Arrived Bayona NW Spain 42:07.3N 008:50.7W
SV Jenny
Alan Franklin/Lynne Gane
Sat 2 Aug 2014 21:34
Well we have arrived! The journey from La Coruna was not at all as expected, with head winds for most of the way. We started motoring our shortest route, confident we had enough fuel on board but unfortunately the fuel feed from the port tank doesn’t work so with only 1/4 full starboard tank, Alan decided to sail, fine except the best course achievable took us about 10 miles off the coast because of the unhelpful wind and currents, add to this winds of 15-20 knots, cold air temperatures, heavy rain, poor visibility, lumpy seas and you can understand we arrived in Bayona cold wet and tired. Our mean journey distance was around 114 miles, we travelled further than this over the ground and it took about 26 hours. And yes I was wearing my thermal sailing gear in August in Spain! Alan and Derek did a great job getting us here, sailing through the islands in the Ria Vigo. We are looking forward to actually seeing the places we sailed past in the mist during the rally.
Here in Bayona, we are tied up a an attractive harbour in the lee of a castle on a headland. This castle is a Parador hotel, I understand there are a string of them in historical buildings across Spain. Bayona is celebrating a saints day tonight with fun fairs, street markets, concert and fireworks, the whole town seems to be on the streets, seeing and being seen. Old narrow streets are crammed with al fresco tables as families, many with young children, dine until late. We had a lovely lunch, of grilled Octopus with garlic and scallops in pesto, very nice.
Tomorrow is Sunday, a few other rally boats have arrived already, hopefully we will introduce ourselves and we have met Alfredo Lagos the rally organiser. We hope to sort the fuel tank real soon too. Other problems have arisen such as the batteries which seemed ok despite their age of 7 years but with their heavier use are taking a long time to fully charge so their replacement is more expense. A brief look in the local chandlers seemed to suggest prices are not as high as in England, we live in hope…
With about 4 hours sleep over the whole day we are looking forward to a lie in. Will shrink some more photos in the morning and attach.
Our love to you all, off to watch the fireworks.
Alan, Derek and Lynne x