Lyn's Log, 28th August 2005
Spain, Gijon to La Coruna
La Coruna, Spain.
N43º22', W8º03'
2,369 miles.
We sailed across Biscay for a couple of days towards La Coruna but then there were warnings of strong winds in northwest Spain, due before we would get there. So we turned south and motor-sailed to Gijon. I got bored on this trip, doing 3 hourly watches, trying to brush up on my Spanish but, like reading in a car, kept feeling a bit queasy when reading. The wind was around force 4 on the starboard quarter and the Aries and Ceetrek did the steering. It was not too uncomfortable except when rolling around while trying to sleep. We arrived in Gijon at 2 a.m. but the town was still very much alive and quite noisy, so out came the whiskey and peanuts and it was well gone 3 before we turned in! There wasn’t much to the morning by the time we got up, but it was a lovely day, clouding over towards the evening, though no rain.
Evenings here are nothing like in Dover. From about 9 p.m. everyone goes out for the 'Pasada'. There are crowds sitting around on walls, outside pubs and restaurants, drinking or talking. It is the time to meet. Again we have been fortunate to stumble upon some local entertainment. In the main square a stage was set up for a summer festival with performing musicians, singers and dancers. It was called ‘Veranes Gijon’, Summer Gijon, and was showcasing local traditional costumes, dances, songs and instruments. There were pipers and drummers, and a few orchestral instruments and guitars being played. Sometimes the women had castanets but the costumes were not flamenco dresses but more reminiscent of our Morris Dancers, the women in rather thick looking skirts with under-skirts and aprons, the men in knee-length trousers, waistcoats and cummerbunds. The women wore scarves on their heads and the men had black hats like skull caps with a triangular piece stuck up on one side. There was something Gaelic yet still Spanish about the whole thing.
Sunday night we were again treated to a magnificent firework display.
During the following week we day-sailed along the coast stopping in Ribadeo, Barquero and Cedeira, all very beautiful places, and suffered the loss of our Ceetrek self-steering when its drive chain broke. We hope to find the part we need in El Ferrol or La Coruna in the next day or two.
If you ever want a mechanic in a hurry, try Cedeira. We had hardly finished anchoring when a guy in a little motor boat came alongside jabbering away in Spanish. When he realised we didn’t understand him, he tried again a little slower and louder. At this point I went and got the dictionary and he came on board and fumbled through the ‘m’ section of the dictionary. Finally we established he was a mechanic. He left saying he would be back soon. A little later he returned signalling that the mechanic would be about ten minutes but, we protested, we did not want a mechanic. The next morning a bigger motorboat came along hooting, were we an English boat wanting a mechanic. Not us, we said.
La Coruna now has a new marina, “Coruna Marina”. Their man will meet you as you enter the harbour and direct you to a buoy or pontoon space. There are still no finger pontoons but the usual stern lines to pick up. There is a brand new building still smelling of new paint, and apart from the toilets and showers, none of the other rooms are fitted out yet. Their man told us that the old building alongside the Royal Yacht Club finished five years ago and now there is this one – the cheapest. Actually the Royal Yacht Club is well aware of the opposition and still attracts visitors. There are also some new pontoons not yet in use, between the Royal Yacht Club’s property and the castle, where the rocks with the stray cats are.
We arrived in La Coruna on Sunday 21st August and somehow stayed there a whole week. Well, when you don’t get up till after 10, start socialising around 7.30 p.m. and have to fit lunch and a siesta in between there is little time left. We did a lot of walking. The large chandlers was an hour away and the motorcycle shop where we hoped to get our Cetrek drive chain repaired, was even further. The chandlers ordered us some paint and provided us with a rubber strip we can put round our dinghy to stop it bumping the boat. The motorcycle shop did not have the right sized spring clip for our drive chain and neither did a nearby bicycle shop. We have tied a piece of fishing line round, but have been given a thin piece of stainless wire to use if/when it fails. The supermarket was quite a long walk when carrying heavy bags, and the internet café was 5 minutes further on. We took the foreward hatch off because the hinges had seized and after 2 days, the marina mechanics were unable to do anything to it. The very nice bilingual marina receptionist found us an aluminium window shop on the other side of town and amazingly, after much shaking of heads and hand gestures and Spanish, a little old guy there manufactured a working repair. I admire these craftsmen and wish there were more willing to make repairs than insist you replace with new.
We socialised with two couples during this time. The couple on Ocean Star were anchored in both Barquero and Cedeiro with us. They will be leaving their yacht in Sada, near La Coruna, for the winter while they return home to help with various family ailments. The other couple, on Lady Ayesha, Tony and Leone, knew us from Civil Service rallies in the Solent. They have been cruising around France and Spain this year, getting used to retirement and testing out how they like the yachting life. They are returning across the Bay of Biscay in a few days to sell their present yacht and were looking for a more suitable blue water yacht, possibly in steel. A disaster though, some water spilt over our new Toshiba laptop as we were showing them some photos, and the keyboard is now malfunctioning.