Hola its Gijon
29 May 2015 | Gijon Spain
Jim Sunny at last
Well it's hola rather than bonjour - we have arrived in Gijon - Northern Spain, about halfway between the corner and Santander.
Still having internet fun and games - trying to get a good signal.
Anyway the story so far. After a great 3 days in L'Orient we decided to move on with the initial aim of going to Belle Isle. When we got out there the weather was so good we decided we might as well head for Spain - despite having got a long range forecast that said the next few days were better than the day we chose.
Off we go but after a few hours the wind has built to 25 knots and the sea state was not good - so bad that poor Alison was having problems in the galley preparing the next few days meals - soup casserole, a few cakes - the usual stuff!!.
After a serious ear bashing from the galley slave the skipper takes the hint and implements the original plan and we have a fast sail downwind to Le Palais on Belle Isle. Arriving here is interesting not least because the harbour is small but still takes in local RoRo ferries - at speed and of course one had to arrive at the same time as us. Excitement over we now have to moor up. Here you take a line to a buoy at the bow and another from the stern to a chain on the harbour wall all aided by an excitable French harbourmaster. No real panic and we end up moored alongside three lovely gents from Dublin on their Bavaria - Muglins.
We have a nice quiet evening punctuated by the ferry every hour or so and don't bother to go ashore. We do discover that the fridge has packed up - diagnosed as a faulty thermostat - it is full of water and rusty. Jim has temporarily shorted it out and we now switch the thing on and off every few hours - if we get it wrong everything freezes!!
Next morning about 10 its off again for Spain - we have a 3 day weather window with light winds and smoothish seas promised, so, as we need to be in La Coruna for the end of June to meet our daughters and grandchildren, we thought we ought to make the best of the opportunity so off we trotted.
For those who have never done a (relatively) long trip on a boat - it can be boring - punctuated with moments of excitement - or in some cases sheer bloody terror - in our case we did a lot of reading - had several moments of excitement when visited by pods of dolphins (I will try to post on Youtube hopefully here https://youtu.be/SIgjadfy_lc ) - and luckily no terror (yet). For most of the 40 hour - 295 nautical mile crossing we had lightish winds and had to motor sail. Thankfully it was warm and comfortable until about 40 miles out.
The wind then picked up from the stern and we started to roll a bit just at the time we came amongst the anchovy fleet. Hundreds of the buggers it seemed coming from all directions just as it is getting dark - still it kept us awake after 36 hours - not that we hadn't managed to sleep luckily.
As we had had a fast passage we arrived early, 2am in fact n the dark, rather than the 7-8am, daylight planned (Note from Alison - skipper needs better planning tools) - that made it dark. If you can imagine an unfamiliar major port at night there are a lot of lights, on cars, ships, lampposts etc. etc. and amongst them a south cardinal buoy you are looking for with a white light flashing 6 + 1. Eventually spotted, thankfully and now to work out where the marina is.
We had already made the decision between the town marina and Marina Yates (pronounced yat es). We heard reports that Yates was more economical (cheap - that did it) but outside town. Arriving at 2AM was interesting especially as not shown in the pilot guides and charts we discovered a newly built wave-break wall (see photo) - concrete blocks 12 foot high - halfway across the entrance. No problem as we were travelling slowly and saw it just in time!
Plenty of nice long, empty finger berths available and one of the most helpful teams I have met at a marina (not at 2 am I hasten to add). A few hours sleep and we are up and about to sort out the Internet - seems to have become a primary aim at the moment - note to self - get over it!!.
The marina is located on the edge of town but with the free loan bikes and dedicated cycleway this is not a problem especially as there is a massive Carrefour hypermarket not far away - plus the offer of a lift from one of the team if we needed it. Jesus the manager is excellent and cannot be more helpful. We nip into a restaurant in the old town for sardinas co ensalada mixta - yummy.
The repair facilities look great and we have been quickly sorted out with a spare part for our fridge (cold rather than frozen beer from now on), well hopefully in a few days when it arrives from Barcelona.
Possibly thanks to the new wave-break wall it is very calm and quiet in here and yes the price is reasonable (32 euro high season for our 13.5m). The facilities are excellent - large individual shower-toilet rooms and a good reasonably priced washer and dryer - plus the free bikes. It is also very secure as it is part of the port which requires security guard access (24 hour). Not many visitor boats about in either marina at the moment.
The town looks fantastic and we are looking forward to a few days here sampling the cider and Galician food. At the moment it is a tidy up - cleaning - visit to the tourist office and Carrefour and a chill.
Speak soon
Alison and Jim