The Rias

ALICE'S ADVENTURES
ANDREW AND CELIA SHARPE
Mon 23 Aug 2010 11:24
We drove down to Vigo airport with Chris and Roger for their flight home with Debbie and Mark's two boys Chris and Robert.   Met Debbie and Mark who had spent the weekend in Vigo with the boys.  The temperature there was 10 degrees warmer with no wind chill - a hundred miles south of La Coruna by road.  We drove up to Santiago to Compestello where Mark had booked us all into the Parador for the night.  The Parador was right next door to the cathedral and a fascinating old building where the pilgrims used to stay (and some still do).  We walked round the lovely old town and found a fabulous tapas bar.  Wonderful calamari and gambas.  Needless to say Andrew did not partake in any of them but enjoyed the other meats and tortillas.  Looked round the cathedral in the morning which was filling up for a service.  A most unfriendly building. 
 
 
The cathedral
Inside the Cathedral
The Parador
2 "ladies" in the park
3 "old men" in La Coruna
One of the lace shops
A rare sunny day at sea
The orange squeezer
Outside the church in Caraminal
 
Drove back to La Coruna for 2 nights looking round the town and staying on the boat.  When we were due to leave on Wednesday morning it was raining.  The visibility improved a bit and we put on all our oilskins and boots and went anyway.  The repair to the auto helm worked which was a great relief!
 
Next stop was Camarinos.  A friendly, basic marina.  The town was mainly a fishing harbour but Debbie and I were enthralled with the lace shops.  One was a co-operative with all the ladies sitting round making the lace and selling their wares.  Fascinating.  The Ria was shrouded in cloud so not too good a view.
 
 
Thursday we went to the next Ria going past the notorious Cape Finnistere.  It was flat calm but we had rolling waves.  As usual the wind was on the nose and the tide was against us!  According to the pilot book and almanac it is very rare to get a southerly wind along this coast - this must be one of those rare times then!!  We anchored in the bay at Muros and went ashore to have a look round.  An interesting town full of old buildings and narrow streets.
 
Next day was a five mile trip across the Ria to Portosin.  We had bought a huge bag of oranges in the supermarket for one euro and Andrew squeezed a few of them for breakfast that morning.  Delicious.
We caught a bus to Noia at the head of the Ria which was described in the book as "little Florence". It was not as interesting as some of the other towns we had come across and I wouldn't recommend a special trip there.
 
On Saturday we headed round to Ria de Arousa.  Wind was force 3 to 4 on the nose again!  We saw dolphins outside the marina and again at sea and also a whale.  At the entrance to the marina there was thick fog.  Donned lifejackets and luckily it cleared once we were inside.  We anchored just off Caraminal. There were dolphins near the boat so we went on a chase in the dinghy but they were faster than us!   Went in to the town in the morning.  It was a festival weekend and there were incredible 10 foot tall mannequins outside the church ready for a parade. 
 
We left again in mist and came round to Ria de Pontevedra.  Wind still on the nose.   Tied up in the marina in Combarro.  A very pretty village which we walked around in the drizzle!
Raining hard this morning which is why I have time to write up the blog!