kept me on the edge of the seat ready to jump at any moment. Back now and looking forward to a well earned meal out to say farewell to La Rochelle.

La Rochelle transport