Cangas

There is a marina at Cangas but the pilot book suggested that BV might be too large for the berths so we anchored close to the town but out of the way of the regular ferries that run across the ría to Vigo. That turned out to be a wise move; there were some berths large enough for us but they were all taken. We therefore zipped backwards and forwards to the town quay in our inflatable.

Casa de Patin

We really enjoyed visiting Cangas. Whilst it is apparently a major tourist destination it really didn’t feel very spolit for it and, if there were visitors, they were mainly Spanish. The beach alongside the town was very nice and well used; even the school kids had a daily lesson on the beach. The old town is known for its Casas de Patin; houses with an external staircase to the first floor. Apparently in the 18^th century these were the essential design feature you had to have included in your new house build if you were going to keep up with the neighbours.

Around the town, as is the norm in Galicia, there are some very elegant buildings which are well kept and yet right next door can be the shell of a matching building but in complete disrepair.

Cangas is a lively town full of the hubub of normal everyday Spanish life. It was great fun to explore the narrow streets and watch it all going on around us. The highlight for us though was visiting the mercado, or market hall. It was crammed full of locals haggling for the freshest fish. The selction of fish and shellfish was amazing.

Mercado

The percebes, which are a type of barnacle, caught our eye. They are not farmed but are harvested from the rocks on the wild coastline, which perhaps explains their price.  That, and being a popular local delicacy, means that they commanded an amazing €100 per kilo price and that was, apparently, a special offer too!

Percebes

We resisted the temptation to try the percebes, instead buying another shellfish which neither of us have had before, razor clams.











When we were packing up BV we were worried about the amount of weight we were putting on her and, in particular, the weight of books. We have a wide selection of cookery books at home but they were mostly big and heavy so they were left behind. We mulled over bringing just one of the large ones, Rick Stein’s ‘Seafood’ and in hindsight have been very glad we did. Not only does it have a huge selection of recipes but it also has excellent photographs to guide you through preparing some of the more unusual seafood such as the octopus and squid we cooked. At Cangas it was once again invaluable in providing us with a very simple but extremely good recipe. So, with a glass of Albariño wine we enjoyed excellent razor clams a la plancha. They are a delight to eat and are now high on our list of favourite shellfish.

Razor clams a la plancha

We have still received no news on our application for permission to visit the Islas Cíes. From our anchorage at Cangas we can look across at the bright lights of Vigo and decided that, with the wild pace of life onboard BV, perhaps it is time for a ‘City Break’ in Vigo and the opportunity to try to find the office that deals with the approvals for visiting the Islas Cíes to see what has happened to our application.

Vigo