Playa Esordi

Lochmarin
Thu 26 Jul 2012 11:55
42:56.2N 09:13.2W

We found the loveliest anchorage! There are two bays, just up from Sardineiro, separated by a little outcrop of rocks, and there was a British couple moored in the left hand one, so we took the right hand beach. We anchored in plenty of water, holding well in the sand, and straight away pumped up the dinghy to go to land. We motored up to the beach, jumping out into the clear water as we approached, to wade to shore with the anchor. We looked back at our boat. Just at our feet the perfectly transparent cool water gently flowed in and out, filled with glitter as flakes of mica were lifted and swirled by the lapping waves, as we raised our eyes the water slowly gained colour into a bright aquamarine, then deepened into a rich blue as we looked further out towards Lochmarin.


There were just one or two people on the golden curve and just above the was a hotel with tables, big umbrellas and cool beer... perfect.

We had a superb few days there. Pottering in the dinghy in the mornings and enjoying the beach in the afternoons. Every time you went under the water it was like swimming in a glitter ball, little sparkling flakes all around you from the ground up granite, and they were so fine that they didn't brush off the skin easily when we dried so we went around looking as if we'd been at a festival.

The little village was delightful, mostly new buildings but slip down an alleyway and you find yourself in the old part, with terracotta pan tiled roofs, held down against the wind by rocks dotted over them, and beautiful 18th century grain stores (horreos) on mushroom stilts to keep the rats away. The people there were, as always in Galicia, so welcoming, practicing their English on us, I got the feeling that they didn't have many tourists find them.




We had a small adventure getting to the village though, there was a brand new breakwater and slipway, so we went there to tie up as there were shellfish divers on the beach and we didn't want to get in their way. When we got to the top we found it was not yet open, so we had to climb the 9ft gate. As it was low tide we decided to climb over the rocks around the bay to get back to the dinghy, instead of scaling the gate again. This proved to be more adventurous than anticipated, with bright green weed covered boulders to use as stepping stones to cross sections and then steep granite to scale, looking for cracks to put fingers and toes in. All this with backpacks filled with cheap (but good!) local wine and carrier bags with bread and fruit hanging from our wrists. It was fun - Ellie would have loved it :-)