Luarca

Having spent too long in Gijon we made the decision to go on to Luarca on the Saturday morning which dawned with some blue sky, patchy cloud and a muggy feeling.  The port office didn't open until 9.30, so we got the boat ready, popped to the 'Mas y Mas' for some last minute supplies and breakfasted before joining the queue of people waiting to pay.  We met the skipper of Athene in the queue, another British yacht, and one which we saw way back in Treguier although we hadn't spoken before.  He was planning a shorter trip than us, only to Cudillero rather than Luarca, but then had plans to go to Ria de Ribadeo which was also our next planned stop.  So we left, knowing that we were likely either to meet up with Athene or Zephyrus somewhere in the next few days.

With our ships papers safely returned to their file we cast off, leaving Sue and Robert on Serendipity to enjoy the sunshine whilst tackling the washing for what seemed like every boat on the pontoon who had found out they had a washing machine on board!  What luxury.  We had heard good things about Luarca from several sources and it felt really good to be out on the water again.  By the time we were passing the huge breakwater of the commercial port we had the sails up and the engine off.  It was almost perfect sailing weather; smooth sea, blue sky and just enough breeze!

There were three main stages to this trip, the first heading northwest for about ten miles before turning to port onto a twenty-eight mile stretch, west south west, and then into Luarca.  With the easterly breeze we had a fantastic downwind sail, cruising along with the kite up reaching over seven knots at times.  It was pretty sunny and I went forward in search of shade and flopped over the dinghy.  Then Chris had the brilliant idea of pumping up the dinghy while we were sailing along so smoothly and it would be ready for any tricky mooring manouvres which may be required in the small fishing harbour at Luarca.

Within half an hour La Deuxieme (the dinghy) was chuckling along behind us.  We were making good time but the weather began to decline a bit becoming cloudy and hazy, which is a little disheartening when entering a new port.  We had to follow two stripey conical beacons as leading lines to get safely into the outer harbour and I peered carefully through the binoculars informing Chris whether to go left or right.  Suddenly the cones disappeared behind a concrete tower!  We were rather bemused by the layout and actually went to look the next morning, by foot, to see why the tower was in the way. 

We made it in safely though and made the sharp turn to starboard through the narrow entrance to the inner harbour.  It was chock-a-block with red and blue fishing boats but there was one yacht moored against the quayside.  There was no indication of where we should go so we opted to moor behind the yacht alongside the wall.  This called for the "Plank".  We had been carrying a plank of wood, lashed to the stantions all voyage, and until now we had had no reason to use it.  The quay wall was pretty weedy and crusty so to protect the fenders we hung the plank outside a pair on the widest part of the boat.  We prepared two long warps with large bowlines on the end and Chris slowly manouvered the boat to the ladder in the wall, which I rapidly climbed carrying the stern line.  With the first loop over the large bollard on the quay I hurried back down to collect the bow line.  There were a fair few observers and I didn't want to make a mess of our first ever quayside mooring.  Luckily all went smoothly and with a few adjustments of lengths and position we could sit down and have a well earned cup of tea.

Luarca seemed a pretty enough place but after a long sail we opted to stay on board and do some exploring in the morning.  Another yacht arrived, flying a German ensign, and prepared to tie up behind us.  We watched with interest, to see how they tackled the job and all was going well until Chris looked up and noticed the mast almost hitting the counterweight of a crane which overhung the quay.  We alerted the couple on the yacht and they backed up a little, relieved not to have done any damage.  We were lucky not to have made the same mistake and I will certainly always check above from now on!  The boat was called Lycka, we didn't get an opportunity to chat and they left early the next morning.

The other yacht also left and so when we went into the town to explore we were the only "yachties" about.  It was a beautiful day and we went up to the lighthouse and looked out over the calm sea.  The concrete tower which had obscured our view of the leading lines turned out to be the light tower on the end of the mole and with the cones hidden behind we had been perfectly in line.  A pity none of the pilot books mentioned it!

The town seemed to have a fascinating history which it proudly retold in a series of tiled pictures.  The buildings were rather mixed, some in a rather shabby state whereas others had clearly had time and money spent on them.  We have been really impressed with the colourful fishing boats in this area and with the blue sky and mountainous backdrop we could see why Luarca had come so well recommended.  The weather was too good to miss though, and we planned a hop to Ria de Ribadeo, only about twenty five miles further along the coast.