April 15th - May 31st
We flew out to Santiago de Compostela on 15th April and got a train down to Vigo, where we hired a car for three days. When we arrived at the marina we discovered that Mistroma had been launched earlier in the day, without any contact from the marina. Mike was horrified that they could do this without our authority, especially as we always leave all the seacocks open, so we could have had a lot of water inside the boat. Fortunately, except for a little water and some antifreeze in the engine compartment, she was dry. The manager was very apologetic and said he thought his staff had contacted us. We were lifted back out in the evening and returned to the compound.
While we had the car we drove up to Cambados, in Ria de Arousa, which we had been told was a very pretty village. It’s one that is impossible for us to get into by boat because the water is too shallow. We had a lovely lunch and wandered around the old town before returning via Alcampo (supermarket) for a second big shop.
We both managed to pick up really bad colds on the plane, the worst either of us has had for years and which just refused to go away. Work on the boat slowed to a snail’s pace and it was just as well we weren’t in a rush to get back into the water! We were finally launched on 14th May and spent the next 10 days working our way through the to-do-list. Eventually everything was finished off and we left the marina on 25th May. We headed across the Ria to Moaña, where we dropped the anchor and had a very peaceful night.
The following morning we had a lovely sail down to Baiona, at the mouth of the Ria and anchored in the bay. We stayed there for three days while waiting for the weather to improve and met up with friends who had wintered at the same marina; Peter & Elizabeth on Ananda and James & Dorf on Aquayla. We are all intending to head south but at varying speeds, hopefully we’ll catch up at some point. One day we used the dinghy to go up a small river at the end of the bay, which is only accessible around high water. There was quite a strong current and we were swept into a lovely calm lagoon bordered by some very picturesque houses and further up the river there was a beautiful old bridge.
During one of our trips ashore we came across Novos Aires, a fantastic restaurant in the old part of town and went in for lunch. The owner and chef is Spanish but worked in Chester for thirty two years and his wife is Polish. They’ve only been open for a couple of months and are working hard to establish a reputation for good food and they have certainly succeeded. The end result was superb and would rival many first class restaurants in the UK. If you are ever in Baiona, I would advise you to try it.
We got fed up waiting for the weather to improve, so as soon as the wind was settled in the north we sailed down to Póvoa de Varzim in the mist and drizzle. Much like Scotland but warmer drizzle! We stayed for three days to let me catch up with all the washing accumulated over the previous six weeks. This is as far south as we ventured last year so it’s all new territory from here onwards.
