Biscay

We leave Gijon now for Biscay.

Gijon

29.5. Gijon. Another windy and rainy day. One British boat came in last night after a rough trip. Now there are four British and two French boats here with us. We just visited one of the British boats for afternoon tea and got some very good recommendations for our next stops and routes. It still looks like we are going to set sails Friday morning.

30.5. Gijon. Not so much rain today. We walked to Carrefour and got some new sheets for our new smaller blanket that we use during longer trips when we take turns sleeping in the front cabin. We also found a new anti slip carpet for saloon. The old one came apart. Today we fill the diesel and water tanks and buy food for crossing the Biscay.

Gijon

28.5. Gijon. The plans have changed. We found out that the next harbor, Ribadesella, isn’t actually a decent marina but just a basin with fixed piers without any facilities so we decided to stay here. The big low came in last night and the strong wind is going to last until Thursday night. We plan to leave Gijon Friday morning and cross the Biscay. The destination depends on the winds. Yesterday we took a taxi to a huge hardware store and bought plywood and other stuff for the new shelves in the saloon cupboard. Not many boats here, there’s only a couple English and French boats in marina. It has been raining most of the night and it doesn’t look much better now. We received a message from Tigs the previous night, they had reached Ile Oussant to the west from Brest.

Gijon

Gijon. Yesterday we made 70 miles from Ribadeo against the wind and the current. The office wasn’t open at Ribadeo so we sailed away without paying any harbor fees. We managed to sail a little over 20 miles. The swell was up to four meters. We arrived just after six and took a place on the finger pontoons. The marinero came to greet us and told that the office was open until 10 pm. The office girl was pretty and helpful. The weather charts showed a pretty strong wind from the east so it was going to be a lazy Sunday. We rented bikes for 3 € a day from the office and biked around the city. After that we washed the salt from the deck. The weather was okay today, cold wind with a few showers, +21. Tomorrow we’re going to visit the local hardware store to get new shelves for the vacant cupboard in the saloon. The cupboard was left empty after we sold the extra refrigerator to Tigs. We should be ready to sail at noon for about 30 plus miles to the next harbor where we have to wait for two days for good winds to sail across the Biscay to Le Havre or some other suitable harbor.

Ribadeo

24.5. Ribadeo. We slept late and left Cedeira just before 9 am. At first there was no wind but suddenly we got a pretty strong wind against us for a few hours. After Capo Cortega we changed course to the east and managed to sail for 9 miles before the wind died out. Later in the afternoon after lunch we picked up a decent sailing wind from the west and sailed most of the way to Ribadeo. The harbor is behind a very tall bridge on a river and the current was pretty strong. No marineros here at this time so we take a shower on the boat and go to bed. Only a few visiting boats here, too.

23.5. Cedeira. We left from la Coruna early in the morning. The forecast didn’t get it quite right because we had to push against a pretty strong wind and 4 meter swell. After 30 miles we called it a day and anchored outside Cedeira in a well sheltered bay. We came ashore with the dinghy and right now we are at a bar with a wifi. I downloaded the forecast for tomorrow and have a look at them when we get back to the boat. After lunch we were so tired that we slept solid two hours.

La Coruna

22.5. We washed the deck and the dinghy, after the night before there was a few mm of salt everywhere. I changed the part of the reeling that was broken when we bought the boat, we got the new part from the Nauticat boatyard and a big drill bit from Tigs to drill holes to the ceiling of one of the top lockers in the pentry to get access to the bolts from underneath. We tried to find a pizzeria for dinner but didn’t find any so finally we landed at Burger King for some junk food. Tomorrow we head east for Vivero or Ribadeo. The day was sunny but the wind was cold.