Lively Leixoes
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Mon 31 Aug 2009 13:56
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41.10.436N 08.41.769W
We do seem to have a knack of finding festivals and
events. We had to motor down from Povoa to Letixoes due to no wind (until we
arrived!) and found ourselves the only ones in the anchorage outside the harbour
- no worries we thought, clearly we are a little early. We saw some very unusual
mirages on the way down that totally transformed the land in terms of what the
charts were telling us - very disconcerting at times as it looked as though
there were breaking waves someway inland. We anchored about 400 metres from the
beach and could hear some music being played and could see, through binoculars,
a stage of sorts. No worries we thought - we were quite away off.
However, true to form, there was Portuguese folk
music soon being played at a considerable volume and we thought it was folks
enjoying the afternoon. There were a few whistles and rumbles as we well
that appeared to come form the stage. However the sun was shining and we were
chilling ready for the 60 mile trip to Figueira da Foz.
At around 8 pm the Portuguese folk artist changed
and there was a duo with what sounded like mandolins and a sound, that to our
ears, didn't seem to change very much at all over the next few hours. Also the
other stage burst into life so we had rap music from the left and Portuguese
folk music from the right with us in the middle of some very strange mixes. At
intervals there were about 5 minutes of manic drum beating, which sometimes
enhanced and other times certainly didn't the sound form the rap stage. It
went on until about 1pm - so no early night for us! We were the only ones in the
anchorage - enuff sed!!!
We were fairly relaxed about the situation and
enjoyed watching the large ships go in and out of the harbour, though very few
yachts considering it was a Saturday, and there is quite a large marina in
Leixoes harbour - after 4 nights in Povoa we enjoyed anchoring off. We were
about 2 miles north of the entrance to the River Duro and the way up to Porto,
but not a recommended route for yachts due to the shifting sand bars and strong
river flows at flood and ebb. It ws a great place to watch a spectacular sunset,
really red sky at night, but the wind whipping around the boat was just a bit
chilly for sitting out in so for the first time since leaving France we spent
the evening in the salon.
Tomorrow onto Figueira da Foz.
Andrew & Susan
S/V Andromeda |