Part 1
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Part 1
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VILAINE RIVER: ARZAL and LA ROCHE BERNARD We are ready to leave, but the weather is constantly unfavourable, with frequent rainstorms. We did hope to set sail by last monday, but it's already wednesday and we are still here, so we decide to move upstream to the more lively little town of La Roche Bernard.
THE DEPARTURE: FROM ARZAL TO BELLE ILE: The weather is not completely settled, but we decide to reach Belle Ile, from which we will take off for the crossing of the Bay of Biscay. The feared crossing of the Arzal lock (quite crowded in this season!) is handled smoothly, and once out of the long-winding river we have the opportunity to try out Shaula3 close-hauled.
We reach Belle Ile nearly at midnight, and in the pitch-dark we enter a small cove to drop anchor; we barely have the time to notice the many boats at anchor, not one of them showing a light, before hitting somebody!
THE BAY OF BISCAY: FROM BELLE ILE TO LA CORUŅA: We set sail for the challenging 300-mile crossing under a fresh north-westerly wind, which gradually veers and then becomes light and variable. The second day we alternate sails and engine, and the third day is almost entirely under engine on a flat sea, so much flat that we enjoy our lunch in the cockpit, on a fully-dressed table!
We frequently sight groups of porpoises, much more numerous and much friendlier than those we usually meet in the Med!! Quite often they stay with us for hours on end, obviously having fun swimming under our bow. We also sight something that seems to be a big whale. On the afternoon of the 3rd day, we sight the Spanish coast, still far-away. When we get near, it's dark, so we decide to continue sailing until in the morning we reach La Coruņa. The first impression we get of La Coruņa is not encouraging, it looks like a large commercial port just like Genoa, but when we reach the Darsena Deportiva and get a berth on the transit pontoon, the atmosphere is entirely different!
We are in the middle of the old town, which turns out to be quite charming. Lorenzo goes sight-seeing for a while, then he discovers a beach on the open sea and full of female specimens, and he disappears altogether!! At night, we also get a complimentary fireworks show ( for the feast of Maria Pita, supposedly a local celebrity?).
We spend a second day recovering from the long passage, doing a few small repairs and reprovisioning with fresh food which disappears at an alarming rate! The only problem is that the old town is short on shops; the only, smallish supermarket is quite a distance away, and we get back on board loaded like mules and tired accordingly. GALICIA, CAPE FINISTERRE AND THE RIAS: As soon as we are out of the port's shelter, the wind rapidly increases and gradually veers North. When we reach the headland the wind blows at 35Kts and we set on a broad-reach with reduced sails. The helmsman must steer cautiously due to the waves which are now a couple of meters high (although it will not look like that in the photos!). We even get a wave in the cockpit, but all in all it's a thrilling ride.
At dawn, we gybe and go to seek a shelter near Camariņas where we spend a peaceful night. Next day, as soon as we leave the shelter we find the wind again, just slightly weaker than yesterday, and we have another ride down around Cape Finisterre, where the wind drops suddenly! Another night spent at anchor under the shelter of the Cape, and next morning we have another surprise: a thick fog!! We can barely see 20m and we proceed steaming on tiptoe, with the fog signal blowing our hair off every two minutes and the eyes glued to the radar screen!!
Luckily, in this area ships have their lane further out at sea; we stay a couple of miles offshore and have to dodge a few fishing boats and fewer pleasure boats until visibility improves, after a very anxious couple of hours. Unfortunately, visibility will remain like this, a little over a half-mile, during the next two days, spoiling our appreciation of a supposedly beautiful coastline. To be frank, fog notwithstanding we have been disappointed by the Rias: the coastline is intriguing, but an unruly development has spoilt a lot of places, with awful industrial settlements and modest-looking, unattractive modern villages. Harbours are also full of oyster beds which take most of the best mooring places. The locals need to earn a living, obviously, but that's not coming from tourism, for sure! BAYONA: Crossing the bay of Vigo, which is reportedly very thin on resources for leisure boats, we are put off from a distance by the unattractive look of the town, and decide to go for the nearby Bayona, where a new marina has been recently put in operation. Done, we tie along the visitors' pontoon (conspicuous and easily reached, but subject to wash from passing boats) and we set off to explore the place. Apparently, the only moment of glory of the town was back in 1493 when the "Pinta" returning from the New World landed here bringing the news of the discovery:
There are a lot of holyday-makers, mostly spanish apparently, and the town resembles those on the Ligurian Riviera, with two or three rows of buildings compressed between the sea and the hills on the back, with the houses on the seafront older and more characteristic, and those in the back rows modern and rather anonymous.
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