July 21st - 31st, 2012 (France, Spain)
Progress so far (Click picture to zoom)
Another early start from Royan saw us on our way across Biscay with a clear blue sky and light breeze, which unfortunately meant that we had to motor. The coastline is a dead straight sandy beach with very little else visible except trees, for approximately 140 miles and gets a bit monotonous after a while. We were intending to spend the night at Arcachon, which is about half way down, but just as we were getting ready to navigate our way through the sandbanks, we heard the forecast for the following day. It was for north westerly F4-5 gusting 6 which would make the swell considerable, so we changed our plans and decided to continue on and cover the whole 140 miles to Anglet near Bayonne. Luckily the wind was behind us the whole way, so it was quite calm, but arriving in the dark was a bit hairy at times. Amazingly the tide was favourable for the whole 19 hours and we managed to maintain 8 kts. Trying to locate the correct lights was quite difficult as there were so many to choose from. We were also treated to a fireworks display off Biarritz, which was really great for the night vision! We were finally tied up in the marina around 01:00 and in bed not long after that.
We spent three nights here and one day took the bus into Bayonne, where we visited the cathedral and walked along the ramparts. The old part of the city is very picturesque, with narrow streets and the red and green Basque flags flying everywhere. Trying to find somewhere we could get some lunch proved to be a bit of a problem as they stop serving at 2:00pm, which we didn’t realise, but we eventually managed to get something.
We have finally arrived in Spain and it’s great to see mountains again after the flat coastline of France. Our next destination was Getaria, which is a small village set into the hillside. The temperature is now in the mid 20’s and forecast to reach 30° in the next few days. Long may it continue, although Mike is beginning to wilt already! We didn’t go off exploring until the evening, as it was too hot, but it’s a lovely little village with a road that goes under the church – not enough room for it to go round it apparently! We watched a game of pelota (four men whacking a hard ball against two walls with their hands) which was all very confusing, but seems to be very popular, as there were lots of spectators.
From having had too much wind earlier in the trip, we now seem to have none, and again had to motor the following day along to Getxo, which is near Bilbao. We anchored in the bay for a couple of days as one of the marinas was charging €85 per night. Ever so slightly excessive we thought! Across the other side of the bay was another marina which was smaller and nearer shops etc. and as an added bonus only charged €39 per night so we went into this one instead. After all the sun we’d had for quite a few days, one evening we were treated to a spectacular electrical storm followed by thunder and later on, very heavy rain. The next couple of days were very grey and damp but very humid. Some of the houses on the promenade were huge and were originally occupied by rich industrialists and bankers at the turn of 19th century and are currently owned by the wealthy.
On one of our wanders around Getxo we came across the Viscaya Bridge which is the oldest hanging transporter bridge in the world and hopped aboard the gondola, which also takes cars, for the crossing to Portugalete. We had intended taking the lift up to the top (50 metres high) and then walk back to the other side, but I chickened out at the last minute and we returned on the gondola.
Our next port of call was Santander, where we had intended anchoring overnight in one of the bays, but there was no room, so we carried on to the new marina which is some distance away from the town and is also right beside the airport. This marina had been reported to be very expensive so we were only going to stay one night, however the place was half empty and the fees had been reduced considerably and even included free Wi-Fi, which according to the leaflet we were given, should cost €4 per ½ hour. The marina is in a lovely setting with very expensive looking apartments along one side of it. There are no shops, only a restaurant and bar, so we decided to take the bus into town to do some shopping. Easier said than done – it was a 15 minute walk to the bus stop via the end of the runway and then around an artificial beach. Then a further 25 minutes on the bus. We had been told it was a 5 minute walk and had allowed extra time but still managed to miss it and had to wait an hour for the next one. All to buy food and mosquito netting! However the trip was successful and we spent a very enjoyable day there.
