Alcoutin

S/V Goldcrest
David & Lindsay Inwood
Sat 1 Aug 2009 11:00

Up the Rio Guadiana to see wildlife and the hinterland.  A surprisingly cool & windy 4 hrs motor upriver netted spoonbills, golden orioles, egrets (ten-a-penny in Lymington!) and herons, so worth the motor upstream in the end.  It was very interesting to find the deep water in a river that is poorly charted – much of the last hour or so it looked like we were crossing land according to our electronics!  We had 3 failed attempts at anchoring upriver; a poor choice of spot followed by wind against current issues, so we eventually gave up at took a pontoon mooring on the Portuguese side.  The view back to Spain (Sanlucar de Guadiana) pictured below is great.  Also charming is the contest of church clocks – the Portuguese side chime 2 whilst Spain tries to drown it out with 3 bells!

Now the wind has died we’re hot – 30 plus below and high 30s in the cockpit – how am I going to cope in Cadiz & Seville?