La Coruña 43 22.86 N 08 20.56 W

ALKIRA
Charles & Maggie Bevis
Tue 30 Jul 2013 08:05
Our stopover in La Coruña turned into a pleasant and varied few days.

As we arrived rather late in the evening of the 26th, we anchored off just across the bay. We then made our way into La Coruña Friday morning and opted for the town marina rather than the larger marina at the entrance. More expensive but it meant we had easy access to everything and ease of getting everywhere.

A very large medieval style fare was present in the old town, due to finish Sunday evening. Many stalls to visit and so many selling foods of all sorts, vast quantities of meats of all types and fish being cooked on enormous barbecues. La Coruña is a big place with a large population and from around 8 o'clock in the evening, they all seemed to be at the fayre. The old town streets were festooned with banners of all shapes and colours and all the stall holders were in costume. The main town plaza had been set up for the 'knights' to hold jousting competitions. All great fun and with a great atmosphere too. We enjoyed walking around the town more on Saturday, then on Sunday we caught a train to visit Santiago de Compostela.

The city of Santiago de Compostela has its origin in the shrine of St James the Great, now the city's cathedral, destination of the way of St James and a leading pilgrimage route which started in the 9th century. In 1985 the city's old town was designated a UNESCO world heritage site. If you want to know more, it's on the web.

Wandering around town itself is very pleasant, but inevitably, with so many thousands visiting each year, many of the lovely old buildings are now restaurants and shops selling appropriate/inappropriate tourist items. By lunch time the town was extremely busy.

Until about 2 o'clock, the weather was being kind, but began to deteriorate in the afternoon and by 3 we had rain, followed shortly after by torrential rain and thunder. We visited one of the bars at this point, the plan being to wait out the storm and as the Hungarian grand prix was on, we stayed to watch Lewis Hamilton take honours. We decided to call it a day after that and headed back to the station, feeling rather damp, and la Coruña.

Monday was a laundry, supermarket visit and general tidy up day. We filled up with fuel in the early evening and headed back out to anchor for the night with the plan being to leave early Tuesday morning.

A beautiful morning and sunrise and the anchor was raised around 7:30 am. We are now on our way to Camarinas where we will anchor for the night before making our way around Cape Finisterre. Maggie is praying for good weather!

So far, at 9:45, we've had blue skies, wind, no wind, changing wind direction and now no wind again. Engine on/off, sails in/out. Looks as though its going to be one of those days when everything is an option, unfortunately it's also clouded over and now rather chilly. Time to put the kettle on!