Ria retreat
13 October 2013
Andrew
Our progress down the Rias continued. Rias de Pontevedre, and de Vigo, are protected from the Atlantic by Islands which are nature reserves. Little tropical feeling paradises visited by many day trip boats. We anchored overnight at Isla Ons and had the place to ourselves.
The next day we stopped at lunchtime at Sanxenxo, a more polished tourist resort than we have been used to, so preferred the anchorage opposite off Bueu, another proper busy Spanish fishing town which we have found so appealing. Everyone genuine and friendly, but not going out their way to cater for tourists. Easy to blend in and much more fun to watch the goings on!
The weather had been fantastic literally for months now, with only a couple of less than perfect days. Nevertheless I keep daily watch via websites. Some of these provide GRIB files which allow you to see ahead a week or so with amazing accuracy. They now predicted strong southerly winds and rain for at least a week which would block our progress south.
We decided to move down to the last big Ria, Ria de Vigo, and install ourselves securely in a Marina to weather the storm. Vigo is a busy industrial harbour, but has reasonably priced Marinas and good transport links.
It was apparent that most of the boats we had met had already flown South. The Rias were quieter now, most yachties that remained were making plans to lay up for the winter in North Spain.
We had decided to winter in the Algarve. The weather and the cheap flights back to Scotland making it more appealing. The best options looked like Lagos or Portimao, the choice had been a regular point of conversation with everyone we met. It looked to me that Portimao would be preferred, but the consensus of other yachties was firmly for Lagos.
So we hired a wee car for a few days to do a recy by land.
To get used to the roads and the left hand drive we first drove over the Portuguese border to Porto. Now that we could both cycle and the foldy bike was proving so successful we visited the Brompton dealer there and bought Yvonne a handsome blue and white one.
We also purchased a Portuguese SIM card for the ipad from vodafone. The Spanish one which had proved so successful had exceeded its two months and they refused to top it up saying it was a mobile phone deal which we shouldn't have qualified for on an ipad!
The trip down to the Algarve and back was about 600 miles in total. We stayed over a couple of nights and had a good look round. Lagos is lovely but bang in the middle of town. We felt we would be uncomfortable as part of the tourist attraction, surrounded by noisy bars etc. Portimao Marina is a little out of town but beside the beaches and surrounded by hotel apartments, it felt better and was significantly cheaper. The staff very pleasant and long stayers we spoke to were very enthusiastic.
The trip back was through the height of the storms with strong wind and rain. Our little Hyundai i10 was great, but it would have been a lot nicer in the BMW!
It had been a costly trip, the road tolls adding an additional 170 euro! It did however clarify our goal and take the pressure off, so we could enjoy the journey down Portugal.
While in Vigo we met a Dutch couple and their daughter Vera who will be 2 next month. They were working hard on their steel ketch, Sirena, preparing for a transatlantic crossing. We did a joint shopping expedition to Lidl while we had the car - lugging shopping on this scale is normally a major chore!
After ten nights in Vigo normal service was resumed, with the weather back to sun all day and temperatures in the mid 20's, so we made off for Baiona in its own little Ria.
In some way it felt like we had left the best to last.There is no doubt that Baiona is quite beautiful, the castle and old narrow streets all presented very neatly. House prices here are among the highest in Spain and we could see why. We cycled all over the town and round the adjacent bays on cycle-paths and boardwalks, a great way to see a lot in a relatively short time.
We spent a night in the marina, see photo above, but it was expensive so the following night we took the best seat in the house; at anchor off Baiona, to bid farewell to Spain.