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Due to Sam writing her version of War and Peace I will keep my contribution mercifully short. We left Brest and had a fantastic first 24 hours doing 9 ½ to 10 knots and covered half the distance to Spain. The next 24 hours we did 50 miles, I was not happy, fortunately winds came back and in the next 24 hours we reached the coast of Northern Spain. Conditions made it difficult to sail to La Coruna, and in view of the look of mutiny coming from Sam I decided to head for the nearest point of land. Sunday evening we arrived at Ria de Ribadeo, this had been described as a pleasant well sheltered anchorage……It was neither! The next morning we eventually set off again for La Coruna, the wind wasn’t as good as I had hoped and the passage took me longer than expected. I will let you read Sam’s version of events as we docked in the marina at La Coruna. We have decided to stay here a week and be tourists .It is a lovely place with plenty of history. I will post more photos when I can. The weather has finally got better and we
have enjoyed some bright sunshine today. Sam is admirably determined to try and speak the language wherever we go and is rarely understood. I speak English and the locals seem to enjoy practicing their English and am understood every time. We will keep you posted about our next destination which will probably be an anchorage further along the coast. Andy
The 3 day trip across the Bay of Biscay was difficult for me even though compared to Andy’s previous crossing where the waves were 15 metre high it was a doddle. Since having 2 designer grey cats and being with Andy I have come to appreciate the colour grey but being surrounded by a grey hazey sky where you couldn’t separate the clouds from the gloom and the volumous murky rolling sea in a boat that would not keep still I have had my fill. Give me colour and the site of land and my anxiety levels reduce dramatically. And yes I felt sick 24/7 but took my mind off this and the difficulty of steering in choppy water by singing Christian praise music at the top of my lungs and definitely not looking at the flaming
endless waves – poor Andy, I guess it is a bonus he can’t hear so well. The amazing part was seeing a whale which appeared when I was feeling pretty much like I couldn’t take feeling rubbish anymore; we also saw lots of dolphins but they are too quick to take a photo, Andy does have a film from the last trip which he will upload. The not so amazing part was the fact Mavis my cat decided to make a dirty protest of magnificent proportions on my bed, thankfully God had seen fit to take away my sense of smell until we finally hit land. – Sam
We anchored in Ribero which was a bit stark looking and not as sheltered as the reviews lead us to believe
BUT I was sooo glad to be still and eat more than a salty cracker or a bite of a banana. We had a full meal which stayed on the plate, a wash and the luxury of using the toilet without having to hold on with both hands, feet and if possible, forehead!! – Sam
I have come to realize Andy is not human, he is the ‘Iron Giant’;
he keeps on going without sleep, on a few chocolate bars and the odd cup of substandard instant coffee. I on the other hand look like death, can’t stay awake despite reducing the amount of anti-sickness pills and despite not consuming much have spent a lot of time in the toilet. - Sam
Mavis is now fine and wants to be involved on deck; Dude travels at speed with her undercarriage lowered for balance. She has also slid past me on her bottom, legs akimbo trying to have a wash completely unphased by the 45 degree angle of the boat. - Sam
Reaching La Coruna N. Spain was interesting to say the least. I pretty much dread jumping off the boat to secure it to the pontoon so its always a massive panic for me. I jumped landed perfectly until I realized my hand was attached by my engagement ring to the whale net around the boat! I was being dragged back into the water and had to jump at the boat and cling on to the edge whilst screaming for Andy and sitting on a fender!! I thought it was funny but I could have
lost a finger or something – who knew, who can trouble shoot or insure for that eventuality!! I now think I will have to wear my lifejacket on land and possibly a crash helmet. - Sam
Third day in Spain but the first day of sunshine, a local told us Spain had to sell the sun because of the economy. My phrase book is useless, the locals don’t understand me, despite having a phrase book with both pictures and text I am still not getting what I ask for. On the first night Andy didn’t get his meal. Two days running I have pointed to the picture that depicts ‘iced coffee’ but I get a cup of steaming coffee and a tumbler of ice – see pictures!
Sam -My quest on this trip much to Andy’s dismay is to search for dodgy looking packaging and product names, I have 3 examples from Spain:
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