37 06’N  08 40’W

We had the final rally Portugal event last Tuesday where all the boats received awards for something! Ours was for the best dressed boat and crew and for my culinary exploits as heard on the VHF when we were on passage. It was sad to have to say goodbye to many of the crews who were heading off home after the event.

We have been exploring the old town of Lagos which is steeped in history and full of old narrow lanes with tessellated tiles and lots of interesting shops. On Bert’s birthday we took the tourist ‘mini train’ to the lighthouse on the point due west of the town, then walked down loads of steps to the Grottos where we were able to take a small boat trip in and around this rather magnificent natural feature. The  local rock appears to be sandstone and was pitted and stratified with various coloured layers. The boat man pointed out all sorts of unusual formations of rocks which looked liked things such as an elephant and a submarine! The colours of the water inside some of the caves was spectacular and I will post a few pictures to demonstrate.

In the evening we went out to a very good restaurant which Bert had chosen the Navigator; we had a table in the window on the third floor overlooking the entrance to the river with views across to the east and the sweeping bay of Lagos – stunning. The meal was good too so we shall return there another time.

We have explored the beach and swum in the sea every day since our arrival (well I have – Rob still maintains its too cold!) The beach is easily accessible by foot – about a 15 minute walk, or 5 minutes on the bike. Some of the boats take their dinghy but ours is still not pumped up!

We said good-bye to Bert and Gerry on Thursday after having spent another day on the beach interspersed with a long ‘liquid’ lunch at Linda’s beach restaurant (another venue we shall be returning to!). Susan arrived as Bert and Gerry were walking to catch their train so the timing couldn’t have been better.

We have had a couple of minor jobs to do on the boat in particular the fender step purchased in France last year finally gave up the ghost so we bought a new one. I do hope this is better constructed and will give us more than one season’s use! We had problems setting up the new BBQ as it would seem the fitting purchased does not work very well on our push pit rails. We have had to add some cardboard and Velcro to make it hold, otherwise the BBQ slowly develops a distinct list towards the water!

We still have to investigate the reason why the foresail self-furling gear is sticking both on the way in and out. We believe it may need oil but have yet to find where to put it! We are hoping to get some information from other boat owners who have the same type of system as us.

The new Biminis and the wind and solar generators have proved invaluable in the current weather; we found that while at sea with wind and sun the generator was able to provide sufficient amps to keep the fridge and freezer running without using the engine.

It has been very hot temperatures of over 30 degrees most days, fortunately there is usually a cooling breeze by the afternoon.

We have met several  boat owners who have been living here for years and are a ‘font’ of local knowledge so hope to put this to good use while we are here.

The fold-up bikes have also been a real boon; we use them for getting to the beach, the supermarket and general exploring too.

We are off home soon and will return to lagos with Andy and hope to then move east towards Spain for the rest of the summer.

Jacky and Rob