South through the Rias of NW Spain
Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Sun 11 Jul 2010 20:11
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We had a lovely last sail with Jim aboard.
We beat (tacked) all the way up the Ria de Muros on Monday afternoon
(5th July). We arrival in Portosin that evening, and ate ashore later
that evening. We had Tuesday working on a list
of jobs as well as cleaning ship. We booked the
hire car for the Wednesday crew change. We decided that Portosin
wasn't the centre of the universe as far as culture and social activities were
concerned (or shopping for that matter). It was about as attractive as
Camarinas, as far as architecture was concerned, but it did have a large marina
and excellent facilities for we yachties.
Wednesday 7th July The car
was delivered at 0830 and we set off an hour later. We had no map included
with the car, we we grabbed a glossy tourist brochure and pointed the car east,
keeping the sun on our right! (Jim had suggested ripping out the chart plotter
from Catou's chart table mounting - ha ha!) Eventually we hit the north-south
'Atlantic coast' highway and set off south towards Oporto. It was a surprisingly
long journey. We stopped for fuel, and Jim purchased a map, stating
that he had a vested interest in getting him to Oporto airport in time to catch
his flight since his ticket was over £200! Three hours hard driving got us
to the airport - a smart modern building built in the style of all modern
airports, and after Jim was checked in, we had a coffee or two with him.
We had considered driving down to the harbour at Leixoes (the nearest port for
Oporto), but we were so tired that so we decided to remain at the airport
and have a snooze and await the arrival of Nigel & Helen Horner from
Chaceley, who were due in on a flight from Gatwick. Nigel and Helens'
flight was an hour late, so we set off for the 3 hour drive back, in the hope of
catching the out-of-town supermarket at Portosin, which we managed OK. An
evening meal ashore was fun, since it was semi-final world football, and every
Spaniard in the place was biting their finger nails! The place erupted as
the final whistle went and Spain was in the final after beating Germany 1 - 0
(We were quite chuffed too, since Germany had thrashed us 4 - 1).
Thursday 8th July After an
early start at the crack of noon and breakfast at 1130, we set off at lunchtime
for the next Ria southwards called Ria de Arosa. We tried sailing,
but with little wind, we had no choice but to motor nearly all the way
around to the next Ria. It was a long journey, since we had to pass outside
various islands, and there were many rocks to avoid. We had decided on a
town called Santa Uxia de Riviera on the north side of the Ria, and as we were
making our final approach (after 9pm) we were suddenly paid a visit by a
high-powered Spanish customs launch with lots of official-looking customs
officers aboard. It was indicated that they intended to come alongside and
inspect our ship's papers, which they duly did. Pleasant enough, but
probably short of their quota of yachts to visit for the day, out came a big
form with all sorts of questions - like 'the make of radar on board' and
other seemingly pointless questions. Anyway, they were very pleasant and
after about 15 mins they were off on their way. A few mins later we
dropped anchor off the surprisingly large town of Santa Uxia de Rivieva.
It really didn't inspire us to go ashore, so we had a lovely supper on board and
turned in.
Friday 9th July After a few
morning jobs on board and with little enthusiasm for a shore expedition, we
decided to sail at lunchtime. After hoisting the main, we weighed anchor
and sailed out of the bay. We had a lovely reach sail, so we decided to
set the cruising chute for a few hours. Helen and Sylvie must have thought
Nigel and I a bit daft with all our enthusiasm for the big sail, but it flew
well and I feel we are getting the hang of it a bit now. We sailed out of the
Ria de Arosa and after doing some rock-hopping and sailing inside some off-lying
islands, we entered the next Ria southwards - called Ria Pontevedra. It
seemed to have a good write up in the pilot book, and Helen was swotting-up on
places to visit. We decided on a small town called Combarro at the head of
the Ria and after a lovely sail, we anchored off just before 1900 hrs. We
went ashore an hour later to discover a most charming, old and well
preserved town. Up to this point, I was beginning to wonder if any
towns on this coast had any charm, but this place was a real gem. It was full of
tourist shops, but a walk about the narrow streets to view the solidly
built granite homes, each with their 1st floor balconies and granite
pillars was a wonderful experience. Externally, there was no timber at
all used in their construction - so it appeared to be a granite fishing
village with granite streets and wonderfully carved buildings. It
was most unusual because the town was a mixture of fishing
and agricultural homes, but there must have been great wealth at some stage,
since there was so much in the way of elaborate decoration. It was full of
twisting streets with several crucifixes' with Christian and pagan
signs on them. But the real gem of this village was the
wonderful granaries - called horreos. There were dozens of them,
and it seems that each house had one. At first we thought they were large
tombs standing on granite (of course) stilts. Nearly all of
the horreos were built of stone with slits in to allow air to pass through,
but we saw a few wooden ones. They were very elaborately
decorated and usually had two crucifix on the roof. The 'stilts'
were like our staddle stones. If I can get some photos on this blog, I
will include one of the horreos.
Nigel and Helen treated us to a lovely dinner of
traditional sardines in a lovely restaurant overlooking the ria, and after
having 6 each, we all declined a pud!
Saturday 10th July A
surprisingly early start - we were ashore long before any shops
opened! So we had another walk about the old town, and after a supermarket
shop, we went back on board Catou and had b'fast. We had decided on a sail
around to the last (and most southerly) ria - the Ria de Vigo. Instead of
sailing up the ria to the industrial town of Vigo, we decided to visit Baiona
(Bayona) on the southern outer coast, a well known
yachtie-haunt with a smart yacht club. We had a wonderful beat down the
Ria Pontevedra, and as we rounded the southern tip, so the fog rolled in.
This coast is famous for it's summer fog, and it was thick. The wind died, so on
with engine and radar, and with chart plotter and radar, we navigated the
rock-strewn waters between various islands and mainland, until eventually
out of the fog hove the town of Bayona with it's magnificent castle overlooking
the sea. This was the town where Columbus made his landfall in 1493 after
returning from the New World.
On arrival we topped up with fuel, and went ashore at
1900 to walk the ramparts of the castle.
Later, Nigel and I were shifting and re-stowing some
chain under the forepeak bunk. Sylvie demanded that it must be
dry before we stowed it - how to dry chain
quickly? Helen to the rescue - she suggested using her hair dryer.
We were plugged into shore power, so after Nigel had passed several lengths of
chain down through the for'd hatch, I would wave the hair dryer over it - and
sure enough it worked! Chain stowed, we had a lovely meal that Sylvie and
Helen had prepared and after eating too much cheese, we turned in.
Photo No.1 Sylvie opening her birthday present -
yes that's the middle of the Bay of Biscay behind her - flat calm!
Photo No. 2 Jim looking very happy sailing
downwind off Cape Finisterre
Photo No.3 Ben was determined to take a dip in the
Bay of Biscay
Photo No.4 Sylvie blowing out her candles
Photo No. 5 Paul at helm off Finisterre |
