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Cabo Fisterra – POSITION: 42° 52.95’N, 09° 16.31’W
Finisterre is the end of the earth. Literally. One of the most foreboding points of land in Europe, sailors for centuries have sung shanties and recounted tall tales of its fearsome weather and rocky coastline. Wind forecast applications display wind speeds as a variety of colors. Purples and blues for calm weather, yellows and reds for lively conditions, furious crimsons and blacks for the most dangerous gales. Even when the Bay of Biscay is a millpond, Finisterre often points a sharp phalanx of stiff red winds well offshore. Because of the large number of shipwrecks, the area between A Coruña and Finisterre is nicknamed the Costa da Morte, or Death Coast.
Truth be told, most of the Cape’s bad reputation stems from the bygone era of square riggers and their general inability to cope adequately in severe weather. Even the local coast guard is trying to change the coast’s reputation to bring in more sailors and tourists. Rounding Spain’s northwest corner in early evening, Finisterre’s bright white light cuts through a layer of low clouds, pink and red in the fading twilight, half a dozen miles to the south. The sea is oily calm. A chill sets in as the sun dips down and we zip up the cockpit enclosure.
Vigo, Galicia’s main port, is the goal of our overnight passage. The sun slowly rises as we find our way up the river to the marina. Huge platforms, oyster farms line either side of the wide estuary. The morning’s damp lifts as wafts of eucalyptus assail us. There is smoke, wood smoke, briefly heavy and then dissipated. We learn later that forest fires, too common in late summer, are mostly caused by carelessness, or arson. At last the Real Club Náutico de Vigo is our home for the next week as we explore this undervalued corner of Spain.
Saint James – Position: 42° 52.84’N, 08° 32.68’W
Santiago de Compostela has become a modern Christian’s Mecca, with thousands of pilgrims (read hikers) finding their way along “The Way” to the grand cathedral of Saint James. My first trip to Santiago was on business in 1986. I stayed in the Hostal dos Reis Católicos, Santiago’s five-star Parador on the city’s main square, a stone’s toss from the cathedral. Back then things were relatively quiet. Very few people made pilgrimages and it seemed like we had the place to ourselves. Today, it’s a seething mass of spandex and rucksacks as exhausted hikers joyfully complete their journeys. They come in all ages, shapes, and sizes along the traditional routes from the east and south. Carol and I decided we’d had enough touristica after a few hours and sought refuge in the hills beyond the city.
Casa Rural Gasamans is a charmingly rustic hotel run by a trio of Santiagoans. The food is fantastic and the bedrooms comfortably appointed. Picture a guest built of heavy stone, windows with shutters overlooking a fruit arbor, and sunny hills and a stream running through the property and you’ll have a good feel for this idyllic spot. Highly recommended.
Praia das Catedrais – Position: 43° 33.24’N, 07° 09.51’W
From Santiago we headed north to Cathedral Beach on Galicia’s north coast, not far from Viveiro. The highways and byways in this quiet corner of Europe are well cared for, empty of cars, and have enough twists and turns for any motorcyclist to have a blast. We saw lines of adventure riders out enjoying the warm weather, mostly middle-aged and older men on BMW 1200s.
As mentioned in earlier blogs, tides in this part of the world rise and fall about 20’ (6m). Needless to say, Cathedral Beach’s natural formation of caves and cliffs can only be visited at low tide. Tourists from all over the world flock here for the chance to get their feet wet and explore a gigantic tide pool, safe in the knowledge that if they don’t get back to the visitor’s center in time they’ll drown like rats.
Besides its natural wonders and long, long history, Galicia is the epicenter for Albariño wines, now one of the world’s fastest growing. Delicious, dry without a pucker factor, similar to Viognier it is mercifully free of the oaky buttery hallmarks of big southern chardonnays. It’s inexpensive, too. Restaurants practically give it away. I suppose it’s rather like Germany in that all the best wines in Galicia are drunk by the locals before they can be exported. Another good reason to come and visit.
I would identify two levels for the problems of square riggers. They can’t make much progress upwind, so “clawing off a lee shore” is an ultra-dicey operation. And to even try that, they must head nearly perpendicular to the wind and therefore to the most probable direction of the waves. The combination of leeway–getting pushed onto the rocks by the wind–and broaching–getting rolled by breaking seas–is what causes all the excitement, as well it might.
And if all that weren’t enough, the huge uncertainties of a ship’s longitude (before reliable chronometers) meant that when you approached Finisterre from the west, you had no idea in the dark and rain how close you were to it until (often) way too late.
Iron men indeed.
Judging by the numbers of ships wrecked in the last 20 years, the coast continually demands respect. We are fortunate in that we are not bound by schedules like commercial ships.
mike are there any other cruiser taking the path you all have taken
Yes, a few. Mostly Dutch and Scandinavians. Only a handful of Americans, less than five so far. Seems like the French from the Caribbean tend to head straight to France. But the migration south to the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands is international and starts in late September. From there boats will wait to cross over to the Caribbean in November and December.