It was a day of preparations and I was thankful for dry weather. While Si saw to skipper type tasks, first mate got to grips with another mountain of laundry. I was half tempted to lug the lot over to the marina office where apparently ‘one can buy tokens for the laundry and they supply the chocolate tablets’! They wouldn’t do much for the whites! Or perhaps it was a reward for the poor soul spending a morning in a sauna. I opted for the calorie free option of fresh air, sunshine and exercise: Good girl Lini!

   Numerous boats from a multitude of countries were leaving this morning and from what I heard not only for Madeira but Porto Santo. By lunchtime when Brindabella’s guard rails were yet again draped with clothes, we ate our sandwiches wondering if there would be room for us in Porto Santo’s anchorages never mind the marina.

   While I mixed up some bread dough, Si set the bikes up – next job provisioning. Locking our trusty Brompton’s to a railing outside the supermarket I prayed they’d still be there when we returned. We had planned a stock up, this being our last shop on mainland Europe where prices and selection will not be seen again, however I hadn’t worked household items into the equation. Si disappeared emerging a while later with a big smile, a new kettle (ours leaks), a mozi net for the bed (yeehah!), a mozi net that will fit the companion way (Yeehah again!) and quite a collection of hooks and sticky pads for fixings. We watched the trolley filling up and decided to return later for drinks. Outside we loaded two bike bags and two rucksacks and stocked Brindabella’s galley.

   Our day was slipping away with a coastal cycle route still to explore, so we shot straight off on what turned out to be quite a wonderful bike ride. There was no scale on my map of Cascais so how was I to know we’d end up not far from Cabo da Roca that we passed sailing in. The view was fantastic with the sun now very low in the sky reflecting an orange glow on the cliffs below the lighthouse. The road and cycle path ended at a white, sandy beach and inland of the path were huge sand dunes. Following the example of many others we turned our bikes round and saw it all again from the other side. It was great to stretch the legs with 4-5 days sailing coming up. Needless to say it was dark by the time we hit ‘Jumbo’ supermarket for drinks. Well, a girl wouldn’t want to go thirsty!

   There was lots still to do so it really didn’t help that I put my clumsy head on which made Simon put his grumpy head on. The meat for dinner had frozen in the fridge so I cut two steaks off the gammon joint I’d planned to cook later this evening. I made coleslaw sprinkling an attractive design of cabbage on the carpet. Dinner was very late not very early as planned. The ice cream Si had chosen for dessert had practically melted in the ice box as I’d turned the fridge up. I then threw my water over the saloon seat and sent the wine box lid shooting across the saloon while trying to cram in our purchases. My bread dough was left too long while we were cycling so I had to knock it out again, then I over cooked the gammon. Aarrhhhh! Oh! And I forgot to go to the cashpoint. Oh dear! Not a good evening! We’d hoped to get a good night’s sleep but it was very late by the time preparations for sea were complete.