Gijon
Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Tue 6 Jul 2010 20:32
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The Next day- A night out!
Decided that skipper and crew had been rather
lackadaisical of late so the morning was spent catching up with boat jobs. Mid
afternoon we left the marina with the intention of anchoring off the beach at
the entrance to Santander.
 departing SantanderWhen we got there the wind was in the NNE and good
for the onward sail west so I decided to give Lynn a night out ( !) so we sailed
the 90 miles to Gijon. We had to slow down a bit so we were not entering the
marina in the dark. We moored at 07.00 local time. Quite a good passage but
the wind went further aft so with a beam sea it was not very
comfortable.
  Moored up and grabbed some sleep before taking a
walk in the old town and enjoying some vino tinto and bacalao!
  Roman Baths
    In many ways it was a pity to do the leg to Gijon
(pronounced Hee-hon or something like that) in the dark as there are lots
of Rias and small harbours along the coast and the back drop of the "Picos de
Europe" (apparently) make for fantastic scenery. In practice there was low cloud
so we would not see much and the Rias and harbours are impractical for a yacht
in Northerly winds.
Monday
Still Gijon
Planned to get up early but failed. Went for a walk
further into town before it got too hot and spent a couple of hours at the
aquarium- just in case any of you thought we had been snorkelling ( from the
pictures)
    The town is very relaxing with a lot of pedestrian
precincts and street cafes. We are moored next to the old town which is the
focus for bars and restaurants and in the sunshine some of them are permanently
busy. All the visiting yachts are put on the same pontoon so it is very sociable
with Swedish, Dutch, French, German and Spanish yachts all chattering away. The
marina office staff all seem to speak several languages and at the tourist
office we were asked where we had come from- you get the impression that Gijon
is trying hard to make its change from industrial town to fashionable tourist
destination. The atmosphere is very relaxing and friendly- we talk about staying
longer!
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