“I can’t believe it” to quote Victor Meldrew again. Our first Christmas carol heard on the 18th August. Yes, it’s true. Up in the bar of the Real Club Nautica Sanxenxo they were playing a CD that had carols on it. I suppose to the non-English speaking audience the tunes were just in keeping with the up market ambience of the place (ie it’s a bit posh!).
Anyway back to the plot. We have spent 4 days here in Sanxenxo doing the tourist bit and chilling out. The town is a centre for tourism with a big beach and lots of people around. The weekend was the fiesta weekend which made it even more busy but the number of bars and restaurants almost match the number of people! Festivities have gone on late into the night ever since we got here and look to continue – especially with a couple of disco’s on the marina which stay open until almost 5 in the morning.
(looks like Blackpool on a good day!)
It’s a big marina with a lot of very big motor yachts – lots of money around. Services are good but there has been no internet on site since we arrived – supplied by the yacht club. It broke on Friday and with the fiesta, who knows when it will be fixed. The office staff were kind enough to let me plug into theirs this morning to get on the internet. Cost here is 30 Euros per night (with the discount passport) and diesel was 1.26 Euro – easy to fill up. As I said in the last blog, the showers are very good.
(the marina from the club – Grand Slam is on visitors pontoon on right)
On Sunday we caught a local bus up to Pontevedra, the main town in the area. The bus station seemed a long way from the centre of town so we caught the next bus half way back to Combarro, one of the places that had been highly recommended on the YBW forum. The old town of Combarro has retained all it’s character from a couple of hundred years ago with narrow streets and old buildings. We were so impressed we went back for a second day on Monday. Rather than describe it here, I will put a separate blog entry up with a bit more detail on the place and the great food! (once we eventually find a decent internet connection).
One reason for staying in the marina in Sanxenxo for 4 days was the weather forecast for the weekend was not too promising. … and it proved correct. Saturday started of wet and cold and then turned back to heavy rain and strong wind in the evening after a brief spell of sun in the afternoon (almost like back home). Sunday again had sun in the afternoon but also wind and rain later. By Tuesday it was warming up – back to what we had experience the first week in the Rias. The marina was very sheltered from the westerly winds but the high swell from a passing storm in Biscay meant that Monday and Tuesday nights were a bit “lumpy”.
It is worth mentioning the yacht club (RCN Sanxenxo). This is probably the most imposing of the yacht club buildings seen in Spain to date, comprising 4 floors in a modern building housing a bar, a restaurant, a sauna and a gym. The restaurant opens for evening meals at 10.30pm and closes at 2am. It’s a bit pricey so we have passed on that one.
(the luxury of the RCN Sanxenxo)
The bar however (see above) is very reasonable priced and one of the cheapest. Great views across the marina and very comfy sofas to sit on. We have been in most evenings and it’s not exactly busy. It is difficult to see how it can survive financially unless the membership fees are as big as some of the motor yachts here! It is a very quiet place to spend an hour as the sun goes down sipping a cold Estrella.
(the view out to sea from the bar)
Our original plan was to leave Tuesday to head down to the final Ria, (Ria de Vigo) but the forecast 4-5m swell put us off. It is due to die down to 3m for Wednesday so we will leave tomorrow. We will decide where we are headed once we see what the weather is like but there are lots of choices of anchorages or marinas. One major concern is that we are now not far from the Spanish border which may mean a distinct lack of Estrella. What do we (I) do then?
....and those of you with a keen eye will have seen that our internet access has been a bit difficult. That has to be an understatement. Nothing in the marina and despite loads of wifi signals, all were encrypted in Sanxenxo. Everywhere we have been in Spain has had lots of free ones to chose from except this place. We are now in the Ria de Vigo and back to normal with a good connection. I will post a blog about Combarro later today and then back onto our story as it unfolds.
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