Gijon was a nice town, lots of new buildings interspersed with the few examples of historical architecture that were not destroyed when the inhabitants stood against the ultimately victorious Franco.
The marina was pleasant. Being situated in the heart of the town, it was buzzing and had a great atmosphere but was not overly noisy and the nights were peaceful.
The day after we arrived, Mel and I had reason to be glad that we had decided to stop in Gijon when a squall blew up and several people on boats registered 55 knots on their instruments.
That is considered storm force and came up so quickly that we would have had a very rough time had we been at sea and may have lost a sail.
We were in town hunting for a filthy cake shop when this happened and all hell broke loose with smashed glass being blown down the street from a building site like something from The Omen.
Later, I went for a stroll along the pontoons as is my way and got talking to an English guy, Bob who was sailing with his wife Pam on their Bavaria 38, “Catherine” and who had lost his main sail on the way to Gijon. We were to meet again in La Coruna.
After chatting to Bob, I carried on to the end of the pontoon where I stood looking at a very handsome yacht named “Alchemy”.
As I admired her and, being something of a boat geek, took in the details of her rigging etc I noticed someone watching me from the cockpit.
Sailors tend to like looking at other boats, it’s totally accepted and not at all unusual to find them strolling down the pontoons chatting to owners about the cut of their jib etc….you get the idea.
But
I was a little self conscious, being aware that I was dressed VERY scruffily and not really sure what to say to the owner of this immaculate and obviously, very expensive yacht.
So
He stood in his cockpit, behind his spray hood, watching me and I stood on the pontoon in quite a dilemma.
You see, he was leaving it up to me to make the first move and I stood there thinking that if I walk away now, after staring at this boat for so long then it’s going to look like I was casing the joint so I strolled to the end of the finger pontoon that he was on and started to make small talk about his boat.
Turns out he was a great guy.
Next day he buzzed round in his dinghy to our side of the marina (where the little boats like Borne were hidden).
I figured he had come to check on my story of having a boat there but he actually came by to invite us for drinks that evening.
Seems that he had a motive though as Dick and Ginger (his wife) had been wanting to try the local cider but as it was only available by the bottle they were recruiting us as partners in crime.
So that evening we went out and headed for a sidreria and Dick spent the lofty sum of just over 2 Euros on a bottle of local alcoholic apple juice.
Dick then proceeded to pour it into the glasses in local fashion which involves holding bottle and glass vertically as far as possible from each other and seeing how much you can spill.
Luckily for us very little of the cider made it into the glass and all I can say is that you get what you pay for.
Mel described it as ‘eau de farmyard and Ginger agreed that there was something of the GOAT about it.
After, we went back to “Alchemy” and shared some munchies and a couple of bottles of wine, including a very good Portuguese Vinho verde, a very fresh and slightly sparkling wine.
Dick and Ginger are on the way North and are hoping to spend a year or more cruising the UK and then further into Northern Europe.
We did explain that it was going to be COLD but they paid no heed to our warnings.
They have been living on board for the last 10 years and I can’t think of a better boat to be cruising on than their Valliant 42.
Only problem is that now Mel knows how the other half live and has already taken to checking the yacht brokerages for Borne’s replacement!
The next day we were surprised to hear the sound of bagpipes wailing down to us from the town and stepping out of the cabin we found a procession of pipers and drummers leading a long trail of people through the town all dressed in old traditional costumes.
Later we went for a stroll around the cliffs and came to a park where a stage and side stalls were set up and hundreds of locals of all ages were singing and dancing to old songs and getting merrily drunk on the evil that is the local cider.
There was no sense of threat, no one was being out of order, no fights, nobody throwing up……can you imagine that in the UK!!
Soon it was time to leave though and we bid Gijon a fond farewell as we motored out of the harbour, confident that we had enough fuel on board to motor all the way on the 140 mile trip to La Coruna in the forecast calm and windless conditions.
So you can imagine our surprise when we rounded the inner harbour wall and started pitching heavily in a large swell. I got the sails up and we started heading to clear the outside harbour wall. Meanwhile, Mel asked if I thought the large tanker to the left and ahead of us might be leaving its dock but I told her not to be foolish. If it was moving we would see white water around the bow…..just like that…..Quick, tack, and off we go out of its way.
An hour later and we are running down wind in a good force 4 with only the Genoa up and things could not be better.
We normally put a fishing line out when we sail and I have found that the best way to catch something decent is to have the lure on or close to the surface. I tell people that we always catch something but unfortunately the catch of that day was feathered and a little dazed by the time I reeled him in.
He was a magnificent, large, grey gull with a huge wing span.
We managed to set him free and watch him fly off though so hopefully he wasn’t too shaken by his adventure.
We had been going along nicely for a couple of hours, then there was a loud bang and I felt the boat shake.
I shouted down to Mel who was in the galley making lunch and then I heard another bang and the wind steering rudder took a direct hit from what looked like half a shed floating off into our wake.
Luckily the wind gear is well designed and only suffered a bash on the leading edge before the rudder kicked up and the entire gear swung up on its brackets.
Mel said she had heard something bashing its way along the whole length of the boat.
That evening the wind started to freshen and the waves grew.
Not a problem, I thought, as the wind often got a little stronger as the sun went down but seemed to drop again once it was dark.
Not this time.
The night was lively with the loud roar of waves all around and the howl of the wind in the now well reefed genoa as Borne raced on through the night rolling heavily as the waves broke behind her.
Mel did her night watch without a complaint and though it was uncomfortable and neither of us slept it was still an exhilarating run and probably the fastest 24 hrs I have ever done in Borne making about 140 miles and at one point showing 12.3 knots on the GPS as we surfed down a wave.
By morning the waves were still larger and the wind was blowing 25-30 knots with a couple of hours of 35 knots.
Now for the non sailors amongst you imagine you’re on a surfboard in the big waves and now imagine the surfboard is 32 foot long…..well that’s what it was like.
When you are running downwind the waves don’t seem so big and Mel guessed the height to be about 6 feet. Then the wind steering gear, which had been playing up since it was hit, let us broach side on to the waves and suddenly you were looking up at a wall of breaking water towering above you.
Unlike me, Mel is not someone who exaggerates and re estimated the height to be 10 feet but suggested that they were probably bigger.
And so we arrived a La Coruna tired but happy.
Borne had proved that she was well up to tough conditions and so had Mel.
Me? Well I did OK but I do get really grumpy if I’m tired.
Coruna has been great.
The marina is the best yet. It’s new, half empty and has the best showers in Spain.
The town is pretty and we have had the usual spectacular fireworks every night…….
Spain seems to be in a permanent state of Fiesta.
Oh, and we found the best pizza place ever. Run by an English guy, who is half Sicilian and half Spanish. If you ever head to Coruna then ask us and we will let you know where to go.
Later that day Bob and Pam arrived to leave their boat here a while and we had a nice evening sitting in their cockpit eating munchies and drinking bottles of Rioja (see a pattern here?) while they told us amusing stories of their time on the planes, him as a pilot and her as a stewardess.
The last couple of days have been relaxing and though we have had some rain it has always been warm.
It really does feel that we are at last starting to relax and enjoy travelling.
From here on I expect us to meet more long term cruisers as we are now heading out of range of casual French and English sailors and into the realm of the real adventurers!
Tomorrow morning we will leave La Coruna and head for an anchorage that Mel has researched about 50 miles further down the coast.
Hopefully we can now start to avoid expensive marinas and spend more time swinging at anchor.
This means spearfishing, using our crab pot and I might just set up the barbeque that I bought to hang off the back of the boat…….real travelling!!!!
Love Nick
Scuff people have said