Portugal here we come
Toucan
Conor & Marion Wall
Sun 15 Aug 2010 16:52
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Bayona for real this time. I think last
posting showed us in Bayona, well if so I lied. Must have been having too
good a time in the Vigo Ria. See it on Google Earth.
Sunday 15-8-2010
Thinking of taking up farming! Started
first time. Guess the town.
 To sum up Spain
Well we finally arrived in Bayona (almost exactly a
month since we arrived in Ribadeo) having been in and out of too many Rias
to mention. Bayona being our last port of call on mainland Spain our next
stop is Portugal, to be more precise Povo de Varzim, which is about 50
miles down the coast from Bayona. We plan to do that tomorrow in
time for Stacy's arrival in Porto on Tuesday and I will be in the dog
house if I'm not somewhere close for her to join us.
Sunset over the Islands from one of our
anchorages.
 Weather
The weather apart from the fact that it has
been wall to wall sunshine, almost every day since we arrived has a
slightly different wind pattern to it. At first in the Northern Rias we
experienced strong winds most of the time with some very large seas as a
result (rollers as big as anything I have seen in the Atlantic) then we had
a period of hardly any wind except for the fact that in the mid afternoon of
most days the wind gets up to quite a brisk breeze before dying away again later
in the evening or night. However nothing more than force 7 which when coming
from a good direction is quite manageable (good direction means behind you). We
have had no rain whatsoever although we did wake up one morning to the sound of
a ships fog horm arriving in Vigo. When the fog lifted at around 1000 hours we
could see one of the largest cruise ships that I've ever seen, tied up only a
few hundred yards or so away from us. The temperature, most days, has been
up around the 30 Centigrade at the highest point of the day and the lowest
recorded on my digital termometer is 15 Centigrade. We have now witnessed
two forest fires being extinguished by aircraft dumping water on them presumably
as a result of the dry and hot spell this part of Spain is experiencing. Not
sure if this is normal weather for this time of year.
Fire fighting plane refulling with water,
nearly took our heads off when he came in low over the hill and dropped down on
the town and marina. He returned every 4 minutes.
 This is the fire we witnessed when we
were in Combarro.
 You can see many grain stores on this
stretch of waterfront in Combarro
 Highlights
Some of the highlight of Northern Spain for us have
been, the beautiful weather we have experienced, the fantastic little bays,
beaches and anchorages (far to numeroue to mention individually), the
larger cities like La Coruna & Vigo for the shopping orgys and of course the
pretty little villages and towns for the charm and individual character. Then of
course the food which has been so different to the 'eating out at home
experience'. Fish being the main ingredient, for the most part simple
meals but always very tasty and Pulpo (octopus) the highlight for
me.
The silly hat brigade & motley
crew of 'Toucan' for Northern Rias. Jacky, Veronique and us at the highest point
in La Coruna.
 These chaps woke us up and showed us
how real fishermen do it. As usual I'm not having too much
success.
Every bay along the way seemed to have
their own technique for fishing and all were wonderful to
watch.
 These chaps below are fishing not fighting.
Working together, a whole new meaning here.
 Part of a Menu. Could be any
restaurant in Galacia. Hope you like fish.
 One of the many beautiful beaches
visited below. Ils de Cies near Bayona.
 King and Queen
 We have taken so many photos it is difficult to
know which one's to put in the blog so I hope that what is in will give a
reasonable idea of what this part of Spain is like.
Bye for now.
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