Trees and cathedrals

I got a chance to see the famed Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Ines and I went to see it on our last day in Vigo. So we took the train, a very nice and clean one, which took us there in just over 90 minutes.

Once we got to Santiago, we walked to the cathedral but there was a mass going on, so nobody could get in from the huge crowd already inside. So we went for lunch in a local bar and afterwards walked around some more until we could finally get in. The church is a very ornate Baroque style on the outside, but on the inside it's quite sober - apart from the huge gold altar ornaments, undoubtably a remains from the colonization.

I didn't feel any sort of catharsis, so perhaps I should walk there next time. I remember reeding the book "O caminho de Santiago" by Paulo Coelho and there wasn't a real catharsis at the end of that journey, either.

After getting back to Vigo, I took a picture of our boat tree Bao, which is short for baobab. Our tree got a shoot the day before we left, and now it's coming along nicely. I've had it for 5 months now and I was sure it had died, but baobabs are the most amazingly resilient trees.

It is my companion to care for while the trips lasts - and hopefully afterwards!

It's deep, over 4000 Metres. That's a lot of water!

We're in Spain. We are in Spain. It's 30 degrees outside and 34 inside, which is nice, and it's warm. We've been so cold getting here, both in France and crossing Biscay, but now all that's forgotten and it's warm.

Last blog post saw us in Brest, waiting for a weather window. We got that, and we left, first for Camaret to wait for the rain to pass. And it rained, it rained and it was cold and only Sven and Tony were brave enough to hop in the dinghy to get some fruit. By nightfall we got the fuel tank full on the diesel pontoon - at 1.33 Euro per litre, which is 10 cents more than the already elevated price in Brest. So much for gambling Camaret would be cheaper.

After we left, we got the promised North Westerly winds, but unfortunately it didn't quite get high enough to get us past Raz De Sein in one go, so we motor sailed once more until we passed the cape - another one. The good thing about the wind not being very strong was the wave action at Raz De Sein was not too bad. It's not a very pleasant place to be otherwise. Once we passed into the night, the wind turned West Southwest, instead of the Westerly winds we were promised. So we sailed South, confident that the forecast of North Westerly winds would make sure we got back on track. Our course was, after all, 214° for 354 Miles until Finisterre. After that, another 55 Miles saw us to Sanjenjo to wait out the storm anounced for Sunday evening.

After sailing South for 12 hours and getting 30 Miles off course, the navtex got a bit uncertain about the North Westerlies, especially in the area we were in (Iroise). So I decided to head back North West, to get more to the West where the wind would be more favourable. So we beat back to our track and just 5 Miles before getting to our track, the wind veered North just enough to start sailing South West again. In 24 hours, we gained just over 70 Miles. Now our speed was good as well as our heading. The only problem at that time was Sven who kept getting seasick. But after taking some drastic measures, that problem got sorted and and he remained free of sickness afterwards.

We were sailing fast and made good averages, reaching our half way point after 54 hours out of Camaret. After that, the wind started veering to the North and then North East. As it changed, it became much less, about Force 3. So after 66 hours of sailing, we had to switch on the engine for 12 hours. After that, the wind freshened and we sailed another 8 hours before rounding Finisterre, completing the crossing in 90 hours or just under 4 days.

We got into Sanjenjo late that night to be told that we couldn't stay as the marina was fully booked for an event with the Volvo Ocean boat Movistar. After some pleading ("We just crossed Biscay") we could stay until 10 a.m. so we went to the all night party to celebrate Ines' birthday - she was sick that day - and managed to get 3 hours sleep before the ferry arrived and we had to get off.

There were still no berths available and a force 7 or 8 was predicted later that day, so I decided to head for Vigo straight away. In the old Real Clube Nautico, it's nice to stay before leaving again, to Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. There I'll repaint the antifouling and do some chores before Ingrid joins me later in August.