| | Monday 23-05-2016
From Gijon to Cudillero
Today we move on. After shower, breakfast, filling the water tank, we sail in the direction of the filling station for some diesel. Also, the jerry can for the dinghy has to be refilled, with petrol. We leave a message (with our personal logo stamp) in the guestbook at the reception, wave once more to the friendly harbour master and sail away from Gijon.
The weather is o.k., fairly sunny, it is just that there is not too much wind and the wind that is, is rather against us. So it’s going to be engine plus mainsail today. The waves come in from the side and that feels nasty; you might even get seasick. But as long as I am behind the steering wheel it doesn’t bother me. It’s about 5 hours sailing, assuming we go 5 knots average. In the course of the day we have to change the navigation, whereby the wind now comes a little bit more from behind. Current is against and it’s getting overcast. Around 15:00 we have the sailing route to Cudillero in sight. During my reading in on this bay, I understand it is a pretty tricky one. A lot of little rocks and to get into the bay itself, you almost have to zigzag your way into the narrow entrance. Because I have better eyesight than Fred, I sail the last part in and through the entrance. It comes rather easy to me and a moment later Fred takes over, so that I can pick up the mooring, something I do better. In this marina there are about 12 yellow buoys for visitors. It works quite differently here. You pick the buoy out of the water and get the long line and two shorter ones that are attached to it. Theoretically, you fasten the two shorter lines to your front and rear cleat, but this is almost impossible. After a lot of bungling, extra lines and - later on – another buoy, we are finally attached….after one whole hour. What a great system….NOT! We are not the only ones, later on, a French boat comes in and tries his best, but out of sheer desperation they berth the boat at the pier for regulars. That is enough for today. Every now and then we check if we are still fixed. No harbour master in sight, by the way…
Tuesday 24-05-2016
Had a good night’s rest and we take the dinghy into town today. The dinghy is always on the front deck, so we have to hoist it into the water first. Then attach the outboard motor and fill it with petrol. We put our water boots on; the dinghy is still leaking at bit. We take our walking boots with us in the two water resistant rucksacks. Then off to a fitting berthing place, we take the slope that is nearest to the town and pull the dinghy way up, because of the tide that is still rising. The steel cable of the dinghy is attached to the outboard motor and then through a fence near the slope.
On a bench we put on our walking boots and …walk. Into town. The houses here are colourfully painted and built cascaded against the hill. According to the manuals this is to be a very touristic village and you can see that by the loads of restaurants present, but it’s rather desolate otherwise. On the way we ask directions to the nearest supermarket. Alas! We have to climb a steep, winding way up. *Groan, moan* … that’s frustrating in the beginning, glad we are wearing our - broken in – walking boots. Now that we have neither car nor bike, these walks are very good for our condition. We buy postcards, which we put in the mail immediately and buy supplies for a few days. At lunchtime we look for a terrace. Now it seems to get busier we sit down at one of the many restaurants, on chairs with soft cushions. Now our poor little feet can have a rest. We go for the ‘Platos de dìa’, as entrée a paella for Fred and scampi (big prawns) for me. Then some sort of schnitzel for Fred and I get thinly sliced veal poured over with a blue cheese sauce. Of course, there is a bottle of red wine and freshly baked baguette. The desserts are some sort of Magnum and liquid cheese in a cup. It has the look and taste of cottage cheese, but it tastes nice. Bellies full, we walk back to the dinghy. While I bask in the sun on a bench, Fred walks by the Tourist Information Office for a map of the town. On the way to the ship, we are soaked by the splashing of the waves. Luckily it is on the way back, so we can hang out our clothes to dry. Back on the boat, I follow the local custom and take a siesta. In the meantime an English boat has arrived and he too is fidding with the buoys and the lines.
Tonight’s meal is sandwiches and a DVD.
Wednesday 25-05 to Saturday 28-05-2016
The rest of the week is most of all lazy. We go once more ashore by dinghy for food and bottles of water. Fred bought a new rucksack before we left, which is watertight and big enough for a couple of days supplies. The water bottle, 5 litres!, goes in his rucksack. The rest of the errands I take on me; walking down with a heavy burden is much easier. Moreover, since it is time for…..lunch! A moment later we are on a terrace again, enjoying a hot meal; for just under € 22,00 we have 3-course meal and a bottle of red wine.
In the following days we computer a bit, write the blog, read some, listen some music, look through the pictures taken and so on. There arrives one more Dutch boat, to whom I explain “the ways of the mooring in Cudillero”. Except for the boats of the residents of Cudillero, it is very quiet in the bay. Is this sunny Spain, by the way? Yes, yes, I know: it was my idea to sail along the north coast of Spain! Here the days interchange between sunny, cloudy, rains and thunderstorms. One day you’re in your shorts, the next with socks on inside the boat. And according to the Dutch weather forecast it is better and even sunnier over there!
Before we left, we bought about 50 key hangers with yellow wooden clogs on them, all with a barcode glued on. It is my noble task to undo the clogs from these barcodes. Well, you have to do something on rainy days!
During one of the rare beautiful days, we take out the fishing-rod and I attempt to catch something. After staring at the float for hours and hours (at least that is what it seems to me, Fred says it was only two hours, at the most), no catch. Evidently I have not yet developed enough patience for fishing, well, who knows, in the future.
We framed the beautiful pictures, which we got from our children and put them up in the cockpit. The picture of Fred son and his girlfriend hangs next to it. All the pictures, as well as the ”Granny’s picture book” are scanned, so that I can watch them anytime.
Boat Chores
Something with which we are very very glad, are the new solar panels we installed. They supply so much power, despite little sun and much clouds, that the Victron battery monitor stays at 100% most of the time. Our biggest consumption, when not on shore power, is charging our pc’s, the printer, tv and the Senseo coffee machine. This Senseo is a camping-style one, one that uses less power, but takes longer. In this way, our converter from 12V to 220V is less burdened. This is a piece of luxury we indulge in, nothing beats a cuppa Senseo!
In the dinghy there is a crack in the hardware panel where we attach the outboard motor and this is where the water comes in. We really have to do something about this defect in the near future. As a matter of fact, the whole dinghy is in need of replacing, so when we find one somewhat newer and better… (We prefer second-hand, because a new one gets stolen more easily). There were no chores to be done and that’s a nice change.. for a change.
Harbour Charges
According to other sailors and to Reeds (a book with descriptions of marina’s etc.), you are supposed to report at the diesel filling station on the jetty or the harbour master comes to you in his boat when you are finally done bungling with the buoys. But there was no harbour master to be seen and to be honest, we don’t feel the need to report either. Apparently the season really starts the 1st of June, anyway this is nice and sweet to our moneybag!
The Marina/ The Bay
Running into the bay is tricky, but can be done when the weather is quiet. We certainly not recommend to sail into the bay with strong wind from the north; too many rocks. In the bay there are bigger fishing boats attached to the jetty and dozens of small brightly coloured boats attached to the buoys. Some of these boats are 5 metres long! That they venture themselves at sea with such devices… real brave! The big fishing boats sail out during the day as well as in the night time, which causes some billow, but not really troublesome. On the big parking lot at the fishing jetty is a spot for campers and big touring cars and in the course of the week we see the tourists walk into the town from there.
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