Grand Slam

Monday 15th September, We're there!!!!!!

After a quiet night anchored in Sines, we made an early morning get-away for the 80 mile passage south. We set the alarm for 6.15am and by 6.45am it was just light enough to think about getting the anchor up. It came up no problem, no weed, no mud.....easy. So off we headed south. I had calculated that we needed to achieve 6.5 knts all the way to get to Lagos before dark so off we blasted with the engine at 2300 rpm.

The wind started at 8 knts from the north east. Not good! That gave us about 1knt apparant wind which is not good if the main is up. Tactically it was better to have the main up - as if the wind changes then it would be better to have it up rather than have to go into the wind and raise it in 2 metres of swell. So we put it up. We spent the next 5 hours with the wind behind us and the main flogging in the annoying swell. It was wall to wall blue sky but for the first time for months still quite cold.

There were lots of dolphins around, some of whom came to play with us for a while but I must get a book on how to tell the different types. At one stage we saw some very large ones with much smaller "beaks", one of which was very white all over, almost albino. Unfortunately though no whales. 

By 2pm, the wind started to move more westerly which stopped the main flogging but at 12 knts was still not strong enough to keep our boat speed up so we continued to do our share to help global warming (well it does need to be warmer in Scotland) and burn 3 litres of diesel an hour. It then went a bit more westerly (the wind - not the boat silly) and we unfurled half of the jib with then an apparant wind of around 60 degrees and took our mid layer jackets off - the sun was now hot.

By 3.30pm, we were nearing Cabo St Vicente, the southernmost point of Europe with dire warnings in the pilot book about keeping a couple of miles off. The wind got up to 20 Knts and we turned the engine of as we rounded the point and put our mid layer jackets back on!! The waves were not half as bad as we thought they would be but it still was a bit scary given only two of us on the boat. At this point we were about an hour ahead of schedule. After St Vicente it is only 3 miles to Cabo St Sagres (it must be named after the beer) after which it is a turn to the east and out of the ever prevailing Atalantic swell. By this time the wind was up to 25 knts. We had one reef in the main and 60% of the jib and were tanking along at 7.5 knts on a slalom course avoiding the 3 million pot markers. What a sail! The best we have had all trip - and the wettest. Since we left Waterford for the 14 hour sail down to Crosshaven in Ireland, I don't think we have had a wave over the deck! All the Atlantic swell never made it. Turning into the shelter of the Algarve, we now had the customary short chop - broadside on, with a wave hitting the back quater every 15 minutes and soaking the helm (ie Me!!!). The sun dried out the wetness but left a layer of salt everwhere.

From Sagres to Lagos is about 15 miles which we did in 2 hours and then into the harbour before 7pm - making the journey in less than 12 hours. The final 3 hours of the trip were really great sailing rather than the usual motoring we had had to endure.

 

Our first view of Lagos (or at least the cliffs in front of it) with these nasty little waves that kept soaking me!! (no pics of Cabo St Vicente - Pam was too busy hanging on and I was driving!!!)

We turned into the shelter of the bay with the entrance to Lagos and took the sails down in 20 knts of wind - (what shelter?) and headed into the channel leading to the marina.

We moored up on the reception pontoon to register and then moved onto our berth just as it started to get dark. One big problem with Lagos marina is that there is not a lot of room and we were put next to a motorboat with a very high freeboard. That just wasn't going to work so we complained the next morning and were moved to the other side of the pontoon with a bit more room. I'll give a more detailed overview of Lagos in the next blog entry!

So that was it. We made it. Amazing! 2000 miles in 4 months with now 40 places that we have stopped at. There were many times we didn't think we were going to get here but we did. Magic.

As I write this (on Wednesday after 2 days relaxing - and watching Liverpool hammer Marseilles - aren't Liverpool doing well ever since I started to watch them "remotely"?) the trip down seems a long time ago as we seem to be in "holiday" mode. We have a Difficult Jet flight back on Friday (joke copyright Martin Edge) but are back down in October to continue the experience.

I will try and summarise some of our thoughts in the next blog entry and some first impressions of Lagos but one important announcement is the winner of the cheapest round in the world contest (well at least between Dunblane and Lagos contest). .......and the winner is.....

Actually it is very difficult as we now have a wild card in from left field called "happy hour". This just isn't fair as it seems to be only down here in the Algarve so for a moment the rules say happy hour doesn't count, so the winner is .....the British Bar in Rua da Arsenal in Lisbon with wine (for a big glass) and a half litre of beer for 4 Euros. However, a late entry when allowing happy hour pricing is Lazy Jacks in the marina in Lagos where the same (although a slightly smaller glass of wine) was only 3 Euros (and you can watch footy - did I say that Liverpool had hammered Marseilles?). And the Craic was good. For the best craic however, you had to go to Kehoes in Kilmore Quay but the drinks were 3 times the price!

As I said I will try and summarise some stuff and write a bit about Lagos in the next blog entries and although we will be going home for a few weeks, it looks like there is plenty to do down here including learning how to dive (again!) and some interesting sailing - so it looks like we will keep this blog running as long as some of you are reading it (work must be awfully boring? - is it?  I have forgotten).

So where from here? Short term plan is to go home for a few weeks, then come back to the sun. We will winter here and then in the spring look at going east toward the eastern med - or maybe just stay put.

Anyone figured out the book I had been reading in Ireland (you need to look at some of the blog entries around the Arklow / Kilmore Quay times to understand the question if you are confused)?

Sunday, 14th September, Sines

Following the last blog entry the wind has blown a lot. And that's an understatement! We had hoped to leave Cascais early Saturday morning to do the 55 mile sail down to Sines but the wind was still over 20 knots with a 4 metre plus swell. We set the alarm for 7am but quickly went back to bed.

The drawback of this delay was that the weather window to get to Lagos was getting narrower but the bonus was that I was able to go up to one of the bars in Cascais to see Liverpool whip United. Yeeeessssssssss!!!!!!! About time too! The staff in the Bar Iberico must be getting fed up with us. That's an England win and a Liverpool win in the same week. It also gave us chance to have one last drink with Rick and Connie on Calaloo as we will probably miss them in Lagos as we will be flying home before they get there. Hopefully we will catch up with them next year.

So it was a re-run on Sunday morning with the alarm set for 7 am. The wind had dropped a lot - in fact there wasn't any so it was a 5 hour motor sail until it increased to the point at which we could sail fast enough. The problem we seem to face all the time on these long sails is that we only have around twelve hours of daylight so anything over 50 miles means that we can't aford to sail at 4 knts which is what we end up with if the wind is 10knts dead behind us. We motored until we passed Cabo Espichel and then we were able to to sail.

 

Cabo Espichel with the wind building - we've just been round that!!

In fact, the wind managed to get up to 20-25 knts again which meant a great and exciting sail into Sines with quite lumpy seas. We ended up gybing back and forward (to avoid going dead downwind) as there were only two of us on the boat and it was a bit bumpy to rig a pole to goose-wing. It really was nice to sail "properly" again. Tea shirt and shorts, blue sky, 25 C plus - magic.

We got into Sines about five-ish and dropped the anchor in the bay. There is a nice marina (and what looked like a brand new amenities building) in the bay but we had decided to anchor to get a quick getaway the following morning (and it's cheaper!). We chucked the anchor overboard, let the chain out slowly and dug it in. Easy! We've not had a problem at all anchoring down here - unlike the "is it holding in the weed" in Scotland.

 

The Sines anchorage - with castle on left and me (taking the picture and drinking beer) so you can't see me

Pam was a bit worried about registering with the authorities - ie the maritime police, the immigration, the customs, the local library and Mrs Miggins pie shop etc - because there are dire warnings in the pilot book about fines if you don't. All these people are part of a huge job creation scheme in Portugal and must have something to do. Every port you go to has all these authorities and you have to report to all of them. Usually the marina does it for you - but you still need to go through the formalities at every port (and I have yet to see a library book!). Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I called the marina on channel 9 (by the way they do have a vhf now - the pilot book said they didn't in 2005 - someone must have been saving their pennies) and asked if I needed to register. I was told that if the maritime police wanted to talk to us they would come out to the boat. That was easy then. Seems like they are very hot on having all the details when you go to the marina but couldn't care if you anchor. The YBW forum (or should I say - one of the contributors) had made the same comment. Another thing is the further south we get on the Iberian peninsular, the level of command of the English language gets much better. The marina guy on the radio spoke great English.

The pilot book paints a nice picture of Sines and it certainly seemed it. It was windy when we got in but the bay gives great protection from the north so the boat was quite quiet. Overnight however the wind dropped and a lot of swell was making it's way in, rolling the boat quite a lot. Also the following morning the wind was around 5 knts from the north and there was the destinctive aroma of a refinery (I should know. I work next to one - oh that's wrong I used to work next to one. Just about forgotten this "work" thing). Overall though it does look a nice place and one where we would have liked to spend more time. Unfortunately however, we had one more leg to sail and a flight home at the end of the week so it was to be another early start. The anchorage is very open to the south and south west so not a good place to be if the wind blows hard from that direction.

The next leg was an 80 mile passage to Lagos.....in 12 hours of daylight.. well maybe 13 hours if you can peer into the darkness to spot the lobster pots. Once again these pots are everywhere, even in over 100 metres of water but mostly around the harbours you come in and out of. That means you don't really want to run your engine in the dark. We therefore planned a 7am start and try and keep up over 6knts all the way down. There was also a big headland to go round, Cabo St Vicente. The description seemed similar to Ratray head and Carnsore point - and only 2 of us on board!!

...still we had a pleasant evening, sipping red wine and Super Bock (the replacement for Estrella) thinking about all of you back home rushing back from the office in the wind and rain. Sorry Guys!!

With 2000 miles behind us, nearly 4 months and 39 different places we have stopped, we are now one day from our destination!! We are nearly there!!!!! Will we make it?????

Thursday 11th September, Still in Cascais

Well that plan didn't work! We needed a two day weather window to sail the two legs down to Sines and then Lagos. We were due to leave early Wednesday but unfortunately the storm that hit the UK today also had it's effect down here with F6/7 winds - so we decided to play tourists instead. Upside was that I was able to see England win their first game of football for ages. We went up the bar Iberico in one of the town's squares and had a meal, a few beers and great craic with the other 50 or so England supporters.

The first half of the week was really nice weather - after Sue left - but last night brought the first sign of clouds and by this morning it was horizontal rain for a couple of hours. The forecast (which has been spot on!) is showing high winds tomorrow and then reducing on Saturday for a few days. Looks like then it will be early Saturday we leave although any hint of high winds and we will delay a day - Liverpool are playing United at lunch-time Saturday. This isn't a bad place to get stuck waiting for weather. A bit expensive in the marina but so much to do. Time then for another day in Lisbon tomorrow!

......and if Sue sends me the pictures, I will post a blog entry on our days moored next to royalty!

Monday 8th September, Cascais again

Nice (and expensive) marina but no wifi!! The marina is trialing a system but it is not working and no likelihood of any change soon. There are a couple of bars in the marina with it but they were not working either when I took the laptop up and are too far from access from the boat. We can just about get a signal from the Hotel Baia (about half a mile away) in the town but only with the antenna half way up the mast and at high water! It’s a bit inconvenient to have to go up to town to get on the internet but you can’t have everything.

Most of the sailing blog sites have oodles of info on Lisbonso I thought I would just put on a couple of bits that may be a bit different after our 6 day stop here (although we have not gone yet!). It is certainly one of the better places to spend some time after a few hard days sailing with lots to see. Cascais also is a good place to base yourself as it broadens the scope of where to go if you want to get outside the city of Lisbon itself. We had a look at the marina at Doca da Alcantra but it is central to the city and not the best place to go to the beach!!

On Friday we headed off into Lisbon on the train. 1.75 Euros each way  and every 20 minutes. If you are thirsty after a long day seeing the city sights, stop at the “British Bar” at the end of Rua Da Arsenal – on the right as you walk back from the city centre towards the train station, just before the big roundabout where you cross to the station. Normally we try to avoid bars which are “British” but there was not much choice. Inside, the bar was not very British at all. It was a bar for locals with cheap and not tourist prices. The bar staff were very helpful. Nice steak sandwich and some of the “wet lupin” beans that Pam had been looking for. While we were in there the heavens opened for what was to be about 12 hours of heavy rain. Luckily most of it was overnight.

…now if I have 2 beans and another 2 beans, how many beans do I have? ……er.. some beans.

While we were in Lisbon, we went to the Gulbenkian art museum which was excellent. There are a number of masterpieces in the collection which are well worth seeing. It is about half an hours walk north of the centre of town but can be reached by taking the blue metro line and then a short walk.

On Saturday, once the rain had stopped we decided to take the bus up to Sintra, a town about 20 miles north of Cascais to have a look at the palace of Pena and some of the other old buildings. If you buy a day rover ticket on the local buses, you get to jump on and off them for 10 Euros for the day. There are 2 bus routes to Sintra, the 417 which is direct and the 403 which takes twice as long and runs around the coast past Cabo da Roca (which we had rounded a few days earlier). We went up on the 417 (get on under the shopping mall near the railway station + get your rover ticket there). Get off at the Bus station in Sintra (not the Interchange), then hop on the 434 which does a circular tour of all the tourist sites. It’s worth going round once to get your bearings and then on and off at will. The palace at Pena is worth a visit as is the old part of the town. We didn’t have time to do the castle but that looked interesting as well.

I’m sure we should have gone to starboard after that last east cardinal mark

We came back on the 403 which was a very pleasant run. There was quite a big swell running out to sea by Cabo da Roca, the left-overs of the storm that had moved into Biscay the day before that then went on to cause havoc in the UK.

Cascais itself is a pleasant little town with lots of bars and restaurants but also a nice produce market. There we found  a bulk source of the lupin beans!

 

There's a prize of a weeks holiday down here if you correctly count the number of lemons in the photo

It’s now Monday evening. Sue flew back to the UK this morning – just as the weather turned a bit hotter. We now have around 120 miles left to go to get to Lagos, our destination. The wind has been a bit southerly for the last 4-5 days but that is all to change on Wednesday and it looks like the “Nortarde” trade wind will be starting up. Our plan then is to head off for Sines early Wednesday and then the last long leg of 80 miles from Sines to Lagos on Thursday unless we like Sines that is.

Wednesday 3rd September, Cascais

It is almost 70 miles from Nazare to Cascais so that is a long day sail. There is only around 13 hours of daylight and with the number of pot markers around, it is not a good idea to have to motor into a harbour in the dark. In fact the pot markers are everywhere so motoring in the dark risks getting a rope around the prop. The forecast for wind was for light winds only coming from the west so we knew it would be a long day motoring.

We left at 6.45am just as it was getting light and were surprised there was 10-15knots of wind from the south east allowing us to sail for the first couple of hours. Although beating into it, the sea was reasonably flat as the Atlantic swell from the north west was killing any chop from the wind. Unfortunately, the wind then veered and ended up bang on the nose for the rest of the trip down. We tried motor sailing but in the end we took the main down and just ploughed into it to try and keep up our target of 5.5 knots. This was the first day of consistent wind for the last couple of months and it would have been great to beat into it – just a shame there were no other options other than a 70 mile passage.

Sue skippered again. The sun decided to take a day off so it was fleeces and jackets and it felt quite cold with the wind over the deck.

We arrived in Cascais around six O’clock so overall had made good time. Pam and I had been to the marina before so knew the layout and procedures. There is a nice big reception pontoon and the marina staff do all the paper work (and everyone seems to speak good English). The pontoons are big and substantial and plenty of room between fingers. The fuel berth is by the reception pontoon and it is a very short walk to take our diesel cans up there.

There is no internet access at the reception building end of the pontoons although the marina are testing a system out. Unfortunately today it is not working. There are some free connections at the other end of the marina and at the big hotel on the sea front but that means taking the PC up to the bar. (Hardship or what!). Wifi aside, the marina has everything else. Very good showers, washing machine (although it is expensive) etc. With all of this comes a price. They want 40 Euros per night. Our plan is to stay here a week so it is going to be expensive but then we want to have a good look at the area and play tourists again. We have done quite a few successive day sails so it is time to take it easy. Sue leaves on Monday so that gives us 4 days to see the sights of Lisbon.

Above is a shot of the marina looking to the reception building. The “green grass” in the foreground has just been laid in front of a big tented area set up for the “Dragon” sailing class regatta. There are boats from all over Europe competing. I think it goes on until Sunday so will be interesting to see what that entails.

After almost three and a half months of sailing with nothing going wrong (other than the dinghy leak and the galley tap) we have now had a string of mis-haps. I told you about the plotter problem with the AIS (must get round to sorting that one!) and the lazy jacks (that’s now ok), well yesterday the catch that opens the oven door broke. We were not using the oven anyway other than to store a big pan but now we need a screwdriver to open it. The catch just need welding which I will get done down in Lagos– if I cant get a new catch from Plastimo.

More from Cascais tomorrow.

Tuesday 2nd Septmeber, Nazare

We got up around 9 ish and the girls went off into town to get some provisions. We left the marina around 11 O’clock for the 35 mile sail down to Nazare. Once again there was very little wind and what there was came from behind so it was another 6 or 7 hour motor sail over very flat sea. The sun came out for a while and it was tee shirts and shorts weather again. Here is Sue enjoying the sunshine.

There was quite a lot of interesting wild life. A couple of pods of dophins swam past although didn’t deem Grand Slam interesting enough to play with. There were quite a few storm petrels around and various varieties of shearwaters (although no “Sooty” ones). We also saw a number of great skewers. I’ve seen a lot of these up in Scotlandbut didn’t expect to see them this far south at this time of the year. More interesting however were the pomarine skewers. We saw at least 3 of these on separate occasions with their distinctive tail “spoons” and white collar at quite close range. Rob had shown me these flying high over the River Forth last year but it was exciting to see them here so close up. Again I am not sure what they are doing this far south in early September. I will check with the oracle (that’s Rob).

We got into Nazare around half past five. The pilot book made out that this was a really nice place to visit with helpful staff – all in all a nice marina. We didn’t quite think it lived up to it’s name (and that is a bit of an understatement!). It was a very small marina with small fingers and not a lot of room between them. Most were full and there was no one around from the marina to direct us to a berth. In the end we parked right down the end of a trot in what was probably the best berth in the marina (and about the only one left we could get into) with no idea if this was someone’s berth. Immigration and police came to the boat to fill in their forms and Pam and Sue went up to the office to get the keys to the pontoons – lucky they did because the office closed at ten to six!

A French boat came in soon after us. With the office closed, there were no keys for them. The police and security shrugged their shoulders as they had nothing to do with the marina office. The French were leaving first thing the following morning so couldn’t even pay! During the evening we saw a weather forecast on the internet and decided we too would need to leave at dawn to make it down to Cascais as strong south westerlies were forecast. That then gave us the problem of returning the keys and paying.

This wasn’t very good organization. At this time of year there are groups of boats heading south, leaving each port and day sailing down to the next one of which the options are limited. Typically 6 to 8 boats will arrive early evening. Closing the office before six is not helpful. We noticed that they had a blacklist of boats that had not paid on the window of the office. I wonder if some of them had the same problem as the French boat. We left our keys and some money in an envelope and pushed it through a window! I rang them the next day to make sure they found it. They hadn’t! Ten minutes later they phoned back to say that everything was ok.

The marina itself was not a lot to shout about. It looked more like an industrial site. It was a good mile walk to the town with the first half of the walk through the port area and down the edge of road (not the most scenic of routes). We actually got the bus to town but had to walk back as the last bus had gone! The town itself was nice and it would have been good to spend a full day looking around (as it was we only had a couple of hours in the dark).The following picture was taken from the boat as we came into the bay and shows the town and some interesting geology. It would have been nice to have taken the train up to the top of the cliffs.

For the next day we were planning to sail to Peniche and then a final sail down to Cascais for Sunday to let Sue catch her plane. As the forecast was talking about southerly winds for a few days, we decided to give Peniche a miss and do Cascais in a “one-er”. Also, the description of Peniche in the pilot book was not very complimentary although given our different view of Nazare, we did wonder if Peniche might actually be quite nice. So it was another dawn start and a 6.15am alarm. Overall I would give Nazare a 2 out of 10. Not impressed!

Monday 1st September, Figaro Da Fos

Povoa was a nice marina. On Sunday morning we bumped into Captain Slarty of YBW liveaboard forum fame. Joe and his better half had just arrived in Povoa after 2 years in La Coruna. It was a shame we were just leaving as I was keen to get some advice on a SSB radio problem. Joe was planning to stay overwinter. Seems like he has been excluded from the forum for some indiscretion.

The girls went off to get some shopping and I went off to pay for the nights stop and to get the boat ready. We left around mid-day and after a two hour motor got into Leixoes. There was no wind as usual with nice blue sky (there – I did organize it for Sue). We did get the main up but only to assist the engine. We did get our first two real problems (apart from the leaking tap and the deflating dingy)….. Amongst our problems were such diverse elements as… (quoting Monty Python and the Spanish Inquisition……no one expects…..)… where was I? Oh yes, two problems. Firstly, the Raymarine plotter decided to switch itself off and then back on every 5 or 6 minutes. Very disconcerting when trying to enter the harbour. Secondly, the lazy jacks on one side of the main broke as we were packing the sail coming into the harbour. We got in fine and spent half an hour hoisting Pam up in the bosun’s chair to retrieve the lazy jack rope and sorting that out. The plotter took a bit longer. A couple of hours of checking wires failed to find any loose connections which seemed to be the obvious solution.

We all retired to the club bar for refreshments and to lubricate the brain cells. Back on the boat we sorted the plotter problem by re-installing the software and then finding (Pam’s idea) that it was the AIS signal that was causing the plotter to reboot itself every six and a half minutes. Turning off the AIS NMEA signal cured the problem. Next step is to find out why – I’ll leave that for another day.

Leixeos wasn’t too bad. Less than 20 Euros a night. Showers Ok. Lots of room. Rick and Connie in Calaloo were already in there. Diesel was expensive at 1.50 Euro a litre. Nowhere near as dirty as some of the descriptions make out. Monday morning we left at 7am for the 12 hour sail down to Figaro da Fos. This was a 60+ mile passage with a difficult entry to get in to Fig da Fos if the weather was bad. Typically there was no wind and the sky was blue again. In fact it was flat calm apart from the residual swell. Six boats left Leixoes around the same time, all motoring. Sue was skippering this trip (to get a qualifying passage for her Yachtmaster) – and a good job she did too.

The picture above was Via Vitae, a German boat overtaking us – obviously revving his engine too hard.  By mid day the wind started to build and we were able to sail. We edged up on Via Vitae and overtook him with the wind on the beam.

This was the definitive moment as we passed them.

The wind died right at the end of the sail and we motored into the marina just ahead of VV (and ahead of the other 4 boats – We won!!!). There was a variation on procedure at marinas here as we had to berth on the reception pontoon, go ashore to fill in the forms and then move the boat to the berth. We then helped tie up Thomas and his friend off Via Vitae (the boat not them silly) and told them the beers were on them as we had won the race (jokingly). Ten minutes later they turned up with a six pack. Great craic. They had been trimming the sails as much as we had so knew they were racing. We did get a few good pictures of their boat which we can pass on. The two of them were on their way down to the ARC.

Figaro da Fos seems a nice place but is more pricey than the previous ones (30 Euros per night). No wifi again but easy berths to get into.

The plan tomorrow is to sail down to Nazare which is around 35 miles so we won’t be up at the crack of dawn as today.

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!

Thursday 28th August, Bayona

It's now Thursday and we are nearing the end of our stay in Spain. Sue arrives this evening and we are then off down to Portugal bright and early tomorrow (WHAT? - how early?). It has been a very relaxing six weeks in the Rias with us rarely getting up before 10am. Tomorrow it's going to be a 7.30am alarm!

We've now done the tourist bit in Bayona. A really nice town - as always in this part of the world. Lot's of good places to eat and drink and it's not Fiesta time! We met up with Rick and Connie off Calaloo a couple of times (an American couple who sailed over to the UK to winter the boat last year and are following the same track down as us).

Ronautica (the make of our boat) is big in Bayona. The smaller 340's are made just round the corner north of Vigo and Ronautica certainly make their presence felt. There are at least half a dozen of the 30 footers around and one 400. They also have a sales office.

There are probably still more Bavarias than anything else but the Ro's are a close second.

For a tourist spot there is quite a lot to see. We went around the obligatory "Pinta".

This is a replica of one of the boats that Columbus sailed. One Euro to get on and have a look around. Probably just about worth it.

There are two marinas here. The newer one which we are in and the "posh" one. The guys on the forum had warned me about not trying to get a drink there. We walked around to have a look at the Parador (the big hotel in the fort) and went passed the MRCN clubhouse. The security guards were very keen that we walked on past. I'm not sure whether they would have let us in if we had tried hard - or even showed our PEYC club cards. The pilot book does talk of a "dress code" so probably a good job we kept out.

(The MRCN club house - red roof- with Parador hotel behind)

The walk up around the Parador is certainly worth doing with some great views all around. It had been very hot and sunny for the first few days here but today when we walked around it was clouding up ready for a thunderstorm so visibility wasn't quite as good as it had been. The photo below was taken looking down over the harbour area with the new marina in the background.

So that is almost about it for Northern Spain. We have stocked up on Estrella (well a few more days supply at least) which should keep me going until I can find the equivalent in Portugal. There is not a lot of wind forecast for tomorrow - and what there is may be on the nose - so possibly a long motor sail. It is 30 miles to Viana and 50 miles to Porvoa. The wind for Saturday and Sunday is to be southerly and a bit stronger (and some rain) so the better option is to try and get to Povoa so we can spend the weekend looking around Porto. That's the plan anyway hence an early start. Sue arrives after 10pm so it's likely we will have a late night as well.

Monday 25th August, Bayona

Once again it was wall to wall blue sky. We left Cangas around 11 ish and motored for the first hour as there was no wind. We had hoped to go over to Isla de Cies and anchor but we had heard from 3 sources that a permit was now required to anchor there and it would take a few days minimum to get one. One source was a couple from Portugal who were insistent that you could get fined and then on reading a mid year update to the RCCPF pilot book, we saw that the need for a permit was required with "aggressive attitude from the Guadia Civil" if you didn't have one.

Instead then we headed direct for Baiona (as they say in these parts). The wind appeared around noon and we had a very pleasant 2 hour sail into the harbour. We moored up in the Baiona sport marina with the help of the marinier. Very substantial pontoons and a chandlers. Showers and toilets are a bit basic (in portacabins). The office speak good english and they have wi-fi (via a login name and password). Easy to get fuel. Price with the passport is just under 30 Euros per night.

For the first time in 6 weeks, there were a number of British boats. We had seen the odd one since leaving La Coruna but it seems very few venture up into the Rias. Nice to have a chat to someone in English for a change.

Rick and Connie on Calaloo were anchored just off the marina so mid afternoon they joined us for a wee drink in the rather hot sunshine (it has been warming up significantly). We had last seen them in Seaport marina in Inverness at the start of the Cally canal. They had stayed in the canal for a few weeks and so we ended up ahead of them for our sail down to Spain. Looks like our timing was easier for the Biscay crossing as it took them 9 days in some very bad weather. We have also heard the same story from other boats. In the evening we had a wander round to get or bearings. Looks a nice place if a little full of tourists.

One very funny incident was along the main street along the sea front. Blue flashing lights everywhere. Traffic at a standstill. Council electricians buzzing (oh no!) around.

(how many galician council workers does it take to change a light bulb?)

It turns out it was a large electric cable that had fallen down into the road and hence only small cars could get past - hence the chaos. These four guys were using a ladder to hold the cable up to let the traffic clear. God knows how they are going to sort this one out. I only hope this isn't the cable that supplies power to the marina.