Noahs Progress The pilgrims tale

Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Mon 13 Aug 2007 19:22
30th July to 14th August
 
The Pilgrims Tale
 
After a few days sunning in Ria De Cedeira , trips ashore to check out the local houses of refreshment , and scenic walks we decided to move on to Sada which is about forty miles down the coast , we had called the marina given them our details the day before we left and were looking forward to a few days alongside to freshwater and fuel up , departed at the crack of sparrows from the Ria , much nicer exit than our entry with a 15ft following sea, it was flat calm with the wind just beginning to gain in strength as the norm in these parts it will be blowing by three o/c till six o/c then dye down , cleared the entrance set the sails off engine and sailed for the best part of thirty miles into the Ria entrance to Sada past El Ferrol wind picked up and so did our speed , we were clocking eight knots when a thought occurred to me that I had better confirm our arrival to Sada marina , called only to be told that they didn't accept boats of our draft at the marina 1.8m max !!!!! with plan A gone to rats we called the other marinas number that Roger and Margaret had given us , must have been our lucky day as they had an 18m slot left , looking at the chart it was situated in the old town of La Courinias port it looked like one or two narrow entrances but we thought that this might be the last time we would go alongside for a while so we would look see if we didn't like it we would find an anchorage and re-plan our stop somewhere else .
 After sailing back up the Ria which we had just come down we hung a left into La Courunia port approaches rounded the large breakwater into complete calm and motored up to the entrance , saw two Spanish gunboats parked across the entrance and thought this is going to be tight ! , a little harbour launch popped it head out of the entrance with a guy jumping up and down and gesticulating with his arms " FOLLOW ME " , I pointed to which side we should rig fenders ,he pointed to the Stb side Lyn was franticly changing them all over as per usual plan for one side and sods law says the other , we squeezed through into a maze of pontoons it was like little Venice Lyn didn't have time to look a were we were and I was thinking how the F*** am I going to turn around into one of these berths , anyway we carried on around three lots of pontoon the harbour opened out and the guys were on a long Hammerhead pontoon waiting for us , parked up in five mins flat , shookhands vigorously with many Gratis Signor , Gratis Signor ....  the guy look at the boat and pointed to Leprosy like varnish which doesn't like the sun very much and ever since we have left has decided toself peel Brazilian style much to Lyns horror as she has spent countless hrs keeping it tip top ,  we mentioned the product used to the guy and in broken English he said " French crap .... " Steve dont take the boat to the sun " after that we both collapsed down below and had a beer and promptly fell asleep .
 Next day we awoke and had a look round , list of thing to do , the main one was to find a new sump pump switch as the main galley one had given up when we got to France and we have not been able to use the galley sink properly , we had a list from the marine and went trolling La Courunia found a ships store but it was all heavy gear nothing yachty , got a new electric kettle as our old one had also passed away in France so we had half of the gear we needed , went to look at what they call a fuel berth didn't like the look of a short stone wall with 60m of black hose and no visible signs of being able to tie up , asked again at the marina office , they said there was another marina further down the Ria but had no details ... day one over in La Courunia ..
Day two more success found a ships chandlers with a really helpful girl who spoke good English , got the rest of the gear we needed float switch , bought all two of the stock suspecting that if one has gone the other two cant be far behind it !! found a dive store to top up my air bottles for more bottom scrubbing .. jobs done had long lunch and siesta ...
Day three ... Sunday ... got jobs done around the boat " Geoff I am keeping up my maintenance routines and repairs " repaired sump pump serviced Gen set , and put new cleats to back of rear cabin tostow dingy as it is a pain getting it out from under our bunk every stop ,, Lyn spent most of the day scraping of the old varnish ready for the new ... sun shone it hasn't stopped since we got to Spain so all was well with the world , come 8 o/c the fiesta started on the jetty and as darkness fell a really amazing fire work display right over our heads , the Spanish like plenty a big bangs with there fire works we thought Drake had come back to give the town another shelling like he did four hundred years ago anyway that went on for an hour , then the bands flashed up some of them sounded like south American ones you see in the films,  you know just before the firing squad senior which includes dodge moustaches and the guy with the big belly with the bass drum balanced on it ! No much sleep that night  .
Day four , a trip to Santiago on the train , transport system here good to trains every hour whistled us to Santiago , saw lots of people with sticks then realised after refering to the guide book that this was shrine territory ... Oh goody more sacred relics from the past , we had this experience some years ago it was very Black Adderish holy relics for sale everywhere ... couldn't find JC foot to match his toes I bought in Rockamaydor France some years ago though , anyway joking aside it was a really stunning sight and well worth the visit had a great long lunch and got the train back to La Courunia ,, Lyn went back to scratching her teak and varnish and I'm writing up the weekly ditty , moving on in a few days further down the coast after the predicted blow goes through tmrw  ..
 
The Noah's