Ensenada Del Sardiñeiro

Sometimes being at anchor can be seen as rolling the dice, are we going to drag? Will the wind change direction pushing us onshore? Will the tide swing us ? the trick is to load the die in your favour, it's still a gamble but taking into account all the relevant factors all should be well barring acts of God.

We gambled on the weather being as predicted we also had a side bet on the holding and shelter afforded by our little bay. In deciding to stay we were achieving a degree of independence from  the tyranny of marinas and stating our confidence in our judgement and ground tackle. To be honest Lynne and I have ridden out gale force winds at anchor before now and we felt the need to return to that simpler ethos. Besides the sun was out! Decision to stay taken we piled in the dinghy to go and explore the next bay along playa Esoedi. As we rounded the point separating the two bays we spotted a hidden little beach which was completely deserted.

It was awfully hot! And the predicted force 5 winds were certainly not in evidence here in our sheltered little bay.

Perfect, even had a swing.

The sand however was almost too hot to walk on.

We spent a delightful few hours on our little paradise of a bay. I walked up to the pine clad headland to investigate the cracking noises we had been hearing, it turned out to be the sound of pine cones opening.

All around Ensenada Del Sardiñeiro are to found a typical Galician edifice, the ' horreo' it is a grain and other agricultural products storage place, it's design dates back to Roman times.

This is one on the headland with a rather nice view of Dark Tarn anchored further out in the first bay.

Most are topped with a crucifix. They are constructed from stone in this part of Galicia, a cleverer man than I could tell you the part of Galicia you were presently occupying just by the design of the horreos.

As the day continued to get hotter we got back in the dinghy and continued to the next bay of Escordi. We landed and were able to walk from a small beach to the main playa all the while being surrounded by fish in the water.

The beach seemed very popular which is probably as it has a campsite hidden in the pine woods. The hotel had some shady tables so we ordered a beer, quite expensive at 5 euros! For two.

After a look around we decided to avoid the crowds and return to our beach for a final swim and a shower.

As it was Saturday we had a last supply run to the supermarkado passing more  horreos as we wandered into town.

These are often used as meeting places to sit and chat in the shade by the more mature residents. 

Showered and resupplied we then experimented with salt water and shampoo for hair washing in Dark Tarns cockpit, using our crude shower as a final fresh water rinse, Lynne was feeling a little cruddy having been nearly a week at anchor. The experiment proved a total success!  As Lynne began to prepare a meal several boats came in to share the anchorage, a Spanish motor sailor and catamaran were followed by an old friend. I called Lynne to come and see what was obviously a pilot cutter making a very impressive entrance under sail.

Although her hull was a different colour I thought I recognised the boat as the ' Agnes' a Scillonian pilot cutter that was owned and built by Luke Powell who runs it as a charter boat. If you are interested in traditional sailing craft and skills look no further. Recommended.

Luke brought Agnes in under sail and circled Dark Tarn before dropping anchor behind us.

All done in a very seamanlike fashion. It didn't feel at all strange to see a Cornish pilot cutter flying into a bay in Galicia and folding her wings for the night. Quite fabulous.

I had last seen Agnes and Luke in 2008 in Fishguard in Wales. She is a fantastic boat and even though she looks a hundred years old she is in fact only half Dark Tarns age.

After tea we ran over in the dinghy and were invited ashore to join the charter crew. It turned out one of them, Penny was having a birthday and we were invited to a local restaurant to meet everyone.

Penny is the lady above Lynnes head sitting next to Luke, Pennys husband is on Lynnes right. We had a lovely time and were made to feel very welcome and promised to try and meet up again between here and Vigo. Incidentally if you want to sail Agnes from Coruña to Vigo the 10 day trip will cost you £1395 plus flights. That evening the stars were even better and the Milky Way was very clear. Lynne wanted to stay another day as she was beginning to enjoy the peace and feel of the place. It was beginning to feel a bit special, I have to admit.

Finisterre

A quick moving frontal system gave us some unseasonal rainy grey weather and forced us to postpone our departure for a day as we have discovered neither of us like to plow to windward in the rain. We decided to sit it out until the following day when the winds were due to come northerly again. We huddled below reading and catching up with emails when after lunch the sun came out albeit with a few scudding clouds. We emptied the dinghy and went ashore finding a nice cafe overlooking the harbour. We were delighted to receive churros as a free tapas with our coffees.

As we wandered into town we heard the distinctive tap tap of the lacemakers and spent some time watching two ladies making bobbin lace, Even though I watched them closely I still have no clear idea how it's done but the results are beautiful. Their skill is amazing.

Lots of examples are for sale and you can also commission a one off, with your Name or initials for example.

We had a quick look a the marina which lies over the new harbour bridge.

The town is a working fishing village and isn't very touristy.

However the real attraction is the superb anchorage, and the scenery of the Ria

. That evening the clouds that remained were turned a vivid pink shade at sunset.

We hoped it augered well for the morning.

We were up and about from 8 o'clock as the tides dictated an early start. I wanted to take the ebb down to Finisterre and hoped to arrive at around low water and slacks. We raised the main and motored down the Ria in light winds. There was a small convoy of boats leaving. We passed the unfortunate church of La Virgen de la Barca that was destroyed by fire started by a lightning strike in 2013..

I must say it looked in remarkably good shape, I'm assuming it has been repaired.

The winds remained very light and after a few hours we gave up trying to keep the sails up as the slatting was driving us nuts. We continued under engine and before long had passed Cabo Toriñana, 

This is actually the most western point of europe and not Cabo Finisterre, which can be seen in the background.

That day was sunny and warm and far more pleasant than it would have been the day before!

We approached the famous headland at Finisterre just after lunchtime , no time for lunch for us though

as we passed on the inside passage about 200 metres off the rocks, turning into the Seno de Corcubión and towards the village of Finisterre a little way up the inside of the peninsular. Our real destination however was a small bay at the top of the Ria called the Ensanada del Sardiñeiro. This we reached after 3 miles or so.

A lovely bay and beach and we had it all to ourselves! We anchored in just over 6 metres of crystal clear water.

Lynne and I wasted no time sorting the boat, Lynne put the sails to bed as I blew up the dinghy. After lunch the dinghy was launched and we went ashore to explore and have a swim. We found one Panadaria ( which had no bread ) a mini supermarket several bars and cafes, a superb seafront and a marvellous beach. What more could we need. We also discovered the water was just as chilly as Camariñas. Brrrrr......

Dark Tarn is the only boat at anchor in the bay in the above photo. We spent some time in a lovely shady beach front bar discussing the weather as it seemed to be on the change and strong winds were forcast for the following week. We decided to see what the morning  looked like. We would either stay or do a quick run down to Ria Muros about 20 miles away where we knew there was a marina which would offer good shelter. Also our Irish friends were somewhere there too, Decisions, decisions..........

That evening we went ashore to eat at the same small cafe bar we had visited in the afternoon. We were hoping to have sardines but they had all been pre-booked, ah well try again tommorow and get our request in early maybe. The proprietor cooks them over wood coals and they smell delicious!

We had to content ourselves with other fare, these are the little sweet peppers known as pimientos de pardon. Flash fried in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, Scrummy.....

Dark Tarn was still alone on this near perfect anchorage as the wind dropped as was usual in the evenings. Open only to the south and with very good holding in sand this is a lovely spot.

There is a boardwalk runs around the beach and the flora in the small dunes is outstanding.

On one side are the small holdings of the locals and on the other grow cactus succulents and orchids.

Quite lovely. As we reached the end of the boardwalk and dropped down to the beach the old adage about there always being a serpent in Eden came true once more. As we walked along the beach the night residents were out and about. Sand hoppers, literally thousands of them. Harmless but Lynne was less than enthusiastic about this fauna! Of course she had taken off her sandals too as the sands came alive with hopping insects!

We hurried back to the dinghy and retreated to the boat to watch the stars come out as the land faded away into the dark.

An occasional gust came across the water to squirrel the boat around but nothing to worry about......so far.

Coast of Death

Woken by the bells, at least I think I was, we put on the kettle and prepared to leave Corme. I think we were the third boat to leave and after a cup of coffee we raised anchor left the harbour wall astern and raised sail. The winds were extremely light and were astern as we rounded the headland near Camelle, mentioned in our pilot only as unfortunately, a place to be avoided, due to its rock strewn nature and as a dangerous lee shore.

But not today, the sea was like glass with only a hint of swell until we cleared the headland and headed towards Cabo Villano. The increase in swell and the fact that we were going ' with' the already light winds meant our sails were unable to dampen the rolling and thus were slatting from side to side, not good for them so we dropped the sails and motored. This coast has a history of numerous shipwrecks a famous one amongst navy men is the story of the ' Serpent ' which was lost in 1890 with all hands bar three who managed to make it ashore and walk to a local village and raise the alarm. The remaining 172 were buried at what became the ' English graveyard', by the villagers, at Boi point. The very place that had claimed the ' Serpent'. Apparently up until the 1950s Royal Navy ships would salute as they passed the spot in thanks to the villagers.

After a few hours the headland of Cabo Vilan, or Villano came abeam with its distinctive lighthouse and yet another wind farm, this coast has lots of them. The lighthouse is linked to the lighthouse keepers cottage by a tunnel, a possibly unique arrangement. 

Beyond the scary looking rocks lay.............more rocks! Well this is the Coast of Death after all.

Which may explain the serious look on my face in the above photo, all was well really and we did the usual dogleg to avoid the entrance reefs and were soon entering the beautiful Ria de Camariñas.

We took a quick look at The fishing harbour and continued up the Ria to a point opposite Cala de Vila, where we had planned to anchor. We were not alone but there was plenty of room. Strangely it was quite windy at the head of the Ria Which was having a funnelling effect, however on the other side of the headland, where we had been an hour before, it was very light winds. Wierd.

The village itself looked quite attractive but it was the beach at Cala de Vila which was attracting Lynne and I and its prospects for a swim. We lost no time having a late lunch and blowing up the dinghy to go ashore.

What a shore it was! Silvery sand and azure sea, surrounded by lush pine forest. Absolutely stunning, I confess to wondering why we were travelling all the way to the Caribean when there were places like this to visit.

However beautiful the inviting water seemed it was actually quite cold, possibly because being a Ria it is fed by mountain streams. Chilly though the water was, the sun was incredibly hot and we had to grin and bear a couple of swims at least to cool down.

Lynne found it easier eventually to sit in the shade. Later we took the dinghy to explore the village, which didn't take long however we did have our cheapest coffees ever at two euros for both on a cafe by the harbour. The village had a couple of supermarkets and if the weather got up a marina to hide in. We decided to stay another day and relax. It seemed to have everything we needed for the moment.

Finisterre could wait.........

That evening we had a late tea after phoning Alex and watched a superb sunset catch the sky afire.

On this occasion the pilot was absolutely correct, one of the most attractive Rias in Galicia...

Couldn't agree more.........

Splash!

We had arranged to be launched " splashed " on Monday at 10.30 and after a quick supermarket visit and paying our bill at the yard Jose turned up on time with the boat hoist and within an hour we were once again afloat. We stopped briefly at the hammerhead of one of the pontoons to stow stuff and replace the echo sounder and log transponder. By 11.30 we were heading down the Ria considerably quicker than previously due to our now clean, slick bottom and shiny propellor. As we approached Ares we put up sails but it proved to be very frustrating as the wind was light and erratic, by the time we reached the mouth of the Ria I was ready to call it a day and go into A Coruña. However Lynne, ever the voice of reason, said we should persevere as it could just be a local effect.

As I was contemplating the Torre de Hercules off to port, as if by magic the light and flukey winds became a solid force 4 and were right on the beam! Amazing, Dark Tarn took off like a young gazelle.

Lynne who had been a bit poorly that morning went below while I stayed on watch enjoying the best sail for over a month.

We were galloping along at over 6 knots, which was good news as Corme was 42 miles distant.

The sea swell remained non existent and the perfect conditions remained hour after hour until we approached the islas Sisargas.

At this point a couple of other yachts that had been shadowing us came up on the plotter, they had kept close inshore, as the wind died away we reluctantly started the engine to help us with the last 10 miles into Corme, and the first 40 miles of the Costas de Morte, " The Coast of Death " . 

Far from death even Lynne began to feel better and joined me on deck

To be fair and unlike its name, the coast had proven to be less than terrifying, in fact had given us the best day in weeks. It was rocky and had few places of refuge but with careful planning it was fairly straightforward. 

We negotiated the by now common rock strewn, dog leg entrance and anchored in the small harbour of Corme. We were followed by a couple of the boats who had shadowed us along the coast.

The village is spoiled a little by the concrete block model of architecture and didn't really seem to have a lot going on, as it was already late in the day, actually early evening, we didn't bother blowing up the dinghy to go ashore.

 Just had a sundowner after some food and for us an early night. There were now quite a few boats at anchor and we were towards the outside of the harbour in over 12 metres depth which is very deep for us to anchor in but with 40 metres of chain out we had a quiet night asleep, woken by the musical church bells which play Ave Maria on the hour.

We were heading for the end of the world at Finisterre and a careful check of the forcast gave us light winds until the weekend. We decided that rather than rush around the infamous headland we would take a little time to explore the Ria de Camariñas, which is apparently one of the prettiest Rias in Galicia. It Is not recommended to enter the Ria except in calm conditions, so it seemed a good opportunity. The Ria is immediately before the peninsular of Finisterre and would involve a small journey of 20 miles or so south.