beaches and boats

Finally got round to grabing some images of the last few days - we spend an afternoon at Redes where we met the martlet and lots of friends. Callum tried sailing for the first time in Sam's Mirror dingy; here they are bearing away from the Martlet in just perfect wind for learning.


On the beach near Redes there was a great little pirate island with a tiny cave that was left high and dry as the tide went out.

We also went to Pantin yesterday where we met lots of great kids and did lots of snorkling, Rowan managed to find some chicas to share the kayak. Jenny even took a look underwater from the safety of the kayak. Loads of fish to be seen in crystal clear water and little shoals of shrimps like underwater clouds. As always we forgot about the camera for much of the day, we really must buy a new still camera the video one is just that bit too big to carry around in a pocket.

Pete and The Martlet arrive in Cedeira

Sam and Bindle's Dad Cap'n Pete has sailed the Martlet down from the UK to Viveiro over the last month or two, Sam Mark Ruan and I went to help him bring it round from Viveiro to Cedeira today.

I woke to a windless clearsky morning with wisps of mist floating through the village, that always seems to indicate a hot day ahead. This is the view out of our bathroom at 7 am.
Mel dropped us all off at the FEV train station - that is a tiny narrow gauge train that gets up to a whole 3o kmph or perhaps a little more downhill with a following wind anyway a lovely journey was had by all. Ruan nearly fell asleep we toyed with the idea of just leaving him where he was or quietly moving seats so when he woke up he would think we had all got off already but we just didn't have the heart.
We stepped on to the station at Viveiro and a few mins later we were looking at the Martlet a lovely 1959 Morgan Giles built proper boat, she is one of 5 admiralty sail training boats they built and was in service until the late 80s. The sun was already high so literally two minutes later the engine was started and we were tuk tuking out of the harbour surrounded by mullet.
Just not quite enough wind so a few hours of motoring got us on our way, half an hour out a stubby black fin broke the surface and was gone in seconds. Sam was looking the wrong way and I had the camera in the wrong place too oh dear never mind better luck next time.
I managed to get a little bit of work done in a very mobile office but it was just too wonderful to be properly nerdy.
Time did that timeless thing it does at sea, I had brought some freshly dug potatoes and freshly lifted onions, Sam added Eggs, Pete added tomatoes and lettuce and a great tortillia lunch emerged.

We passed Cabo Ortegal (43º 46' 20' Norte, 7º 52' 05' Oeste) after a couple of hours; the cliffs here are 620 meters high that's a tad over 2000 feet in old money. Does it look spectacular in real life - yes yes yes; does it look spectacular in a photo - no no no :( If you visit here by boat or car you should go to the faro at the cabo The Cantabrian sea turns into the Atlantic Ocean off here and the views from on land are wonderful.
Pete has a wonderful boat, she looks and feels right, soon after rounding the cabo we felt just that little extra wind and the motor was off a few mins later, silence engulfed us and we watched San Andres de Teixido perched on the cliffs slip past us. They say everyone visits San Andres - if you don't go there in life you go there in death. I am not quite sure about the logic of that but it is a lovely place to visit in any state; great walks on the cliffs, a lovely church and some ancient lanes and houses.

Mark did falling asleep in the sunshine we had to turn him every now and then and occasionally swab him down with teak oil, here are his feet getting a basting.

We had a lovely run round from there to Cedeira with a freshening wind and a following swell. With Sam at the helm, and Pete doing pointing which way to go, the Martlet flew along; we may have scraped 7 knots and that was not bad going given the light conditions...of course just as we entered the ria and just before we came into sight we were in the lee of the cliffs and the wind fell away to spoil our sprint finish but we still managed to sail all the way to the mooring.

I really had a wonderful time...we all did. Pete is berthing in Cedeira between now and October or maybe longer, his partner Geraldine is arriving via the Pont Aven on Monday and bringing with her the spinnaker pole - that is kind of useful to have on board the same boat as the spinnaker. Martlet will be occasionally available for charter over the summer. She will soon have her own blog I hope to start it off with some video of today's trip if I can persuade the vidcam to part with its film - its a bit reluctant at the moment. Apologies about the poor quality images the still camera thinks its memory is full despite being emptied shake rattle and rolled and the vidcam is ancient and does not do great stills...normal quality will resume ASAP.

Until I get the Martlet's own blog underway - if you are interested in chartering the boat drop a comment on here with some contact details; the comment wont be published but I will send your details on to Pete.