Having left the Solent in July and spent the summer sailing via the Channel Islands and Brittany to reach Brest, Ernestina crossed Biscay, passed Cape Finisterre in NW Spain and arrived in Porto, Portugal.

We then spent a week day-sailing down the coast of Portugal to Lisbon, experiencing those long Atlantic swells for the first time.

Next step was 500 miles to Madeira (via the smaller island of Porto Santo).