A week in Coruna. Wednesday 12th to Wednesday 19th June.

Having enjoyed our second breakfast on arrival, courtesy of Sam and Rose, our first day in Coruna turned out to be quite busy.

Our first formality was to say hello to Lorena at the marina office.  We’d been in contact by email for several weeks, and Lorena is the lady who makes dealing with Coruna marina a simple pleasure.  She’s efficient, communicates well, and seems always to be looking for the best option for the visiting sailor.  We booked in and paid in advance for a week, and Lorena took more interest in our papers than any marina we’ve visited.  She also directed us to the police station to get our passports stamped.

After showering (and skipping lunch) Sam took us on a brief tour of downtown Coruna to the police station.   We were asked to return an hour later and as sailors do, we found a bar.  The passport process couldn’t have been more straightforward, we completed one form for all four crew, an officer checked it and stamped our passports, and off we went for a further wander about the town. 

We would thoroughly recommend, whenever visiting a new port, to send a Sam and Rose ahead to scout out the place.

The city is built on a peninsula and the main square is dedicated to a brave female warrior, Maria Pita.  In 1589, she was married to the city Mayor, who was killed by English troops, led by Francis Drake, as they surrounded the city.  Maria was so enraged, that she grabbed an English spear and killed Drake's brother, who was leading the assault, so demoralising the attackers that they retreated. 

In the evening we all six enjoyed happy hour on Eas Mhor before again walking into the city for wonderful evening of stories and Tapas.  We slept well!

On Thursday, we dragged our dinghy from the bottom of our cavernous cockpit locker, inflated it and fitted it on the back of our boat, ready for a season of cruising and exploring.  We also recovered our folding bikes, pumped the tyres and we said farewell to Bones and Anna as they flew back to the UK. 

Also on Thursday, Lorena found Liz a local dentist to fix a molar that had broken just before leaving, too late to be dealt with in the UK.  We first visited the dentist on Friday morning, and having explained our schedule, they invited Liz back for tooth preparation and an impression on Friday afternoon, and fitted a crown on Tuesday, all for a lot less than in the UK.

Thus, Friday was taken up with dentistry and resting.

On Saturday morning, I cycled 5 km south to the boatyard owned by Coruna marina.  It was closed, but looking over the fence, I could see a 50 ton travel hoist, lots of boats very well supported in cradles, and one of the most clean, tidy and secure boatyards I’ve ever seen.  Wanting to explore this further as an option for Eas Mhor over winter, Lorena emailed the boatyard for us on Monday, and they came back with a quote considerably less than in Portishead.  On Tuesday morning we both cycled back, and were offered a tour by Norma, (Lorena’s equivalent at the boatyard) and saw the enormous indoor boat storage area, the spotless showers and toilets and the well-stocked chandlery.  Norma is happy for me to do all our engine service and anti-fouling myself, but equally pleased to quote to do it for us.  Nothing seems to be too much trouble, and we feel confident that when we return here at the end of the summer, as planned, Eas Mhor will be in good hands over the winter.

On Saturday afternoon we cycled around the peninsula, visited the tower of Hercules, and the nearby park, enjoyed a coffee in town and weaved our way between the cyclists taking part in the weekend Triathlon.  At one point I found myself unable to avoid cycling along the red carpet reserved for the competition winners, and relieved not to have a race number pasted on my T-shirt.

The rest of our week was spent exploring this attractive city, mostly by bike, resting, reading, sharing time with Rose and Sam, and yes, Liz has started learning Spanish on Duolingo!

It's now Wednesday morning, we plan to leave at 10am.  We’ve enjoyed many happy times together with Sam and Rose this week, we’ve topped up with water, topped up the engine oil and cooling water, made a couple of minor repairs, we’re ready to go.  It’s raining cats and dogs, and we hope it will clear.

Our plan for the next week is to head around Cabo Finisterre, named by the Romans in Latin, “End of the Earth”.  The coast between Coruna and Finisterre is named by the Spanish Costa da Morte “Coast of death”.  We’ll tell you how it goes in our next post

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