The Rias Altas

 The Rias Altas are the first of the Gallician Rias approaching from the east, Ribadeo is the first Ria and conveniently spaced around thirty miles apart are the Rias of Viviedo and Cedieria, these are all weather ports and between are isolated small fishing villages and anchorages that are either tidally restricted or weather dependent. It is approximately 85 nautical miles from Ribadeo to  A Coruña.

The weather forcast was for headwinds from The NW but they were also predicted to be light, barely force 3 and occasionally 4. This proved to be wildly wrong!

However in blissful ignorance we left the marina having filled water and fuel tanks. The wind, such as it was was fitful and less than 5 mph and we made good progress, there was even a noticeable lessening of the ever present swell. The going was pleasant and we anticipated a trouble free trip of six hours or so. However as we approached the Ensenada de San Cibrao the wind began to gain 

strength. The seas began to become noticeably rougher. We had noticed a yacht astern of us headed in the same direction and we were soon overtaken by a French boat, an Amel 54 and as the wind rose he unfurled his sails and shot off on a close hauled course to windward and out to sea. We also unfurled our Genoa but there was something that was worrying me about our forestay, it looked a little slack and after a while I furled it away and we continued under engine only. Without the steadying effect of the sails Dark Tarns motion was quite violent and she was rolling a lot in the big seas breaking on our beam.

The wind was now a good force 6 and force 7 in persistent gusts of ten minutes or so. The swell was big and breaking over the whole boat. This was the first time we had had white water in the cockpit for two years! Lynne and I were drenched and she sensibly insisted we don life jackets. It was becoming very unpleasant even with the sun out and it took us an age to clear point Roncadoira and spot the entrance to the Ria. We were rejoined by the French Amel who had been on a high speed run out to sea and back that had returned him half a mile astern of us. He continued to follow our course past the perilous lee shore of the Ensenada de Esterio and the lighthouse on Punta Del Faro that indicated the entrance to the Ria. We motored into the relative calm of the Ria and had a couple of miles of relatively calm water to collect ourselves and consider going into the small marina. One look below told a sad tale, the forecabin was a total shambles with pretty much everything on the cabin sole, books were wet from the leaky fore hatch that had been submerged in green water coming over the bows. Lynne picked them up after we had a quick look in the fishing harbour then decided to anchor just of the huge beach at the head of the Ria at praia de Covas. The marina would have been just too much hassle with lines and fenders to get ready we both just wanted to stop and rest. Besides we like to anchor, it's what the Rias are renowned for.

Lynne quickly changed out of her soaking clothes and we began to get the boat back in some sort of order. We believe that if the boat has looked after you when you stop its the boats turn to be looked after.. The anchorage was noted as being exposed in the pilot but in actual fact was superbly sheltered in the conditions by the extensive harbour wall which absorbed a great deal of swell.

We were joined by some old friends, another Amel 54 which could have been the one who followed us in, we never found out, and an Ovni we had last seen in Ribadesella. We finally got straight after a couple of hours and after a quick tea we phoned Alex to reassure him we were OK. Turned out he had been to Blackpool funfare riding on the roller coaster, we were able to tell him we had been doing something very similar!

After a few sundowners in the cockpit we retired to bed very sleepy and had a quiet night with Dark Tarn hardly moving. The forcast ( should you choose to believe it ) was suggesting light winds from Wednesday and a strong wind warning for the weekend. We decided to sit out tomorrow at anchor, explore the town and do two hops to Cediria and Coruna or possibly hole up in the Rias of el Ferol or Betanzos while the high winds blew through over the weekend.

In the morning it was cloudy. However needs must and we blew up the dinghy to go ashore.

It was a bit of a walk along the canalised Ria into the town which was across a bridge on the opposite shore. The bridge deposited you outside the gates to the old town.

This was quite interesting and typically Gallician with its covered balconies and ornate balustrades.

The church was closed unfortunately but it did have some intriguing art, frescos in an alcove on the fascade.

We have no idea how old these are but they have a definite mediaeval quality about them, unsurprisingly the church is 13th century.

Even more intriguing was a side entrance that opened into some cloisters ( Viviero was a centre for Dominicans and Franciscans ) what we presume was the old monastery seemed to be council offices on the second story while below were some religious tableaux.

All very strange, there were several tableaux behind glass, 

We had our map from the tourist information and decided to find the smallest street in Spain which apparently was only one metre wide, it took a bit of finding as the entrance looks pretty much like a doorway.

After that bit of excitement it was off to the main square for a coffee.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch courtesey of the big Gaddis supermarket and wandered back to Dark Tarn just as the sun came out again. We had to have a swim off the boat as we overheated quickly on the walk back to the beach.

Later that evening I got a text from Peter and Lynda from Suerte that they were heading home, just as I  finished replying thinking they were heading across Biscay I noticed out of the port Suertes masthead going up the river in the direction of the marina. We arranged to meet up and had a few beers in the marina cafe. It was nice to see them again but sad that because of circumstances beyond their control they were having to cut short their trip and return home. We wish them well.