The end of the year going into November was quite often astonishingly unlike Winter, the sun shone and we were able to swim and continue to explore in shorts and t shirts. Walking to the supermarket at LIDL was just as pleasant, meandering along the shore of the Ria.
Temperatures were very pleasant and our increasing list of minor jobs was once again shifted to the back burner.
Another attempt to walk to the viewpoint at the " Mirador del Rei " resulted in us exploring the hills above the town again but this time forcing further into the Eucalyptus forests and emerging above the town on a surprisingly well hidden ( from the boat ) platform complete with benches tables and granite bar-b-que areas.
As usual the views were fabulous, virtually the entire Ria was in view and we could clearly see dark Tarn at her berth in the marina at Cangas. we puzzled again as to why we couldn't spot this extensive viewpoint from below.
Of course being Winter we were soon overcome with the heat! It didn't seem winter at all, however the trees along the waterfront were turning a spectacular shade of copper which seemed very odd when contrasted with the crocus flowering below! A kind of seasonal confusion.
We were approaching another notable astronomical event the "Supermoon" in actual fact this is the closest that the moon will approach for quite a few years, this was hyped a lot by the press but was in fact only about 4% bigger than a normal approach at perigee (closest point of the moons orbit )
It did look lovely though! Not the best photo but certainly better than the view back in the UK......
It was now getting time to dust off the jobs list, Dark Tarn is pretty much ready to go all the time, however there are always routine maintenance jobs and tidying to do. We have a list of things that we can pick from given weather conditions. A few days of rain coincided with a failure of the main outlet pump diaphram. This was traced to a split in the hinge bracket. I ordered spares from the UK and repaired the hinge bracket with epoxy replacing the diaphragm withour last spare. I couldn't leave Lynne without a working toilet! The pump is a large Titan gusher and is built in to a kind of cistern behind the toilet bowl. I am thinking of getting a job as a gynaecologist to utilise my new skills. I can also now peel an orange in my pocket. This is a "rainy day " job I hope not to have to do too often.
The epoxy had been left over from yet another job where we had replaced the anchor light with a super bright LED one. This had required some major surgery and a bit of lateral thinking but had proven to be very effective, we had first tried it out at the Islas Cies.
While my mind was on anchoring, and the sun was out again we took the opportunity to inspect the Kedge anchor (secondary anchor ) cables and chain. Dark Tarn has a great selection of secondary braid line and 10 and 12 mm chain, hundreds of metres, enough to sit out a hurricane if needed! To put this in perspective we have only used any of this once in three years of cruising, the warp on the left that is stained a brownish colour was used to deploy a stern anchor on the Spanish north coast the river mud gave it its colour.
All was in good condition, we dried everything and replaced a couple of rusty shackles and swopped the stainless anchor shackle on the main anchor for a galvanised one. mixed metals are not a good idea below the waterline and this job had been bugging me for ages.We also took the opportunity to reorganise the anchor lockers ( yes we have two) and shock horror, threw some things away!
We also utilised Lynnes splicing skills to build some permanent preventer lines for the boom using 8mm Dyneema, this is a wonder yarn that is size for size stronger than steel. Having the preventer permanently rigged on the boom will enable us to rig a preventer from the mast rather than hanging on the end of the boom. Dyneema isn't particularly easy to splice when its double braid but we are very pleased with the result. Its undoubtedly safer and easier to rig particularly in oceanic swells.
That evening the super moon was again creeping over the horizon, this time with some atmospheric clouds. They heralded another dip in the weather. On a grey day we visited Vigo. This is Lynne by the statue of Jules Verne. Of course there is a reason for the statue,
Vigo is mentioned in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and the gold remaining on the seabed from the battle of Rande is harvested by Captain Nemo and his men. Of course there are those who maintain that Captain Nemo is fictitious and the gold is still on the bed of the Ria....but that doesn't explain why no one can find it. I like to think that its actually at the bottom of the Maelstrom near the Lofoten islands in the wreck of the Nautilus.
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