A Bit Biscay

Ahoy,
well the Ol' Girl saw me safely across Biscay, 321 nautical miles in one jump. That was four nights and five days at sea(a day longer due to issue). It was very tiring, exciting, challenging, tiring, amusing, frustrating, rewarding and did I mention tiring?
Having left Groix in very favourable conditions it did not take long for the weather to give me a little test. One night the winds gusted at 35 knots and one of the slugs on the main sail snapped, I was already fully reefed, I said a few choice words to the sea and carried on.
The sight of the sea and stars were completely awe inspiring, alas I only had brief glimpses of Dolphins.
Sleep was an interesting notion, I did not sleep at night and only cat napped in the day. Even in the days when I would party for three days, what a long time ago that feels now, I would not have been as tired. Maybe all those years ago helped in some way, that's my story and I am sticking to it.
I had no luck fishing, as it was I had plenty of tinned Mackerel anyway, having said this I mainly survived on Earl Gray tea, Haribo and fruit cake.
As I neared the coast of Spain, looking forward to a later berth and some sleep the *?$%ing engine overheated, to say I was a little despondent is quite an understatement. After warning the coast guard the Ol' Girl had limited maneuverability and requesting he told all the other ships, I set to work, firstly making a cup of tea to calm me down and then finding the problem, the impeller was fine but the thermostat did seem a little sticky. After many hours hove to, bobbing about I crossed my fingers and hit start, she worked, with a loss of power but she worked.
We carried on to Nauta Coruna, a very swanky marina with a great yard crew and a very lovely manager called Maria, I think we may go for a Mojito somewhere, I am not sure what she thinks though as she does not know yet.
I am going to get some of the people I know to have a whip round towards the engine parts and what might be a little longer stay than I expected. I do not want to do the "Coast of Death" in Maria's words, with a wonky engine, the Ol' Girl and me have all the wonky we can handle as it is.
So, over the next few days I will buy a beer for a Volvo mechanic in exchange for a master class on what to take off and put back on the engine and then attempt to follow his instructions, do some laundry, stock the boat up and get ready to head further south.