Astraia Heads South

The next couple of weeks saw us making leisurely progress westwards, again stopping at some ‘off-the-beaten-track’ small ports, many of which were delightful spots.   Many people ‘skip’ this part of our journey by heading straight across the Bay of Biscay diagonally, but we’re glad we didn’t miss this northern coast of Spain. Luanca Our first view of Luanca – quite an attractive little town with a surprisingly nice beach. Here is Astraia anchored in the rather ‘loppy’ bay – although it looks perfectly still in the photo, there was a slight swell rolling in from the Atlantic all the time.  It was warm enough to swim back to the boat from this beach – quite a long way, took me about 15 minutes.  The slight swell rocked us to sleep at night! The Church – nice atmosphere inside with an organist playing The Square and Clock Tower Interesting decorations on these tiled houses I wonder if a seafarer lives in this nautically themed house? ...

We spent the next few weeks moving westwards along the north coast of Spain, stopping along the way at many interesting little places. Up early to catch the tide and leave Santander – this is the Parque de La Magdalena from the sea Later quite a strong sailing breeze got up – we’re making good speed with both sails reefed St Vincente de la Barquera Mooring at St Vincente de la Barquera (known as SVB) is between buoys joined by thick ropes – quite a tricky procedure with a strong wind and tide. View of Astraia securely mooored in the river. Narrow, steep lanes leading up to … … the Castle de Rey Charles and Caroline and the view from the Castle. Di and Charles and the view in the other direction upriver At the top of the hill on the right of this picture is the Iglesia Nuestra Sra de los Ángeles, which is on the route of the Camino de Santiago di Compostela. The most interesting – and slightly gruesome – thing about the Iglesia is that its wo...