37:23.9N 007:26.736W

Monday 15^th September Guerreiros do Rio

We enjoyed the music festival at Alcoutim but decided the all night disco (starting at 0400 until 0800) was just too much after one night so motored down river to this sleepy little hamlet and have had two nights of tranquillity. We were in company with two other British boats who know the river well so took their advice and it paid off. Yesterday we had a delicious lunch in the only cafe/bistro (ordered the day before) I had the locally shot wild boar(the son of the owner had killed it some weeks ago and it was in the freezer) and Rob had the river eel stew!

We took the dinghy up river to the next pontoon and visited the Roman ruins on the bank of the river. The site has been excavated well and reconstruction shows where the various buildings were. The place was originally built on by the Romans but there is later evidence that the Moors and the Visigoths also used it. On our walk to the site we passed several small holdings where the olives are ripening and the pomegranate trees are loaded with ripening fruit. We understand that the quince are ready now and also the almonds although we haven’t found any suitable trees to go scrumping! One place had a well which had a date showing 1285! We met a lady carrying two 5 litre containers which she refilled at the well.

We spent a an hour or so in the river Museum here this morning – unfortunately all in Portuguese but none-the-less very interesting with two half-hour videos showing the river life in the past as well as more modern information. We were lucky to have Danny a Portuguese lady married to an English man to interpret for us!

Our plans are now to move on to Faro and the Rio de Formosa for a few days before going to meet Robbie in Albufeiro when he flies out on the 22^nd of September.

Jacky and Rob