Rolly Bay to Ribadesella 33nm
Sunday 2 August
Today is a beautiful sunny day; blue skies are back!
We were very happy to stow the drogue and leave Roly-Poly Bay as quickly as we possibly could!
When I was bringing up the anchor the roller fell off into the sea! Hopefully we can find a new one (and a spare) when we get to Gijon later on.
We are heading to Ribadesella and you have to time it so that you approach no sooner than two hours before high tide to get over the bar into the river – today that is 17:45 so there’s no hurry.
Will made a delicious breakfast!
There was only a little wind coming from the West and initially we motored, but we soon realised we were going too fast and would get there 2 hours too early!
Without a usable anchor, we couldn’t just hang around in a nearby bay, so we turned off the noisy motor and enjoyed a leisurely sail – going about 4 knots in 6 knots of wind.
The coast here is absolutely stunning, with cliffs and sandy beaches on a backdrop of rolling green hills and behind these, with some high cloud, are the dramatic rocky teeth of the Picos mountains.
Visibilty was very good today and we all enjoyed the gently changing vista of the beautiful Costa Verde.
Will put out the fishing line again.
Jules has graduated from rope handling to helming!
Ribadesella is up a little river and has a very pretty approach.
We found out where all the jet skis charging up and down the coast were coming from.
The harbour man was very helpful and was doing everything on his own, catching lines and all the office paperwork. He didn’t want the ships documents here – probably because it’s a Sunday!
Will and David enjoyed a refreshing swim in the harbour.
There was a wild funfair going on across the river but they thankfully turned off the music at midnight.
We went to a very good restaurant and mostly coped with our lack of Spanish – particularly difficult for species of fish! The only one I know so far is that benito is tuna. It’s going to be even worse in Portugal!
Tomorrow we head for Gijon to help our crew get their connections as they are sadly leaving us on Tuesday.