We left Viveiro on Friday 22^nd August , just a day sail this time, although ten hours plus. Oh for a wee jaunt across to Rossy.

 

Leaving Viveiro

Arriving A Coruna – Torre de Hercules Light House

Coruna is to Spain what La Rochelle is to France. We are now two thirds of the 1,600 miles or so to reach Gibraltar. I feel another milestone has been reached. Having said that – had we left from Cork / Falmouth or similar we could’ve been here in 4 or 5 days direct across Biscay. We left Ardrossan at the end of April, LOL.

The marina is massive, Camira was dwarfed by all the ocean going 40 footers as you can see by the berth we were in!

 

We took the opportunity to remove a fish from our hull that we picked up along the way

 

                                                                  Oh bite ………. please bite…. please !

 

There is a beautiful central square “Plaza de Maria Pita” who is credited with reducing the Corunan losses during the Francis Drake assault of 1589, and of course of the bread fame.

 

       

This is where Picasso had his 1^st outing at 13, it now seems to be a flat, maybe the lass is a relative?

I did the impromptu green piece to the left of the door, Picasso eat your heart out

This is the the famous Real Club Nautico and the nearest I’ll get to it in my flip flop attire.

 

Really nice and would recommend as a city break from UK.

We stayed Friday & Saturday and had another night out with Ali ,Pete & Tigger during which there was a free concert in the square.

 

                                                                           Iberico hams ………mmm

           

Tigger wanting a walk and trying to hypnotise                     “ Pals R Us”

me to take her

Ali & Pete

We really liked Coruna and probably would’ve have liked to say a bit longer but a weather window was available and so….

 

Rested, we set sail on the Monday afternoon at 1300 for another 20 hour overnighter to Viveiro. We managed to sail the vast majority of this passage.

In fact we arrived too early at 0430 on Tuesday and sat head to wind and swell until the dawn to allow us to go into the Ria in daylight. In retrospect it would have been easier to find our way in in the dark and waited in the Ria , before heading up the canalised river to the Marina. We found out later we were experiencing gusts of 30 knots; just as well our wind instrument is not working properly!

We eventually tied up at 0830, got the paperwork sorted and again had a kip. We were knackered after the last 4 hour part of the 19 hour trip.

Viveiro is quite a cultural place with a long history dating back to the Romans, what remains of the old wall was built to protect the inhabitants from attacks or from the plague.

 

 

There is also a grotto, a copy of the one at Lourdes. You can leave any affected bits of your anatomy requiring divine intervention in a wax effigy in the hope that it will be looked on favourably. I won’t mention what bit I left. Apologies if I have offended any religious readers.

There was a lovely river walk which reminded me of Scotland

 

 

Louise & I had a night out on calamari and pork pinchos in a wee tapas bar to spoil ourselves from the battering we had had. Ali, Pete and Tigger came along later for a drink later, Tigger was just happy to have her ears rubbed and passed on the Rioja, though.

 

Captain Chaos has taken on the blog for the next couple of episodes, so apologies to those of you who prefer Mrs M’s East Kilbride patois.

We have decided to get a wee shift on for two reasons. Firstly, we have been advised it would be prudent to get down the Atlantic Coast of Spain and Portugal before the equinox around the 23^rd of September which can, and is usually is, accompanied by bigger seas and winds. Secondly Snawbaw my sister- in – law is arriving at Lagos, Algarve, Portugal on the 22^nd September to grace us with her company, an equinoctial experience in its own right! Only kidding D – looking forward to it – bring tea bags xx.

As you can see it’s a fair distance. We believe our night sailing and thus longer passage making will be restricted once we are on the Portuguese coast due to the proliferation of unmarked fishing nets and pots. We could go further offshore to miss them, we’ll see once we get there.

We left Laredo on Friday 15^th Aug at 1130 and the forecast from San Sebastian to Santander was West force 3-4 and the swell from memory about a metre, all of which was OK. We managed to complete the passage between sailing and motor sailing when the wind died. Dinner was chilli out “the dog bowls” to stop us spilling it in the swell. We split the watches to get some sleep passing Santander, Ribidasella and other possible stopovers in the night and arrived in Gijon on Saturday morning at 0830, 106 miles further on. Had breakfast and went for a kip.

Gijon pronounced HeeHohn marina is right in the centre of the city. It was virtually completely destroyed during the Spanish civil war and has been rebuilt, so a mixture of a modern city with parks and a smattering of the old town remaining.

 

 

 

The beach was bunged on the Sunday as you can see below.

We stayed in Gijon Saturday & Sunday and had Pete and Ali around on Saturday night. Louise originally got talking to them in Hodarribia and we have been partly sailing in company along the North Coast of Spain.

This is their boat, Tyra

There were some funny characters in the market square though …

 

We did however manage to dispose of the empty wine bottles we have drunk since leaving Ardrossan

 

We are now in Laredo, a new marina, it’s pretty empty and we had the pick of any berth.

 

The town itself is typically Spanish, with old cobbled streets and lots of wee tapas bars, which we visited last night with Ali and Pete who were originally sailing to Brazil but now are heading to the Med due to restrictions with their dog Tigger. They have a big old 46 ft. American built yacht. It’s amazing …..it even has a bath, which is currently full of porcelain for Ali’s sculpting.

Ali and Louise chose the tapas, having no idea what they were choosing, went for the dish of the day expecting great things, and ended up with an assortment which included a tin of anchovies with the lid off…… tadaaah.

We consoled ourselves with another glass of Vino – that we do know a bit about!

We are hoping to head off tomorrow for an overnighter to Gijon after this front we have had for the last couple of days passes and the winds and swell abate a wee bit.

Once Louise has fished making her mosquito net that is ……………….

 

Bye for now

 

We had a few days in Las Arenas Marina, Bilbao. The sail here was an uncomfortable one with the swell on the beam and very little wind. There are three marinas here, this one, Portugalete and Gexto which is newer but twice the price. Las Arenas won the day, plus you also get temporary membership to the sailing club with its swimming pool, gym and lounge with big comfy chairs and sofas. It’s a bit stuffy, but that’s what the sailing clubs in Spain are like, it’s more a social thing which the members pay a lot of money for rather than about the sailing. Two lovely glasses of Rioja for 3.50 euros, not bad.

 

Las Arenas sailing club

 

Las Arenas Bridge at night

 

 

Tapas bar …….yes another one!                                 Bilbao city centre

 

You can’t come to Bilbao and not go to the Guggenheim. Can you???? Only kidding, but a visit to see the building would have been more than enough for me (Editor’s inserted quote “Now for two hoors of hell”).

It is an amazing piece of architecture and well worth seeing.

 

 

Very colourful and fun                                However, some art I just don’t get?

Someone dancing under a sheet, which you could join in with?

or the temporary exhibition by Yoko Ono, well……., a picture of a fly on a woman’s private parts is anything but art, but maybe that’s just me! Not to knock it completely, some of the other artists’ work was quite interesting but the main highlight for me was the building itself.

 

We took a walk to the old part of the city along the river from the Guggenheim and had tapas in one of the old traditional bars.

Back in Las Arenas we met a nice couple, Gordon and Carol who are on their way back to the UK having spent last year and this year sailing this area. We were round for drinks on their boat and Carol and kindly gave me her Spanish phrase book which we desperately need as our total Spanish amounts to about three or four words. I tried to say good evening to someone the other night and wished him a Good Crisp instead- buenas nachos instead of buenas noches, easy mistake, no?

 

We left Bilbao harbour dodging some of the other wee boats coming in !

 

  

It felt good hoisting the Spanish and Basque courtesy flags, quite exciting sailing into another country and Northern Spain is somewhere I have wanted to go to for a while.

Hondarribia is the first town no the Northern Spanish coastline. It is separated from Hendaye in France by Ria Bidasoa. We loved this place; the marina itself was ok and had a nice beach right next to it. The town is gorgeous though, especially the old fortified part with its medieval buildings and alleyways. The

 

We loved this place; the marina itself was ok and had a nice beach right next to it. The town is gorgeous though, especially the old fortified part with its medieval buildings and alleyways. The newer part of town has a great buzz about it, loads of restaurants, cafes, and tapas bars.

 

                                                                      A Saturday night there is a must.

We had a few days here, partly because we really liked it and partly because we had to replace the choke cable which snapped and had to be ordered up.

We took the opportunity to go to Hendaye (in France acrsoos the river) for the day, which incidentally is twinned with Peebles.

 

Our wee walk over to Hendaye ended up a twelve mile trek as we took a detour trying to find a mosquito net for over the bed. No mosquito net but plenty of blisters. Anyway, Hendaye is ok I suppose, just a holiday town with not much atmosphere. Thankfully there was a boat you could get back across the river to Hondarribia!

This is my anti-mosquito nightwear, not the coolest look or feel!

Our next stop, passing San Sebastian on route (see below)

was Zumaia, described in the pilot book as a town full of happy people. I think the author was taking the micky, either that or the happy people had gone somewhere else for the day. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but we just found it a bit depressing, pretty enough but just dull. So much so that a walk around during the day when we arrived was enough and we just ate on board that night.

 

Great Tapas, even if I do say so myself.

We had a chat with Kevin the other day and he thinks we should get a bit of a push on so as to be down the Atlantic coast of Portugal before the equinox which is around the 23^rd of September. The weather can start to change around then and this coast is not meant to be one to linger on anyway according to the books. Not because there are not some great places to visit but it can be pretty inhospitable to sail down. This does however mean we might need to rush the Spanish Rias which we were looking forward to seeing. Mmmmm!

We are also trying to get to A Coruna by the 22^nd of August as Dave and Iain were thinking of coming out to see us for a few days if we can get there by then.

 

Eventually we got a nice weather window to move on from La Rochelle. About twenty miles out we hit the 1000 mile mark, Lat. 45˚ 58.28’N Long 01˚31.43’W which was accompanied by a lovely sunset.

 

 

We had a good crossing, some of which we sailed and some we had to motor sail. We also got a wee routine going for the two nights and both managed to get a few hours’ sleep, but still extremely tiring with just two of us. I must admit, night sailing is not my favourite. The second night was cloudy which gives no definition between the sky and the sea; it’s just pitch black all around. Kinda spooky.

Well, the sail down to La Rochelle was a bit of a mixed bag. One minute we had wind, the next we didn’t, one minute I was sunbathing on deck, the next I had a fleece on. However, we did manage to sail in on the approach under the Ile de Re Bridge. The water here is very shallow and as La Rochelle is built on limestone the water is very murky, not like the azure blue seas I’ve been used to lately. It’s a large working port, not particularly pretty as you come in.

 

         Ile de Re Bridge         The marina is massive so we had no difficulty finding a berth.

We thought we had found a nice quiet spot until at midnight it seemed like we were in the middle of an earthquake. We got up and had a look out only to find that they are building a new breakwater about twenty metres from our pontoon, this obviously has to be done at low water which happened to be midnight that night. There they were moving these humongous boulders around and causing an almighty racket.

Next day we moved a bit further in, this was relatively quiet other than we had the French Scouts and Guides learning to sail on five boats next to us for a week. Mealtimes, and getting ready for bed was a bit of a noisy affair, but other than that it was fine.

 

   There are concrete waves and …                        Beaches with no water

 

La Rochelle is beautiful, The city is so vibrant. There are street artists all along the main walkway, break dancing to performing dogs, all very entertaining and a nice way to pass an evening followed by small refreshment in one of the many harbour side bars just made for people watching.

 

 

We jumped on the bus one day over to ile de Re and hired bikes to see a bit of the island. It’s lovely, especially La Flotte and Saint Martin de Re, both small harbours surrounded by buzzing cafes and restaurants. We did think about taking the boat into Saint Martin de Re but we had heard that it got really busy and so many boats are crammed into the tiny marina that you have to wait till others leave before you can get out. Having seen it, I can see what they mean.

 

 

                                                                         The Donkeys wear PJ’s here

We’re waiting patiently for a two or three day weather window for the crossing to Northern Spain. We need to head out about forty miles into the Bay of Biscay to skirt a firing range. It’s about a 185 mile sail to get there. We should be able to do it in about 36 to 40 hours depending on the weather but we do need a good spell of settled weather to do it in. So far there have been a couple of times when we thought we might get away but the outlook changed. One, initially forecasting force three changed to gusting gale force. So we need to be sure we get it right as the Bay of Biscay can be a “challenging” place to be in bad weather.

 

                                        Health & fitness regime

 

 

In the Vieux Port for an evening

During the day, we take the bikes, “Yellow Velos” which the marina provides free for a couple of hours each day and get out and about a bit. Today they were used for a visit to Decathlon on the outskirts to get cockpit cushions and a mat.

Tomorrow they will be used for a visit to the optician! Gordon has once again lost his glasses over the side of the boat; unfortunately we didn’t manage to get them back, even with the help of an obliging French man who went in to have a look for them, it was high water and just too deep. As these were his prescription sunglasses we got hold of a pair of those clip on things which go over his normal glasses!

Attractive, aren’t they? I might need to walk in front if he’s wearing them; I’ve got my street cred to think about, after all?

Next stop was Sables D’Olonnes , a big place in French sailing, most if not all the big circumnavigation races either leave or finish here.

You arrive up the river and park up and then go to the Capitainerie to be allocated a berth in the marina, all very slick. We berthed up and went for a walk into La Chaum, that’s it in the distance beyond the masts, Sables itself, is on the other bank of the river connected by “Bus de Mer” an electric taxi boat that looks like a greenhouse on water.

                    Sables Marina                                            Water Bus

We are only 35 miles or so further South but the heat is building, this as alleviated somewhat by the airy external “facilities” that I am demonstrating below

Sables itself is a lot bigger than La Chaum and we personally preferred La Chaum that’s not to say it isn’t pretty, it is as you can see from the following photos we took (No not me! ….… the place)

The electric sea bus -Sables on left , La Chaum on right.

Sables town marina, walkway and commercial port with new fishing boats being built.

The locals here have a novel use for those heavy furniture removal aids!

Rumour has it Brian Cairns (a friend of ours) owns a pair and can be seen scooting around “The West Ferry”, Dundee of an evening.

Aaaw that nice……………..where’s my antihistamine?

Central square Sables

Canny see green cheese that girl ………………now using girlie loos

My Granny said you would get piles .

I really need to get off the toilet humour now! And post this before Louise comes back

Massively long and beautiful beach and

Some wee alleys to explore

Day trip over, armed with details about the Bastille Day fireworks we headed back to get ferry across to La Chaum , in background.

I knew they were famous for brandy. 

Back for dinner, though

don’t think Lou should be having any !

That night went to see Bastille Day celebrations; I suppose it’s a bit like saying

“Happy Bar L Day” or similar ……..all went off with a bang

And so to bed , earlyish start, tomorrow.

 

Before leaving Ile d’ Yeu I managed to convince Louise to “stay out late” given her normal bed time of 10:00. We went to see a Rockabilly band. They were very good and as it happened looked like a trio made up of Nick Knowles, Mathew Kelly, and the “Pav” the rigger (on bass) who renewed our rigging in Ardrosssan.

              “Irish” Bar               &        Louise doing her nosey

                       Pav the rigger