Easter 2013 again again

Cedeira is a pleasant 10 minute drive away and has a sweet shop that sells wonderful pick and mix so we headed off for a treat only to find we were too early by 30 mins so we had a wander around. This is the frontage where the river meets the sea.

A view up river if you time the tide right there is some lovely scenery to paddle a kayak through just up from the town although it is not a long paddle but is a nice little excursion to accompany a paddle round the ria.

Cedeira has s lovely beach, very sheltered and safe and generally fairly warm water.

A trip a few days later to Pantin was lovely, we parked under the pines a few mins walk from the little cove, this is the view as you approach the beach - despite being 24C and 3 pm there were very few people around.

Little Pantin is a sheltered cove from which you can see the surfers over on the bigger beach and still find tranquil water for snorkeling or just messing about in the water.

That little dry patch of sand is the place to be when there are spring tides.

Hard to believe that just round the corner there are 3-4 meter waves.

Jenny and Callum dug holes ...

While Rowan built sandcastles by dripping wet sand.

then found his favourite crumbly rock climbing corner.

Callum and Lorena enjoying a windy swim.

Two bigger boys heading out for some cliff jumping and two smaller boys wishing they could join in.

 They are great cliffs for children to jump off easy to climb on and many places to leap from.

I moved the car round closer to the far end of the cove and met a chap running down the cliff track who had a puncture but no jack.  That was a great excuse to go be a good Samaritan and see if this car could make it to my favourite car park.

which it did with remarkable ease.

That is as close as you can get to the end of the peninsula, I would love to pitch a tent there on a less windy day.

Masses of tiny crocuses and...

Squill scenting the air and...

these little blue ones that I can never remember the name of.

There are loads of tracks like this along the coast and in the mountains, being used to exploring in a Mitsi with proper 4X4 transmission and BF mud terrain tyres I was surprised at how well the Volvo performed although the general grabbers are part off road part on road rated and picked up a few cuts. 

We did not take photos of all the work that went on during the trip - most of the time we were stimming, cutting, clearing, painting re[pairing etc etc. compared with what it was like when we arrived the garden is starting to appear from the undergrowth.

The nearby trees were cut last summer and the garden gets a lot more light in the evening now, it had just hit shadow as the sunset at 9pm - this is April and it is lovely having such long light evenings.

Cedeira, garden and Pantin

Cedeira is a 10 minute drive away the old town is built to the west of the river and has a lovely church and square. Most of the rest of the town is spread along the ample sea front. There are two largish supermarkets and plenty of little shops as well.

Between the houses and the sea is a green strip of tree planted dunes that hosts a range of festivals during the course of the year.

being at the head of a small Ria, the beach is safe with plenty of shallow water, few currents and is usually fairly quiet apart from at peak season, even then the end furthest from the town is always quiet. This picture was taken mid afternoon on a holiday weekend in April with the shade temperature around 26C and the sea temperature 15C. There is a lifeguard in summer and a roped off safe swimming zone.

Scented stock grows wild in the dunes and smells wonderful in the sunshine.

In the distance you can see the harbour that nestles below an ancient castle. There is a resident fleet of fishing boats of all sorts of sizes and often a scattering of leisure craft as well.

There is a tidal river at the far end of this photo that makes a good trip in a kayak within a few minutes you pass under a couple of bridges, leave the houses behind and are winding through a lush green landscape. 

Back in the garden the Aloe verde has come into full flower 

I lost a few hours doing tidying and cleaning to take photos for advertising the house for summer rentals and for sale, this is the en-suite bathroom.

And the kitchen looking like it has not looked for many years

I found some time to weed some of the strawberries, no shortage of fruit and they taste wonderful.

After a long hard day I headed off to twang my guitar to the sunset above Pantin, I went a little further along one of my favourite tracks and found a good place to park.

Floods of thrift Ahhh

Oh blimey I hope I left it in Park with the handbrake firmly on, there is no sense of edginess when you park.

Lovely sunset, by the time I had finished twanging and loving Galicia it was pitch black on a moonless night, reversing up the barely defined track to somewhere safe to turn round was less than easy.

night of the dead Cedeira

Thee are the pumpkins the boys and Elise carved, scary isn't it

 We went to Cedeira, unfortunately we were a bit too early and every one got too hungry and tired to stay until the processions but we did see loads of carved pumpkins and other vegetables.

horses in Cedeira

There was a horse thing going on in Cedeira last weekend, the aim seemed to be to trot round the course looking good and getting to the end at the right time although at times it was rather hard to tell what was going on.

This chap on the right seemed to be pushing the limits a bit.

Lots of exercise machines on the sea front here and in most towns, they get a fair bit of use too especially by older folk who congregate around them in the evenings and younger folk who get a bit silly on them well at least our two do.

here and there

Some recent pics from around and about...

There is a little fort overlooking Cedeira it looks like a few walls and cannons at first glance, we went for a little walk on the headland and were surprised to find it open, once inside it is bigger than it looks and there is a helpful guide with a good smattering of English who told us about the English invasions and Napoleon etc.

 

  

Later the same day I took Kate and Luke kayaking on the lake at Vilaboa. Kate is well practiced but Luke has only done a little and did very well to stay in my unstable sea kayak.

Sam turned up just as we were setting off and joined us, I wasn't on form during the break but couldn't resist a 5 min paddle too. Sam is getting to grips with the sea kayak after a few trips over last year and I managed not to sink the low volume ancient slalom kayak although the whole of the front would submerse unless I kept my weight well back...I really must lose a few kilos.

There are some lovely wet place to visit like this one ...I managed to catch a double sinking action moment.

And some knights battling it out.

We went sailing ice cream tub boats on the river near Barquiera.

It was a short lived sport the river was raging and they were gone in no time.