Luanco

Lynne and I felt very tired after our sleepless night and swell tossed journeys of the last couple of days. It was either sleep or seek out a panadaria, we always love coming to new places and as I had been sorting out paperwork a group of happy children ( with instructors, we think it's like a summer school ) had come down to the pontoon and one had promptly fallen in! However the laughter was quite infectious and cheered us up no end. Quite lightened the mood.

We walked along the sea front past a great beach towards the church we had seen from seaward.

The architecture was quite unusual and it had a cloister type enclosure going round three sides. Also it was open, so we stepped inside.

At first it was a little dark then someone kindly put a euro in the box that lit up the 'temple'

The place was an absolute mass of intricate  guilded carvings, the alter piece alone was astonishing.

The closer you looked the more details revealed themselves, and seemingly every wall space in the nave was similarly decorated.

Even the small side chapel was full of carved images, there was a large group who were gathered around a carved image of St Mary. 

I am guessing of course but the church is called Iglesia Santa Maria de Luanca.

Immediately outside the church is a palace, historically the home of the Menendez Pola family who apparently were patrons of the church.

The road then led us into the town which turned out to be utterly delightful.

wandering past the Torre del Rejo brought us to the old harbour.

We availed ourselves of a coffee and the sun tried to make an appearance we decided that this was a bit more than an overnight and a lunch stop, as well as being tired we felt that this felt like a friendly place, the lady in the supermarket had walked us back out into the street and walked us almost to the machine that dispensed fresh milk for a Euro, when we asked if she knew where we could buy some. That threw us I can tell you, how many more milk machines have we walked right past not knowing what they were? Also the old lady in the panadaria sold us a beautiful barra loaf also for a princely euro which along with the fresh milk and some chicken made a very acceptable lunch. The instructor came back with some wet kids as I was eating in the cockpit and he wished me a good appetite, friendly, definately friendly.

Later we drank wine on a cafe balcony as the sun came out over the sea and beach.

After the nights struggle and the unfriendly weather conditions and swell I felt a bit of a break was needed.

Lynne didn't take much persuading, she was watching three French yachts anchored in the bay roll violently on the invisible swells rolling in.

So the acid test of the legs on the middle of the night had been a success and we had again found a delightful place to rest and recuperate. The wind was forcast to continue light over the weekend but it seems it will be sunny. The jury's still out but it's odds on the pilot book writer didn't get it quite right about Luanco either, time will tell. I'll let you know.