San Vicente de la Barquera
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 24 Sep 2010 09:00
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004:23.521W Sorry to those of you wanting more pictures. We're on a mooring tonight and have to use the satphone to connect at 1980s internet speeds. We're in a place between Santander and Gijon,
called San Vicente, where we arrived as the sun went down. We're borrowing a
friendly Spanish chap's mooring for the night in what we thought was enough
water to stay afloat. However, as low tide creeps closer, and huge mud banks
have risen up on either side of the boat, obscuring the view of the town, we're
a bit less confident.
At least it's a calm night in a tranquil spot on
the edge of the marshes. The guide described San Vicente as noisy and busy,
perhaps referring to the dude who seems to drive really fast along the road with
his stereo turned up to 11. Other than that, church bells and curlews have been
as edgy as it gets. I'll reserve a judgement for the morning - this being Spain,
things probably only get going at midnight.
Yesterday I visited a Museum of Torture in Spain's
only fully intact mediaeval village. Alex sat outside reading Hola! - a pale rag
that spawned the even paler Hello! Inside the museum, a display of 70 different
torture implements were explained in graphic detail and beautiful English - from
gibbets and iron maidens to thumbscrews and various spikes. There was a tone of
mild self congratulation in the text explaining that many of these grisly
implements were invented during the Inquisition and are still in use in various
parts of the world today. Spain's most successful export?
Too cold for swimming today. We're hoping for
better luck tomorrow. Fish count still at 12 - appetite for fish is slowly
returning after our macker fest 2 weeks ago. We met a guy yesterday gutting half
a dozen fresh tuna on the pontoon as if it was the most natural thing in the
world, so we're hopeful for when we put the hooks out
tomorrow.
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