Llanes to La Coruna

 Leaving Llanis through the gates at half tide 2.3 m of water I think.

 I am not looking at them

 But a pretty wee town

 The crew on the poop deck

 In to Gijon, biggish city, nice old town - once you are in, looks a bit too high rise until you get in.

 masses of room, all visitors go to the left. The big cat is "A Fine Balance" we meet them in La Coruna. A 45 foot Lagoon - fantastic below decks - more room than 4 yachts. Bridge deck version - really high views from the steering position.

 onward the next day to Ribadeo - Shirley is to get a bus from here. First we have to get under the bridge...

 So kind to put a lamp post between the 2 transits - there are three sets used to get in here, although with low seas and high tides there is little to worry about - there is a little to worry about but not that much.

 We hate bridges, even ones 100 feet high

 Some nice old buildings about the palce

 Our cocktail waiter at here work, peaches and Cava, what's not to like?

Cocktail aperitif

The restaurant on high up beside the marina and near the bridge is outstanding,

Next morning Shirley and I go up to the bus station for a 9am bus to discover there is a bus strike, however at 9:20 a bus comes in which quietly drops its passengers on the outskirts of town - don't tell the strikers. Shirley gets to Santiago safely, has a lovely time, and flight the next day is uneventful. Mind you they say these things come in threes, the bus from Dublin to Belfast is delayed and diverted and then when Shirley gets to the car one of the wheels is stuck.  An AA man comes and uses a lump hammer and it frees itself. Don't leave the handbrake on if you leave your car for more than a couple of days...

Eileen and I head off at 10am bound westwards. Not much wind, we get the sails up for an hour or two

and pull in to Viveireo for the night

Up the river is a marina - the river is marked as 0.1m on some charts but other data says it is dredged to 3m. It is. we head in  and a couple of french yachts that were milling around timorously follow us in. They must reckon we draw more than they do and if we run aground they can reverse.

The young man on the pontoon asks what length and asks "is the boat maneuverable?" hmm I think. He then gives us a berth that requires a 7 point turn to get into to. There is about 4 feet to spare when we are across the channel. Tight. luckily there is no wind. Once in he appears with a white face and says when we leave we can ask for help at the marina office.

In the end we jiggle backwards and forwards to get out, with two concerned boatowners watching their rear ends and fervently holding fenders. I get away with it and Shadowmere is still the same length as when she went it. I missed the other boats by almost a foot.

onwards to La Coruna, 63 miles

lovely rugged headlands, we do get to sail 4 hours or so,

That damned mist... In the end the last hour sees rising winds, 28 knots apparent with us running at 6 to 7 knots under full main, I didn't fly a headsail though I did have the mizzen out at one stage. Getting the main down was ok though as the swell had died - just lots of white horses in the Force 7. Good old Shadowmere looks after us well.

We arrive in to Marina Coruna, the nearest marina and radio on channel 9. We are helped into our berth by Paula and Simon of Sylvana, our next door neighbours from Belfast Marina. Weather is to be windy for a dew days so we are going to stay here for a bit.

Wind? feast or famine!

we wnd up on the third  pontoon from  the bottom left, three spaces in, a long walk to the loo!