Fettler's Voyages: Pontevedra to Arousa

This is Pontevedra! (photo: A. Eiris)

What a fantastic time we had in Pontevedra. It all started with the pint of Kentish ale mentioned in the previous post. We met the right people there - now our good friends Pedro and Carol - who welcomed us into their circle of friends and showed us where to go and when.

From them we learned a lot about Galician life in general, music and night life in particular. Things don't really get going until after midnight and then it continues for as long as you can keep it up. There's a superb live music scene and plenty of great chat. It felt somehow familiar, suggesting that the pan-Celtic connexion is more than just an idea.

The truly hardy call for aguardiente de cafe, which we dubbed 'the rocket fuel of Galicia', that delivers a compact hit of caffeine, alcohol and sugar and may possibly eliminate the need for (or ability to) sleep altogether. We left that stuff well alone and so would typically flag and fade into the night somewhere between 0300 and 0600. After six days of that the instinct of self preservation dictated that we move on, sorry though we were to say our farewells.

We didn't get very far the first day out, pulling in at the first opportunity (Sanxenxo) for some much needed rest. On the following day we made it around into the next Ria, Arousa, anchoring out here and there and keeping a fairly low profile while recovering from that week of Pontevedran debauchery.

We have managed to catch up with the Kodiaks again and enjoy some more of their company and had a visit from Sonja's cousin Melanie, which was very nice. Shorter than we would have liked, but thus is it ever.

The weather is a bit iffy at the moment. Looks like conditions are hellish in Biscay and the Channel but we're tucked up in Vilagarcia where it's showery and blustery but not too bad. Tomorrow we're planning an excursion by rail to the famous Santiago de Compostela.