REFLECTIONS
The Atlantic coast was always going to be a complicated and nervy coastline to sail. I’m proud to have navigated it successfully and do not consider the rough winter and late spring have caused delay or inconvenience, though there were times when I felt tired of the relentless difficulty.
It really couldn’t have worked out any better. My arrival in Portugal coincided, to the day, with the establishment of the Azores High, the weather system that sets in place reliable northerly winds along the Portuguese coast, and that made it possible to sail down this coastline in mostly good-sized steps. Earlier progress would have been impossible. So, considered in this context, the delays reaching and getting round Galicia were no setback at all, but instead brought opportunities to spend time in a part of Spain that I sensed an affinity for, and that feels a lot like home.