23rd to 26th Aug, Ribadeo to Cedeira

When we left Cleo in Ribadeo we went to Viveiro, where friends on another boat told us we would be greeted by a dolphin. Much to our delight it duly appeared, just as we approached the marina. Like many we have visited, Viveiro is a very old town with some lovely narrow streets, but depressingly much of the old town seems to be in a sad state with many empty buildings and most of the population appear to live in the surrounding modern apartment blocks. A shame given the sheltered surroundings and good beaches nearby.

The medieval main gate to Viveiro

The Roman back gate

A showery departure for Cedeira

We knew that the weather forecast was rather depressing, 5 days of grey skies and rain. After one day of strong winds there appeared to be a window of 2 days to travel the 60 miles to A Coruna before the winds returned; with a fall back of Cedeira after 30 miles if conditions dictated. 30 miles of choppy seas was enough and we are at anchor in the lovely protected calm of Ria at Cedeira for a few days waiting for the bad weather to disappear, (Friday according to the forecast). So we are being very lazy, yesterdays walk on the beach and reading books in windy sunshine has been replaced by a very long lunch in todays rain.

15th Aug to 22nd Aug, Ribadesella to Ribadeo

Poor Cleo has had the week  0n Cara Mara with no wind. With the exception of a couple of hours on Wednesday the sails haven’t been out and we have just been motoring along the coast. Though less spectacular than at Ribadesella, the north Spanish coast is still mountainous and surprisingly green, not that dissimilar to North Wales.
We were however delighted that the weather has become much less like the UK and as the week has progressed; we have had lovely sunny days. It’s just a shame that the clear skies have come too late for us to see the meteor showers we have been reading about on the internet.
Two of the little towns that we have visited Luanco and Luarca, have had a very similar feel to Cornish fishing villages, small  pretty harbours packed with fishing boats and narrow streets climbing up the steep hills behind. The familiar feel was reinforced in Luarca when we saw the marching bands out celebrating their fiesta.
After a week of "roughing it" without access to showers, we are now in Ribadeo, in a marina on a river, where Cleo will leave us to catch her bus back to Bilboa tomorrow. Wendy and Dave will head off to meet Chris in A Coruna in a weeks time.

Cleo enjoying some sun at Cudillero

Cudillero,

Cudillero breakwater, mountains in background

The packed inner harbour at Luarco

Marching bands, just like home

Cleo at the helm

We were the only customer on the visitors pontoon at Navia. The local yacht club made us feel very welcome with a gift of their cub pennant.

Up river to Navia

Approaching the marina, under the bridge at Ribadeo 

12th and 13th Aug, Activity days, Ribadesella

The bus took us to Covadonga in the Pico National Park. It turns out that Covadonga is a hugely significant place, consisting of a magnificent church, a cave with a statue of “Our Lady” and a museum telling the story of the Kingdom of Asturias. These it seems, are must see things to the tourists that throng there in such numbers that the roads are closed for parts of the day. Fortunately a narrow footpath zig-zags up the side of the mountain leaving the crowds behind; an hour later we were almost alone in high meadows and fantastic scenery.  The footpath takes you on an 11 hour walk, so reluctantly we retraced our footsteps to Covadonga a few hours later.

 

Dave and Mary at Covadonga

 

Lovely scenery away from the crowds

 

 

 

The 13^th was Mary’s last day with us so we celebrated with a 17km kayak trip down the river Sella in sunshine and blustery showers. Ribadesella is big on kayaking; there are plaques to each year’s champions in the pavement by the river and lots of companies who will rent you a kayac and all the gear and take you by bus up the river. It was great fun to be out on the river with lots of other people even more incompetent than us, lots of collisions, people falling in and occasional moments to enjoy the peace and beauty of the river.

the launch into the river at the start of out canoe trip

 

down river

 

 We will have dinner in town tonight with Pete, a lone sailor from Bristol then wave Mary off at the bus stop.

Cara Mara at Ribadesela

 

 

8th Aug to 11th Aug, Bilboa to Ribadesella

Mary has enjoyed a wide range of sailing experiences since joining us in Bilboa. We left on the 8^th for the 29 mile trip down the coast to the very new and almost empty marina at Laredo. No expense had been spared in construction; the marina office is a 4 storey glass edifice.  Unfortunately they ran out of money before building the toilets and showers, so these consisted of portacabins in a huge echoing and unused maintenance shed.

We motored for the first couple of hours before tacking into a brisk head wind. The following day we were again motoring the 23 miles to a beach outside Santander, for a lovely afternoon and night at anchor. Our next stop after 26 mile downwind sail was the pretty town of San Vincete de la Barquera; where the only option was to anchor for the night in a shallow pool just off a beach in the river estuary. It was bizarre experience to be at anchor 50M off of a crowded beach, with the tide falling to expose an ever growing expanse of sand all around us. Eventually poor Cara Mara was sitting rather drunkenly on the bottom of the river, until the tide lifted us back up again. Mary had her first night sail when we left at 3.00am for her final 30 mile sail, arriving at Ribadesella at 9.00. Ribadessella is in a fantastic location with the Picos Mountains rising behind the town, so tomorrow we plan a bus ride and some walking.

Nearly deserted Laredo Marina

Wendy and Mary enjoying a glass of wine anchored off the beach at Santander

Our anchorage in a pool off the beach at St Vincente

Pete, the solo sailor's twin keeled boat settles onto the bottom as the tide recedes

Cara Mara's single keel sits on the bottom rather less elegantly

3rd to 7th Aug Bilboa

We have spent 2 nights in Getxo Marina, 2 at anchor in the harbour and now 2 in Real Club Maritimo, which is older but in a better location. Cara Mara has spent a day out of the water having one of her sea cocks replaced, whilst Wendy and Dave went on a hunt for a bottle of cooking gas. You wouldn’t believe that it could be hard to get gas, Getxo marina has hundreds of boats, most of which will use gas, the marina is surrounded by shops, restaurants, chandlers and a boat yard, but no one sells gas. We walking into Getxo town, no gas, were directed to catch the metro to a petrol station, they had sold out, a woman took pity on us and drove us to a campsite 3-4 miles away, guess what! Luckily the owner of another camp site was there and he came up with the goods. We were back at the marina 4 hours after setting off. Anyway, Bilboa is wonderful. The modern metro takes 15 minutes to get from the port into the 14^th century city. In the 19^th and 20^th centuries was based on steel, shipbuilding and heavy industry but has been reborn as a commercial and cultural centre. The “rebirth” of the city started with the construction of the Guggenheim Museum, which sits on the river front and is now just part of a lovely landscaped area with other modern buildings. Together with the narrow streets of the old city it is a wonderful place to wander round.

Bilboa is nicknamed The Hole, as is surrounded by steep hills 

 

The floral puppy guards the Guggenheim Museum

 The Guggenheim Museum

 
Guggenheim Museum We are planning to back to continue exploring later today, then meet Mary, who is joining us for a week as we head down the coast.

29th June to 3rd Aug, France to Bilboa

Wendy and Dave were joined in Pauillac by friend Darren for the trip to Spain. An early start on the 30th to catch the tide, and we were sailing 27 miles down the river Gironde to Port Medoc on the South side of the estuary. It was a great way to start our trip and give Darren a taste of Cara Mara. Darren was soon demonstrating his sail trimming skills to get the most from the wind.
The next day was grey and we woke to strong winds, with rain and no wind forecast further south, we decided to wait for sunshine before setting off. This was an excellent decision as at 8.00 on the 1st Aug we set off in sunshine for the 165 sail to Bilboa. The weather could not have been kinder, apart from 4 hours with little or no wind, we sailed all the way, making excellent time to tie up by 11.00 the next morning. During the night the sky remained clear and moon was so bright, it was (almost)
possible to read. Many thanks to Darren who go work guilt and set off back home today.

Approaching Bilboa, 5 miles to go.

Bilboa Harbour at sunset