Fai Tira in La Coruna, Northern Spain. 45:22.05N 08:23.07W

Fai Tira
pete.callis53@googlemail.com
Mon 5 Sep 2011 12:01

Fai Tira in La Coruna, Northern Spain.   45:22.05N 08:23.07W

 

3rd   September 2011

 

On the 3rd September 2009 we arrived in La Coruna after quite a horrible Biscay crossing.  So it is quite ironic to arrive back here exactly two years later in calm conditions after nearly completing our adventure.  We are waiting for a weather window to set off on our final leg of the trip back to Dartmouth.

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We had set off from Faro with the intention of getting to La Coruna in one hop.  We achieved this with favourable winds and only one night of bad weather.  We stayed close to the Portuguese coast to take advantage of the afternoon sea breezes.  The only downside to this was having to dodge the numerous fishing and lobster pots dotted along our route.

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An early morning scene followed by a group of Islands that reminded me of our first sighting of the Marquesas.

 

The highlight of the trip for me was being surrounded by Dolphins at night, watching them as they streaked through the phosphorescent sea looking like green silhouetted aliens with trails of sparkling plankton left in their wake.  I was lucky to be on watch when this happened just to the north of Finisterre. They stayed with us for about an hour. As we passed through a shoals of fish all hell let loose as they went into a feeding frenzy only to return back to the bows of FT to keep me company for another few miles. I woke Baz to ensure he didn’t miss this rare, special spectacle.

 

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Here is me enjoying the one of the two drinks a day allowed whilst sailing.  John on the lookout for more Dolphins. Motoring along in light winds.

John spotted a huge air breather which I was convinced was a whale of some type based on its size.  John was convinced it was a large Dolphin. We will never know as it disappeared after a few minutes. Baz was asleep and missed it.

 

After arriving in La Coruna at 10.30 we chilled out and then headed into the city.  Memories of 2009 came flooding back - after all this was our first real stopover after the achievement of crossing Biscay.  We headed for the main square which has an awesome town hall.

 

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FT’s Crew

 

We wandered around for a while before, yes you guessed it, we found a place to sit and have a beer.  But what a strange place.

 

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We sat outside a ham shop drinking beer.  Baz was in his element being a Radio HAM.  We also came across this interesting street art figure levitating in front of our very eyes.    We carried on wandering until we found an Irish pub.  Guiness was on the sign outside so we headed in and sampled a couple of very nice pints whilst watching Wasps play Saracens at Rugby on the pub TV. Tapas was also on offer. Drinking Guiness and watching Rugby in an Irish Tapas bar is not something you get to do every day!

 

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John sampling the dark stuff.

After the rugby it was time to eat.  We were recommended to a nice local resturant. Whilst in there the heavens opened and it rained and rained. It didn’t stop until the next morning and we got thoughly soaked on the way back to FT.

 

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The square at night - deserted because of the rain.

 

Sunday dawned bright and sunny.  We did a few jobs in preparation for our final leg. Later Baz and myself headed off on the bikes hunting Geo Caches whilst John when hunting art.  We failed on the first location but achieved finding the hidden tresure at the next two locations.

 

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The little panda we found in Cartagena goes into our first Geo Cache of the day to carry on its journey around the globe.  The second cache had some Finish coins in it. We brought them away with us to check what their mission was.

 

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Remember these objects? - a rusty piece of art and this great surfing sculpure located next to the beach.

 

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Me trying to work out which way it is to Dartmouth and the magnificent Torre de Hercules a light house originally built by the Romans.

 

We met up with John back in the square and and then had dinner before retiring to bed having had a really nice day.

 

We leave La Coruna tomorrow heading across the Bay of Biscay.  Our ETA in Dartmouth is midday next Saturday the 10th September 2011.