Saturday 30th August, Povoa da Varzim

Thursday was a late night. Sue arrived around 10.30 pm along with two guys she had picked up in the airport – Jim and Jeff who were coming over to do a delivery trip on Lyra, a boat parked next to ours. Well to be more exact, she had cadged a lift in their taxi. We invited them over for a drink to repay their kindness and quite a few wee drams later it was time to retire.

Friday was a good window to head south ahead of a couple of days of stronger southerly winds and rain. The forecast was southerly winds but very light and then turning westerly for the day. Some cloud was also forecast as a low pressure centre was due to form in the area we were headed to – Povoa de Vazim, about 50 miles south. We got up in time for sunrise ( 8am) to give us as much day light as possible. As for most days there was no wind at this time (not that we were ever up to verify this point).

Calaloo – Rick and Connie’s boat - was also traveling down with us (see pic above). We headed west for around 4 miles before rounding the north cardinal to head south for Portugal. As you can see below there was not a lot of wind hence it was a case of putting up with the drone of the engine.

Now Sue had come down to have a nice week of hot sailing weather. Within an hour the clouds started to build and by 10am we were in the middle of a rather active thunder storm. We had lightening flashes all around with pretty low visibility. We put various bits of assorted electronics into the oven (spare GPS etc) – well, most things work with Patak’s curry sauces! An hour later we were out of it but then the fog came down! We were in it for about an hour with patches of visibility down to less than 50 yards. It’s the first time I have used the radar this year! By midday the fog lifted, the wind got up a bit (15-17knts on the nose) but the waves were very light so it was no problem to motor sail. What a nice change compared to Ireland!

We did then get a chance to turn the engine off but only for half an hour as the wind swung more westerly, but it didn’t last long. The wind died, the fog came down again, the engine went on and we were back on the radar. One slight snag though is that the radar doesn’t show up all the pot marker bouys. It’s the first time we have had to peer into almost zero visibility to watch out that we don’t wrap a line round the prop. There were hundreds of them. Every few yards. It probably explains why there is so much sea food in the restaurants. If each marker generated one lobster per day, there would be enough to feed a third world country.

Thankfully the fog cleared for the last hour of the trip so we could see where we were going into the marina. It took us about 10 hours in total which was a couple of hours longer than expected. I think there was some adverse current for part of the trip and the head wind didn’t help.

Povoa marina is a very laid back place! The staff all speak good English and are really helpful. “Come and check in tomorrow”. “It’s only 15 Euros per night”. If you have an ARC flag – it’s 50% discount”. We are now looking for someone to borrow an ARC flag from. If you have one, let us know. Seriously, it’s a really nice place. It’s also full of Brits – a change from the Rias where red ensigns were almost as rare as rocking horse s**t. Showers are reasonable and better than most in the Rias. There is also a washing machine. Pam’s happy!

On Saturday we ventured out to Porto – on the metro. The metro is a cross between a train and a tram and takes about an hour into Porto. Buy a day ticket for 5 Euros and you can travel all over the place. The station is about 10 mins walk from the marina. A bit of clever map reading (pure guess work) managed to get us to the tourist dis-information office down the street from the station in Porto

(Trinidade is the name of the station you are aiming for). From there, armed with a map it was a doddle to get around. First of all, down to the sea front via the old town (it really was downhill all the way –except for the uphill bit to the cathedral). There were some great photo opportunities – shame I didn’t have the good camera with me. Unfortunately it was all uphill at the end of the day to get back to the metro station. ( Portois basically an uphill or downhill town).

 

We had a lunch. Very nice but a bit more pricey than we were used to – but I put that down to the waterfront being a very touristy place. There was yacht moored on the harbour front (a Spanish boat) but it looked awfully lumpy with the wake from many passing boats – not a nice way to spend a day but probably better after dark. After lunch we walked across the bridge to the south side of the river to look around one of the Port cellars.

We went into one down the far end (Ferreira’s) who laid on an “English” tour. We were nervous we would not be allowed in given the rules of the house shown below.

I think we were failing on two of the criteria for serving or selling wine. The tour was very worth while (3 Euros each but with that discounted off any full bottles you bought at the end). We went round with what looked like a tour party but of mixed nationalities (mainly Germans but some Italian and one Brit). It turned out they were all on a surfing school – out on a sightseeing day as the weather was too bad to surf. It was a good craic having a chat with them over the obligatory tasting session at the end of the tour.

We did learn a lot about port wine, so bad luck kids, the vintage port your uncle bought may now be at risk!

Back at the marina, we had a meal on the boat and then went up the club bar for a drink. Not many of the Brits seem to use this place but it is very welcoming and you get a free drink coupon when you arrive in the marina (so that is worth almost half a nights stay). This is the place the wi-fi is beamed from so if you can’t get it from the boat (as we couldn’t – too far away and round a corner) it’s were you have to come. Hardship or what?

Did I mention the weather was bad today? Well after all the thunderstorms and fog on Friday, Saturday started (as the forecast predicted) with wind, cloud and rain and although the rain abated (ie stopped), it was a rather cold and grey day (certainly not tee shirts and shorts weather). I think Sue has brought this lot down with her. I am not sure it’s going to get much better all week. I checked the forecast on the internet in the bar tonight and it looks like we may get a couple of nice days but then there is a big depression coming in later in the week to keep things rather cool. As a result we will start heading south on Sunday to try and get to Lisbon before the winds get to hurricane force. The plan then is to head down to Lexioes tomorrow (the grand distance of 12 miles) and then the long leg (65 miles) down to Fig de Fos on Monday. I have promised Sue that there will be some sunbathing weather tomorrow!