Camaret to Spain 43:32.0N 07:02.2W

Toucan
Conor & Marion Wall
Sat 17 Jul 2010 23:34
I have never liked sailing to deadlines but Jacky and Veronique our Breton friends were waiting for us in Spain and we promised to be there to meet them.
 
We left Camaret at 0400 BST on Saturday 10th July knowing that the winds were not going to be from a favourable direction but progress had to be made so we sailed off in a westerly direction out into the Atlantic for most of the day before we tacked. First tack gave us a track towards San Sebastian which would have been OK if not for the fact that we had to be in the NW part of Spain not the NE part. So the battle of Biscay began. We finally arrived in a place called Ribadeo just before dark on Monday night 12th July, (a Ria approximately 50 miles East of La Coruna). Not where we had intended to be but jolly glad it was Ribadeo and not some other remote Ria. It was a hard crossing with SW winds all the way and many hours of 25knots of wind or more, very large seas, sailing mostly with just the staysail and a reefed main. A tough crossing with lots of tacking hence the Ribeadeo visit.  Here we found a very modern marina, a bit pricy for North Spain but worth every penny. A lot of money has been spent recently modernising  the whole of the harbour area and it was a delight to find an impeccably clean and modern marina. The town also was a delight and there were plenty of sights to see.
 
Jacky and Veronique (our Breton friends) arrived by bus from Vigo on Tuesday night after a long bus trip (we had hoped to be closer to Vigo on arrival in Spain but alas the winds were against us) and on Wednesday we took a taxi to see the Cathedral rocks/cliffs some 7 miles or so from Ribadeo. You must go at low tide to see some spectacular rock cave and arch formations. Durdle Dore on a grand scale, quite spectacular.
 
Nite Nite

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