Whilst still in a marina in Vilagarcia de Arousa we met Jose owner of the local chandlery who had his wheel covered in leather by a man in Pontevedra.  It took a struggle to get our wheel off and with the help of a marina personnel (Cecil) who had an extractor, off the wheel came!  We arranged to leave the wheel at a bar in Pontevedra.

Nacho the Barman

Very trusting as the wheel (La Rueda) is the only means to operate Elemiah! 

The short story is that 600,000 plus young Spaniards descended on Vilagarcia for a straight 20 hrs festival with fun electronic music, yet right on our noses. the festival started about 20 yrs ago as asimple religious parade yo the church ofSan Roque and the villagers were asking for some water after they went uphill in the middle of the heat.  Now after the festival, everyone goes tothe church and they get really wet!! like carnaval at the style of Ecuador in February.  Difficult to sleep through all that! as the wheel was not done, we collected it from Nacho the barman and high tailed it out of the Marina to a very quie t anchorage in the bay of Cabo de Cruz for 2 days.  Ashore we met Rosa who entertained us at her house and we in turn had her over to Elemiah in the evening  Rosa had moved 30 yers ago to Paris and became a professional makeup artist for theater and movies.  Her last movie was Troy with Brad Pitt!  She comes down to this beautiful little fishing village every Summer for her connection with family and roots.

We then up anchor and off to the next Ria of  Pontevedra.  After the town of Pontevedra,  our port of call was Combarro arriving 18/8/2013.  Off we went on a short taxi ride to the town of Pontevedra with wheel to Nacho’s bar. Glenda happened to take advantage of local nespaper reading and found it that one ofher favorite Spanish singers is giving a free concert!  Then on to attend the  concert given by Paloma San Basilio who is going around the country giving her last concerts before retiring.

Taking a dip in Cabo de Cruz

Richard on Deck

Glenda taking a refreshment

Elemiah at anchor

Glenda got the scissors to her shirt

The man who was putting leather on our wheel is called Compacho although Richard found it easier to refer to him as Gazpacho!  Anyhow, Gazpacho finished the wheel and we met him at another cafe in Pontevedra. In the meantime we visited the beautiful 9th cdntury city of Pontevedra which has beginnings in the Roman days. Here we are with our leathered wheel.

La Rueda at Camino de Santiago

Then we were going to leave Combarro for a bay that had many visiting classic  French and Spanish wooden yachts.  We were near departing and found out that after 4 days we had a free day at the marina, and had to wait for our laundry!  Low and behold the wooden boats turned up at our marina for lunch!.  We were invited for wine and food aboard a Spanish yacht designed by British designer David Hillyard. I fever you can try “pimientos de padron” cooked simple with olive oil!!  The tapas most famous vegetarian dish of Galicia

Fun aboard the Hillyard with Manuel the chef of the pimientos and a fellow English female sailor, Anne

Hillyard again shaking an Irish sailor

Brothers Javier  and Fernando owners of the Hillyard and Fernando a talented sailmaker

Until the next post farewell and us on to Portonovo to see the start of  the” Vuelta de Espana” and Glenda can reminisce her days in the Andes coming out to the highway to watch cyclists’ tours!

By the way do not worry if you have not had a blog and you see bad weather in our area.  We try not to venture out in bad weather.

Glenda & Richard

Since leaving A Coruna we went to Camarinas then went by Cape Finneterre also known as Costa Del Morte (Coast of Death).  Cape Finisterre was at one point the most westerly point in the known world.  We probably should have stopped and walked out to the end of the cape but the nearby anchorage was too exposed to the northerly winds.  We wanted to go to a sheltered point and then take a taxi but while Glenda is getting used to the sea again and gets a bit seasick, so we elected to press on to Ria Muros.  We anchored off Muros had a cup of tea then decided to go over and anchor off Portosin and use the WIFI at the yacht club there. This area is very busy with Spaniards on holiday in August.

Spent a couple of nights anchored off Portosin then went on to the next Rias de Arousa.  De Arousa is the biggest Ria (Spanish for Estuary) and known to be the nicest.  As we entered in the hot afternoon sun we saw boats anchored off an island beach so made our way there.  The bottom dropped off rapidly so the anchor depth was 20 metres.  Later all the boats left.  At that point knowing the winds were from the north and onshore in relatively deep water we up anchor and went over to a more sheltered bay.  We were the only pleasure yacht there.  During the night the wind did get up so luckily we were nicely tucked in.

The next day we went to a marina in Vilagarcia de Arousa as Glenda wanted to do a 25 kilometre pilgrimage walk along the last part of the Portuguese Camino (Road) to Santiago de Compostela.  I was going to take the Train! so we needed the boat in a marina. Glenda’s walk was in the memory of David and for all Juniper’s wishes to come true.

As much as I tried to discourage Glenda saying it was hot, hilly and she was not fit for a 25 KM walk she did set off and made the journey.  It is unbelievable the number of pilgrims who arrive in Santiago de Compostela each day!  In 2008, 125,141 pilgrims registered. Glenda saw a lot of pilgrims on her stretch and most had walked many days.  The route is centuries old and fascinating.  There are 3 main routes.  The French Camino, The Portuguese Camino originating in Lisbon and The English originating in the port of A Coruna. The Cathedral is the most visited Catholic site after St Peter’s in Rome.  St James is reportedly buried here.  St James was beheaded in Judea and remains were taken up the Ria we are currently in, Ria De Arousa.  Glenda’s walk started at Padron where a church was built around the stone that reportedly was used to tie up the boat carrying St James’ remains. Richard also did a little repair in the dinghy. Tomorrow we are setting of to Ria Pontevedra.

Glenda arriving in front of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral

End of the Known World

Elemiah at anchor

Glenda At The Helm

A Pilgrim and Husband

We have spent a few days together, resting, finishing loose ends from closing job and apartment in Houston and getting food supplies, including gluten free! Glenda arrived joyful to join Richard and sad to have lost Jazzy our cat of 13 yrs. Fortunately, Jazzy showed up to Juniper 11 days later, a miracle!
We also visited Santiago de Compostela by train and on arrival walked straight to the magnificent Cathedral. We happened to arrive half hour before the Mass in memory of the lost and injured of the tragic train accident. The Cathedral was packed, Glenda found a spot on the floor with a group of students from Virginia and Richard happened to find rest on the cushion of a confessionary. Well, he had his moment of fame! The TV networks had him live on screen for about a minute! Wet as we were, he looked like he had done a pilgrimage from Falmouth! 🙂
We could no longer wait for right direction of wind, so we sailed of on Saturday, August 3rd, with SW winds on our nose, therefore we had to motor our way to Camariños. Not ideal conditions for Glenda’s first sail in 20 months, so she navigated seasick, but at least with warm weather!
Richard installed a digital volt/ammeter brought by Glenda from USA to replace analogue instruments to assist monitoring battery usage.
We are nicely anchoraged in a charming fishing port!