We were delighted to discover a Victoria 38 yacht belonging to Peter and Lynda our texting friends on the visitors pontoon and we had a lovely chat catching up on shared experiences. They had anchored in our spots at Santander and St Vincente but as they draw 2.1 metres had touchedthe bottom at St Vicente so with the tides getting lower every day had moved on to join us.
That afternoon after a pleasant stroll around town, I persuaded Lynne that a Spanish lunch was in order so we sat down at a little restaurant near the church, and ordered the menu de dia.
This turned out to be a starter of Asturian bean stew followed by fish for me and a salad and venison stew for Lynne with wine and bread and a cheesecake for " postres " we were quite full! It is very pleasant to be able to dine al fresco and spend most of the afternoon doing it, we are slowly adopting Spanish time, most work gets done morning and evening, very sensible I think.
The influx of visitors continued and a couple of French boats were followed by three yachts from the Armada Espana. Not the real Armada but three training yachts with naval cadets on board.
Soon our little pontoon was full up and the final French yacht rafted up alongside us.
In the evening we went out for a little drink with a Peter and Lynda that turned into a bit of a session as the town seemed to be in party mode and featured a band in one of the squares.
I believe we wandered back in the wee small hours.......
The weekend proved mixed weather wise and as Saturday had been cancelled as far as Lynne was concerned, due to an excess of wine the previous evening a walk along the river was the most we could manage, the river is famous in canoeing circles for a race held annually, the Sella descent. The names of each years winners are embossed on bronze plaques set into the riverside pavement and this statue dominates the finish line.
That evening I decided to explore the limestone massif that dominates our side of the river, it turned out to have a small bar and recreational area on the top as well as sensational views over the town.
I decided to bring Lynne with me the following day.
That weekend the amateur fishermen ( the marina is actually a fishing club ) came in with an impressive catch of yellowfin tuna. Tuna is incredibly popular in Spain both tinned,fresh and in pies.
The following morning found the sun out and very light winds so I had decided to clean the Genoa as the sail had acquired some grimy marks while being at Getxo. I should have taken it off but for some reason I never got around to it.
We scrubbed and hosed down the sail and then hoisted it on its foil to dry but before it could dry throughly the wind had sprung up so we were forced to roll it away. It looked a lot better clean, a job well worth the effort before breakfast!
We then went for a swim and then showered off in the cockpit, we were entertained by a couple on stand up boards paddling with a dog. Whenever the man threw something in the water the dog would leap off the board precipitating the young lady into the water.
That evening I offered to repeat my previous evenings walk with Lynne. We followed the path to the top of the hill and admired the view from the mirador ( viewpoint )
The surf was visible clearly at this distance and was occasionally breaking right across the entrance.
However we were safe in the bar, the area was crowded with locals enjoying the evening and cooking on the many barbecue pits dotted around.
After a beer we continued on to the small village of Ardines. This is a lovely little collection of traditional looking buildings almost growing from the landscape. Which incidentally is known as " karst " very like some parts of the limestone areas of the Yorkshire dales.
In the distance the mountains were lit by the evening light.
We spotted a roadside bar and stopped to watch the opening of the France Iceland game but as it seemed a one sided match we just stayed for the one beer. ( France won completely outclassing Iceland who looked like a team of amateurs, they were however the team that had knocked England out of the competition, which doesn't say much for our national team).
We walked back along a rather exposed road towards the Tito Bustillo Caves by the river.
We passed a rusted artwork displaying representations of the many cave paintings to be found around the village and I couldn't help but wonder just how long mankind had lived around here. It was certainly a very long time.
As we climbed aboard Dark Tarn the clouds on the mountain tops were tinged with pink. We sat and watched them fade away. We were beginning to have no great desire to push on from Ribadesella.
P.S.
The weather had hinted that Monday would be a good day to leave with good east winds, this turned out to be a false hope. The winds would barely ruffle Lynnes hair, the swells from the NW however were 1.5-2 Mts this was not a combination we liked, so decided to stay on awhile. It would at least give us time to refill our two 20 litre diesel jerrycans and with this in mind we trooped off to the office.
On passing through the gate a combination of ham fistedness and downright bad luck saw our precious gate key ( for which we had paid a €50 deposit ) be dropped and fall through the only key sized slot in the pontoon access ramp into the waters of the Ria Sella below. As the tide was on the flood the small floating key ring was moving inland towards the road bridge at around 2 knots. There was nothing else for it and as Lynne ran back to Dark Tarn to attempt to raise Peter ( and get a towel ) I stripped to my undies and dropped the 10 feet or so into the water, I was of course on the wrong, that is to say, high side of the now locked gate. It was easy to swim to the key by now about 50 metres away but swimming back against the tidal flow proved a stiff challenge. I made it eventually and with key firmly in hand Peter pulled me manfully onto the pontoons. It seems that safety ladders are not a common feature of Spanish marinas. Pride salvaged we then discovered the office was shut anyway.
I consoled myself by thinking that our dropped and subsequently recovered record of 100% was intact!
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