Fiestas

The first fiesta we stumbled upon quite by accident. We had taken the bus to the head of the Ria to the town of Noia. In search of supply's and to be honest curiosity. As a bridge prevents yachts from getting to Noia it's only possible to visit by dinghy ( two miles ) or bus.

It turned out to have a motorcycle festival on, with street stalls and a motor cross event. All staged on the waterfront.

And of course hundreds of motorcycles!

We are used to this kind of thing as our house is very close to Rivington Barn where there is an unofficial bike show every Sunday.....

The old town is actually quite interesting being typically Galician. With stone covered walkways and narrow streets.

We wandered down towards the river for a coffee away from the smell of two stroke oil. Much as I like motorcycles I am not an avid enthusiast, unlike the rest of my family who would have loved the day out.

We had found a good supermarket right by the bus station to resupply with essentials however we have still not got used to Spanish bus timetables which give you the time of departure of a bus, in this case from Santiago, but no indication at what time it can be expected in Noia. The answer is about an hour! Confusing. We got back before dark however the bus dropping us off right by our dinghy on the beach.

 That night the persistent sea fret crept in 

and surrounded us in fog, the temperature fell right down and it was chilly enough for jumpers!

The following days were a story of sea frets coming in on the SW winds. Clearing briefly and then getting thick again, we didn't see the other side of the Ria for days!

We were joined at anchor by several other British flagged boats. The most we had seen in one place for a while ( well four actually )

On the Sunday the fog had cleared for the Festival of Carmen, patron saint of fishermen. We knew there was to be a mass followed by a procession of small boats with the statue being carried across the bay.

We took our dinghy across to the Loncha to observe events, it took a long time to carefully install the statue aboard a fishing boat, and even longer to load the band and their instruments!

There was a crowd of small boats milling around the quay waiting, many decorated with bunting, balloons and flags.

 Eventually the statue set of on its way around the small island of Isla Creba, after which it would return to the Loncha.

As we followed the procession of small boats we stopped to congratulate a British yacht who being close by the quay had dressed ship overall. The island is behind the yacht in the photo below.

 We chatted with Juliette and Gregg as the procession proceeded across the bay. It turned out that this was the couples third season in the Galician Rias and they enthused about it, they would be sailing in the Rias until September then wintering the boat over in Vigo, something we were seriously considering.

Soon the procession returned and the serious business of unloading our lady of Carmen and of course the band began.

This is all done in a very cheerful but serious fashion. If that's not a contradiction in terms.

There is great reverence afforded the statue and it seems lucky to touch it.

 Soon the crowd and procession headed back to the church and the seemingly endless round of fireworks ceased. Gregg was very surprised to observe the rocket launching person on the beach setting of one after another rocket by lighting them whilst holding them in his hand! These are not really fireworks in the classic sense they are percussive aerial bangers and make a tremendous noise.

As we launched the dinghy to return to Dark Tarn the grey drizzly weather closed in.