Across Biscay to the Rias Bajas

Amoret
Thu 18 Sep 2008 09:57
The collection of south-bound boats waiting for the wind to shift from the southwest in Camaret reminded me of Adelie penguins, wanting to get into the water but not to be first in case the leopard seal was waiting below.  In the event, we decided to lead the pack after Paul and Tony had reccied the sea state from a handy cliff.  The rope cutter dealt efficiently with something round the prop as we left the harbour and we were set for Spain.  The sea was pretty rough to start with and it poured with rain as we went down the Raz de Sein (to keep up a tradition with which Tony is all too familiar), but within the first day the sea was merely moderate and sometimes the wind went away completely.  We saw several groups of dolphin (always hard to photograph, but we did try!). two minke whales, on the surface and very close, and a fan-tailed warbler that hitched a ride for a while. Having started on Friday afternoon, we rounded Cape Finisterre on Monday morning and got into the marina at Portosin in the Ria de Muros late afternoon.  Since then we have been enjoying shoreside life, including a trip by bus to Santiago de Compostella, where we caught the midday high mass and a good paella, and sundry eatings and drinkings of a pleasant sort.  It's very good to be in sunny, warm Spain!  Paul left us on Wednesday and our programme now is to poddle southwards, spending a week or so in interesting places as we go.  We intended to start today but I managed to trip over a bump on a zebra crossing a couple of days ago, landing on my chin which is now a spectacular purple and shaking me up a bit so we thought an extra day's R&R would be good.  I'm thinking of making a badge to say saying 'He's stopped beating me up - honest!'.