| Datum: | 31-05-2016 Ribadeo | | | | Sunday 29-05-2016
On to the next part of the Spanish coast. It is about 43 miles to Ribadeo and that is going to take about 8,5 hours. We rise at 7 and get ready to leave. The weather looks good, but again there is not much wind. And it is coming out of the wrong direction: front. Sigh, another day on the engine. The casting off goes smoothly and we sail out of the bay in no time. Leaving Cudillero behind, we quickly shoot a few nice pictures of the lighthouse on the rock. Because the wind is front (from the west), we sail against the waves, which gives a bothersome feeling. Just let me at the steering wheel and I will be in my element. You can see very clearly that the water is changing colour the more we go south. It is not as dark grey as the North Sea, but more azure blue and you can see a lot more. We have hardly started to enjoy the sun, when dark clouds gather at the horizon. Time to fold out the bimini again, that will make a difference when it is going to rain. Fred has taken over the wheel by now and gets a heavy shower! Suddenly the winds strengthens to force 6, but as quickly as that sinks back to 2. The rest of the afternoon the weather changes, but we are lucky to avoid a few showers. At 16:00 o’clock we near the entrance of the Ribadeo river, which divides the two provinces Asturia and Galicia. Ribadeo lies in Galicia.
High tide was two hours ago, so we have to watch the lane carefully. I prefer being behind the wheel, while Fred does the navigation. We sail under an enormous bridge of 600 metres, fairly impressive and coming from there, the marina lies at your right hand. By now a stiff wind has risen, so I watch where I go. The harbour master and another two people are waving to where to berth and even help us. Super! But barely are we tied to the pier as Fred gets an application form pushed into his hands with the request to fill it in, then trot to the harbour office and do all this ASAP, because they are closing at 19:00.
We fill in the ‘necessary evil’ and go to the harbour office. Let’s try to get a discount, we’re not Dutch for nothing! The lady behind the counter is very friendly, but our card from Toerzeilers (“Cruising Sailors”) doesn’t impress her at all. However, she hints us to get a different kind of card in La Coruña (a Passeportescales), A card that can get you a discount, not only in Spain, but also in other harbours or marina’s. What she can do for us is give a “Nautical Passport Galicia” and put a stamp on it. With that we can get a discount in our next harbour. We’ll wait and see…
On the other side of the marina lies the little town of Figueras with a large shipyard and a little further ahead a picturesque village called Castropol. We enquire after a good local restaurant and then have a lovely shower, to wash away the dirt of a couple of days. When we have quenched ourselves with a good glass of wine (courtesy of Milla) and some local cheese from Asturia, we get ready for dinner. Ribadeo is built up against a hill and again our walking boots come in handy! To take a shortcut, we have to climb a couple of stairs (left of the harbour office). *MOAN*… not my favourite way of walking by a long shot! We walk around the town, which looks a bit abandoned on this Sunday : a lot of the shops are closed and so are a lot of restaurants. We get weary quite soon of walking around and decide to pick a big Mexican restaurant, which, sometime later serves an immense plate of food. Walking down is always easier than walking up, so quickly we are back on the boat, to sag out on the cockpit-lounge-set.
Monday 30-05-2016
Today is a ‘working-day’, so Fred gets behind his desk. The feeling that we’re being on a holiday, is slightly wearing off. The things we do during the day are just the ordinary-day-things. Before I go to the supermarket, I throw the wash into the machine. Next I stroll to two subsequent water sports shops to look for the gas cartridge of Fred’s - exploded – lifejacket. Alas, no dice in the first shop. To get to the centre, I am ‘invited’ to climb a lot of little stairs. With a detour – but at least I see something of the town – I arrive at the supermarket. I buy supplies for two days and since it is always more than you think, I subsequently almost help myself to a rupture carrying the lot. On the way to the marina I hit an angling shop, where the owner helps me to find the darned gas cartridge. But no. I’m afraid it is not going to happen in Ribadeo….
It gets warmer and warmer and I arrive at the completely at sweat. Alongside the piers I see fish swimming by of about 40 cm long, you could scoop them out if you want to. What kind? I have no idea, we will check this out. In the wash-room – there is 1 washing machine and 1 dryer and you can only wash at 40 degrees –
I try to get our dirty laundry clean. In no time I am at war with the machines, as they don’t do what I want them to, but after a few hours and many many coins everything is reasonably clean again. Because we are outside all of the time, I get sleepy very quickly and in between the going up and down to the wash-room I fall asleep on the couch. Not very bright, because later that night I cannot get to sleep. Fred strolls for ‘just a moment’ to the supermarket to buy water and cola. I can’t keep up with his tempo, so he goes on his own. By the way, I have had enough exercise for one day! We eat ‘at home’ and watch an old movie.
Tuesday 31-05-2016
We stay one more extra day in Ribadeo and go sightseeing the town together. Again these wretched stairs…. Nobody can have any comment as to us not getting enough exercise, we get our walks!
At the local tourist information they give us a map of the town and we even can get some free postcards. The town still looks desolate, not a tourist in sight. A lot of the buildings are renovated or rebuilt, some quaint tiny churches, a beautiful green park with palm trees next to the city hall, but all in all not very special.
For quite some time now we are looking for a pump to transfer the water from the big water bottles with 5 or 6 litres to smaller bottles. We bought a pump in Holland, but this one can only be fitted on even larger bottles. Passing by, we enter a shop, which is filled with an enormous variety of goods, piled up high in dozens of racks. We squeeze ourselves through the aisles, looking for the pump and I try, in my best hand-and-footwork-Spanish the explain to a Chinese employee what we are looking for. He does his utmost to understand what we want and is very helpful, but no, a bicycle pump is not getting us any further…. They really have everything but the kitchen-sink…. and our pump. I buy a few balls of crochet-yarn (as if I don’t have enough already) and a decent, not too expensive casting rod with hooks and such. At lunchtime we have a ‘platos de dìa’, we are almost getting used to a hot meal in the middle of the day! With our bellies full we walk to the supermarket for supplies, because tomorrow we will be moving on. We hope to drop anchor for a few days in the town of Viveiro. Back on the boat, Fred goes to work and I write this blog. We do the last preparations for tomorrow, bit of hoovering, filling the water tank etc. And then our last day in Ribadeo has come to an end.
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| | | 3-06-2016, reactie van Ludmilla/Mila - Español con manos y pies....hihihi |
Met handen en voeten aan een Chinees in het Spaans vragen om een pompje.....dat is vràgen om taalproblemen....WAHAHAHA!
Ik heb me blauw gelachen om dat stukje!
Is het misschien handig om een fotootje van zo'n ding op te zoeken en dat te laten zien? ;-)
liefs en tot ...eh...tsja
Mila
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| | | | 3-06-2016, reactie van Jeroen Sassen |
Hallo lui,
Ik ben er 30 jaar geleden een paar keer met een boot geweest (had er zelfs een vriendin).
Vond het er erg mooi maar had toen wel mijn eigen gids.
Groetjes Jeroen
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