Corunna at last

We spent one night in Cedeiro a pretty little town and managed to buy rioja
and a camera as I had left mine behind!!

Leaving early the next day we entered La Corunna in sunshine and good
spirits.

All boats systema are working and I hope to get this away from the Marina at
sada [the other side of the bay from Corunna and much cleaner.

Sunbird

Biscay crossed.

Grandson Marcus waved Sunbird goodbye as she left Weir Quay on time on
Sunday morning. It had been a double blow for Marcus because he was going to
miss his Granny for some time and he had also learned that he had to share
his Granny with others. A bit of a shock.

The forecasts were mixed with little good news on offer.

We set course for Ushant to try to miss the worst of the weather and we did.
22 hours later we stopped in Ushant and as the wind is seldom in the East .
Also the forecasts were still mixed and not that good news. After we had
arrived the rain started, wind shifted to the west, we rolled, Ushant was
out of season and most places were closed and there was no internet café.
Not that many browny points!

Despite all this I did replenish the hankies I had left behind and the sun
shone on Tuesday when we left for La Corunna.

Forecasts were still mixed and the crossing to La Corunna was a pussy cat
compared to the previous year which was a bit of a tiger. Still pussy cats
either go to sleep and we motored through the calms and she showed her claws
when the wind headed us at F 6 as we made our landfall making 4 knots or
less. The time to final way point kept getting longer each hour!

We finally anchored in the rain in Carino, a minor industrial port which was
the best port we could make. We had motored through the calms and finally
had to blast our way into the wind at the end. 39 hours motoring and two and
a half days overall. Still we saw so many dolphins that by the end the cry
of 'Dolphins' no longer elicited any response from the crew.

Carino dried her tears of rain in the morning, the street market was lively
and kind to us and we moved West to Ria Cadeira where we found the Navionics
chart on the plotter was not only 100 m out but also showed a non existent
island that we sailed through.

May 17th

May 17th

Sunbird is almost ready to leave now.

We have 2 new fore sails both of which set well, an additional extra large
battery and almost all the systems work. The last to be fixed is an
automatic bilge pump which is being replaced right now.

We intend to set sail on Saturday evening and will be seen off by Marcus
aged 3 who might just understand why Granny is no longer visiting weekly.

The plan is to sail direct to la Corunna or if the weather dictates to stop
off in Camaret.

The original plan had been to press on all the way, however on reflection it
seems senseless to by pass places of great beauty and interest solely in the
interests of speed. So we will take our time