Ria de Pontevedra & Combarro N42 26 W8 42

Gryphon II
Chris and Lorraine Marchant
Tue 11 Aug 2009 11:19
Ria de Pontevedra
 
Arriving at the Ria after swimming at Isla Ons, we thought we had spotted an attractive beach , but on arrival we were confronted by tourist town. The contrast between the 2 beaches was stark...the old and the new. I expect the old girls at Muros would have been happy enough to swap places with the modern way of life but we can't help feeling that something has been lost.
  
 
The following morning we didn't bother going ashore having decided to go to the nearby Sanxenxo marina. However, on entry we were turned away and were told it was full, which seemed surprising as there were yards of vacant pontoons, this confirmed our feelings about this part of Galicia. We decided to go up the ria to the interesting old fishing village of Combarro, despite warnings from the pilot book that security could be a problem. Our luck was in, there was a brand new marina ideal for 2 days of washing, shopping and cleaning!
The village turned out to be very quaint and extremely well preserved...if only the Spanish did a bit more in there ordinary towns.
Much of Combarro is built straight onto the bed rock, steps and drainage channels are carved out, old cart tracks are carved into the rock roadways.
 
   
 
   
 
Fishing and especially mussel cultivation remains big business here as elsewhere.
There were 5 or 6 barges coming in each morning piled high with mussels ready to unload.