On Tuesday 15th August 2000 we arrived in the town of Ribadeo, the Easternmost port of Galicia. This was to be the start of our Iberian adventures!

Moored to the harbour wall in Ribadeo, Galicia

30th August 2000  -  Presently I am writing from the boat anchored off the town of Rianxo close to the top end of the Ria de Arosa, still in Galicia North-West Spain.  I missed out on the Ria de Arosa last time mainly on account of the difficult entry from the North when I was single-handed for the first time, and subsequently spent about a week in the next Ria North, the Ria de Pontevedra.

The rocky entrance to the Ria de Arosa

These are large areas of deep sheltered water making excellent cruising grounds. They have reasonable hospitable towns and fishing villages on both shores some of which are substantial ports.

The night before last we were in La Puebla de Caraminial, which was perhaps typical. We took a bows on mooring at the local yacht club pontoon, had showers and could have had drinks at the excellent clubhouse on the pier, and in the morning did some provisioning in the town, a short walk through a shady public garden from the end of the pier. This was a town with a good choice of small supermarkets, greengrocers, a good fish and meat market and a couple of hardware shops, but a lack of clothing shops that Lily and Merel would have liked to have found.

This kind of shopping may have to wait until Villagarcia, which may be our next stop. At least the weather here seems to have improved a bit since my last emailing session from La Corunna.

It has been mostly dry since the downpour with strong S-Wly wind there, but no sign of the truly sunny Spain which we had hoped to find here in this month of August.

There has at least been a prevailing airflow from the North which gave us a good days sail the day before yesterday from Muros and gave Eric the Perky a bit of a rest from his locomotive duties.

This is a great area for seafood lovers. Usually on any menu you will find Squid, small Squid, Octopus, Mussels, Sardines, small sardines, Sole and perhaps even some meat. Unfortunately vegetarians are rather poorly catered for.

Spanish omelette is available but other than that the salads are of limited ingredients (tomato, onion and perhaps lettuce in olive oil) and so consequently can have little appeal.

Portugal  -  4th September 2000

Presently in Internet Cafe in Oporto after good Port tasting at Sandemans and good walk back up the hill !

Lily, Rauni, Robbie & Merel,  and the Eifel bridge in Oporto

   The Sandeman Wine Lodge 

Azulero made from blue-tinted tiles depicting the triumph of the Portuguese King over his Moorish foes  - this is in the booking hall of one of Oporto's stations

... and another couple from the other end of the booking hall ...

Another Azulero in Oporto --  this time on the side of a house!

We are moored in Povoa de Varzim, a town about 20 M North of Oporto in Northern Portugal. I have been to Viano do Castelo (about 20M North of here) twice in 1992 and 1998 and not noticed any improvement in the temporary marina washing facilities there in the 6 years between even though I do like the town, and since we were making reasonably good progress yesterday after a early start  ( - for us - or rather the younger members of the crew aged 20) and so I thought it was time to try somewhere new. The Macmillan entry for here was intriguing "Marina under construction S side is delayed by funding problems". The news is that the marina opened in June -last year ! but I suspect in truth this year because everything seems brand new with relatively few teething problems, plenty of space and at a very reasonable price compared to English S coast. 2 washing machines are popular with the crew (on a pay later in the office basis) and the new showers seem good and spacious with only minor criticism possible. I can see that the marina management are trying very hard to make this place very popular.

The previous night we had anchored at Bayona and made good use of the yacht club facilities after a major shopping expedition, and then went out for a good Spanish Saturday night out. The lateness of the Saturday night for 3 of the crew actually permitted the relatively early start - about 9am - no sleep permitted on board until the anchor was up and cleaned !

The University town of Coimbra has very impressive architecture - even by Portuguese standards

8th/9th September 2000  -  I am writing now from the boat tied up in the marina at Figuera da Foz - mid Portugal - we have had a very nice day taking the train inland to the old University town of Coimbra ( - perhaps the Portuguese equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge). The University moved there from Lisbon in 1320! It was a bit hot there but we had a good time eating our lunch in a students cafeteria in the Department of Law and from time to time escaping the heat of the day by going into a church (- of which there were many worth visiting. I shouldn't have said to a member of the crew a couple of days ago that they very rarely get fog around here for since then we have been bedeviled by the stuff. We did a night entry in fog into Aveiro and managed to find somewhere to safely anchor despite visibility of less than 100 yards after going aground gently a couple of times! A radar set would have been useful on this occasion! Later that morning in clear vis we motored up channel 3 or 4 M to the town which was a little Venice - nice and unpretentious.

Aveiro is known as Portugal's little Venice 

Quite a variety of boat-art is to be seen!

The following morning motored down channel in the fog and out to sea hoping to find clear vis and a breeze but ended up motoring all the way here with only a clearing and a breeze on our final approach. Since then this morning and this evening we have had fog here with the Portuguese Navtex forecast being very reluctant to admit to the possibility of anything other than "Good Visibility"!

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