Landfall at La Coruna

Thursday 29th June (Conitinued)

The day passed without wind, the long and gentle ocean swell reflected the burning sun in flashes of brilliance. About 15:00, we saw the mountains of Spain, grey in the distance – Land ahoy!!!! They were about 30 miles (6 hours) away.







The raging Biscay storm










As we approached land, a small breeze started. Aha! We thought, sea breezes….if we go close rather than pointing directly for our destination, we will get some winds and get the sails up. The wind increased a fraction and we got the mainsail up….and rolled and the boom banged backwards and forwards and the sails slatted idly and we took it down again.

Finally, half an hour before we reached La Coruna, the wind DID pick up but damned if we could be bothered with the sail again so we motored into what I can only describe as your usual industrial port with ships, cranes, gantries and piles of coal everywhere…..welcome to Spain! Actually, the town is quite nice, the Old Quarter is quaint and the centre is cosmopolitan.

We berthed and popped the ‘Arrival Champagne’. An old leathern geezer came and asked how long the boat was (in Spanish). I replied ’12 metres’, to which he replied ‘non! Non-posseeebleu!’. Well, we are 40 foot long which is a little over 12 metres and the Aries wind vane on the back sticks-out even more. I thought that he was saying that we were liars and he handed me the arrival questionnaire and walked-off pointing at the ‘Recepcion’. So I duly filled-in our details and took them over. We had an interesting chat where he gabbled away in Spanish and I replied ‘Huh?’.

Apparently, they do not take Visa, Switch, Mastercard….etc. They want Euros, which we did not have. I did my best impressions of sticking a card into a hole-in-the-wall and he took me to the doorway, stuck his arm around me and pointed up the street. It was easy to find but would not suck my card in. I tried it the right way, the wrong way, upside down and upside down/back to front. By this time, someone else was waiting so I let him have a go. It took his card straight away so, after he had completed his transaction, I tried again and it worked!! I asked for Eu500 but the limit was Eu300 whereupon I made a mistake and pressed ‘cancel’…this was my second mistake since it spat my card out. It then absolutely refuse to take it back again….I tried the usual combinations of insertion technique (see above) and then tried sneaking-up and surprising it but to no avail Time to find another cashpoint!

Anyway, cash in hand, the leathern man communicated that the berth we were in was for boats over 12 metres in length and so we moved around the other side of the pontoon and he came down and spent 15 minutes tweaking our pontoon ropes until he was satisfied with the precise positioning….that’s what I call service!

Friday 30th June

We lay-in this morning.

Later, we ambled slowly around the Old Quarter and to the old fort. We did the ‘Continental Thing’ of stopping at a couple of bars and sitting outside with a beer and generally relaxed in the sun. Having just come back from the Supermercado where we bought luscious tomatoes (that SMELL like tomatoes), cold meats, fresh bread, cheeses and wine, we are about to dine on the table in the cockpit in the warmth of the late afternoon sun.

Fliss

I completely agree with the above but I might just add that the tomatoes were also plump. Wine at 45 pence a litre & whisky at £4 (UK branded name) were sitting here on deck toasting Gordon Brown’s good health.

We are planning to head West to sample the Rais and anchorages along the coast after tomorrow. Will keep in touch when we can.

It’s really hot evening and has been a lovely warm day.

Got to go Caesar Salad requires attention.