US SV Angel Louise - Beautiful A Coruna, Spain
Maybe we'll sail without even turning the engines on if Norm’s forecast is correct as usual. A rare event on ANGEL LOUISE (I joke with everyone I meet - by showing them my right palm when discussing our sailing and saying, “See these callouses? They are from pushing the throttle forward!”)
This city of A CORUNA is great. It was visited by many before us. Julius Ceasar came here in 60 BC. Pablo Picasso did his first exhibition as a boy of 13 here. Its great to see things others have.
If the corner of NW SPAIN were a clock face, we would be between the North Coast at 12 and the East Coast at 9, probably around 10:30 or 11. The north coast is locally called the Coast of Death.
It is possible to get caught on the north shore in bad weather and be pummeled. The huge rollers coming in off the Atlantic where storms can generate large waves are accelerated when they hit the shallower rocky coast.
After we get ‘around the corner’ southward movement should be to our liking. The corner can be rough, with winds splitting and building up as you go west.
Sue had dental work on Thursday for an infection under a filling that had just started getting painful after crossing the Bay of Biscay. Glad we were in a center as it got worse on Wednesday last week.
Sue goes back to the dentist - Maria today. She still had some pain on biting into some granola on the tender spot yesterday. I worry. She will get the filling today, unless they suggest something else… Cost was only 200 Euros. We can stay a little longer as necessary, but think it should be ok tomorrow to go.
One of the sailors who is a friend, the senior British sailor and his wife who sail a Camper Nicholson classic sailboat, were over for dinner last night. He was laughing that when they see a big ocean-going tanker they always say, we should send him Ed’s way!
We had an international airshow right off our coast yesterday the whole town was at. You would have liked it. Had the Spanish precision team… like the Blue Angels, and several aerobatic planes, and also a EURO JET delta wing flying for parts of the show. WOW. Fun.
We also rode bikes to the Hercules Lighthouse, built in the first century by the Romans. This is the oldest antiquarian lighthouse in service in the world. The Roman base and interior is still preserved inside and is monumental. Tall sucker now. The Roman light was made with a Stone BOWL that had burning oil… Now has modern electrics and lenses. English adventurer and Privateer Sir Francis Drake attacked the stone fortified walls and was defeated by Marina Pita back in 1600 or so. (I saw the statue of Maria Pita at the square and told Sue she was there because she had invented Pita Bread.
We found a great TAPAS place, it was really popular with young folks and we found out why.
Sue & Ed from SV Angel Louise friends of Boatshed