12/06/18

Saro's Gyda
Derrick Thorrington
Tue 26 Jun 2018 08:55
Finisterre
We se off with a promising forecast to round this notorious Cape. It has a reputation for ferocious wind acceleration and wicked seas so we chose our weather well. We motorsailed,then motored in flat calm water before rounding he cape and having a fast close hauled sail up the other side in beautiful flat water. we anchored under sail off yet another glorious sandy beach just north of the little town of Finisterre, the Ensenada de Llagostiera. The sun came out and it was warm enough for dinner in the cockpit for a change. Summer at last'
 
Rounding the Cape
 
The following day,(after my wetsuit swim - I"m waiting for the water to go over 15 degrees) we rowed ashore  in the sunshine and were amazed at the amount and variety of shells on the beach, There were clams of al sizes and colours. Several people were shuffling around at the spring low tidal level. I decided to rake for cockles on the next low tide, noting carefully were the popular places were.
 
Wow!
 
We were very surpised as we walked into Finisterre, by the amount of foreigners here. There were "pensions" everywhere. This was very different from all our previous ports of call. We had set out to walk out to the Cape and, so it seemed ,had many others, When we arrived we were again surprised to see coaches, cars and campervans all in this "remote" place. We eventually realised why this was so as we passed a tacky souvenir kiosk. This seemed to be the end of the Camino de Santiago. We had presumed that the official end wasin Santiago itself. Not being great fans of crowds we found a small road leading uphill and then sa track on the seawardside of the cape which led us back to the town. A most enjoyable walk.
 
Galician bagpipes - Great sound
 
Cape Finisterre from above
 
 
 
After our walk, and keen to explore we sailed the few miles aroiund the corner to the next little Bay with a small village at it's head.. (No cockling after all). We anchored of the inevitable sandy beach and had an evening explore. From the boat it looked quite uninspiring (as do most of the settlements along this bit of coast), but we found some very characterful tiny backstreets leading to the old quay, were women were sitting and whiling away the evening hours.We found a field of the typical raised wheat stores, perculiar to this corner of Spain. We think that they are called Horreos. The tide was very low so I had a poke about to no avail while Derrick fetched some water from a conveneint tap. I was at the other end of the beach when I noticed that he was ready. As I ran along the tide line, loads of small spurts shot up from the holes in the sand. There were clams there after all!
 
A lucky view of Saro's Gyda and te ladies chatting
 
Galician grain stores