12/06/18
Saro's Gyda
Derrick Thorrington
Tue 26 Jun 2018 08:55
Finisterre
We se off with a
promising forecast to round this notorious Cape. It has a reputation for
ferocious wind acceleration and wicked seas so we chose our weather well. We
motorsailed,then motored in flat calm water before rounding he cape and having a
fast close hauled sail up the other side in beautiful flat water. we anchored
under sail off yet another glorious sandy beach just north of the little town of
Finisterre, the Ensenada de Llagostiera. The sun came out and it was warm enough
for dinner in the cockpit for a change. Summer at last'
Rounding the
Cape
The following
day,(after my wetsuit swim - I"m waiting for the water to go over 15 degrees) we
rowed ashore in the sunshine and were amazed at the amount and variety of
shells on the beach, There were clams of al sizes and colours. Several people
were shuffling around at the spring low tidal level. I decided to rake for
cockles on the next low tide, noting carefully were the popular places were.
Wow!
We were very
surpised as we walked into Finisterre, by the amount of foreigners here. There
were "pensions" everywhere. This was very different from all our previous ports
of call. We had set out to walk out to the Cape and, so it seemed ,had many
others, When we arrived we were again surprised to see coaches, cars and
campervans all in this "remote" place. We eventually realised why this was so as
we passed a tacky souvenir kiosk. This seemed to be the end of the Camino de
Santiago. We had presumed that the official end wasin Santiago itself. Not being
great fans of crowds we found a small road leading uphill and then sa track on
the seawardside of the cape which led us back to the town. A most enjoyable
walk.
Galician bagpipes -
Great sound
Cape Finisterre from
above
After our walk, and
keen to explore we sailed the few miles aroiund the corner to the next little
Bay with a small village at it's head.. (No cockling after
all). We anchored of the inevitable sandy beach and had an evening explore. From
the boat it looked quite uninspiring (as do most of the settlements along this
bit of coast), but we found some very characterful tiny backstreets leading to
the old quay, were women were sitting and whiling away the evening hours.We
found a field of the typical raised wheat stores, perculiar to this corner of
Spain. We think that they are called Horreos. The tide was very low so I had a
poke about to no avail while Derrick fetched some water from a conveneint tap. I
was at the other end of the beach when I noticed that he was ready. As I ran
along the tide line, loads of small spurts shot up from the holes in the sand.
There were clams there after all!
A lucky view of
Saro's Gyda and te ladies chatting
Galician grain
stores