| Datum: | 23-05-2016 A Week in Gijon | | | | Monday 17-05 to Sunday 22-05-2016
Harbour Charge
We negotiated to get a discount on the harbour charge because of our plan to stay at least one week, which would be quite expensive. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so just keep trying. And keep smiling, certainly that helps. The manager had to make the decision and the girl behind the counter did the administrative moves. Yippee! 7 days for the price of 5. We bought some typical Dutch souvenirs before we left and gave her a set of Delft Blue stone clogs, that was well received.
By the way: this was after they gave us the discount, make no mistake!
Boat Chores
The moment we had to transfer the boat from subscribe-pier to passers-by-pier, the engine wouldn’t start. Out of diesel? Couldn’t be, there had to be at least 20 litres. Checked the filter, which was very filthy and replaced it. And while we are at it, let’s get some diesel in a jerry can and fill the tank up. This didn’t help either, the diesel seemed not to get pumped up. So Fred pumped up the diesel by hand and a few moments later the engine did start. We think that it is pollution of the tank that causes the feed to the engine to clog up. We had the same problem a few years ago and made a manhole in the tank to be able to clean the tank thoroughly. During one of the lovely sunny days we tackle the tank, pump it empty and catch the diesel in jerry cans. Afterwards we cleaned the tank and at the same time installed a new diesel indicator (which we already bought in Holland); the old one was not reliable anymore.
Closed down the manhole properly with a liquid sealing compound – like kit. Phew, the engine starts immediately and runs like it used to! In the fore cabin we have attached a plank to protect the batteries of the bow thruster and the anchor winch. It had come loose and we screwed it back in its place.
Cleaned the boat a little and washed the windows.
The second Pegasus logo attached to the boat, the front left side.
Because we have trouble charging the batteries on board, Fred checks the measurements and finds out that the isolation relay has never been connected correctly. So now we connect it the right way and let’s hope for the best.
This and That
Washed a few washes, quite necessary after a week’s sailing….
Bought Spanish sim-cards from Yoigo at The Phone House for both our cell phones, 1 GB for one month internet, € 10.00 per person.
Went out to search for salt tablets and a cartridge for Fred’s life jacket, which blew itself up during the trip to Gijon! We have Secumar Offshore 275 N life jackets, but we can’t find anything that matches. Luckily, we have some other life jackets on board, with thanks to Freek! Maybe later on in La Coruña?
Also bought an Imray sea chart C43 for this part of the north coast of Spain.
Food and Drink
The region where we are now is called Asturias. Traditionally for this region is the cider (Sidre) and a white bean’s soup (Fabada). The white beans are boiled until soft, but still intact. Then they add spicy Spanish sausage (Chorizo), black pudding (Morcilla) and bacon to it. I will add the recipe later on, under the header ‘our boat/recipes’.
While we wander the city, we come to ‘Mercado del sur’, an indoor market hall with fresh fish, meat, cheese, bread, vegetables and fruit. There is also a small coffee house where you can get coffee and a sandwich. They get the ingredients fresh, straight from the other market stalls, where we buy our own errands later on. We are being served very friendly and patiently and with a few Spanish words and a lot of gestures we get quite far. We buy two regional cheeses: a light young one and a blue cheese and a pile of chorizo, sliced thinly and vacuum sealed (preservable to January 2017) to make Fabada. For dinner we buy large slices of veal at a butcher shop, which we serve up later on with a pancake of potato, egg and onion (Tortilla de Patata). The local delicacy is a light and airy cake with almonds. For the afternoon lunch we go to a small restaurant and take the today’s special (Platos de Dias). The waiter doesn’t speak English and we don’t quite understand what he says, so we let him surprise us. Shortly after, he is back with two gigantic plates, loaded with meat, 2 fried eggs, salad, tomato and fries. A few times, at café terraces, we get little snacks to go with our drinks: mini-tortillas, mini-sandwiches with sausage or a piece of toast with tapenade.
The Marina and the City
On you way into the harbour you have to really pay attention! Follow the channel/fairway until you get the green buoy exactly south and then, in the direction of the buoy, to port/left side in between through the jetties and then straight on you have the subscribe-pier. The marina personnel is very helpful and kind. The accommodations are fairly o.k. (a pity they are so far away from the visitor-pier), showers have a thin flow (now, there is always room for improvement), washing machine and such is also there (€4 per washing and €4 for the dryer). The cleaning staff marked the list for the last time in 2013!!!
At a 10-minute-walk there is a supermarket (Mas y Mas) and the earlier mentioned market hall Mercado is 20 minutes away. The marina and the historical centre are in the fisherman’s quarter of Cimadevilla and are separated from the city by two large beaches, San Lorenzo and Poniente. You can walk the jetty with the town rampart and you have a beautiful view of the town as well as the sea from there. In the city there are some parks and little squares. Since the tourist season only starts in June, we could not find bikes for rent. Pity, we could might have seen more of the city.
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| | | 26-05-2016, reactie van Aad | Klinkt goed allemaal. Ga zo door met deze blogs, fijn om te lezen!
Hier alles goed. Tot ons volgende contact.
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| | | | 30-05-2016, reactie van Carel & Ria | Caroline: een goed verhaal.
Wij vonden het erg prettig om over jullie grote avontuur te lezen.
Vooral de foto's!
Misschien moeten jullie tijdens een oponthoud in een haven toch maar dat kacheltje opscharrelen. (:-()
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| | | | 30-05-2016, reactie van Theavandernoord@hotmail.com | Hi Caroline en Fred,
Super leuk om te lezen hoe het jullie vergaat. Veel plezier!
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