In the past three weeks, we have come all the way up the
west coast of the Iberian peninsula, from Cabo San Vicente at the bottom to la
Coruna, at the top.
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Dolphins near Cabo San Vicente |
We had a few technical issues on this leg of the trip. On
the very first day, the autopilot stopped working. Dave went to investigate and
found that the motor driving the system had stopped. He diagnosed worn brushes,
and kicked himself for not bringing spares along. He had asked about getting
some when purchasing the unit, but the owner of the shop seemed convinced that,
“You’ll never need to replace those!” Famous last words! A quote for new ones was
£180 plus delivery, which would mean waiting somewhere for them to arrive.
We decided to pull into Sines and see what we could find in
the fishing harbour. After a long search for the correct store, then an even
longer search through the store’s ‘spares’ boxes, Dave came up trumps. The
brushes weren’t quite the right size, but after a little filing, and re-welding
the springs, Dave had the whole thing back up and running the same afternoon,
and for a fraction of the cost!
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Keeping amused at sea |
The next morning, as we set out to sea there was a strong
smell in the boat, a strange sort of antiseptic TCP smell. We stopped at the
threshold of the harbour while Dave checked everything out. He couldn’t find
anything wrong but still this smell lingered. We continued on cautiously while
trying to sniff out the problem. Was there a problem with the new brushes or had
some chemical or paint tin leaked? We were completely baffled. It wasn’t until
mid-morning that Dave found the culprit – an LED light in the kitchen had burnt
out! No major damage and a relief to identify the cause.
We continued north in light winds – stopping overnight at
Cascais, Nazaré, and São Jacinto. By the time we reached this
last harbour, the wind was not so light and the entrance was rather hairy with
sizeable waves rolling in and clashing with a strong outgoing tide. I was glad
Dave was at the helm and not me as we surfed our way in. I didn’t want to put
him off by going to get the camera but the fact that there were waves inside the
entrance gives a good idea of what it was like outside! Suffice to say we were
happy to drop anchor and stop for a few days while the north winds picked up.
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walking out to the beach, Sao Jacinto
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Reuben mastering rowing at Sao Jacinto |
Here we met up with our friend Rafe, who was heading south
in his aluminium yacht ‘Silver Lining’. We spent an evening ashore together,
and ate in a local restaurant. The seabass was delicious, but the ‘chips’ took
us by surprise again when presented with half a plate of crisps! We never will
understand that one. But the meal was rounded off nicely with a Magnum ice
cream in honour of Rafe’s dad, ex-Topsham artist David Eddington.
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Magnums with Rafe |
We visited the tallest lighthouse in Portugal, across the entrance at
Barra, and also an old cod-fishing boat, the ‘San Andres’, which has been turned
into a museum. It was an impressive sized ship, with enormous holds for all the
fish. One half of the catch was refrigerated, and the other half salted – salt
cod is still a big part of Portuguese cuisine, and is available in every
supermarket (even Lidl have a salt-cod section!)
I particularly liked to see the huge wheelhouse, with its
many radars and fish-finders, and drawers full of charts ranging as far as the
Grand Banks and Greenland. The kitchen was also impressive, with an enormous
electric mixer, huge bun-tin tray and a vast pantry. The wooden dividers on the
table to keep each seaman’s plate and drink in place give an idea of the
conditions they would have been cooking (and working) in!
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271 steps to the top of the Barra lighthouse |
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bit breezy at the top! |
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San Andres - ex-codfishing boat, with its prop off |
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Reuben at the helm |
A short day-trip took us to Leixões, near Porto, where we again
got stopped by strong northerlies. We weren’t too worried as the sun was
shining and we had both Father’s Day and Reuben’s birthday to celebrate. Reuben
was missing his friends but he had a lovely day, with a trip to the local
playpark to try out his new roller-blades, a picnic lunch and an afternoon on
the beach jumping over the waves and splashing in a warm inshore pool. There
was certainly a lot of cake eaten that weekend!
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Reuben getting brave on his new roller-blades |
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Yum! |
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braving the waves at Leixoes |
Another long day trip and we crossed the border back into
Spain. The third casualty of this leg was the Ipod for our music, which has given up the ghost after 13 years. We are now reduced to old-fashioned radio or having to swap the CD's!
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Changing the courtesy flag as we enter Spanish waters |
We spent two nights in the lovely town of Bayona. Here, Reuben picked up a late birthday parcel and searched for tiny cowrie shells on the beach. Katie and I clambered out over the rocks and braved seaweed to swim in the deep patches of sea.
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Reuben getting lowered over the side |
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Katie, after a sea swim at Bayona
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sunset, Bayona |
Suddenly, the weather turned balmy and hot with little to no
wind – perfect for swimming. Katie has proved to be a patient teacher and got me (who is scared of heights) and Reuben jumping in off the bowsprit!
Unfortunately,
it was also perfect weather for mosquitoes, and after one hot night, where
Reuben slept without covers or a pyjama top, he woke up covered in mosquito
bites. Katie circled them all in pen as they counted them – 33 in all.
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Jump! |
We set off to visit our favourite places in the Spanish rias. First stop were the beautiful Islas de Cies, a nature
reserve opposite the Ria de Vigo. We remembered how cold the water was from our
last visit so we went ashore armed with wetsuits and were able to spend a long
time in the water without freezing! Dave had bought an underwater camera since
our last trip so we had fun snapping each other while up to our necks in water
– it’s a weird feeling to wade into the sea with your camera!
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Dave thru the underwater camera
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Pristine beach at Isla de Cies |
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The next day we took a walk up to the Pedra da Campa, a huge
rock with a hole eroded in it. Reuben was delighted to spot lots of lizards on
the way – 36 in total, including 5 of the big green ones he loves. We also
spotted a couple of robins, and several baby seagull chicks, which I had never
seen before.
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seagull chicks |
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big, green lizard
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Katie at the Pedra da Campa |
Next stop was Pobra do Caramiñal, in the Ria de Arousa, for
our third trip to the stunning natural waterfalls. With temperature warnings of
85 degrees from 2 until 8pm, we set off early, but it was still a hot and
sweaty cycle to the base of the hill, followed by a twenty-minute walk up
through the woods to get there. By the time we arrived at the top, we were desperate
to strip off and jump in.
Reuben, with no rucksack, was the first to arrive.
“There’s people there!” he shouted back, disappointed. He
had been praying that we would have the place to ourselves.
There was one couple, sunbathing on the rocks. The kids jumped
in the water immediately, while Dave and I chatted to the Spanish couple.
Despite living in the Ria de Arousa, they had only just discovered these
waterfalls.
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pool with a view |
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waterslide! |
They left not long after, and we had the whole glorious
place to ourselves. We all swam, splashed and hunted for the frogs we could
hear croaking. On our first visit two years ago, Reuben had been in armbands;
now he and Katie were diving to the bottom to collect handfuls of sand! We
clambered down to the next pools below, where we slid down the mossy rocks into
the pool – a natural waterslide. Normally the water is quite chilly, but the
sun was so hot it had warmed the rocks which in turn warmed the water running
over them. It was heavenly!
At 3pm, it was just too hot to stay out in the sun and we
packed up and headed home. We passed two groups climbing up to the pools – a
hard slog in the afternoon heat - and were doubly thankful for our early start.
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natural swimming pools |
That evening was the Fiesta de San Juan, the Spanish
celebration of Midsummers Day. We went ashore in the evening to grab a beer and
watch proceedings. The shore road was cordoned off and people lined the sea
wall, where a barbeque was set up, offering grilled sardines, pork and mussels.
At midnight, the big fire was lit and further along various groups of people
made smaller bonfires for themselves. Apparently the tradition is to jump over
the fire four times for luck for the coming year. We left at half past twelve
and by the time we woke, there was no evidence of a fire on the beach at all!
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Fiesta de San Juan |
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the big bonfire |
Our next stop was Finisterre. This is a final, ‘extra’
destination for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago, and I had always
wanted to walk out to the end of the headland. It was getting late by
the time we dropped anchor, so we cheated and caught a taxi out to the
lighthouse. The view was underwhelming, to say the least, as the mist was
rolling in, but at least we had been there! The taxi driver also recommended a
decent local restaurant, where we had a lovely meal out, with proper chips!
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stunning view at Finisterre!
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Pilgrim's bread for walkers |
The next Ria was Camariñas, where we had planned to
have a bonfire. For some reason, the water in the ria was a strange red/brown
colour, not the clear blue we remembered. We weren’t sure if there had been a
pollution spill, or if it was the ‘red tide’ that plagues American shores. In
any case, it didn’t look tempting, and the skies were cloudy, so we postponed
the bonfire.
It was here that we realised our phones had stopped working.
We had thought maybe the signal was poor in Finisterre as it was such a remote
headland, but when we reached Camariñas and still had ‘emergency calls
only’ on both phones, we realised there was a problem. It was exactly a year since
we signed up with EE and we thought maybe our contract had run out.
The following morning, I hooked up to wifi in a café and
spent a frustrating couple of hours going round in circles just to try and make
an online call. Finally, I got through to EE and established that we hadn’t
been cut off. I just managed to note down technical suggestions before the
battery ran out. Thankfully, the suggestions worked and we were soon
reconnected. Surprising how we have got so used to ready access to the internet
on board. We didn’t have such luxury on our first Atlantic trip!
In the next ria Corme, we bumped into a French boat we’d met two years previously, and finally had our bonfire, just outside a cave on our own little stretch of beach.
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beach bonfire, Corme |
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saving a baby starfish |
Our final stop on the west coast were the Islas Sisargas, an
uninhabited group of islands off the coast. We had never been able to stop here
before due to swell, so it was lovely to visit the island and swim off the tiny
sandy beach, despite the nesting seagulls that tried to bombard us as we
followed the path to the top.
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looking for a sandy spot to anchor |
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anchored at the Islas Sisargas |
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Islas Sisargas,looking to the mainland |
We have done a lot of motoring on this leg, and have all enjoyed travelling slowly in flat, calm seas this last week. It makes me wonder if we are really 'true sailors', especially after hearing that out friend Martijn was knocked to 80 degrees of heel on his way back across the Atlantic. That doesn't appeal to me in the slightest!
We are now planning to follow the north coast of Spain a
little way along while keeping an eye open for a good weather window to cross
the Biscay. We aim to join the maritime festival at Douarnenez at the end of
July.