Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

11 th to 12 th of June 2018 - Ribadesella

After paying our bill, which took some time as we had to persuade the manager we were entitled to a discount, we slipped from our berth at 0930. There was very little wind or swell. It was a bit overcast but warm. We motored along the coast eastward toward the Picos de Europa once again but by sea this time. The coast was lovely and green and there were numerous waterfalls, hardly surprising given the amount of rain that had fallen recently. After a few miles the Picos appeared in the background above the cliffs as the clouds moved away.

We entered the dramatic harbour of Ribadesella and its narrow channel with plenty of water, since we had arrived at the top of the tide. We found a space on the long visitors pontoon. There was no sign of the high sandbank next to the pontoon that we had seen when we visited in the car, I was very cautious about taking the boat too far away from the pontoon. However, we had 4.3m under the keel and an expected drop of 3 metres, so plenty of water to stay afloat. We took ourselves out of the marina, unfortunately we were unable to find anyone in the office so couldn't get back in. So we went for a long walk around the harbour, checking out the beautiful mansions.  

We spent a nice day exploring and having the Menu del Dia in a local restaurant. It rained heavily and the river continually ebbed out even on a rising tide. This brought plenty of flotsam from up river in the form of the occasional large tree and plenty of smaller ones. Some of these became wedged in between us and the pontoon so, once a again our hull is the colour of dirty river water. We managed to clear some of the branches out with the boat hook, losing the old boat hook in the process. We then decided to turn the boat around in its berth so we wouldn't have to worry about manouvering in a small space in the early hours the following day. This is a procedure called 'winding ship' and it worked very well with the help of the tide, me on the engine and Andy ashore with long warps. It was a lovely spot for watching the yellow legged gulls when the river was low, with the backdrop of the Picos Europa.

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