Galicia

We spent two days in Ares to make up for the Biscay crossing. It is a lovely little town with huge sandy beaches, a handy supermarket, playpark and long beachside walkway. A great place to unwind, especially with temperatures in the mid-twenties. The kids played on the beach, took turns in the kayak, we dug for clams and had a lovely BBQ on a secluded beach – this is more like it!

digging for clams at Ares

ashore at Ares

kids kayaking back from BBQ on beach

However, we wanted to take advantage of the settled weather and spent three days on the move. From Ares to Camarinas, then to Muros, and to the ria de Arousa. Each day starts with an hour or so of school then the rest of the day at sea. Katie and Reuben, as always, amaze us with their inventiveness. Katie decided to hang upside down from the boom swing one afternoon, so Reuben made himself some ‘armour’ and soon a sword fight was in full flow!

sword-fight at sea!

We try and go ashore on arrival, but this is quite a job in itself. It means winching the small dinghy (full of stuff) from inside the big dinghy, placing it further back on deck, then winching the big dinghy over the side. The children have been very helpful at tailing the winch for us, and Reuben was in a determined mood the other day and actually winched the dinghy all the way up. He said, “it’s good training to get your heart going!”

Muros town, with classic glass-windowed balconies

We are now tucked away in a place called Pobra do Caramiñal, way up the ría de Arousa. We will stay here until hurricane ‘Ophelia’ has passed and the sea calms down, although another big low looks set to follow. In the meantime, we are enjoying yet another sandy beach, and a thriving town. We made a repeat visit to the incredible waterfalls and natural swimming pools up the mountain - as stunning as last year.

hiking up to the pools

natural swimming pools

view from the pools right across the ria

We met another sailing family with a boat in the marina here. Their kids came over to say hi when we were topping up with water, and the parents came and had a chat. They are a ‘real’ sailing family – have just come from Alaska via the North West passage, and have spent the last eleven years sailing in the Pacific/New Zealand/South America, and spent time up the Amazon. We feel like amateurs!

view from our anchorage - mussel beds and small fishing boats

We looked out earlier tonight and thought we saw the moon coming up really red over the hills on the opposite side of the ría. It turned out to be a huge fire in the hills. There is another one raging in the hills above the town on our side. I have just looked online and apparently 80 fires are raging out of control all around Galicia, they suspect arson. Why would anybody do that?

I think we are safe out on the water but it sounds like a lot of homes are at risk.

Let’s hope the forecast rain comes very soon.