It was a long slow motor on one engine around to Cedeira - our next port of call. We saw Splice sneak past us early in the day and though it looked a little choppy they assured us it wasn't when we saw them later. We headed out when we thought we'd get a bit of tide assist and the forecast promised wind. Though there was some swell it was very comfortable and beautiful weather but only a light breeze on the sodding nose! Cedeira is a delightful Ria, with the entrance tucked away. Loads of room to anchor, which is precisely what we did - anchoring on one engine so we go couldn't really dig the anchor in fully. Splice was there, and soon came over to say hello. We told them our pulley news and Carolyn soon came up some suggestions from their pilot books as well as seeing the tourist office and asking there - most kind! We ended up going for tapas with them at a place called Bar Kilowatio, that both Carolyn and I had seen on JimB's website. It was a great recommendation - the food was great! Brisa, also recommended on JimB's site was also good but Kilowatio wins hands down! After dinner went to see what was happening in the town plaza. The downside was we had to carry the dinghy back to the water as the tide had gone out a long way! It wasn't a real problem though - but from then on we used the little landing stage by the crane. Although there was a locking gate, we never saw it locked. The harbour guys suggested it was fine to use, so we did :)

The wind piped up the next day and there was some anchor dragging. Not by us fortunately, but a French Feeling boat missed us by a couple of feet and the couple onboard proceeded to have a domestic about re-anchoring. She couldn't hold the boat into the wind for long enough for the anchor to bite, but he had to drop the anchor as it was being done manually. We were about to head over in the dinghy to assist when they finally got sorted. Not before another near miss on us and Splice though!

The tourist office put me in contact with a local engineering firm who came out to see us. We showed him the pulley and he was soon on the phone. I may not speak much Spanish but when the engineer is saying "solo la polea?!" you know it's going to be pricey. Volvo wanted €130 and that wasn't with a free alternardor either! I declined their kind offer, so they tried to find a pattern replacement which they did at a more reasonable price. We will call you you tomorrow, they said.

Splice needed to get on as they had more of a schedule than us - so we said goodbye. Note the natty transom extensions. We have our dinghy step which is working well for us now. We decided to hang on and see the result of the pulley search. "€40 and it'll be here on Thursday" they said. But the fiesta starts on Friday - so will it really? Si, si! Well it wasn't, but by this time, we'd befriended Andreas, the "taxi driver" who's rib could be seen doing insane speeds around the harbour. He convinced us to stay for the fiesta and I'm glad he did - it was great! Some traditional music, and then later some great pipers supported by some excellent musicians! They really love their explosives in Spain, and the whole weekend was punctuated by ear-splitting bangs, building to a crescendo as the effigy was paraded around the town. The fireworks at midnight were something else! It was wonderful to be able to sit outside on the trampolines at midnight, watching them in shorts and t-shirt and no dew! The parade next day by fishing boat was really good to - and we had grandstand seats! Of course, you know what happens in Spain. No pulley. But not to worry we were having a great time and the nice thing about cats is the built in redundancy of a spare engine :) We spoke to the engineers and they said it was in A Coruna, and as there really was wind, we could sail there. So we did...