Our plan was to cross the Bay of Biscay via La Rochelle, but the winds were southeast, so we crossed direct to Gijon. So, although we had crossed the Bay twice before, this was the first direct crossing. It took us just under three days. We celebrated in a Sideria where locals drink cider that has been poured for them by the bar staff. They look you in the eye whist pouring the cider from the bottle held high above their heads into a glass held below their waists. Needless to say, a visit to a Sideria is best made in welly boots.
From there we went on to La Coruna and sheltered from the storm that caused damage to ‘Ecover’ and forced Knox-Johnston to return to Gijon for repairs to his mast. When he was interviewed in Gijon, he was asked to rate the storm between 1-10 and he replied 11! For once our timing seemed to have been right. We all flew home from Oporto, so that we could attend my niece’s wedding. I returned with Tony Ferguson on the Sunday afterwards, and we sailed her to Oporto via a pleasant stay in Bayona, where Tony had me up and down the mast half a dozen times completing tasks that had been on the do-list for too long.