July – end August
We sailed round to the Ria de Pontevedra and anchored off the beach at Sanxenxo. It was quite rolly overnight so, after a trip ashore to see Porto Nova and Sanxenxo, we sailed to the anchorage off Combarro where Frank and Judy (Shalini) organised a BBQ on their boat as Phil (Olli) and Dave (Heymede) had both caught a number of mackerel on the sail up the ria.
The old part of Combarro is very attractive with narrow winding streets and still has a very large number of the granaries. We also visited Pontevedra – a long and very wet dinghy ride away – again, very attractive and wished we had longer there.
After the others had gone south, we anchored off Bueu for a night then returned to the Ria de Arousa as we were flying back to England for Rob (Jim’s son) and Christine’s wedding at the end of July. The wedding was wonderful, and it was lovely to meet Christine’s family and see all our family and friends.
On our return Anne for ill for a week with constant headaches and weakness (swine flu?) so we stayed in the Ria de Arousa as Sharyn (Jim’s daughter) and her family were coming out to stay with us. We had a marvellous few days with them – lots of fun with the dinghies, the beaches, fiestas in both Pobra do Caraminal and Vilagarcia, and a magnificent firework display at midnight. We were both very sad when they had to go home.
We then sailed down to Baiona for a few days. Again a lovely and historic town. This was where Christopher Columbus landed on his return from discovering America. There is a replica of his ship, the Pinto, in the harbour – much smaller than we had imagined. In the square outside the town hall was a stage and seating with a free summer programme of entertainment – we enjoyed an orchestral concert of film music one night, and watched some folk dancing for a time another night. It was very popular with all seats taken and the audience standing all around the edges.
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