Diary 21 July - 31 July
Tuesday 21st July 2009
Cangas
Posn 41deg15'.629N 08deg 46'.995 W
We're in a marina in Cangas now, in the Ria de Vigo, having arrived in the ria on Sunday. It's been a few days since our last diary entry, so here's our story since Friday last....
On Friday, we left Sanxenxo marina and sailed for two hours to the pretty fishing village of Combarro (42deg 25'.866N 8deg 42'.010W), near the head of the ria de Pontevedra. We anchored off the beach, to give shelter from the forecast northerly wind. Most other yachts were heading for the new marina but we'd heard it was expensive for the quailty of facilities. The village is fascinating - a rabbit warren of tiny streets, with many of the old "grain stores" visible from the shore. It's very touristy, but welcoming and after dinner we took the dinghy ashore, tied up at the town quay and walked through the steets which are full of bars, restaurants and gift shops, many of which have "witch dolls" for sale. Despite asking a friendly waiter what relevance these witches have, we're not much the wiser as he just said women in Galicia have magic powers...???
Cangas
Posn 41deg15'.629N 08deg 46'.995 W
We're in a marina in Cangas now, in the Ria de Vigo, having arrived in the ria on Sunday. It's been a few days since our last diary entry, so here's our story since Friday last....
On Friday, we left Sanxenxo marina and sailed for two hours to the pretty fishing village of Combarro (42deg 25'.866N 8deg 42'.010W), near the head of the ria de Pontevedra. We anchored off the beach, to give shelter from the forecast northerly wind. Most other yachts were heading for the new marina but we'd heard it was expensive for the quailty of facilities. The village is fascinating - a rabbit warren of tiny streets, with many of the old "grain stores" visible from the shore. It's very touristy, but welcoming and after dinner we took the dinghy ashore, tied up at the town quay and walked through the steets which are full of bars, restaurants and gift shops, many of which have "witch dolls" for sale. Despite asking a friendly waiter what relevance these witches have, we're not much the wiser as he just said women in Galicia have magic powers...???
On Saturday, we took the dinghy the three miles up a narrow channel to Pontevedra, the regional capital, and tied the dinghy up at the yacht club - it's not possible to take Minnie B as the air draught at one of the bridges is 12m and we are >17m. This was the loveliest town we have visited since arriving in Spain, with beautiful squares, churches, colonnaded pavements and monuments. We phoned Julia, to wish her "happy birthday" and then had a walk and some lunch in the Praza de Lena, or Wood Square, referring to the wood market that used to take place here.The trip back in the dinghy was rather bumpy and wet as the wind had got up, but fun all the same. It did throw up the need for another purchase - a length of pIastic pipe to fit over the outboard throttle/tiller to make long distances easier and avoid the risk of permanent nerve damage, as we both ended up with "vibration white arm and hand". In the evening we went our for tapas and were served by a charming, young Barcelonan who spoke excellent English and is off to study at Kingston University - one of Phil's former places of employment.
Sunday saw us make the 28nm trip to the Ria de Vigo, the last one we'll visit before heading down to Portugal. It's much more built up than any of the others, with Vigo as the main port. The sail down was lovely, a beam reach in bright sunshine, but the wind died shortly after we came into the ria. We were, however, treated to a spectacular display from the Spanish equivalent of the "Red Arrows", which lasted at least 30 minutes, and a firefighting boat which was spraying at the same time! What a welcome - so nice of them to put it on.
We motored the remainder of the way up to a bay at the head of the ria, called Ensenada de San Simon and anchored (42 deg18'.266N 08deg39'.312W). It was pretty and seemed like a safe place to stay, with shelter from most wind directions. However, the various weather forecast sites were unanimous in showing stronger winds due from the SW on Tuesday, so on Monday morning we decided to head for Cangas marina, which would also allow us to catch up with chandlery purchases. As we came under the Rande suspension bridge, we saw the yacht ahead make a u-turn - it was our friends Roberto and Daphne who kindly took some photos of us under the bridge - we hope to have these soon (Update 28 July - see picture inserted to right), and of course we reciprocated.
The staff in Cangas marina are very friendly and helpful. Several other visiting boats also arrived yesterday, prompted by the same forecasts we saw, but nothing untoward has arrived yet... However, we've had a successful visit to the chandlery for some bits, and, with help of the marina receptionist, who speaks English, we have arranged for the local sailmaker (Palo) to make up our mosquito nets. Also, the marina has a washing machines (hurray!) so we've got some washing done, though this did involve opening the door of the machine with a screwdriver. Still, what are all those tools for if not such events? We also paid a visit to a hairdresser's and are now both sporting new Spanish hairstyles. This was accomplished with the help of the phrase book, needless to say, though Phil's request for "just a little trim" was not entirely heeded. Still, it looks good! [Says Norma. Harrumph!! says Phil].
The staff in Cangas marina are very friendly and helpful. Several other visiting boats also arrived yesterday, prompted by the same forecasts we saw, but nothing untoward has arrived yet... However, we've had a successful visit to the chandlery for some bits, and, with help of the marina receptionist, who speaks English, we have arranged for the local sailmaker (Palo) to make up our mosquito nets. Also, the marina has a washing machines (hurray!) so we've got some washing done, though this did involve opening the door of the machine with a screwdriver. Still, what are all those tools for if not such events? We also paid a visit to a hairdresser's and are now both sporting new Spanish hairstyles. This was accomplished with the help of the phrase book, needless to say, though Phil's request for "just a little trim" was not entirely heeded. Still, it looks good! [Says Norma. Harrumph!! says Phil].
Saturday 24th July 2009
Position 42deg07’.247N 08deg50’.595W
Bayona now and the sun has shone here since yesterday lunchtime – well, apart from during the night, silly. It is delightful. The setting is in the south-west corner of the bay and we can see hills all around, Monte Ferro and the headland of Punta Lameda, and the Islas Cies that protect the entrance to Ria de Vigo. In the harbour is a replica of the “Pinta” which brought news in 1493 of Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World.
There are two marinas and we are in Puerto Deportiva which seems to be favoured by the cruisers because of the price. It is possible to anchor off, and there are several boats doing that, but this is festival weekend in Bayona and our last port of call in Spain, so we decided on the marina. It is just as well, as last night we took a stroll into town after dinner and it is lively and buzzing. The main action around bars, cafes and restaurants is in a street (and some off it) which runs parallel to the main road along the harbour. We came across a square in which there was lots of seating and a huge crowd standing to watch Danza Gellega – a whole series of different types of dancing. Some of this was to a very high standard, especially the three couple in perfect synchronisation doing the Tango, and a couple of troupes that were paying homage to Michael Jackson – some of it was the inevitable small children too. You could tell the parents in the crowd – they were the only ones beaming with pleasure. Now we are not being curmudgeonly about this, but the whole event didn’t start until 2315 and we left about 0130, and it was still going on. We became quite wistful about not going to our Wednesday evening dancing class back in NI, and hoped all our friends from there were still enjoying it. Mind you, we seemed to be very good at learning but hopeless at remembering.
Wednesday was rain day - reading and internet.
Position 42deg07’.247N 08deg50’.595W
Bayona now and the sun has shone here since yesterday lunchtime – well, apart from during the night, silly. It is delightful. The setting is in the south-west corner of the bay and we can see hills all around, Monte Ferro and the headland of Punta Lameda, and the Islas Cies that protect the entrance to Ria de Vigo. In the harbour is a replica of the “Pinta” which brought news in 1493 of Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World.
There are two marinas and we are in Puerto Deportiva which seems to be favoured by the cruisers because of the price. It is possible to anchor off, and there are several boats doing that, but this is festival weekend in Bayona and our last port of call in Spain, so we decided on the marina. It is just as well, as last night we took a stroll into town after dinner and it is lively and buzzing. The main action around bars, cafes and restaurants is in a street (and some off it) which runs parallel to the main road along the harbour. We came across a square in which there was lots of seating and a huge crowd standing to watch Danza Gellega – a whole series of different types of dancing. Some of this was to a very high standard, especially the three couple in perfect synchronisation doing the Tango, and a couple of troupes that were paying homage to Michael Jackson – some of it was the inevitable small children too. You could tell the parents in the crowd – they were the only ones beaming with pleasure. Now we are not being curmudgeonly about this, but the whole event didn’t start until 2315 and we left about 0130, and it was still going on. We became quite wistful about not going to our Wednesday evening dancing class back in NI, and hoped all our friends from there were still enjoying it. Mind you, we seemed to be very good at learning but hopeless at remembering.
Wednesday was rain day - reading and internet.
We spent Thursday in Vigo, taking the ferry from Cangas (it runs every 30 mins and costs 4.50 Euros per person return). Now, this was a very pleasant surprise as we had been expecting a dull, industrial town but to the contrary, it has elegance and modernity with a scattering of the old. Street sculpture is important and there are some striking pieces.
The city council is making great efforts to improve the place.
We had some successful purchases at El Cortes Ingles, the big departmental store, lunched at a Mexican restaurant and had the obligatory oysters and white wine in the street of ... yes, the oyster sellers.
We spent some time trying to find a chandlery – those near the city centre are essentially clothes shops, and most of those near the fishing harbour don’t do shackles much smaller than 10cm (centimetres, not millimetres – OK, only a slight exaggeration). We found out that the best chandlery is in Bouzas, but that was a round trip of 8km and we were not that short of things – assuming that the large order we have with Down Marine, for collection by Greg and delivery by Brian and Jill , will materialise.
We spent some time trying to find a chandlery – those near the city centre are essentially clothes shops, and most of those near the fishing harbour don’t do shackles much smaller than 10cm (centimetres, not millimetres – OK, only a slight exaggeration). We found out that the best chandlery is in Bouzas, but that was a round trip of 8km and we were not that short of things – assuming that the large order we have with Down Marine, for collection by Greg and delivery by Brian and Jill , will materialise.
Cangas itself is somehow very pleasant without the charm of Rianxo or Muros, or Pobra do Caraminal. There were quite a few British and Irish boats there and we were able to check on others’ Navtex reception – very poor or non-existent. We have made arrangements for the kit to be tested in Lisbon, where there is a McMurdo service agent, but it may just be a location problem as the set itself is working OK given all the checks we have carried out and the exchange of e-mails with McMurdo.
We met up again with Richard and Claire, on ‘Phalarope’, and they gave us some useful advice on food storage and where we could buy a trolley – don’t laugh. This is our new pride and joy – we don’t have the luxury of loading the Sainsbury’s cart and filling the boot of the car, so everything we eat and drink has to be hauled by hand back to the boat, and you have no idea how much beer and wine we get through.
So, yesterday we left Cangas and beat down the Ria in 9kts apparent wind, until it died away and then it was motor through the Canal de la Porta, avoiding the two shallow patches, and into Bayona.
We met up with Harry and Margot (‘No Agenda') again and strolled around the medieval walls with them, stopping for lunch of calamares, empanada, mussels and pimientos de Padron at the Parador, with fabulous views to the Islas Cies. We like Bayona ... a lot. However, we have to move on and will head south on Monday for Viana de Castelo, our intended first port of call in Portugal.
Tuesday 28th July 2009
Posn: 41deg41'.556N 08deg49'.359W
We are enjoying our second day in Portugal, in Viana do Castelo. The language is a real challenge just after we were getting to grips with basic Spanish The words look similar but the pronunciation is a nightmare. We are adopting the approach of trying to sound like Sean Connery - you know, "Shing shome shongsh shoon pleash - thanksh". It kind of worksh but mosht people we have met shpeak English.
We had a farewell dinner of paella de marisco in Bayona and then left Spain late morning, yesterday. Having cleared the headland at the entrance to the Ria de Vigo, we turned south and with the wind NNW/N blowing F4/F5 we were goosewinging with the preventer on the main (one reef in) and the genoa poled out (reefed a couple of turns). This gave us good speed between 6 and 7kts, and with the centreboard up we were a large Mirror dinghy. After a bit of experimentation we found that sailing 175 degrees(rather than 180 degrees) to the wind gave us best speed. The swell was about 2 metres and we loved it. We weren't racing, but we did very well compared to the other 5-6 boats around us - only a Jeannaeau 45 with full main up seemed to have just slightly more speed but it was marginal. Minnie B did well. She needed to.
Posn: 41deg41'.556N 08deg49'.359W
We are enjoying our second day in Portugal, in Viana do Castelo. The language is a real challenge just after we were getting to grips with basic Spanish The words look similar but the pronunciation is a nightmare. We are adopting the approach of trying to sound like Sean Connery - you know, "Shing shome shongsh shoon pleash - thanksh". It kind of worksh but mosht people we have met shpeak English.
We had a farewell dinner of paella de marisco in Bayona and then left Spain late morning, yesterday. Having cleared the headland at the entrance to the Ria de Vigo, we turned south and with the wind NNW/N blowing F4/F5 we were goosewinging with the preventer on the main (one reef in) and the genoa poled out (reefed a couple of turns). This gave us good speed between 6 and 7kts, and with the centreboard up we were a large Mirror dinghy. After a bit of experimentation we found that sailing 175 degrees(rather than 180 degrees) to the wind gave us best speed. The swell was about 2 metres and we loved it. We weren't racing, but we did very well compared to the other 5-6 boats around us - only a Jeannaeau 45 with full main up seemed to have just slightly more speed but it was marginal. Minnie B did well. She needed to.
Our plan on arriving at Viana do Castelo about 1700 was to reach around the harbour wall and turn head to wind in the river. Well, that's what we did, but the Pilot book hadn't told us that Viano is a favourite of windsurfers ... because late afternoon the wind in the river/harbour entrance is fierce. The wind increased from 15-17kts to 35kts in the space of a quarter of a mile and we were surrounded by windsurfers doing unimaginable speeds. We worked on the principle that we were a vessel restricted in its ability to manoeuvre and the prospect for a windsurfer crashing into the aluminium hull would make them prudent. Naw, what fun for them to skim across Minnie B's bow just a few metres away - nutcases.
The clocks have changed as Spain is one hour ahead of UK and Portugal, so we are back on UTC +1, which makes communications with UK somewhat easier. We have also been discovering the benefits of Skype - we have been using it to call Brian and Jill and the video element is great but we have now loaded up some credit and we can call UK numbers for 1.7 cents a minute. Yes, that's about 1.5p a minute. Why didn't we do this before and why doesn't everyone we know have Skype? if you haven't got it, get it now - GET SKYPE!. The screen tells you how many people are online at any one time - 13 million people cannot be wrong.
We are berthed on the reception pontoon out in the river, rather than in the marina itself, which is fine by us as we are alongside whereas the marina has fore and aft moorings - more tricky and we haven't done that since 2004 when we were chartering in Croatia. The tide in the river runs quite strongly and despite having been warned about this we forgot and berthed with the tide behind us rather than into the tide - doh! Thankfully there was a very nice, English speaking marineiro on the pontoon who helped us. The Jeanneau 45 came in after us (a Howth boat) and did just the same - we helped them.
To-day we did tourists and explored Viana - yes, you guessed, its lovely. It features lots of 16th and 17th century buildings, with wrought iron balconies and inlaid tiles. There is an early 20th century, neo-Byzantine basilica on the steep hill above the town - Templo do Sagrado Coracao de Jesus - with an over-the-top interior, and an 80 cents ride in the elevator to the rooftop lookout. Great views over Viana and south along the coast. We took the funicular up and walked back down through woods of pine and eucalyptus. Coffee in the main square Praca da Republica and then just chillin'.
Our friend Roberto arrived to-day with his daughter Bora (Daphne and Tea returned to Paris on Sunday) and they will have dinner with us to-night.
Our friend Roberto arrived to-day with his daughter Bora (Daphne and Tea returned to Paris on Sunday) and they will have dinner with us to-night.
Then something strange happened. There was a small group of people loitering on the pontoon and this guy asked if it was OK to take some photos of the boat - actually, it was a photo shoot for a Portuguese mens' tailors. So this model drapes himself over the granny bars and looks moody. They are nice people and gave us Portuguese bollos of cinnamon and custard ... and promised to send a nice shirt. They are here www.dielmar.pt
Tomorrow morning we leave for Povoa de Varzim.
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