LaterEarlier |
Hola from Aremiti in Galicia, northern Spain - we made it across the Bay of Biscay after all! Having made the decision at the end of last month to stay in France rather than moving on to Spain, in increasingly autumnal conditions for the Biscay crossing, two things then happened. First, after an initial relief at not pushing ourselves onwards, we then felt a bit flat and in need of something new. Second, the weather, which had consisted of strong adverse winds in France, or gales off the northwest Spanish coast, suddenly became totally benign. So from the Ile de Yeu, we suddenly decided to go for it. A bit embarrassing really - to cross Biscay, with its fearsome reputation, in quite such benign conditions. We should stress that we weren't actively looking for them - just trying to avoid being trashed - a good sailing breeze in not too terrible a direction would have been wonderful. However, what we got was almost calms, in which we managed to sail only just over a third of the 265 mile passage. We could have sailed more if we'd been content with a speed of 2-3 knots, but it seemed slightly imprudent to hang around like sitting ducks for longer than necessary, so apart from a lovely 8 hour sail on the first night, we enjoyed only the odd hour of sailing here and there. Lucky we have such a reliable engine! So it was a relaxed and lovely passage - a wonderfully clear first night. It is easy to forget how astoundingly numerous and beautiful the stars appear without light pollution. The moon, when it came up was also very lovely. We didn't encounter much wildlife - a few pods of leaping dolphins some way off and a whale which dived as we approached. The only dolphins to visit and play around the boat came at night, leaving dazzling trails of bio-luminescence as they zoomed around us. It is some years since our last offshore passage, so we had to get used to night watches
again. Our usual routine is a schedule of 3 hour watches. The loom of Spanish lighthouses appeared during Julia's 2nd watch on the second night -
very reassuring - though we didn't actually sight the coast until around 11am,
Initially the transition from the France we had just left and this area of Spain was quite a culture shock. The west coast of France is populated by literally thousands of yachts plying between numerous charming and well-kempt islands and ports, with all facilities a yacht might need never far away. In Spain we immediately felt on our own and needing to fend for ourselves. The fact that we speak virtually no Spanish certainly adding to the challenge! Having said that, Ribadeo had a nice little marina run by the local yacht club - with probably the best showers of the whole trip! We have also found that, perhaps because there are so few yachts around, we have made more friends among those that are here, doing longer distance cruising. Ribadeo was a good spot to wait out 2 or 3 days of westerly gales. The town itself contained what turns out to be a typical mix of dilapidation, new buildings and the restrained grey stone Galician architecture characterised by white galleried balconies. We were lucky enough to be around for the local fiesta - involving days of fireworks of the all sound and no sight variety, culminating in a magnificent display at midnight, before the procession of the virgin's statue and locals in traditional costume around the town the following day. We also took a bus trip to Lugo 65 k inland, to see the only complete Roman city walls still standing - a World Heritage site. Fascinating enough in itself, the part of town now contained within the wall was a slightly disappointing mix of standard city centre edged by dilapidation - some medieval, some modern concrete - going way beyond picturesque. From Ribadeo we moved on another 32 miles to Viveiro. The following day both yachts headed for Cedeira We finally turned eastwards again - rather than west to La Coruna as we had originally
planned. Our final sail of the season was a hard thrash to windward in 20-25 knots back
to Viveiro. So another cruising season comes to an end. We are not in Seville as planned, but the 1,155 miles we have travelled from London have given us some memorable experiences of waters closer to home before we head south to more exotic climes. |