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Cangas turned out to be a steep 30 euros a day for 12m. It was also a rough ride with very little protection from swell or ferry wake.  The boats were moving all the time on their moorings even in calm conditions.  In rough conditions, the boat next to J-L bust its finger pontoon and had to be constrained with long lines to the shore.  J-L survived the storm but let in a lot of rain water – so the search for leaks has begun.

I moved J-L to a much calmer anchorage at the head of Ria Vigo in Ensenada de San Simon.

From Ria de Aldan to Cangas in Ria de Vigo was a short potter around the corner, again using the iron foresail, as the wind was on strike, just like the rest of Spain on the day.  Cangas marina has a 24 hour guard (who helps with berthing).  He doesn’t speak any English and I no Spanish, so we enlisted a friendly local who spoke a little.  I discovered that the marina office is closed until 10 October, for vacation, so I’m not sure how to pay or do that all important form filling that the Spanish authorities love. Without a key card to get back in, leaving the marina is a little daunting, but I was shown a button to press that rang a loud bell and was assured that the guard would arrive shortly after that to let me in.  I’m not sure how one guy does 24 hour surveillance, maybe he takes 20 minute cat naps.

Another day’s motoring. I did a tour of Ria Pontevedra before dropping hook in Ria Aldan, just off Playa de Arnelas. There’s a lot to see and I regret having to move on, but I have to get closer to Vigo airport before the weekend.

From Portosin to Vilagarcia was a 6 hour motoring exercise, no wind at all. Vilagarcia was a good stop for shopping although I still have to get used to the Siesta, shops opening at five in the evening. The marina has an excellent little chandlery too.

An uneventful sail round from Corcubion to Portosin in Ria de Muros. Lovely weather and a good wind.  Sadly the North wind gets right into the marina, but it dies away at night which is a blessing. Portosin seems to be a modern holiday town with no sign left of the old fishing village, although it’s still a fishing port. Three Belgian boats moored side by side, two Brits and an Irish flagged vessel constitute the visitors.

Left Muxia at 09:00 and motored into Ria de Corcubion at 14:00, a very uneventful trip around Cabo Finisterre. The wind switched from a strong south westerly over night into a 5 knot north easterly.  I anchored J-L behind the area marked as shellfish beds, although there is no surface indication of them being there. The wind then decided to funnel down the ria, so it’s not quite as peaceful as it could be.

I will post some more pictures when I figure out a way round a bug in this web site’s software that shows pictures in my album but does not let me post them.

Another short hop around the corner. Working my way south and trying to find cover for a forecast blow and pour on Thursday, which may not materialise. I stopped at Muxia, as it was the last port well protected from the south west. Around the next corner (Finisterre) all the ports are a bit more vulnerable to an unfriendly southwesterly.

According to the almanacs, Muxa is only an anchorage for yachts.  However, on arrival, a new seawall appears and inside the seawall a lot of new empty pontoons.  From what little I could gather from a friendly fisherman (in Spanish) the facilty was not yet opened and was only intended for fishing boats and you could not get back in without a magnetic key and there was no personnel to provide one or take money, but I could stay a night no problem.

I moved on from La Coruna to Laxe, a small fishing/holiday town. Lost Horizon (seen in Cedeira) and Vala (seen in La Coruna) joined J-L at anchor. A tender ride ashore found an open supermarket.

The swell still got around the corner of the breakwater, so it was not as perfect an anchorage as Cediera, where the plague was fishing / angler boats surging around at all hours.

As I was leaving Cedeira, a flying boat touched down and scooped up water. Around the headland, I got a good view of the fire fight. The flying boat and a helicopter with a bucket were bombing a bush fire with water.

My passage took me on to La Coruna, missing out on a couple of other attractive marinas but I was in a hurry to get south as the weather forecast was not looking good for the coming Thursday. La Coruna has two marinas, I went into the first, which has been newly expanded so plenty of space and new facilities. However, it was a bit of a walk to the post office, nevertheless, I got a few pictures of the town on the way.

These are some pictures of Ria Cedeira taken from J-L in the evening.