Arousa to Combarro

We took a mooring buoy overnight offshore San Xulian on the Isle of Arousa.

There were probably half a dozen other boats in the Anchorage, but because we wanted to be near the shore, so as to limit the impact of the wind, we ended up mooring just ahead of a Dutch couple in a Contest 45.

I felt a bit bad, as it was like the person who parks next to the only other car in an empty supermarket car park! Imagine our surprise when they moved whilst we were having our sundowners. It turned out, however, that they moved, because they wanted to shower naked from the back of their boat. That doesn’t happen in Sainsburys!

Our dinner was Tuna Thai curry. It was amazing! Well done to fisherman and chef Pete, (who tells us his hero was Keith Floyd – say no more).

After a quiet night bobbing gently, we set off at dawn heading for Combarro for lunch.

The guidebook says that it would be a shame to visit this part of Galicia and miss seeing Combarro, as it is a restored old fishing village, of massive granite and surrounded by vineyards, very picturesque and has numerous restaurants that serve excellent seafood. That was enough to make us want to visit.

As we were sailing up the Pontevedra river, we noticed a small area of the headsail delaminating, so we put it away and motored the last few miles. A small area of damaged sail can very quickly become a redundant sail.

When we arrived in the marina, the very helpful staff offered to assist us bring the sail down and drive it to a sail loft in Vigo! We didn’t need the assistance to bring the sail down, but it was a challenge in F4 winds. We accepted the offer to drive the sail around though. How nice.

We then set about finding lunch!

There followed a tour of the lovely village.

Then it rained – hard!

We have been struggling to find some good Spanish cheese in the Supermarkets. So when we came across a cheese stall in the village square we hit it hard. We bought a smoked soft cheese, a blue cheese and the ripest goats cheese in the world.

Peter was the only taker for the Goats cheese. It hummed the boat out and after a few pieces we had to take it outside and bag it and leave it!

Tomorrow here’s hoping the sail will be repaired.