Oh the best laid plans…  Having provisioned and psyched ourselves up for the long passage to GB, here we were after our unscheduled night’s anchorage at Cascais, trying to make progress once again. After some reasonable winds in the morning, we found ourselves making very little headway at all in the right direction (8 miles in 5 hrs), so eventually and very reluctantly, made the decision to motor to the north western tip of Spain and review the situation there.  A cool, grey cloudy day with quite rough seas by the late evening was followed by a cold night and another grey dawn.  Luckily the day then brightened and we were able to peal off the layers and enjoy warm sunshine at last.  The winds then died away again so we felt our decision to motor was vindicated.  Late in the afternoon, after hours and hours without seeing another vessel, we were almost sideswiped by a Swedish sailing boat and a shout of “a*******” from the furious skipper.  We had made the classic error of not checking under our large front sail and simply had not seen the other boat approaching.  Needless to say, it was his right of way too.  It reminded us that even in an apparently empty sea something can catch you unawares if you take your eye of the ball!  Oh dear, we felt very embarrassed.

After two nights at sea the next morning started with a magnificent dawn sky for first mate who was on watch at the time – it almost made up for the long hours on deck beforehand.  The wind and seas picked up mid morning (still on the nose of course). We were visited by some playful dolphins but couldn’t go forward to greet them as conditions were too rough on the foredeck at the time.  We had a lively time rounding Cape Finisterre but luckily the seas were a bit calmer beyond it and we motored on past the lovely green hills of Galicia.  We eventually tied up in the little yacht club marina at Camarinas where we stopped two years ago on our outward voyage. It is such a pretty spot with views a bit like Scotland only with sunshine, and wonderful and cheap seafood.  Despite the disappointments of the trip so far, it felt like a bonus to be back in this part of Spain.  If you haven’t been to Galicia you should!