Muros

The forcast winds were beginning to make themselves felt and we planned to spend the day ashore. We dropped the dinghy on the beach and walked the short distance to a beachside cafe we knew had wi-fi. Downloading the newspaper we noticed a bus timetable on the wall and the helpful lady in the cafe told us where the bus stop was ( well tried too, we initially misunderstood and she was kind enough to come out and walk down the street to redirect us) after all that the bus was late. We gave it 15 minutes before giving up.

We walked along the street which follows the rather fine beach and just as we got to the bus stop in town the bus turned up 20 mins late. We boarded and paid the €2.40 to ride the 4 miles or so to Muros.

This is the biggest and we think oldest town in the Rias Muros. It is a typical Galician rabbit warren of tiny narrow streets.

It is famous for its stone covered colonaded walkways or ' soportales '. Similar to Santiago.

We struggled to find the tourist information and resorted to asking a lady selling fish on the Loncha. Turned out to be closed until 4.30. We didn't actually locate our bus stop until an hour before we were due to leave, not great on helpful signs or information Muros.

When on the fish quay ( Loncha) we noticed a tall ship moored against the harbour wall, it was well pinned there by the strong winds but we recognised it as a ship we had last seen in St Lucia. Anchored with us in Rodney Bay. It was the Polish sail training vessel the Fryderyk Chopin.

We decided to go aboard for a look around as it was open to view.

Very impressive vessel but I seemed to remember her having three masts not two, turned out that they were raising funds for a new third mast. I never found out what had happened to the old one!

It's nice to meet up with old friends though and does reinforce what a small world it is.

We wandered back into the old town looking for somewhere to eat. We found a free table for lunch and decided to go Spanish and have a light seafood lunch of pulpo ( octopus ) and mussels.

The town really is difficult to negotiate as the narrow streets are very confusing, even with our newly acquired map. We had considered this trip as a recce rather than moving into the marina. Although the marina is quite nice and very handy for the town and has the advantage of a helpful man Pedro, it is quite expensive and very tight for manoeuvring in the gusty high winds. Around about this time Jim and Magda on Magnet had decided to try for Muros and had immediately returned to the bay after a look at the conditions in the Ria, wall to wall whitecaps! Jim said.....

There are several churches in Muros, all locked. There is obviously a strong religious history as all the street names read directly from the Bible, Calvario, Sufrimiento etc.

There are many small shops ( mostly shut in the afternoon of course ) but you are not short of cafes and restaurants.

I was particularly taken with one enterprising burger sellers effort, wonder how he came up with the name? Nice logo too, seems familiar.....

The soportales are very cool places to wander shaded from the sun.

All too soon it was time to catch our bus back to the anchorage at Esterio. The bus stop is at the end of the car park on the seafront and has no indication that it is a bus stop other than the word bus painted on the road so it can be viewed from a vehicle. An interesting day out and fortified us for the 25-30 knot winds we would experience overnight. But that's another story........