The Spanish Rias

A personalised scarf for Katie, started in the Bay of Biscay!

So we spent three wet and windy days back in Ares, where we first landed in Spain. It literally didn’t stop raining for about a day and a half, apparently we had the tail end of a hurricane that was headed for the UK but came south instead! We wandered round the harbour to the fishing quays and chatted with the local fishermen, who were also stuck in harbour by the bad weather. They were busy mending a huge heap of nets in their shed, seemingly unfazed by the half dozen cats wandering over everything. Reuben was quite taken with the cats, and one of the fishermen thrust a skinny cat at us, proclaiming, ‘This is the Queen, she is the mother of all the other cats. We call her Cleopatra’!

As soon as the big swells (4 to 5 metres) calmed down, we left the marina and went back out to the anchorage. We followed the fishermen’s advice to wait a day for the seas to calm before venturing out. Instead, we took the dinghy, with our newly-fixed outboard engine, up the rἰa to the town of Puentedueme. The ria carried on under the old 16-arch bridge to a nature reserve but the tide was too low for us to continue, so we contented ourselves with a portion of churros in a roadside café and topping up the petrol can. On the way back, the sun came out and we stopped at the lovely little town of Redes for a beach visit. 

Redes Beach

Our friends on ‘Spirit of Mystery’ had waited out the storm in la Coruῆa marina, and on our return, the children were excited to see their boat, with its distinctive ‘Cornwall’ spinnaker flying, come sailing up the bay to join us.

                                      

We both headed out to sea the next day, feeling that we were finally making progress as the Torre de Hercules lighthouse disappeared from view. There wasn’t much wind to start with and the leftover swell gave us a surprisingly rolly ride, but despite Katie not wanting any lunch, nobody was seasick! As we gently rounded the top corner of Spain, we noted the large number of wind turbines planted on the headlands, a reflection of their windy position. By the time we passed the Islas Sisargas, the wind had indeed filled in and we were sailing along beautifully at over 6 knots.

 

Sailing well with spinnaker up

This next stretch of coastline is full of craggy headlands and rias, which are not long and narrow like the river Dart, as I had imagined, but large bays with entrances several miles wide leading to smaller rivers flowing down from the mountains. They had wiggly shorelines on each side, with each ‘dip’ giving a sheltered place to anchor, and usually the site of a town or beach.

Purse seine trawler off Muxia

Camarinas

We were headed for the Ria de Camariῆas. On our last voyage, we had stopped at the village of Muxia on the southern side of the ria, but this time, we anchored off the village of Camariῆas on the north side, opposite two strips of white beach. We dinghied ashore for an evening stroll and it was so warm and inviting (at 7pm!!) that we ended up having a full-on swim. The children were fascinated by the discovery of a dead squid on the beach, which, when prodded enough times, squirted black ink out all over Reuben! Since I hadn’t taken my camera ashore, we were begged to carry the soggy body back to the boat for a photo opportunity, so here it is!

 

Camariňas is a very picturesque town, with busy seafront cafes and a harbour full of fishing boats loaded to the max with crab pots. A bizarre statue of a woman in the town intrigued us. It turned out she was busy making ‘bobbing lace’, a skill for which the town was renowned. We visited the little ‘Museo do Encaixe’ and were intrigued to see young children busily making lace alongside older women. Apparently, girls as young as five started to learn, and took till the age of 12 to say they had fully mastered it! The lady at the museum gave us a demonstration of it, and told us that she had been taught by her grandmother, and had taught her own daughter at the age of three! Local children still come to the museum for an hour’s practice every afternoon. Katie was keen to give it a go but upon enquiry at the little lace shop, it is not possible to buy a ‘beginner’s kit’, you have to be taught by an expert…

 

It was such a lovely still evening that our friends organised an evening on a little beach across the ria. They had happy memories of time spent there ten years previously on a different boat. Along with a Polish family on another boat, we dinghied and kayaked across to the entrance of the rἰa del Puente.  Sadly, a house had been built on the beach of their memories, so we decamped to an adjoining beach, which we had to ourselves. The adults relaxed with a few drinks while the children had a great time splashing in the sea and hunting for wood for a campfire. They did such a good job, they went on to build another one of their own, which was still blazing brightly as the sun started to set over the rἰa. A magical evening.

From Camariῆas, we continued south past the westernmost headland of Europe, Cabo Toriῆana, and around Cabo Finisterre. I was keen to walk out to the lighthouse there, which is the finishing point for the pilgrims on the ‘Camino de Santiago’, but sadly it was too far from the anchorage. Instead, we wandered along the beach and around the tiny village of Sardineiro, wondering what the strange stone structures dotted around were. They had crosses on the roof, so we assumed they were some sort of temple, but it seems they were old grain stores!

grain stores, high up on stone 'mushrooms'

What promised to be a peaceful anchorage turned out to be anything but, with a series of late-night explosions and unidentified bangs, hopefully not directed at us.

MUROS

We had a good sail from there to Muros, a much more prosperous town, certainly in olden times. Some of the buildings were now in a state of disrepair but there was still a lot of lovely archways and narrow, climbing streets. 

We clambered up the steps behind the church to an enticing patch of green visible from our boats. After two dead ends, we came to some private gardens, one with an open door and an old couple busily working the land. They waved us in cheerfully, and let the children climb across their land to a lovely viewpoint over the rἰa, with its shellfish farms, and of course, our boats moored in the middle. A spectacular view from an ‘allotment’.

Katie's photo

looking down over Ria de Muros

The wind filled in nicely the following day for a brilliant sail across the 9-mile wide Rἰa de Muros entrance, through a tricky rock-strewn channel towards the fishing port of Aguiῆo. Since we were sailing so well, it seemed a shame to stop early, so we carried on, past the Isla Salvora, an island marine reserve, and across the entrance to the Rἰa de Arosa to a lovely anchorage off the white beach at San Vicente. 

Sailing nicely

'Spirit of Mystery' disappearing in the swell

We managed to get school done early(ish) the next morning in time for a morning trip to the beach, where the children played in the waves while we admired our boats silhouetted in front of a misty backdrop of mountains.

San Vincente beach

We returned to find several small boats anchored around us with lines trailing from their cockpits. At the end of each line was a patch of bubbles, showing the presence of a diver below who was fed air through the 100m- long hose by a compressor on board. One of these patches of bubbles was right near our boat so we decided to hold off firing up the engine until he had finished collecting his haul of (presumably) shellfish.

We ghosted out from the anchorage after lunch and enjoyed a leisurely sail inside the Isla de Ons, again a marine nature reserve and unavailable for us to visit without a pre-obtained permit. The children spent hours amusing themselves trying to catch fish – unsuccessfully, but they were learning how to keep the lines down in the water when you are moving. They experimented with various items before filling a bag with stones and shells and finally getting it to sink!

We were aiming for Bayona but had been quite happy sailing at under three knots in the fitful breeze, so we decided to anchor off yet another lovely beach at the entrance to the Ria de Vigo. It turned out to be full of nudists soaking up the sun’s rays! Not to be deprived of our anticipated swim, we waited until the numbers had dropped significantly (along with the sun), then found a quiet patch to land and enjoyed a swim in the cool sea.

The nudist beach, looking out to sea, for obvious reasons!

The next morning, we had a ‘school expedition' out to the headland, taking sketchbooks with us. As we sat under the shade of the lighthouse, watching the surf crashing on the rocks below, we noticed that it seemed to be increasing in ferocity, and wondered idly about our dinghy. By the time we returned to our side of the headland, the surf had indeed picked up and was hurling itself twenty foot up the beach with each wave. Hmmm, not ideal conditions to launch a dinghy. Rather than risk all getting swamped (and soaking my camera), Katie and I stripped to our undies and pushed Dave and Reuben safely though the waves before swimming out to the boat after them. A refreshing end to a walk ashore!

 

We then headed across the Ria de Vigo to Bayona. We felt too lazy to explore that afternoon so saved ourselves for the next day, only to wake and find thick fog had settled in… We have had a little wander around the old town but I think the splendour of the city and its castle are lost in the mist! This will probably be our last stop in Spain before we reach Portugal, with yet another language for the children to learn a few words of!

La Coruna and surrounding Rias

Katie with hermit crab

Our first landfall in Spain was near la Coruna, where three rἰas converge in one big entrance. We headed for the middle ‘inlet’- to Ares, a little seaside town with lots of orange roofs and a long white sandy beach. Sadly, the sunny shores of Spain proved to be disappointingly grey for the first couple of days, but we were happy to explore. As soon as we landed on the crunchy mussel-covered slipway, Katie immediately found a hermit crab.

funnel shaped-bins!

a hard row back to the boat

once fine houses in Ares

When we got ashore, we found that behind the front street, many of the houses were in a state of disrepair, with those lovely orange roofs crumbling. The town itself didn’t seem to have much of a ‘centre’, the main action seemed to be along the waterfront with other shops dotted in the streets behind. We had to be directed to the Correos (post office), which was hidden away in a back street, but we found a great local library, which not only provided free internet, but also let us take out some ‘baby books’, perfect for learning some basic Spanish words!

We treated ourselves to lunch out, but soon found that my rusty Spanish wasn’t up to the job of translating the menu. A local man with a grasp of English came to our aid, and managed to convey that ‘chipirones’ were ‘like a squid but smaller’, ‘paxe’ was ‘chicken with potatoes’, and  ‘croca’ was beef ‘from the back’. The children were impressed when Daddy ordered ‘crocodile’ for lunch! It all turned out to be delicious, and Reuben amazed me by shunning the meat and working his way through a grilled sardine, determinedly removing as many of the tickly little bones as he could.

grilled sardines

'croca'

After two days in Ares, we were joined by friends, Paul and Emma, in another classic wooden boat, the ‘Spirit of Mystery’. They have two little girls on board, aged 3 and 6, so Katie and Reuben have been able to play with somebody other than each other! Finally, the sun came out, temperatures reached 25 degrees, and we were able to have a beach trip.

with the crew of 'Spirit of Mystery'

We moved across the bay to another town called Sada, where we made landfall seven years ago after our trip back from the Azores. Here there was a large supermarket close to the shore, and Dave finally satisfied his longing for ‘churros’ – long stick-shaped doughnuts, which the children (unsurprisingly) took a liking to. There was a lovely little beach for more swimming and sandcastle construction – they are getting more complicated now, with ‘bridges’ and ‘tunnels’!

CHURROS  yum!

sandcastle bridge

This is where we began ‘school’, keeping (roughly) the same term dates as Topsham School. Following the advice of many home-schoolers and teaching professionals, we are not doing full ‘days’ of school, but a dedicated hour (or hour and a half) after breakfast. It is early days yet and we are still getting used to our new roles but it seems to be going ok so far. Reuben does a lot of playing during his hour, and we do a couple of ten-minute sessions of letters or sums. Katie is more focussed, and will concentrate on either writing or maths for the whole session. We do a little reading after lunch and often play ‘think of a word containing…’ on our blackboard! They do plenty of artwork in their own time, and each have a current ‘route map’ to fill in or colour. 

words containing 'th' 

'school'

After two days in Sada, we headed with ‘Spirit of Mystery’ to the northernmost inlet, el Ferrol.  This used to be a highly fortified harbour, and huge castles remain on both sides of the narrow entrance. We explored the Castillo de San Felipe with our friends, and were rewarded with great views of both boats from the windows! On our way back, we came across fresh mint growing wild, and a walnut tree, which I had never seen before. The children enjoyed trying to crack open the nuts but were less keen to eat them!

Castillo de San Felipe

'Ros Ailither' & 'Spirit of Mystery'

cracking walnuts

El Ferrol is still a huge naval site, with a large military base and lots of grey warships of various sizes manouevring about. Despite the industrial surroundings, we had a perfect sheltered anchorage off a small marina with a lovely strip of sandy beach. It was full of incredible shells – very thick and with beautiful orange-y patterns on them, perfect for the children to collect. The beach was patrolled by lifeguards, one of whom came for a chat and was amazed to hear of our plans for the year. She had never been out of Galicia, this area of northern Spain.

three wise monkeys...

Although the anchorage was remote, there was a bus to the town of el Ferrol – lots of old, narrow buildings – and from here we all caught a train to a place called Ortigueira. This was an old, narrow-gauge railway, and the view from the (very modern) train was of green wooded hillsides, dotted with houses and hazy mountains in the background. We walked down through the town to meet our friends’ friends, who were here on their boat, in a marina with an incredible view over the local ria, as wide and smooth as a large lake. The market was on, so Dave topped up our honey supplies with an enormous jar (5 Euros), and treated us to some jamὀn (the local speciality - cured ham).

train to Ortigueira

amazing view from Ortigueira station

  

fter letting the children play on the well-equipped playpark, we had lunch in a waterfront café – again with a touch of potluck on ordering. ‘Jamboriňas’ turned out to be scallops and ‘Raxo’ was garlic pork and fried potatoes. Our friends’ friend then led us along a section of the wooded walk around the ria. The views over the water were stunning, reminiscent of Lake Como in Italy, and we collected our first small haul of blackberries this year.

Reuben in 'jail'

lunch on the waterfront 

walk around the ria

 Next, a trip to the third and most southerly ‘arm’ of this bay, la Coruňa. We had shunned this big city until now, in favour of the smaller, prettier towns, but were now in need of some specialist shops. In Paimpol, I had opened one of our drop windows in the wheelhouse and it had immediately shattered into a thousand pieces. Since then, we had been living with a temporary plywood window, obviously not great for visibility! So, after a long walk past extensive dockyards into the city, and on the advice of the very helpful man in the marine shop, we found ourselves trekking through the city looking for a certain plastics shop. We found it, and duly bought our cut-to-size piece of plastic window.

la Coruna

la Coruna

The next mission was to find a Spanish SIM card for my smartphone. Although we have been able to find internet in most places, it is only available for the time you are in that library or café, which is obviously limited by restless children, or how many drinks you want to buy! We had been dreaming of having more leisurely use of the internet in the evenings on board, as we had got used to at home. Having trekked along several more streets, we found the very shop, which had SIM cards there and available, but were unable to sell one to us without a passport!! Photo drivers licence not acceptable.

Fancy glass frontage, la Coruna

By this time, it was raining and we were all tired and hungry, so we decided to cut our losses and catch the bus home. The lady in the phone shop told us which bus to catch to get back to the marina near our anchorage.  We bought groceries in the nearby supermarket and, laden with our shopping, we sat on the bus happily munching on peaches and idly wondering why we seemed to be going in the wrong direction. It turns out that the bus went to the other marina, at the wrong end of the city! We jumped off, managed to ask a passer-by where the correct bus went from, and it was as we sat waiting for this bus that Dave realised he had left his piece of plastic on the first bus (long-departed).

As you can imagine, we were feeling rather miserable by this stage, after what seemed like a wasted afternoon. I mentioned to the bus driver what we had done, expecting him to give me a contact number for the bus depot. Despite not completely understanding my broken Spanish, he got the gist of the situation and immediately got on the radio to control, who then called all six of the no. 11 bus drivers. Within minutes, they had found the correct bus, which was due to pass the Plaza Pontevedra in five minutes time.

Our driver pulled over, pointed up a street and told us to hurry! We raced up the long street in the drizzle, asking people along the way for the Plaza Pontevedra, and arrived just as the correct no. 11 bus pulled up at the bus stop. There was the first driver with our piece of plastic safely behind his seat - unbelievable! We were so happy that we didn’t even mind being charged again for the rest of our bus ride home (bus tickets are fixed price and strictly one-use only).

Engraved 'la Coruna' benches

la Coruna waterfront

The next day, we had a more leisurely visit to the city and wandered around the historic waterfront. We visited the Castillo de San Anton, which dates from the 16^th century, when the old walled city was deemed to need more protection. It overlooks the entrance to the city, with cannons pointing out in all directions and it served to fend off an attack by Francis Drake and the British in 1589.

Castillo de San Anton

Plaza de Maria Pita

We walked through the walled city (surprisingly deserted) and into an enormous square, dedicated to Maria Pita, who heroically defended the city against the British invaders. There is an enormous statue of her in the square, armed with a spear, which Katie really liked! We visited the beach on the Atlantic side, where we gingerly paddled in the top of the waves that were surging up the beach. Despite being a good distance from the breaking surf, the water still managed to race up and soak the bottom of Reuben’s shorts and Dave’s trousers!

Atlantic swell

They dried off as we followed the waterfront path around to the seaward headland and site of the historic Torre de Hercules, the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world. It was originally built by the Romans in the 1^st century AD, and was one of the tallest buildings of its time. Although the original staircase winding around the outside has disappeared, the inside is still original, with a new staircase built inside the tall chambers. The outside was rebuilt in the 18^th century, and a higher top section was added to incorporate a larger lantern house. The views from the top were spectacular, looking across the entrance to the other two rias, and along the coast in the direction we are hoping to go.

Outside the lighthouse, there is a huge tiled compass rose, with each direction dedicated to one of the celtic regions, it was impressive from ground level, but looked even better from a high vantage point.

Torre de Hercules 

view from lighthouse

On the way back to the boat, we stopped at the phone shop and, with the help of a passport, succeeded in buying a Spanish SIM. We should now be able to enjoy internet access on board, which saves us from endlessly searching out weather forecasts! Task no 2 completed.

Our last mission was to repair or replace our dinghy outboard motor. We have two aboard but both have gone wrong! The gearbox on the more modern four-stroke broke on its second outing, and the older two-stroke one sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Katie and I always have the oars at the ready! Local advice took us to a local outboard engineer, and after a little negotiation, he found a second-hand gearbox to put on our four-stroke engine. Hopefully, we can now venture further up the smaller rias in our dinghy.

Guardia Civil boat (police), who came to check our boat papers.

After all this shopping and sightseeing, we had missed our window for heading around the coast and were faced with three to four days of strong winds and big swell. Already, the anchorage at la Coruna was getting pretty rolly. A rolly boat is bearable at sea when you have ‘signed up’ for it, but is really not fun when you are sitting at anchor. With 3 to 4- metre swells and winds of over 40 knots forecast, we hoisted the sails and returned to our first port, Ares, this time to the tranquil waters of the marina for a couple days.