All posts by Tim Good

The Hidden Lagoon!

Alegranza is inhabited by only one family and otherwise off limits to tourists. There is however one place you can go since you’re technically not stepping foot on the island nor disturbing the rare birds that call it home! The Hidden Lagoon really is hidden. It’s an old lava tube than ran into the sea from the Island’s single imposing volcano. The roof has collapsed leaving a sun lit lagoon, only reachable by boat or a lengthy swim.

The Light At Anchor (Poem)

I am by no means a poet or writer so god knows how I came about to do this but somehow I did. We were sitting in bed one morning at anchor and as the sun rose the light danced around the bed sheets. I felt that it was too easy to become used to this amazing thing that only a sailor can appreciate. So I started filming a few clips and then decided to add some words to it.

Rescue from Lysefjord!

It was our last 2 days in Norway and we sailed up the famous and remote Lysefjord with its iconic towering sides. Sailing back down the fjord we spotted a tiny orange object on the shore. Two young German adventures had got themselves stranded on a small rock with nowhere to go!

This article was published in Practical Boat Owner. To see the full article click the image below:


A full year after returning from Norway we received a lovely letter in the post. It was from the two young Germans that we rescued!They had been trekking on unmarked routes in an attempt to reach Flørli, a small village reached only by boat. They had no GPS or maps and descended down to the shore about 5 miles too early. They realised it was the wrong way after climbing down steep ravines and having to abseil in parts. After a short while they realised their mistake but there was no way to return the way the came. Below the map shows in White the route they took whilst in Red was the intended route.

The sides of Lysefjord are impossibly steep . End to end, it measures 42 km(26 mi) with rocky walls falling nearly vertically over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) into the water.

Lysefjord was our last mini trip before heading back to UK and we spent time at Flørli preparing the boat, which included decommissioning the inflatable dingy. Once ready we sailed down the Fjord in strengthening winds when Tim spotted a small orange spec on the shore. The Fjord itself is quite wide, so spotting people from one side to the other would be impossible.

The orange spec was in fact the rain cover of their rucksacks that they waved frantically at the very occasional passing boat. Until then their attempts has been futile.

Emmie stowed the sails and we used the engine to get closer. Two young Germans stood upon a small rock on the shoreline. Each side was thick forest leading up to vertical cliffs. After a few minutes we decided the only option was for them to swim to the boat. Better that than spend the next 2 hours recommissioning the dingy. However, whilst the two half naked Germans stood on their little rock ready to swim, we remembered that we had a set of ladders that clip onto the bow (front of the boat).

The bow on Shadowfax is of a classic design and overhangs the water by a meter or so. This meant we could very carefully bring the boat close to the end of the shore allowing them to climb onto the ladders without the boat crashing into the rock! It was a delicate exercise which took 4 attempts to get them and their bags on board safely.

Within 30 minutes they had gone from quite a serious situation to drinking tea and biscuits on board a yacht! We then dropped them off at a village near the mouth of the Fjord.


You could be forgiven to think I exaggerate when I say their situation was serious. However, we saw very few boats and those that we did see were on the other side of the Fjord since this was the most direct route and arguably the most beautiful, where the famous Lysefjord waterfalls descend. It was utter chance we spotted their rucksack cover and we were significantly closer to their side of the Fjord than other boats. What I am suggesting is that they could have easily spent another few days or more on that rock without being spotted. Needless to say, there was no phone reception where they were.

Motorcycle Tour into Peneda-Gerês National Park

We sailed into Porto (Portugal) and Emmie wanted to take some inspiration for some new pieces of work so quickly setup in a creative working space in the old town. Meanwhile I rented a new Royal Enfield for a trip into the Peneda-Gerês National Park.

The park is in the far North of Portugal bordering Spanish Galicia. It is a region of mountainous outcrops with a good population of Wolves, wild horses and historical villages with a history of barley farming.

The route took me along the Douro River and then North via small villages and into the National Park. I cut through off road to the Santuary of Nossa Senhora. Every year, in the first week of September, several hundred pilgrims from all over the region and from neighbouring Galicia flock to this place of pilgrimage. The dedication to Nossa Senhora das Neves (Our Lady of the Snows) originates from the Middle Ages, spreading the legend of her apparition at this site, where a small chapel has been built. The present Sanctuary, built in the nineteenth century, is topped by a church with a monumental flight of steps.

The route on bike was was approximately 50% road and 50% dirt with plenty of lakes, historical villages, swimming spots and lots of windowed ladies walking around dress in all black!

The bike was a Royal Enfield Himalayan which is a half touring and half dirt bike but light weight and good for solo adventures were it can be maneuvered up small tracks and over rough ground easily.

Aviles, Spain

Aviles is in Asturias in Northern Spain. It is an industrial town and not very pretty to enter although it has a lovely old town, good provisions, excellent transport links and is a perfect place to securely leave the boat to return to the UK or as a staging post into Asturias and the Picos de Europa.

Contact
The marina is a set of pontoons secured by a coded gate and manged by a very friendly chap called Angel. The best way to contact him is via WhatsApp as channel 9 is no monitors and email responses are slow. Feel free to email us if you want his number. Fees for a month were approx £10 per day in 2018 and there are laundry and shower facilities but they are about 10 minutes walk from the pontoons.

The Town
The town looks frankly awful from the pontoons but you’re only 5 minutes walk into the old town which is really excellent. The is a nice clean park and well kept colonial building with every provision you could need including an indoor market open daily selling fresh fruit, meat and vegetables.

Transport
The bus station, trains and car hire are all next to one another and only 5 minutes walk from the pontoons. We found Enterprise to be more competitive. The bus to the Asturias Airport took about 15 minutes and cost about 4 Euros. There is a direct Gatwick flight about 2-3 times per week.

Ribadeo, Spain

Ribadeo, in Northern Spain on the boarder of Asturias & Galicia, doesn’t get a particularly good write up as a top cruising destination but it does offer a safe entrance, a lovely anchorage and 3 separate villages to visit as well as nice coastal walks.

Anchored between Ribadeo and Castropol

Most yachts who visit head for the marina which is on the starboard side as you pass under the bridge (20m). You can anchor in the bay outside (Ensenda de Arnao) where the holding is good but it can be a little rolly as the tide puts you beam on to any swell.

Our track in. Click to enlarge.

If you enter on a half rising tide however you can anchor in about 3m of water (LAT) opposite Ribadeo and just off the small pretty village of Castropol. The sand banks do shift slightly, but using both Navionics and the Satellite image from Google / Bing Maps, then you can easily slip between the two large sand banks. We draw 2m and anchored at 43°31.549’N / 7°2.222’W with a kedge in a bahamian moor setup just to ensure we didn’t swing around at slack tide. In hindsight I don’t think it is necessary and you should be fine to swing. You can see by the photos below from our drone there is a fairly wide channel.

Clear and clean swimming spots within 10 minutes walk of Ribadeo Marina.

The town of Castropol is small, quiet and pretty and Ribadeo is larger with plenty of facilities. There are nice coastal walks from the Marina and some clean bays to have a swim with a water quality of 3/3.

 

 

Some more pics of the area:

Cycling the Picos De Europa

After sailing down the Brittany coast and then spending a few days enjoying La Rochelle, we departed in the evening with a good forecast for at least 3 days. The Bay of Biscay is notorious with sailors but being only 230 miles, how hard could it be! The first few hours we very rough but only because of a headland we had to clear, and once around, it was plain sailing.

We first saw the snow capped peaks of the Picos De Europa towering out of the sea on the horizon. Since the sea was calm we were able to enter the small Spanish village of Ribadesella, the nearest harbour to the Picos de Europa national park.

We then did the hard slog of 50km up, up, and up to the start of the national park and then spent another few days exploring and camping in the Mountains.

Sea, Cycle & Ice

“Wow look at that enormous lenticular cloud” I shouted. It appeared to be sitting atop the range of mountains that seem never ending as we sailed up the Norwegian coastline, into the Article Circle. We both starred in awe and simultaneously, each raising an eyebrow and tilting our heads, said, “that’s not a cloud, that’s ICE!”

I can’t say what time of day it was as we said goodbye to the night a week previously. Sunlight was now 24hrs a day and opened new doors to adventure.

What we were looking at was the Svartisen Ice Cap, large enough to be seen from space easily. It didn’t take long to check the charts and figure that we could sail right up the edge of it, where a glacier ran almost to the sea.

It started as a bike ride, as we’d have over 1000m to hike up with the skis so any help on the initial approach to the glacier was welcome.

We found a good mooring for the boat and made a plan. The aim was to hike up the edge of the Ice Cap, traverse it and summit Mt Snotinden, Svartisen’s highest point. After a long climb we reached the refuge at the edge of the Ice Cap.

1200m up on foot!

 

 

We’ve stayed in may mountain huts, some little more than a pile of logs in Patagonia and others, more akin to a hotel. This however was something else. 

In true Norwegian style they had build a superb little refuge with a kitchen, solar, wood burner and beds. We need not have lugged up our sleeping bags and camping stoves. However, for all its glory there was no other souls in sight.

Home for a couple of days above the clouds!

We prepared our kit of set off early the next morning. We wanted to cross, summit and return in a day. We started well and fast but taking care to ‘rope up’ initially for fear of crevasses. We could clearly see the summit at the far side of the ice cap and through the clear air it seemed perfectly achievable in a only a few hours.

5 hours later and we were still a way off! Distances are deceiving when there are no other objects to gauge against!

Blisters were now setting in after 5 hours on the flat!

Cloud swept across the cap like sand storms, disappearing as fast as they came. The last section appeared short and gentle from a  but it turned out to be a steep incline to the summit which we did in zero visibility. Reaching the top it cleared to give us glorious views across the entire cap and an appreciation that, in fact, we had come up quite a lot when most of the day felt we were on the flat. This would work in our favour on the return so we settled in to enjoy the view a little longer.

Afterall it was never going to get dark so what was the rush?

Once again distances deceived us. What looked like a short steep descent where we might get 3-4 turns, turned out to be a huge snow face. Emmie hurtled down, becoming a tiny spec. I followed suite and we were soon gliding our way across the ice cap back towards the refuge!