42°33.9'N 008°50.0 W Thursday 13th August (One of 2 - Also Ria de Muros updated yesterday -dated 5th)

Ria de Arousa

Biggest news is Claire gave birth on Monday, 10th Aug to Lucas, big lad (poor Claire!) at 9lbs 3oz. Congratulations to Claire, Marcus and Lucas. So R is now Grandad and I am Grandma W. We feel odd being here and feel we should be there, but have been sent pictures and seen video and will keep in close contact from afar.

We made it round to the next Ria, the Ria de Arousa, on Thursday 6th August - the biggest of the Rias Bajas. Initially we were unsure about the area. First night we anchored south of St Julian on the Illa de Arousa, the main island in the middle of the ria. The wind blew and fishing boats went roaring in and out all night long. We weren't quite sure whether to stay or go. We stayed and explored the village first (did not take long) and later walked right down to the bottom of the island which was a really good nature reserve, with white beaches, dunes, protected flora and a bird sanctuary. We stayed another windy and busy night and decided to move on to a marina to get ashore on the mainland and explore with the bikes. Margaret & Roger had been enthusiastic about the Ria and recommended various places. The wind was forecast to be quite strong still and NE. We tried 3 marinas, all full. Nowhere to go.

It was surprisingly difficult to find a sufficiently sheltered spot, but we anchored inside of Cabo Cruz for another howler. Yet another major fishing port. This is fishing of a different kind though. The boats pictured are mussel loaders. They have great cranes and hoists and hoppers, and are beautifully kept. And the Ria is covered in "bateas". These are huge 20metre x 20metre mussel rafts, hundreds of them laid out in a grid system in the water. Again thanks to M&R, we knew you could manoeuvre between them without getting anything nasty around your prop, avoiding the need to go all the way around the outsides.

Sunday night we managed to get into Vilagarcia marina (they said 1 night only as a regatta was coming but we stayed 2). And the weather has finally changed - still a bit windy, but the sun is out and it is hot, and getting hotter. Everything suddenly seems better. V'garcia much nicer than expected (looks a bit industrial from a distance) but had a great old centre, with a small castle or palace that had its own chapel and convent attached, a little hill fort and the most enormous Abasto (market). Cycled north to Carril Monday, extremely posh bodegas and restaurants, expensive cars and very smart fishing boats!

Tuesday morning was spent exploring the market, the main indoor one covered several floors. One section was for fruit and veg, lots of individual smallholdings represented, one for carnicerias (butchers), several bread merchants (bread hacked off in chunks, served and priced by weight) and dozens and dozens of fish stalls. Bought some mussels for dinner and headed off to Vilanova via a beach - thought of swimming, but the water was freezing! Want to cycle down to Cambados tomorrow. This whole area is also called Salnes and is a wildlife haven as well as having a wealth of historical artefacts, like castros (hill forts and stone remains of villages), petroglyphs (stone carvings), manor houses and the like.

Sent off a little hand-made lace bib that we bought in Caraminas to Lucas yesterday - will probably be too small by the time he gets it!

Wednesday 12th August Cambados

What a fantastic little town. This is one of the most attractive old towns we have visited - lots of old stonework houses that have been maintained, rather than being left to ruin and replaced with modern breeze block and nasty stucco. Cobbled streets, churches and pazos galore, obviously throughout the ages it has been a prosperous community.

The difference in temperature shows in the plants. We suddenly have palm trees in abundance. Here there are lots of vines, this is home to the Albarino grape from which whites and red wines are made. Probably accounts for the town's success, one foot in the sea with the fishing, the other rooted in the land.

Like Vilagarcia, this also had the most enormous market. The Abasto is the daily market and here is mostly fish, flowers and fruit and veg. The outside market is the Mercadillo, not sure if it is daily, but has the usual mix of food, breads, underwear (can't imaging buying underwear in markets!), and shoes galore. The Spanish adore shoes, probably your average Spanish woman could put Imelda Marcos to shame. We got hot exploring, so retreated back to the boat at about 5pm, left Vilanova to head over to Caramina on the other side of the ria. Dropped anchor for a swim and stayed the night.

Thursday, 13th Caraminas

Will have a look around the town this morning, swim this pm and perhaps head off towards the mouth of the ria. May go to the next Ria manana, the Ria de Pontevedra.

Good wifi connection here anchored off the beach. Had a skype conversation with Marion, will be able to upload this and will try and check out how Claire, Lucas and Marcus are doing!
Signing off for now....