June 6th – June 16th (Spain)
From Viana do Costelo we motored sailed back to Baiona with only the main, where we again anchored in the bay for a couple of nights before heading out to Islas Cies, which form part of a national park known as the Islas Atlántica de Galicia. A licence is required before visiting the islands and the marina had applied for one for us in February which is valid for two years. Each time we want to visit an island we have to apply online giving dates etc, as there are only a limited number of boats allowed each day. We anchored off the middle island, known as do Faro and took the dinghy ashore. This island has a beach which has been named as one of the best in the world. However the day we visited it was very grey and not particularly warm, so we didn’t see it at its best. We walked up to several vantage points which had stunning views, or they would have been, had the sun been shining. However we enjoyed our time there and will probably go back when the weather is better, on our way back to Vigo for the winter.
From there we headed into the Ria de Aldán and followed another British boat up to the head of the Ria where we dropped the anchor. The other boat was called Moonstone of Aberdour, a Victory 40, and when Mike asked about the name was informed the boat had been fitted out at Silversands, Aberdour in the River Forth in 1973. We remember anchoring in the bay at Silversands in our Hurley 20 in the late 70’s and being invited onboard one of these boats which was in the final stages of completion. At the time this size of boat seemed enormous to us, but I can remember that the workmanship was first class. I think the boat we were on was one of the last to be completed there and eventually the company went bust and we heard from the owner of Moonstone that the owner committed suicide. A very sad end.
We stayed there for three nights as the weather was cold and wet yet again. The cockpit tent has been in use more often over the last couple of months than it was for the whole of last season. We’re still wearing jeans and sailing jackets and at the moment it would be much cheaper to invest in a washing machine (if only we had somewhere to put it) than to continually pay for the use of a machine. Washing jeans and sweatshirts in a bucket is no fun - not to mention the drying! I did not come to Spain to be this cold!! The town was very small and had very few shops but there were obviously some very affluent Spaniards if the houses were anything to go by. Most of the time was spent on the boat caching up on chores and entertaining and being entertained by the neighbours. We were invited over to Moonshine the first evening and spent a very enjoyable evening with Alan and Claire and returned the hospitality the following evening on Mistroma and also invited Terry and Nicola Flinn from Flinesse, a Malo 39, who had arrived earlier in the day.
The following day the weather had improved slightly so we decided to head up to Pobra do Caramiñal in the Ria de Arousa. This was also our first attempt to use the genoa since it became stuck. Whilst in Viana d Costelo, Mike had washed out the halyard swivel, greased it and re-hoisted the sail but it was still seized. The sail came back down again and he tried putting pressure on it at different angles without much success. As a last resort he sprayed Pro-Lube (silicone/PTFE lubricant that no sailor should be without) into the swivel and managed to get some movement when still under pressure . The sail was hoisted yet again and it seemed to be running reasonably freely so we decided to try it out at a later date. I was a bit apprehensive about using the sail in the rolly Atlantic in case we couldn’t get it furled again, but it came out without any problems and we had a really great sail all the way up to Pobra and even better it furled away perfectly as well! Mike still wants to take the whole assembly apart, but fingers crossed we can wait until the end of the season.
Pobra is another lovely little town we visited last year. We met a very nice couple Adrian & Pennie Heyworth on Maid Honor, a Southerly 42RST, who invited us over for drinks one evening. The following evening they and Geoff & Tricia from Amethyst joined us on Mistroma for another fun filled evening. Amethyst had arrived in the bay earlier in the afternoon. We had a couple of really nice days with clear blue skies and reasonable temperatures and then back came the rain and up went the tent. We had been invited over to Amethyst in the evening and arrived there in full waterproofs and wellies! Hopefully summer will arrive at some point.
