Rias Altas, Galicia

This is Galicia where legend has it that the Rias, or estuaries, are the imprint of the hand of God and were created when he put his hand down between the Atlantic Ocean and Galicia.

We are sailing in the Rias Altas, deep fiord like inlets into the foothills of the high Altas hills. The coastline is rugged but the towns and anchorages of the Rias afford great protection from the ravages of the Bay of Biscay.

We have visited the town of Viveiro at the head of the Ria of similar name. The town is of little interest except for the medieval gates and the pedestrian streets but we enjoyed our stay in their Marina. We sailed along the coast with a following wind to Ria Cedeira. Here we anchored in a cove that could be mistaken for a Scandinavian inlet - high wooded slopes right down to the water’s edge and the smell of pine and eucalyptus.

There was great discussion amongst the skippers of the yachts in Ria Cedeira the following morning as to the meaning of the Spanish word ‘Boa’. None of us could find it in our dictionaries, even our yachting terms translations. Some offered the idea that it may be ‘fog’ and they appeared to be right. The visibility soon closed down to a quarter of a mile or less during our passage from Ria Cedeira to Ria Betanzos and our destination of Sada. Thank goodness for the radar to guide us across the entrance to the busy commercial and naval port of Ferrol.

Sada is not the prettiest or most interesting of places but the Marina is sheltered and well appointed. We have cleaned Bella inside and out and caught up with outstanding maintenance. We have also met a number of Brits who are travelling in our direction. A few glasses of wine have been drunk together on various boats as we chat about our exploits to date and our hopes for the future. We think we have made some good friends, John and Mo aboard ‘Blue Eyes’, Paul and Pauline on ‘Shellseeker’ and Stefan sailing single handed on ‘Artemis’ to name but a few.

We took a bus ride to the town of Betanzos, a medieval hill town bounded by two rivers. It is an interesting place with three rich 13th/14th century churches and typical narrow streets with glazed balconied ( Galeria) houses. The pity is that many of the buildings away from the tourist trail are collapsed, at risk of collapse or in a very poor state of repair. How can it be that a place so rich in tourism can be so neglected? The authorities will have to make an enormous effort soon or part of Spain’s heritage will be lost forever.

We had a lovely sail in sunshine, flat sea and 5 – 10 knots of breeze to anchor off Ares in the Ria of the same name. There were thunderstorms overnight. The weather in this corner of the world seems not to be able to make up its mind what to do. One moment the sun shines, then it pours with rain, then thunderstorms and if none of these it’s foggy!

The origins of Ares are Roman and the town has narrow streets with Galerias and red pantile roofs. The cove in which we anchored was quiet and sheltered except, of course, for the thunder and lightning.

Our trip to La Coruna on the 17th June was uneventful. In fact there was no wind and little visibility so we motored the 10 mile passage. The marina is right in the heart of the city next to the old town and fronting the much photographed Galerias on the promenade. The town, which dates back to the Celts, is famous for its Galerias and, of course, as the place from which the fated Armada sailed. It is strange to be in such a place with a quarter of a million population having been used to the relative peace of smaller urbanisation or none at all.

We missed the hourly tourist tram so we had to walk a fair distance to the ‘Torre de Hercules’ which is reputed to be the oldest working lighthouse in the world. As we climbed the first few steps of the internal staircase Neal assured Miggy that the lift was just a few steps more away. The lift never materialised and we climbed the remaining 87 metres to the very top of the tower for great views all round and aching calf muscles the next day. It was fortunate that we visited this monument at this time as only an hour later it was enveloped in fog. We couldn’t even see the base of the tower let alone the top!

Whilst in La Coruna we decided to take a bus trip to Santiago de Compostela some 60 kilometres away. The scheduled bus services in Spain are excellent with comfortable modern coaches running to timetable and clean Stations that look like small versions of airport terminal.

Santiago de Compostela is a 9th Century religious town. It was in medieval times and thereafter the third most popular place of pilgrimage after Jerusalem and Rome. The town is beautiful and the Cathedral magnificent. We viewed Sunday mass during which 8 priests swung a large silver incense burner on a rope suspended from a pulley from the roof so that, lit and belching its smoke, it arced like a pendulum nearly beheading the congregation and at the top of its arc almost touching the vaulted roof of the nave either side. A great show for the visitors! A number of priests of different nationalities were gathered behind the altar one of whom was photographing the ritual of the incense burner. Again we perceive lavish church decoration although this time the town appears as rich as the church. The beautiful buildings and stone paved squares were full of flowers and local entertainers and musicians. We had a lovely ‘Tapas’ lunch in a Cervezeria in one of these squares and all seemed right with the world!

Miggy broadcast her latest spot on Radio Solent on Friday unexpectedly. They inserted another spot due to high demand! Her next broadcast is on the 3rd July at 0645 BST.

We expect and are looking forward to seeing Roger and Sue Breese on Thursday the 22nd of June. They are staying with us for a week and will help us take ‘Bella’ round Cape Finisterre (the end of the earth) to the Rias Bajas.