River Guadiana
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Mon 7 Sep 2015 14:15
Near the river entrance there is a choice of two marinas, one in Portugal at Vila Real de Santo Antonio and one in Spain at Ayamonte on the east side of the river. We arrived too late to undertake the day trip up the river and opted for Portugal for an overnight stop. The cruising guide warned of strong tidal currents running through the marina and this proved to be no exaggeration. We were nearly swept past the entrance and had to battle against the flow to get up to our berth.
The following morning we set off for our river cruise, noting that the navigable channel appeared to be on the Spanish side of the river and leading up to the large road bridge beyond which open countryside beckoned. We were in a leisurely frame of mind and set a diagonal course across the wide river, concentrating more upon our morning cup of tea than the depth of water. Grounding was equally leisurely as the keel gently embedded itself into the soft bottom, leaving us stuck fast and able to contemplate the fact that the river might be wide but is very shallow over most of its width. Fortunately we are old hands at extricating ourselves from muddy bottoms and a combination of rising tide and judicious steering got us off again to appreciate just how close to the Spanish side of the river you need to be.
Once under the road bridge we drifted into a quieter, more remote world. One gets a similar feeling of time travel on the canals in England where there is little traffic noise and you swear you can hear the clip clopping of the horses used to pull the barges and the smell of coal cinders from steam engines. Others too have been drawn into this other worldliness and several times we came across old and fading cruising boats, entering the river for their own mini cruise but captivated by the ambiance and now the permanent homes to a significant ex-pat community some of whom have bought property in the area.
30 miles up river we came upon the two small and ancient towns of Alcoutim on the Portuguese side and Sanlucar de Guadiana on the Spanish. After a brief hello to another Malo anchored a little further up river we found a spot close to Alcoutim and settled in for the evening. Both towns are classically beautiful with white buildings and orange tiled roofs. Portuguese Spanish cooperation is in evidence with a high zip wire running across the river. However, in a sign that things might have been less harmonious in the past both towns are fortified and have castles. Sanlucar has the advantage of surrounding hills and on the top of one of these its castle presides majestically. Alcoutim has a riverside castle and we were lucky to be right next to this. We were also lucky to be able to choose the time - Spain and Portugal maintain an hour difference.
On our journey down the coast of Portugal and in Porto and Lisbon in particular we had looked to see if we could find Fado singing to listen to. Portuguese Fado is a traditional mournful style of music and singing and we imagined small, intimate dimly lit clubs or bars atmospheric with melancholic sound. They may exist but by the time we reached Alcoutim we hadn’t found any and were turning our thoughts away from Fado and back to Spanish Flamenco. But then, as we relaxed in the cockpit enjoying the warm tranquil evening the sound of Fado drifted across the river from a concert at the castle and we were able to enjoy the music in the most peaceful and romantic setting imaginable.