A Coruna and Northern Spain

12th - 18th July 2019

We arrived in A Coruna and had decided to join Nomad and go to a marina for one night.  Dread set in again with the approach to the marina.  It looked like a city, smelt like a city and felt like a city.  This was not quite what we thought a main stop-over for a lot of boats was going be like, but we were committed as soon as the man in the little boat greeted us at the entrance of the marina and directed us to a berth.

A Coruna is a city that like most, it has its beautiful and not so beautiful parts.  The main square just near the marina that houses the the civic offices has many streets leading off of it.  These little streets are not designed for cars, although that doesn't stop the Spanish and the streets are full of little tapas bars.  They are really lovely and give you a true feeling of being in Spain.  The walk though to the beach was nothing to shout about but if you are a big shopper, then this is the place to be.

 We ended up staying 4 nights in the marina.  We are members of the Ocean Cruising Club and this gave us a discount on the rate (which we weren't aware of until we paid), so the bill wasn't so mouth watering.  Matt & Anna are staying here, having decided they would leave Nomad here for the duration of their employment period on the super yacht that starts in September.  A great price for the annual berth at £2500 for a 46' yacht.

We'd decided to cross the bay and anchor in Mera, a little village that had a couple of awesome beaches.  We are still getting used to the Spanish culture who only visit the beaches from about 4pm onwards.  With the beach to ourselves and my love of beach-combing I was in my element.

This was also the first time we got our paddle board out.  Neither of us have done it before so this was going to be a laugh.  We both managed to stand up though and paddle for a little way.  I was too scared to fall in the water, not because of getting wet but the Atlantic water is cold, very cold!!  Mera only has a bank, supermarket and hairdressers but best of all it has a little tapas bar on the beach, great for a cold beer when you're hot on the beach.  A beautiful tranquil place, only a 30min sail from A Corona and just what we were looking for.  We stayed for 3 nights and then got ourselves ready for our next passage to Corme & Camerinas.

Gijon - Southern Spain

8th - 11th July

'Was your Biscay crossing a lion or a lamb?'  Our friend Carole asked us.  I can definitely say it was a lamb.  Being our longest passage yet we were shattered.  We were also worried we were going to run out of fuel (we don't have a fuel gage!).  Due to having motored about 90% of the way it was mutually agreed with Nomad that we would detour into Gijon 140 miles east of A Coruna.

On the approach to Gijon the town looked awful.  To the right the coastline has a full blown LG Power Station and to the left it looked like a 50 tower block row of flats/holiday apartments.  I was not looking forward to this!!




On the approach to the marina you are directed to the fuel berth(there are not anchorages in Gijon).  the fuel berth then direct you to check in and then you're given a berth.  We both fuelled up and booked for 2 nights.  Crikey, it was £44.88 per night so couldn't afford any longer!

We all had a sleep and then ventured into the local area near the marina to find something to eat.  We were astounded.  What looked like sight from a bad Spanish holiday resort actually turned out to be a beautiful old town with stunning buildings even along the beach.  Never judge a book by it's cover.

How wrong can you be, Gijon was fantastic.  Our 2 nights and 1 full day was a great relaxing time.  We found a supermarket that had a great fishmonger and butchery department.  The fresh tuna looked fab so I asked for 2 steaks to which the lady pulled a full fresh tuna out from the fridge, threw her huge fish knife straight through the middle of it and cut me 2 steaks the full size of the tuna.  I didn't like to say it was far too much so I just nodded, smiled and said 'Gracias'.  It weighed a ton hahaha!



The architecture was also something else. Old with new and the old was beautiful.  The little tapas bars along the windy streets were fabulous.









The weather window was good for the next day or so to make our move to A Coruna.  We set off on 11th June.  It would be an overnight as it was 140nm.  The weather was warm, seas were slight and we motor-sailed again arrgghhhhhh........

Crossing Biscay - France to Spain

5th - 8th July

This is going to be our longest passage yet.  We seem to be ticking off things on our 'must do list' on this adventure quickly with the English Channel and now crossing Biscay.  We were obviously a little anxious but excited too.

It was a great start with slight winds as expected.  We passed Ilse de Glenan Islands, reputedly the Caribbean of Europe.  Unfortunately we do not have time to stop and will have to visit another time.

Gradually the slight winds dies and we were left with no wind, the sun out and motor sailing.  The water was like a liquid silver with the sea state so smooth.  Dolphins joined us for short periods but nothing like the Channel crossing.

The first night the winds picked up and we were able to sail a fair bit but overnight those winds died and the engine went back on again.  Steve and I took it in 3hr watches.  We would normally do 4hr watches but for some reason, excitement probably, we were unable to do 4hrs!

We were greeted in the morning by the most glorious burning red/orange sun and dolphins, dolphins and more dolphins from every spec of the horizon you could see them - it was magical.  Then to top it off mid morning we saw a family of Pilot Whales.  The parents were very large.  What a day, amazing!

The engine stayed on all day due to no wind.  We motored through more fishing boats than I thought existed.  Whilst fascinating to watch and see in the dark it is also quite nerve wracking to sail through and obviously the reason our seas of empty of fish!  This is just one small part of the planets oceans that are being fished empty.

The next morning we saw a mahoosive whale 50mtrs to our starboard.  Unfortunately we were not ready with the camera and it was a missed opportunity.  What an experience and another first 😃.

The highlight of the trip though had to be on our last night.  Matt called from Nomad and told us to turn our lights off.  It was 1.30am, no moon and we were launched into complete blackness.  We looked over the side of Cordelia and to our complete amazement we watched dolphins in bioluminescent water.  I can only describe it as a scene from a water based Disney Film or science-fiction film.  They were incredibly sleek and serene darting under the boat, away from the boat and jumping in the air leaving a sparkling glittering stream behind them.  Absolutely AWESOME!

Benodet, Southern Brittany

29th June - 5th July 2019

After a short one-night stopover at Morgat due to Matt & Anna having auto-helm problems and the wind being fairly strong we headed for Benodet, a 12hr sail south.  The weather was fabulous and sea state fair.  It made for a brilliant sail through the Raz de Sein, which according to the pilot books can be quite treacherous.  We sailed through it noting that it was no different to The Needles off The Solent in the UK.

We reached Benodet mid evening.  We'd had dinner on route so were quite happy to settle down to watch Love Island on TV and then to bed (yes we are very sad haha).  We had anchored in the first bay on our starboard side, which overlooked a long sandy beach and directly up the river.



We launched the dinghy the following morning to go exploring.  Benodet is a cross between Salcombe and Dartmouth in the UK.  Very pretty with thousands of boats and few marina's. You can explore both sides of the river.  We joined Nomad & Thuro and decided to find a place to have a coffee.  To our delight we found a Sunday market and purchased the most tasty looking roast chicken dinner - rotisserie cooked chicken, roast potatoes and vegetables all purchased in separate dishes to take away and eat.  We dined with Matt & Anna that night and it was delicious.

Anna & Annette

We dinghy'd up the river to investigate what it had to offer.  The river like going up through Dartmouth to Dittisham with its banks of trees overhanging the rivers edge with stunning chateaux overlooking both sides. Such a picturesque place but apart from a place to run the dog there was not a lot else.

Chateaux on the river

We managed to purchase an electric outboard.  Being a lot lighter and only starts by placing a magnet on the top as a key, it means I am able to take the dinghy ashore if needed. There is no way I would be able to start the 15hp Yamaha we have.  It's a lot slower but will do me fine.

Unfortunately Kev & Emma in Thuro had to go back to work so they decided to make their way back to the UK on 4th July.

Along with Nomad, we fuelled up and topped up with water, did a quick provision runs ready for our passage across Biscay.  The weather window looked okay with light winds and warm breezes.  Perfect as Nomad had bought their dog 'Blue'.

8am on 5th July we set sail to cross Biscay heading for A Coruna, Southern Spain. The passage is going to take 3 days.