Instead of another long day to get to Ribadeo, we decided that we would knock-off a few miles by stopping at the commercial port of Aviles 25 miles away which is reported to have a very picturesque town and well worth visiting. This meant that we could leave Gijon mid-morning and arrive in Aviles by mid-afternoon latest.

The weather predictions were for little wind (what a surprise...) and a risk of some showers. Shortly after leaving harbour the clouds darkened and it began to rain. Thankfully it was brief, then the sun came out and it remained sunny for the rest of the day. Even better we even got the opportunity to sail with the cruising chute for a couple of hours until it died completely.

The entrance to the commercial port was refreshingly different to that of Santander and Gijon and we certainly liked it.



It made a change to see ships and tugs rather than yachts and motorboats although we did have to breath in a little when a large container ship and pilot boat was leaving port down the relatively narrow entrance channel as we arrived.



Half an hour later we arrived at the visitors' pontoon where we eventually found an available berth - the pilot book suggested we look for "no fenders" and "no ropes" tied to the cleats. The marina is gated so in order to gain access to the town a brief phone call had to be made to the local port police (very interesting when we know little Spanish and they little English....lol) who arrived with a key and relevant paperwork.

Total distance this season: 349.94 nautical miles