August
The big news of the 1st August was that Jay went for his first swim of the summer! Although the air temperature was 39c the water can be just 15c even in August, apparently when the north wind blows down the coast it causes upwelling of colder water from the deep waters just off the coast, so making all the coast water cool.
When we left Cabo de Cruz we discovered the bow thruster was not working (this is the small motor, underwater near the bow, than be used when manouvering the boat to turn the bow left or right). So we moved on to Ria D'Arousa and found a very nice anchorage where jay snorkelled (in wetsuit) to see why the bow thruster was not working and discovered pesky little barnacles had moved in and were so abundant the blades would not turn. So we spoke to the marina in Combarro and arranged for the boat to be lifted out. Whilst they could lift Vela out of the water they couldn't move her out of the dock completely without the keel hitting the wall at the back of the dock, so we had to do all the barnacle removing from a dinghy in the water, with 23 tons of boat suspended above our heads! Good job we had the boat lifted as barnacles had moved into the various outlet holes (sinks etc) under the boat so we had chance to clean all those out as well. The hull itself was very clean and you could see all the 'snail trails' where the grey mullet, which are very abundant in all the marinas, have been cleaning the algae off the hull. They eat pretty much anything and use their thick lips to eat the algae off the bottom of the boat.
We were about to leave Combarro the next day when a thick fog bank made its way up the Ria, so we stayed 2 more days until the fog cleared. The benefits of this were we got to walk to the town of Pontevedra, kayak with bottlenose dolphins and after all that, Lyns bought us a fabulous supper in one of the seafront restaurants.
From there we moved on 17nm to the next Ria - Ria Vigo and the best anchorage we have found so far. An undeveloped beach with forest walks behind and long beaches leading to the town of Congas. It was a nudist beach but none of us were tempted to join the locals! After a couple of days here we headed across the Ria to Bayona, a holiday town and last marina in northern Spain. Lyns headed off to Porto by train to get her plane and we headed to Porto too. Lyns was rather quicker than us and we had a dull journey, with fog for most of the 65miles, it did clear towards the end to reveal the Portuguese coastline, long sandy beaches mostly built up with many blocks of flats.
We settled into Douro marina in Vila Nova de Gaia - which we discovered is the name of the area on the south side of the Douro River, opposite Porto. This is the main area where all the Port was stored before shipping, so all the big port houses are here - Sandman, Grahams, Kopke etc.
Jo was due to arrive on the 15 so we headed inland for a couple of days to see what the countryside was like and to save exploring Porto with Jo. Initially the countryside was similar to northern spain with sprawling towns/villages, unimpressive architecture, lots of eucalyptus forest and narrow roads. But as we got further inland we saw more variety with vineyards, farmland and impressive river gorges. One river had a boardwalk route along one the banks which went for 7k, a really good walk. Around Arouca the area is designated a world geo park and there are some great rocks! My favourite were the 'birthing stones' where small pieces of granite are set within a softer rocks, so gradually as that erodes the piece of granite pops out. Obviously we didn't get to see this as i think it takes a few 000s of years for the rock to give birth, but its a nice story.
Back in Porto, Jo arrived and we became real tourists and over the next few days we went Port tasting, went on a Douro valley wine tour, a boat trip and to listen to some Fado (traditional Portuguese music). Along with a few exhibitions and museums. It was also great to meet up with Nick, (my sister's brother in law) who lives over here and he took us to a couple of fantastic local restaurants and to his new bar, which he runs with his friend Tiago. We also went by train to Lisbon for the weekend and did more of the same there. Both cities are well worth a visit, with lots to see and do.
We had planned to sail to the Mediterranean and leave the boat there for the winter and have a summer in the Med next year, but we've had a major re-think and decided to put the boat on the market and return her to Lymington. So we made Porto our most southerly point and then started heading north, saying goodbye to a very friendly Dutch couple, Walter and Yvonne, plus their two dogs, whom we had kept bumping i onto ever since leaving England. We had a good couple of hops up the coast to Pavoa and Avieria where we put Jo on the train to make her long journey home - which involved trains to Madrid, Gerona, Paris and then London. Avieria is lovely town and had just finished its summer festival. We explored the area by bike and the countryside and coastline are very pretty.
Then we retraced our steps to Bayona and managed to visit the Isla de Cíes - a national park island where they control the numbers anchoring off the island,so you have to get a permit if you do want to drop the hook. Beautiful beaches - apparently one was voted the most beautiful beaches in the world by Guardian readers (they've obviously never been to the Outer Hebrides). Though we might have thought more of it, if it wasn't foggy and there weren't 100s of people on it! From there we went to VilaGarcia to collect Sash, our final visitor for the summer. We had three day sails to take us back to A Coruña, we visited a lovely beach anchorage in Ria Muros and a return to Muxia. Where we met 2 Aussies who came for a quick drink on the boat at 7 and left at 2am! Then had a warm, sunny motor/sail back to A Coruña.
We spent a couple of days there and gave Sash a tour of the sights....we feel like we know A Coruña pretty well now! We also got things ready to leave the boat to be sailed back to Lymington at the end of September and for us to get back to San Sebastián to cycle home. Sash treated us to cocktails and a meal out on her last night, which was great and then we sadly put her on the train the next day. Our last night in Spain was spent on John and Dawns gorgeous boat, they are heading off to the Atlantic and will be in the Caribbean for Christmas.
It's been a fabulous summer exploring the Atlantic coasts of France, Spain and northern Portugal. Not as spectacular as Scotland or the SW of England, but the people are lovely and we've enjoyed discovering the culture and countryside. It was sad to leave Vela Vee in A Coruña but exciting to be setting off to cycle through France and back to Lymington.
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