Royan to Santander - Tuesday 2nd June

We did it, we did it, we did it! Arrived in Spain this afternoon. I'd like to say they put the flags out to greet us, but they didn't even come down to the pontoon to help us moor up and the wind was an utter nightmare. But enough of our wind, the journey...

Up with the lark, we were back on our way by 7.20am and almost struck disaster straight out of the port. The passage out was narrower than indicated and meant that we had 0 feet between us and rock bottom, or in this case, sandy bottom, according to our read out. For once we were glad to find ourselves in deep water, and off we went, down the Gironde and out to sea again. The sun was shining, the waves were small and we were the only pleasure craft around; strangely there was not one sail on the horizon nor small motor boat zipping along.

We had to do a dogleg to avoid the French target practice site (perhaps that's where all the other boats disappeared to?) so went straight out from the river mouth and then turned south after an hour and a half. There was nothing to see except sea and sky for about six hours, but surprisingly, the time passed swiftly and our excitement mounted as we neared the Spanish coast. Oh yes, except dolphins - we passed loads of them en route. The coastline which appeared out of the mist was entirely different from that which we'd left behind in France. Here it was mountainous and green, with small towns and villages coming into view as we drew closer.

Sadly we were too large to moor at the town marina and had to go some distance up river, so we're a bit out in the sticks. With no one to guide us in, we just headed for an empty berth and eventually managed to moor up, despite the wind doing its darndest to blow us off the pontoon. And amazingly, they've allowed us to stay put, so here we are for the next couple of days, relieved and delighted to be in a new country.