Saturday 21st August
The wind had died, and it was sunny for our 5th wedding anniversary, although it had been a little chilly overnight. We recovered the dinghy and outboard, and finally left Viveiro. We hoisted the main, although there was insufficient wind to sail. We had wondered whether to stop in the next Ria, Ria del Barquero, for lunch but it was too early. The Ria is very beautiful, with a narrow river flowing into one corner, although we did not attempt this, and a small port opposite. There were plenty of lovely, practically deserted, sandy beaches to anchor off. Turning around into the wind, there was just enough to be worth sailing with, and we unrolled the jib to tack out of the ria. Another British boat was just leaving Puerto de Bares, and we exchanged the usual pleasantries. We however abandoned sailing once we were around the Cabo de Bares and kept well inshore around Punta de la Estaca de Bares, the most northerly point on the Spanish coastline (we think).
Our plan was to lunch close to the bar of the Ria de Santa Marta de Ortigueira, so that we could check this out prior to entering nearer high tide in the evening. The entrance of the river is shallow, with shifting sands and no markings. It is written up in one pilot guide as very difficult, but well worth the effort. There was a last minute switch as JP realised there was more east than north in the wind, and we anchored alongside a Swedish yacht in the Ensenada de Espasante. Over lunch, however, the wind had got up from the ENE and was blowing into the bay, and there was quite a chop as well as some swell entering. We launched the dinghy and improvised a lead line with a shackle. Mo duly took some notes of tide heights and times, we compared Mike's portable GPS with the fixed one on the boat, and we set off in the dinghy with high hopes. When we reached the bar, about ¾ of a mile away, we found there was no way to reliably plumb the depth, as our shackle simply trailed behind as we were blown across the bar. We did enter the river, so we saw the lie of the land (if that is the phrase to use!), but felt that it was all a bit too risky for Fuga given our current run of luck. We called in to the little port on the way back, chiefly to deposit our bags of rubbish, but to stretch our legs, and then returned to Fuga. We decided in the end that we would take a view in the morning, and so we relaxed with some drinks before supper. Mo was still trying to be careful with her stomach, so she confined herself to medicinal whisky and ginger and JP felt unable to hit the wine as hard as he might have. The celebratory champagne remained in the fridge for an opportunity where Mo is able to enjoy it. After supper, Mo stopped JP from falling asleep, and the Scrabble came out in the cockpit. Mo got off to a cracking start, and JP became very irritable with his poor showing, turning in two sets of letters in quick succession. Mo retained her lead, and JP lost. :(
The alarm was set for 0700, but it was barely getting light as we made tea. We got up, and decided to give the entrance of the Ria a go. The wind had died and shifted to the south east (a more sheltered direction), and there was no swell. We raised the anchor, and made for the bar as the sun rose over the hills, each with its colony of wind generators. We probably missed the best water, but found about a metre and a half under the keel, an hour before high water.
Once inside the river, the channel was deeper and easy enough to follow, with regular buoys showing where it lay. We arrived at the town of Santa Marta de Ortiguera, and turned around again to find ourselves a spot to anchor opposite the town, close to the Pta Fornelos in 3 metres. The Ria was uncannily quiet. Only a raucous crow seemed to disturb the absolute peace and quiet. Occasionally a small fishing boat would come past, but even these favoured rowing. JP went off in the dinghy to take some photographs. We had an early supper, then went over in the dinghy to the town. The only available landing was by ladder as the pontoons were all gated and locked. The marina appeared to have recently been refurbished, with new pontoons, power sockets etc., and we wondered whether it might have been dredged out too. There was a lot of building work going on. A small circus was set up at the end of the pier, and a new disco (closed up) was nearby. The yacht club building was simply a storage shed. We wandered through the town, and in spite of the work going on, it seemed generally a bit sleepy and scruffy. There was not a lot going on, and so after stretching our legs we went back to the boat. We decided we would get up early and leave, as it was not a good use of time to stay there, and we accordingly recovered the dinghy ready for the morning.
We set the alarm again, and it seemed quite dark when it went off. When we eventually dragged ourselves up, we set off smartly in order not to get too near high tide. The journey down the Ria seemed to go quite quickly, despite the flood tide, and we were soon at the entrance. There was just one spot where we dropped down to about a foot below the keel, but otherwise we seemed to find reasonable depths. As we motored across the bay towards the Punta de los Aguillones we had our breakfast, then hoisted the main. Once past the point however, we realised we needed a reef in as it was blowing Force 5 or 6 from the south west, which of course was where we were headed. We had to tack, but having negotiated first Cabo Ortegal and then Punta Candelaria, we reached Ria de Cedeira at about 1530 hrs. We anchored within the shelter of the breakwater, and after seeing the boat settled launched the dinghy to go ashore. We really enjoyed walking around the town, which was bustling with people. We tried to find the petrol station to top up our outboard fuel, but without success. However, we did top up our vino supplies, found some mean looking allen keys, and stopped to have a couple of drinks in a square, watching kids playing on a climbing frame.
We recovered the dinghy, had breakfast, and then set off once more. We had been intending to go to Sada or La Coruna, in order to have the boat lifted to attend to the leaking seacock, and at the same time repair the damage to the rudder and re anti-foul. After some further thought, we decided that this would almost certainly take us longer than we intended, and might put us under further pressure. So we headed for Ferrol, as this would be a shorten the day's trip, and not require us to go so far into the bay and out of our way. The wind was still not living up to its forecast: it was supposed to be westerly or north westerly, but was again on the nose, and not very much at that. The swell however made it impossible to sail, and we had to motor once again. When we finally freed off for Ferrol, JP hoped to sail, but Mo felt that we had done enough jilling about for one day! 
The Spanish have mutilated the headland, carving off a long lump of rock, and quarrying a further hole. Where our electronic chart showed simply some pecked lines, there is now an enormous breakwater constructed of the usual cubic concrete blocks. The proceeds of the quarrying have obviously been crushed on site for use as material. As the breakwater is in depths of 20M plus, it is an enormous undertaking. Inside the breakwater, they are constructing jetties. Ferrol is the headquarters for the Spanish navy, so presumably they are expanding. The effect is to make the whole Ria more sheltered. We anchored in a little bay just inside the Castillo de San Phillipe and relaxed in the evening sunshine. JP tried to clear some of the weed from our starboard bootline, and ran foul of a large barnacle under the bow. He had intended to try to find out what marine growth is preventing our waterspeed instrument from registering at all, except when we are going fairly fast, and then under-reading. Two attempts to clear this from inside the boat have failed. We had a splendid supper of chicken with 'yorkshire pudding' done in the frying pan. JP then contrived to be good humoured while being beaten at Scrabble again. Presumably the beer, whisky and wine (taken to warm up after swimming) all helped. J
When the alarm went off it was raining outside, and very dark again. Hardly an encouraging start, so JP put the generator on and filled the kettle, but went back to bed for a while. We eventually did get going, and in fact had had breakfast and set off by 0945hrs, not too bad a performance.
The cockpit seats, and other items left outside were soaking, and rain had come in through the hatches, wetting the floor and table. We hoisted the main outside the breakwater, still not knowing where the wind was coming from. It had been blowing out of the ria, but was forecast to be north west or north, 4-5, surely a favourable wind? This did not square either with the smoke from chimneys at La Coruna. Inevitably, when wind did come in, it was not as advertised, too light, and again on the nose! As the wind strengthened, however, it did veer towards the north, and we were almost able to fetch our course towards Islas Sisargas. It did require one short tack, but we were really pleased that a yacht motoring out of Coruna was making little better headway than we were under sail. We opted to go inside the islands, saving us a little distance, and having crossed just ahead of him, he emerged from round the other side of the island well behind. After that we freed up a bit, as we worked our way around each successive headland. The wind backed still further, until it became a run, and unfortunately the competition caught us up and overhauled us.Towards Cabo Villano, we gave up being purists, and turned on the engine, and we suspect our friend had done so much earlier. We both turned in to Ria de Camarinas, and we anchored off the yacht club marina, in the company of a German yacht, while he paid his money at the marina.
We awoke to find it blowing something of a hooley from the north. JP only had to mention the risk of dragging to put Mo completely off going ashore. We had run out of Gonuts for the phone, so JP went alone in the dinghy leaving Mo to her Widow Twanky bit, and some cooking. Apparently she got distracted on seeing a pod of dolphins cavorting within the harbour walls, but the photo she took just shows water? Maybe too much juice last evening? Getting Gonuts was tricky, as the bank hole in the wall machines did not appear to work for JP's card. He eventually found an electrical store that sold phones that provided some paper receipts with numbers which when entered would provide the phone with Gonuts. JP also required to find some petrol, and the tactile lady who sold the Gonuts directed JP to find gazolina at a sort of boutique chandlers, and feeling this was no use, JP enquired of a motor repair shop. They in turn referred him back to the yacht club, where the pilot said it was available to order! On the way back, JP went to a small supermarket, and bought bread, and other essentials such as wine, before returning to Mo. We decided that the venue was a little exposed, and we would do better anchored off a beach further up the ria, and so we duly moved. We had a late lunch, and ate all the bread JP had just bought, and he foolishly suggested that this would be sufficient for the day. (Ha Ha). The anchorage proved such a success that we were later joined by three other boats, French, German and Swiss. No doubt if we had asked the yacht club for free berthing they would have conceded, rather than loose all this additional business. We recovered the dinghy and outboard in anticipation of an early start, and JP then wondered what was for supper, and was rewarded by Mosoulet Mark 3 and jacket potatoe.
We made an early start, and had breakfast as we sailed under main only out of the ria. The wind had died down a bit, but was still a shade east of north. This meant we had to gibe down wind. Although we started with full main, it was not long before we had to put in a reef and sail on with reduced jib. The apparent wind (running) was in the region of 20 knots. 
Around 1300 hours, we sailed past Finisterre, and met a British Moody coming in the opposite direction. The remainder of the sail was quite comfortable, and we had to harden up to a beat up the Ria de Muros. We had intended to go into the Portosin marina, as we were low on fuel, water and battery power. However, arriving fairly late in the day, we decided that this was not a good use of funds, and looked for an alternative anchorage. We initially decide to go to Freijo, but when we got there we decided that the beach further north looked more inviting. This required some pilotage across some sand banks to a deeper trench opposite the beach, in which we could float at low water. We enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine, and JP swam, Mo dipped her toes in the water as she has now become accustomed (having no pressure in the form of Tom to make her go in - and she says its colder at only 20 degrees). JP proposed a trip ashore to Noya, written up as a mini-Florence in the pilot guide, for a meal in celebration of our wedding anniversary a week ago. We set off in the dinghy, Mo having made some effort with her appearance, and half way to the shore, about a mile away, ran out of water. JP took his shoes and socks off, and pulled the dinghy into deeper water. We eventually arrived at the quay where there was a pontoon. Mo was horrified to discover that it appeared to be a two mile walk to town, and she had put on her best sailing shoes that are uncomfortable for walking in and cause blisters. JP confessed to having read the pilot book, and knowing this, had not thought to mention it. The evening appeared to be getting off to a shaky start. We enjoyed the walk in, however, sizing up the crops of maize, potatoes, peaches, lemons, limes, vines, etc. in everyone's back garden. Crossing the bridge over the non-existant water, it being low tide, we came upon a stage set up in a square outside the church. Going on, we found some watering holes, and coming out the other end of the town, we found a fair. It transpired that all this was in aid of a fiesta starting two days before and continuing to the end of the month. JP was starving, and we returned to a watering hole hoping to have a drink and a meal. All the food was in tapas format, and the menu completely undecipherable, so although the food looked good, it was not quite what we were looking for. Paying the bill, we set off again, and eventually found a street full of restaurants and night clubs. We selected one restaurant specialising in fish, went in, were shown an English menu, and had a most enjoyable meal. When we came out we toured the fun-fare, and encountered another stage with loads of people watching a pantomime type show. Returning to the first stage, we were disappointed by the music on offer which was to a sort of unvarying samba rhythm. The square was full of people, and plenty of kids running about. The clock showed 15 minutes past midnight. We set off to walk back to the dinghy, JP collecting an underripe lemon or lime as a trophy for dodging the speeding drivers, and threatening to collect some sweet corn. We were quite relieved when eventually we spotted Fuga's anchor light amongst the other sodium lighting of the village behind. And so to bed.. with a hot drink.
We awoke late having not slept particularly well. The batteries were well down, and the inverter was sounding an alarm when we returned to the boat, so it was necessary to run the generator for a little while before going to bed, and then again later in the night.
As it was low tide first thing, there was no way we could escape from our deep hole until the tide came up a bit, so there was no point in hurrying. There was a terrible noise of distorted music coming from the beach, initially in fits and starts. We decided it was the childrens' entertainment on the beach touting for business. Mo proposed that instead of spending the weekend in Ria de Muros, we should sail today to Ria de Arosa. It was very flat, so when we eventually got under way, we decided to call first at Portosin marina for fuel. The staff there were very helpful, took our lines, and the lady who took JP's money spoke perfect American English, having lived there most of her 33 years. It seems that we were not quite so short of fuel as our fuel level indicator was suggesting. We set off with barely any breeze, and motored out of the ria for about an hour. Then the wind began to pick up and back, so that we were able to set the mainsail. Fortunately, the wind picking up rapidly as it did, we decided to leave the reef in the sail. It was not long before it was over 17 knots, the level at which we normally expect to reef. We enjoyed a great sail, dodging rocks as we went.
JP decided to cut off some distance by using the channel inside Isla Salvora, making life a little more interesting (and JP confessed to feeling stress), but we contained this by dropping the main before we negotiated the tricky bit. We didn't rehoist the main for the final beat up to San Eugenia de Riveira, just as well as the wind piped up to a good force 6, 28 knots across the deck. When we got there we were disappointed as there was very little room to anchor outside the marina, and having dropped the hook we retrieved it and went instead another 5 miles past loads of viveros up the ria to Puebla da Caraminal. Hoping for a quiet night, we were treated to rockets being let off from the beach, and loud music. Mo went to bed leaving JP playing with e-mail and spending Gonuts on the internet. When he did come to bed, he failed to deploy the mossy deterrent as requested, and then finally, when the music stopped, the fireworks (yes, again, yawn) started.
We got up rather late. JP tried to kill some flies but the insecticide aerosol seems to be largely ineffective. We can't read the instructions in Spanish, but wonder whether we should be spraying them or throwing the can at them? There followed a breakfast, cereal and four fruits, toast and marmalade. Mo decided she would like to go ashore, just for a change, and so it was agreed we would launch the dinghy. JP asked if he could just change the oil in the generator first, and of course this took longer than 'just' a minute. There was water in the bilges to be cleared, and of course JP wanted to have another go at shifting the allen bolts holding the inner cover on, that he had failed to move previously. No luck. We went ashore, and walked through some gardens towards the older part of town, then up hill past the church to a point overlooking the harbour. Photos taken, we followed a rough path back down to what appeared to be the bus station. There were hardly any people around. For a Sunday this seemed unusual, but maybe they were all out the night before? We returned to the boat, and relaxed with a drink. JP had a final go at the generator, then put it all away. We had planned to go into a marina, then changed our minds as it would be better on Monday, when we could do the shopping. We recovered the engine, and headed off with the dinghy in tow, initially for Rianjo, intending to motor. It was such a lovely evening that we decided to unroll the jib and cut the engine, and then JP thought it might be an idea to take a short cut through the viveros. After a while, we were not going very fast, so we put the engine back on. We gave up on the Rianjo idea, and instead settled for a deep bay with a beach, protected by rocks on each side at low tide. JP had a swim, and scrubbed the starboard boot top which was covered in green weed. Afterwards, as we drank in the cockpit and enjoyed the setting sun, fireworks from Rianjo suggested that we had made a wise choice: it was certainly one of the nicest anchorages we have had. Mo found some sausages, and made supper with mashed, leaks, carrots and onions. Spanish sausages but still very british! We took a look at some photographs, and Mo beat JP at Backgammon (twice).
We had a relaxed start to the day, as we felt in no rush to go anywhere. After JP had sunbathed for a while he played on the computer, and then Mo made an appearance due to the fact that a fly that JP had sprayed with insecticide dive-bombed into her second cup of tea. We then had breakfast.
There was considerable activity on the beach, where they were building vivero rafts, and chaps in fishing boats were using nets on long poles to try to catch something off the bottom. JP started a book that Mo had suggested, and when he was feeling really hot, decided he would try to clean off the bottom of the boat where the speed transducer emerged. However, a few minutes in the cold (20C) water with snorkel, mask and flippers convinced him that he no longer had the bottle to go under voluntarily. Mo volunteered to help, and we tried using the deck brush at arms length from the dinghy. About 1500 hrs, Mo rustled up a baguette filled with all sorts of goodies, and we had lunch on the foredeck where it was relatively cool. While JP was asleep, one of the new viveros was towed out into deeper water, and two fishing boats set off with it to its intended anchorage. We decided we ought to make a move, and Mo, being conscious of the work needing to be done, suggested motoring. We found our way through the maze of viveros between the beach and Villagarcia, and were delighted to note that the log was reading a sensible speed (once it had been re-adjusted). The marina at Vilagarcia appeared to have a frighteningly narrow entrance, and as we approached a coaster decided without further announcement to set off from the adjacent jetty. JP gunned the engine to avoid being swept away in the coaster's propwash. Mo was all for taking an alongside berth, but JP was hyped up to doing it Mediterranean-style as advertised in the pilot. So Mediterranean-style it was, and we had no real problems. Mo started to defrost the freezer as soon as we were in, and after a cup of tea, JP went to the Capitanaria to check in (without his wallet). When the chaps turned up to unlock the office they were very friendly, and they explained where to get Camping Gaz from. JP went back for his wallet, and returned with Gaz bottles in the trolley, but our men had locked up and gone away. The ironmongers recommended were out of Gaz, but the second shop of the same chain were more helpful and suggested a competitor who held sensible stocks. JP returned, caught the marina man, paid his dues, and went back to Fuga. Mo was still in the process of sorting the freezer, but JP suggested that lack of beer was more pressing and so we went shopping. We found a supermarket, and loaded up returned the boat. We finished off the freezer, filled up with water (the nozzle lost at Gijon ejected itself out of the filler due to the back pressure), cleaned the windows, and then Mo prepared supper. Mo thinks she's going to beat JP at Backgammon, but she's wrong…planning a trip to Santiago tomorrow on the train.
The alarm went off at 0730, and we were getting ready to go on the train to Santiago when a text message came in from David Holliday to say that they were expecting to be in Sangejvo 'Tuesday p.m.' and would need to depart Wednesday a.m. latest. We abandoned the trip to Santiago, and set off for a quick shop mainly for fruit and vegetables, but also for drinks and nibbles if the Kealoha crew came aboard. We set off from Vilagarcia at about 1130, and motored for a while. The light breeze which had been northerly veered around to south westerly. As we felt under no pressure, we tried beating into it. However, at about 1400, Mo spotted that another text had arrived, enquiring where we were, as they were already in the marina. We put the engine back on, and made as rapid progess as we could, arriving at the marina at 1600 hrs. We tied up behind Kealoha, and broke out some Cava and orange juice. David was keen to be off again while the weather window held out promise of southerlies, and so we settled on a quick meal ashore. The marina charged only 3€ for a short stay (and in Kealoha's case they enjoyed showers and electricity for this). The Spanish do not eat at 1800 ordinarily, and all that we could find was a bar serving food. We enjoyed the meal, and then set off back to the marina. Barely had we got down the pontoon, when the skipper had Kealoha's headrope off, but did agree to a crew photo before engaging forward gear… We followed Kealoha out at some speed to take some photographs, and then made our way south to Beue where we anchored off the beach just west of the harbour.
