41:11.16N 08:42.34W

Another 30 mile passage was on the agenda today.   This gave us time to explore Viana da Costelo.  The centre was a treasure trove of beautiful 17^th century buildings dating from the height of Portugal’s trading with outposts around the world.  In contrast the river front, had been landscaped with wide green spaces and some impressive modern buildings and statues.  Another day here would have been lovely and we might even have made it up to the top of the hill to the Castelo.

Typical Viana architecture

The main square

A cheerful seafaring couple – but not great conversationalists

Castelo da Santiago dominating Viana

All too soon, though, we slipped Viana bound for Leixoes (pronounced Layshoinsh - obviously!).  There was even less wind than yesterday so it was to be another motoring passage.  Nothing more strenuous than dodging lobster pots, mysterious patches of very large leaved vegetation and an exclusion zone surrounding a moored mega tanker.   Shortly before we made Leixoes the wind picked up to a decent 16 knots but from directly behind and faffing about with sails and gybing for half an hour felt like just a little too much effort after a long afternoon in the sun.

Leixoes marina is in the middle of a busy port area and is absolutely packed – mainly with Scandanavians, though we are berthed next door to a couple of Americans, one of whom spent 40 years in the defence industry so we traded a few war stories about the stunning efficiency of defence equipment procurement.  A quick recce of the immediate area revealed an adjacent very decent beach and a town very much geared up to the holiday industry – McDonald’s, beach bars and large numbers of restaurants.  Quite a contrast to Viana da Costelo. 

Tomorrow we’re off to explore Porto.  Arnamentia is in good shape so no need to bury heads in bilges to sort out niggles in inaccessible places.

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