42:07.360N 008:50.769W

Whisper
Noel Dilly
Wed 8 Aug 2012 10:33
"OCC Rally - Day 1"
 
Those taking part on this trip met at 10.00am and boarded the coach, a good start for further introductions. It was a beautiful sunny and cloudless day, the coach wound its way along the coast road giving us beautiful views of the rocks and Atlantic Ocean stretched out for miles beyond our vision. Small fishing boats were close in to the rocks, the ocean calm, whilst yachts further out at see had their sails set - a perfect day for sailing, but the views from our coach were more than pleasurable.
 
Eventually we arrived at a small port and began our climb up to the Monte Santa Tecia. From the summit we had wonderful views out across the ocean and the mountains inland but most striking of all we towered over the Rio Mino. The river marks the border between Spain and Portugal. Because of the close proximity of the two countries the languages are very similar in this region. There vas a very small but interesting museum showing many artifacts of the Celtic period and also from the Romans who had invaded Spain and exploited the gold in the region using the Celts as slaves. On our way back down to the coast we stopped at the remains and in parts reconstructed Celtic village.
 
Next we visited the XII century church of Santa Maria de Oya. We were privileged to be allowed to look inside, the altar was quite magnificent and looked to be cast in gold. The holder of the key was a lovely elderly lady, dressed in black as is so typical of Spain. She had walked up to the church from the street below, her am in a sling and leaning on her walking stick as I walked back to our coach with her beside me she made the comments "This is the most beautiful place in all the word, what more could I want - I have the ocean before me and the mountains behind". I had to agree with her, it was idyllic!
 
We then drove up into the mountain it was glorious, so many reminders of places 'at home'. One minute the heather, ferns and rocks reminded us of Scotland, next the distant bear rocky hills of Wales but mostly it reminded us of the New Forest especially when the wild horses of the region appeared along with long homed cows and a herd of sheep crossed the road in front of us. It was a great trip, we returned in time for a siesta before our evening activities.
 
Glad rags on I managed to negotiate the push pit and the gap to the pontoon without incident. Noel was seconded by our elderly host to count the 40 guests onto the coach to transport us the 5km to his home and 'yes', Noel was required to do the same on our return, which was quite entertaining. The coach driver honked his horn at every narrow tight corner as we climbed up the hill to a wonderful old but beautifully maintained stone house overlooking the bay below and the mountains above. The gardens were beautiful flowers in bloom every where. We were greeted by numerous members of the family all so charming, even 3yr old Pablo shook our hands and was still up and about with his cousins when we all finally departed back to our boats at 2am! The evening was a real success we dined in the garden under an open marquee and an ancient open barn; food was plentiful and the wine flowed freely. The climax of the evening after our splendid meal was finished was the making of a 'night cap'. This ritual was accompanied by Gaelic tunes played on bagpipes. The 'potion' was similar to a bowl of Punch which was subsequently set fire to, so that the alcohol was burnt off leaving a powerful tasting liquor which we all drank out of small terracotta mugs. The ritual took sometime as the burning liquor was lifted in a ladle and poured gently back into the cauldron, the flames billowing up and occasionally falling onto the trestle table on which it sat. Several of us joined in filling the ladle and creating spectacular falls of flames, even the children tried under close instruction and help, their eyes wide and tongues poked out in concentration! What a fun evening it was, finally drawn to a close with a sing song of melodies played by one of the Irish crew who had brought along his guitar .