Return from Santiago : Muros to Arousa

We had a super couple of days in Santiago de Compostela. We enjoyed walking round the city, its beautiful architecture and busy goings on. We thought it had a lovely feel to it. Although the cathedral was buzzing with people (so much so there was a tanoy announcement to say ssshhhh!) there were quite places and streets and gardens to enjoy too. We saw some very good exhibitions in the contemporary art gallery of Galicia there, and in the evening we were there, there was part of a jazz festival going on so there were two bands playing out side some bars which were great. We stayed in a beautiful, cheap little hotel in the old city itself with shuttered windows looking out over the street. Very nice too!

On our return to Hestur in Muros we had a couple of days with no wind so we waited there, plenty of swimming and a cycle trip round to the next bay, still hot.

We left on Sunday the 18th to sail (and then some motoring due to no wind ) round to the next Ria South, Ria Arousa. As we rounded Punta Falcoeiro on the north west of the ria the wind picked up and we sailed through the narrow passage of Canal de Sagres, again at a storming 7kns . There were sculptural rounded granite boulders and islands all around us, very exciting . We anchored that night in the fishing harbour of Aguiño and walked out along a breakwater which connected some of the little granite islands and white shell beaches.

The next couple of days in the ria were good sailing days again. This Ria is much more open than than Muros and with more navigational obstacles to tack amongst. There are also, as in the other Rias, lots of big floating wooden muscle rafts which are set out in a grid pattern and you can sail through in amongst them.

We spent a day and night at a beautiful little desert island off Isla Arousa. It is a tiny little island of white sand and rounded granite boulders. The water was turquoise around it, and deep, so swimming not as warm as Muros, but beautiful. There were quite a few other people there in the day on sailing boats and motor boats but as it got later in the day they all left. We went back ashore after dinner, for a walk at sunset, but as we wandered along the beach we could hear the sound of big engines slowing down, beside Hestur. We walked back to see the massive foreboding looking police motor boat circling her. We waved, launched the dingy and rowed out.It was just a routine check of our papers again and they were very friendly. Two of them boarded while the boat stood off till paperwork was over , then they sped off in to the sunset.

The next day , Wednesday 21st, the cloud came in mid morning so it was a lot cooler. We sailed over to Isla Arousa and anchored of the main town there, we took the bikes out for a ride across the causeway bridge to the mainland and the town of Cambados and then back and around Isla Arousa itself. We have now done over 100 miles on the little bikes since leaving Falmouth. It is great having them aboard, so good to be able to get places at relative speed ( compared to walking) and a good way to see the country more, rather than just the coast line. They fold down really small and both fit down below so they are fairing well on the boat.