August 28th to September 9th Pontedeume, Coruna and return to Portishead.

 On Wednesday 28th August we took our final trip to the NE corner of the Ria de Betanzos and with neap tides, we were able to anchor close to Redes, guaranteeing a complete absence of swell in the gentle northerly winds.


On Thursday we took our dinghy east a mile and a half to Pontedeume on the river Eume estuary, and found a public slipway very close to the main tourist attraction, the Andrada tower.  Built in the late 14th Century by Fernan Perez de Andrade, “O Boo”, the ground floor is now a tourist information office, and the upper floors a museum.  We arrived a few minutes before closing time, still not accustomed to a four hour afternoon siesta. 


The small square of Praza Real, dating back to the founding of Pontedeume in 1270, forms a central focus to the town, and is lined with restaurants and cafes.  At the east end stands the grand Casa de Concello, with its imposing clock tower. 

Alongside a small park that was once a cemetery, sits an Augustinian monastery, founded, like much in this town, by O Boo.  It was a religious house until 1835, since when it’s been a guardhouse, prison, family home, and is now used for exhibitions.  In the monastery garden stand large carved figures of a bear and boar, Andrade symbols, with Alfonso “The wise”, O Boo’s ancestor, who established the town.


The Andrade bridge, now comprises fifteen stone arches and carries traffic across the Eume.  The original wooden bridge was replaced by O Boo with a stone bridge suitable for horse drawn traffic, having 78 arches and a pilgrim’s hospital part way along.

After touring the town, and as mist, wind and drizzle set in, we crouched in the bottom of our dinghy for the thirty minute return trip to Eas Mhor. 

We revisited Pontedeume the following day to see the museum, with views over the town and estuary, a model of O Boo’s first stone bridge and an Andrade family tree including twelve generations of his ancestors.


On Saturday, we returned for the last time to Sada, packed away our dinghy and sprayhood, and prepared to depart for Coruna.

Monday morning’s ten mile trip to Marina Coruna Varadero boatyard was surprisingly bouncy and underlined again how the rias afford protection from the open sea.  The staff welcomed us, provided office space for our baggage for the day, lifted the boat on schedule, loaned us a dehumidifier for the winter, booked a taxi to our AirBnB and even found Liz an evening hairdresser appointment. 


During the next few days I prepped the boat for the winter, leaving the hull ready to apply antifouling at the start of summer 2025.  We feel perfectly content that Eas Mhor is in safe hands. 


Around midnight on Saturday 7th, Bones and Anna, who had crewed us across Biscay in June, arrived in Coruna, crewing the boat they had recently sold, assisting the new owners.  We enjoyed a reunion on Sunday, lunch in the centre of Coruna and a walk out to the Tower of Hercules, an afternoon that flew past as we exchanged news.


On Monday we returned to Portishead, planning next summer to sail the coastal route around Biscay and return Eas Mhor to British waters.  Our passports were stamped to show we had arrived in Spain by sea, and departed by air, just inside the 90 day limit.  Thank you for sharing our summer by reading this blog!


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