La Caruna
I’m almost certain La Caruna is a lovely, typically North-west, Spanish port, when viewed under the right conditions. Today, battered by heavy winds and hail-storms, it looked suspiciously like Whitby on a cold, wet winter’s day (only not quite so attractive).
It being Christmas Day, we took our time emerging into the daylight. We missed breakfast but made lunch and enjoyed the fact that, for the first time in three days, getting from one side of the ship to the other didn’t feel like a cruel assault course.
After lunch, we went for for a walk into town. Everywhere was closed, of course, so we picked up a tourist map in the terminal and went looking for whatever La Caruna had to offer. Our route took us through the narrowest part of the town to a beach on the opposite side. Here, we marvelled at the ferocity of the surf; monstrous waves rolled into the broad bay, and the sea beyond looked positively scary. It occurred to us that this was the same sea we’d been battling through for the last three days (no wonder it had been such hard work).
On several occasions, we had to seek emergency shelter as a squall rolled in. One particularly fierce blast brought sheets of hail with it, and winds that whipped around the streets in quite a spectacular fashion. Our objective was the Hercules Tower; an impressive lighthouse on the end of a small promontary. Essentially, that’s all it is, but it is impressive all the same, with stunning coastal views in every direction.
We didn’t stay long. The wind was cold, and time was getting on, so we headed back towards the port in the shortest route we could find. In some respects, viewing a town like La Caruna when it’s all closed gives you a very different perspective than if viewed on a hot day in the height of the tourist season, when all the bars are open and the streets are heaving with visitors.It was cold and quite manky, but strangely enjoyable.
This evening was our first formal night, which meant donning best bib and tucker. Despite my assertion that wearing a bow-tie is one of the most uncomfortable fashion inventions ever, it’s been an enjoyable evening, and a Christmas Day to remember.
We’ll be remaining in La Caruna until tomorrow lunchtime, when we are due to set sail for Tenerife. Everybody’d keeping their fingers firmly crossed that the weather’s going to improve a little…
