Cruising to Greece and back.

On Wednesday, 02 June 2010, Judy and I headed back to Spain via Oporto in Portugal with Easyjet from Gatwick. We were laden down with 3 heavy bags of gear for the boat. We hired a car for a week from Oporto airport and drove the 160 or so kilometres to Cangas, Ria de Vigo, where we had left Tobin Bronze laid up for the winter. We stayed for three nights in the Hotel Playa which was right on the beach in Cangas.

Tobin Bronze had been well looked after by Adolfo at the Nautica Sernade boatyard in Cangas. Within a few days the anti-fouling was on and TB was ready to go back into the water the following Saturday. We then stayed in Cangas for three nights, catching up on boat maintenance.

On Tuesday 08 June, we motored across the Ria to Real Club Nautico in Vigo where TB was eased into a Mediterranean mooring - stern to the pontoon with the bow secured to a mooring by a lazy line.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

Next morning, Judy and I took the ferry back across to Cangas, collected the hire car and returned it to Oporto railway station. We spent the afternoon wandering around Oporto and visiting Taylor's Port Caves. It was an interesting and enjoyable afternoon. We caught the "international" train back from Oporto to Vigo at 18:00hrs. I was expecting a modern train but the train was more reminiscent of the rattle-trap carriages used by South West Trains from Bristol to Southampton. It was also "all stations to" Vigo and took about three and a half hours.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

The weather the first week was a mixed bag; some rain but generally warm - over 20 deg C.

On Thursday morning, Judy and I rode the tourist bus around Vigo which is a busy, thriving commercial city. The "Celebrity Eclipse" liner was alongside in Vigo; all 122,000 gross tons, 315 metres long, 17 decks high and with 2894 passengers plus 1218 crew. It certainly blocked out the horizon.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

The highlight of my stay was seeing a yacht named "Drake" in the marina at Real Club Nautico, Vigo. Perhaps a slight lack of sensitivity from the owner!

On Friday afternoon, we moved back across the Ria de Vigo to Moana where TB had spent a lot of time last year. We were greeted like old friends by the marina staff. The facilities still have not improved but we were reassured that the marina complex would be built by 2011.

Over the next few days we made our way up back north to Vilagarcia in Ria de Arosa. The weather was generally warm but prone to fresh gusting northerly winds. A large high pressure system was stationary out in the Atlantic, resulting in northerly winds all down the Iberian peninsula. The mountainous Galician terrain also influenced the wind strength and direction; so conditions were quite variable.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

Vilagarcia is a well sheltered marina with very friendly helpful staff - they could not do enough for us. The town is also well positioned for crew changes by train to Santiago de Compostela and La Coruna. Judy returned to Wiltshire for a week from the 16th July to attend her cousin's wedding, leaving me to get on with doing some painting on the boat. Being a wooden boat, TB is very demanding on maintenance and I had a work list that seemed to be getting longer each year!

I spent a couple of days in Vilagarcia until the winds reduced in strength and then had a great sail across the Ria to the anchorage at Caraminal, a town with a nice beach and friendly atmosphere. When I came to leave Caraminal I found that my anchor was fouled by an old abandoned mooring chain. In the end I had to go into the extremely cold water with snorkel and goggles to sort it out. Fortunately for me, Chris a Kiwi guy cruising with his wife and two young daughters came over to give me a hand.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

Judy returned with oldest daughter Charlotte on Wed 23 July and we had a nice sail down to Isla Ons that evening. The Rias Baixas are protected form the Atlantic Ocean by the islands Salvora, Ons and Cies, all part of the Atlantic National Park. They are mostly un-inhabited with only small resident communities on each island. Charlotte and I had a great walk up to the top of Isla Ons. Late that evening we were visited by a sleek looking Spanish customs launch. The two officers who came onboard TB were very polite and charming. They collected details from the ship's papers and from our passports then waved us goodbye.

Next morning a Coast Guard cutter was nosing around the anchorage and inspecting some of the boats there. Being a National Park, fishing boats and yachts have to get a permit to visit the islands. I had been told - unofficially - that foreign cruising boats did not need this permit. So I was very relieved when the cutter did not bother us or the other British yacht in the anchorage.

Charlotte's friend Laura arrived on Sunday and we collected her from Vilagarcia. We had a few days pottering around the Ria de Arosa in the hot sunshine. Charlotte, Judy and Laura showed great fortitude in going for longs swims to and from the beach. My excuse was that I had to row the dinghy but as far as I was concerned the water was far too cold for me!

The night before Charlotte and Laura were to fly back to London, we watched Spain beat Portugal in the World Cup. We were in a packed open air bar in Vilagarcia and the atmosphere was wonderful. After that Judy and I made sure that we were near a bar for the rest of Spain's games. We were lucky to be there at that time,

Judy and I then spent a few days before friends Pat and John arrived on Monday 5th July. Highlights of their visit were the Baiona (Spain 1 - Germany 0) and a great walk on Isla Cies. We also cheered Spain to victory over Holland in a bar in Moana. The celebrations after were something to be seen!! Amazing.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

We hired a car on Monday to take John and Pat to the airport in La Coruna and to pick up Roger and Jenny from the return Vueling Airline flight from Heathrow. As Judy and I were killing time wandering around La Coruna, we heard from John that the flight to London was cancelled. I wonder if it could have had anything to do with the crew suffering from their celebrations the previous night.

Anyway we drove back to Moana without Roger and Jenny and they eventually made it to Vigo the next day but minus their luggage which was still in Madrid. The helpful girl in the marina office in Moana was able to arrange for their luggage to be delivered to the marina. It eventually arrived at 11:15hrs on Thursday.

We sailed back south to Baiona Thursday afternoon after stopping for lunch at Isla Cies. It is such a lovely town that we wanted Roger and Jenny to visit it as well. After they had completed the compulsory walk around the walls of the ancient citadel, we headed back north up the Ria de Pontevedra to visit Cambarro which all the guide books rave over. The village is a fascinating place but a garish modern marina and extremely ugly conference has been built in front of the town. But once you get ashore and into its narrow streets it is another world.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

As we were sailing up the Ria to Combarro we were treated to a display as a forest fire fighting plane was practicing filling up with water and then dumping it back into the sea. They went around and around for about half an hour.

Look in the Photo Album 'Galicia - Spring 2010' for enlarged image.

On Saturday 17 July, we left Combarro at 11:30hrs and motored in bright sunshine and perfect visibility to Isla Ons. We picked up a mooring off the small jetty there but it was too rough to transfer ashore via the dinghy. After lunch we had a lazy sail under genoa alone to Porto Novo. Judy and I had visited it back in June and had found a very good restaurant there. Unfortunately there was no room for us in the small club marina so we had to go a mile or so across the bay to the big brash and expensive marina at Sanxenxo. In the evening we walked around to our restaurant in Porto Novo where the waiter remembered us and gave us a great welcome. We had a delicious seafood meal and even when one brandy, three beers and a bottle of Casa de la Luna wine was included the bill still was only 69 Euros.

But that night the music in the marina at Sanxenxo was very loud and went on to 06:00hrs. Which seems to be pretty much the norm in Galicia.

Next day we motored over a flat calm sea back to St Adrian where we had arranged to leave Tobin Bronze. Off Vigo there was an enormous gathering of pleasure boats for some maritime festival or the other. The Spanish really know how to enjoy their festivals. Tugboats firing water canons into the air and an aerial display of precision
flying and another by aerobatic planes.

Monday found us travelling back home by taxi to Vigo, train to La Coruna and the flying to Heathrow.