Bayona

Well, the days are just flying by. It’s fantastic being in a new place and having all the excitement and anticipation of the unfamiliar, yet knowing that your home is a familiar space, ie Kika. We have had a beautiful 3 days here in Bayona weather-wise, making us appreciate why siestas are strongly recommended in this part of the world.

Bayona Castle

We’ve been parcel bound this time, waiting for a dispatchment of washing powder to come through for the next load of laundry – only joking, though I have spent some time hand washing! We’ve really been waiting for a small package of spares and sea-sickness drugs to come from the UK, now received with thanks to Jenny and Brian. So we’ve had some time to explore Bayona’s sites, the most impressive probably being its position on the coast.

Coastal path (Islas Cies in background)

Walking along the medieval castellated walls on the headland provides a fantastic view of the bay and the beautiful Islas Cies, our last landfall.

Islas Cies from Bayona

The coastline is treacherous and the waves break with a ferocity and power that’s quite humbling. The town is historic and pretty. It’s where Columbus made his first mainland landfall on his return from the New World, and there’s a life-size replica of his ship The Pinta, moored on a pontoon near us.

Pinta reconstruction

As there was no wind yesterday, and in preparation for winds to come, we took some time to try out our sails; a new storm jib for strong winds which has a much smaller area than our current genoa (front sail), and our spare genoa. We also discovered an extension to our spray hood which provides fantastic shade when we are not underway.

Kika with sun cover

Life has become full of little challenges and triumphs for me, as I work my way slowly up the ladder to seamanship (It’s a long way up!) A minor emergency occurred yesterday when a stern mooring line on the boat next to us broke! Thinking quickly, I deftly tied a double sheet bend in order to secure it. It’s still holding! Small but significant
So tomorrow it’s Portugal for us. Good job as our Spanish courtesy flag is now more of a rag than a flag due to a serious lack of hemming!

Courtesy Rag

We pushed the boat out and bought one for Portugal - very smart! I tried to download some basic Portuguese from the net today during my stint in the cyber café, but Nick assured me it wasn’t necessary as our pilot guide has a small dictionary in it. Indeed it does, and I can now say ‘harbourmaster’ and ‘light breeze’, I just can’t say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ – excellent!