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After moving to a more peaceful berth in the marina, we had
a tranquil and mostly sunny stay in La Coruna. Nick joined Catherine and Chris
on the morning run. His first for 18 years. After a stunning Olympic standard
performance Nick hobbled for the remainder of the visit. Chris seemed to have
developed Narcolepsy after the rigours of the Atlantic, and found the late
Spanish night life difficult to cope with... Nick on the other hand transformed
into party animal. We had a splendid Birthday meal for Catherine on the 14th
with much jollity and frivolity. David and Andy carried out a variety of
onboard maintenance jobs and on the 16th our bodies and the boat was
ready for the next phase, A leisurely tour of the North Spanish Coast.
We sailed at dawn from La Coruna on the 16th and
our next port of call was the beautiful Ria of Ribadeo. At least that was what
the pilot suggested. Being a tidal area we had give more careful consideration
to tides and also there was a bridge to go under. Would we fit? We did not
relish the prospect of advising Mark that we had shortened his mast. It was a
long passage. Over 80 miles
but with fair winds, Jem ate up the miles and we arrived as planned at about
8pm. In the event the town was truly beautiful (a Spanish Salcome but less
spoilt) and the facilities superb. The best we had had to date. The mast
cleared the bridge by miles but is still looked scary when we went through. We
found a sublime Restaurant and all was well with the world.
On the 17th, a slightly shorter day followed. We
had identified a small fishing harbour called Puerto de Cudillero. Supposedly v
pretty and sheltered. There was not much water and the entrance was 8 metres. The pilot suggested
berthing but we prepared the anchor in case. In the event after some tight
manoeuvring into the harbour, we identified some mooring buoys. Being a Sunday
no harbour assistance was on hand, however crew from a German and French yacht
assisted acting as buoy jumpers and helped us thread our ropes to the best
buoys for us to lie on. This was as exciting a seamanship evolution as we had
done to date and it was with relief and satisfaction when we settled down onto
our mooring lines. We just prayed that we were not on someone else’s berth.
The dinghy was now required for transport and Mark’s new
purchase performed admirably. Although it took us 24 hours to work out how to
tilt it. This port was like a Spanish
Port Isaac. The Town was located on a
steep hill down to the port and very dramatic. However we still preferred the
more tranquil Ribadeo. We could not leave until the following afternoon in
order to catch the tide.
On the morning of the 18th, restoring took place
in the morning as well as a full English breakfast on the table in the cockpit.
What a great view for breakfast. Shopping was now also on the agenda with
Catherine’s arrival. The departure was on a rising tide and only 2 hours after
low water, which gave us enough water but meant that we still had to be on our
metal. The depth metre hit 1.9 metres
below the keel on the way out but that was expected albeit providing the
skipper with a slight nervous feeling in the pit of the stomach. However, we
needed to get away to catch the high tide at Gijon, where despite the City’s
size the marina had an entrance dredged
to only 2.5 metres
and Jem draws 2.9 metres.
We were also at springs which meant v little water at low tide. We arrived at
the marina at 7.00pm and in the event there was plenty of water. We managed to
avoid swimmers who were competing in a triathlon and swimming across the tide.
However, the large swell from the north breaking against the harbour wall looked
a bit ominous. The marina inevitably put us in the most difficult berth.
Slightly anxious making but soon we were safely alongside a rather rocky
pontoon. However our experience in La Coruna was put to good use and we had a
reasonable night, sampling the delights of the Gijon nightlife. From what we
could see, Gijon looked to be a very attractive traditional Spanish city.
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