We meet Remedios and move further up the River Tagus
Moorglade's Voyage
Ted Wilson
Thu 26 Aug 2010 19:30
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Our position is 38:42.07N 09:10.23W
Thursday 26 August 2010
This will be the last blog for a while as Ted and I
are flying back home to celebrate our new grandson Freddie and to attend to
various other family commitments, not to mention reminding the people I
work for what I look like!
Monday was a leisurely day with a walk into town to
top up the supplies and also working. Tuesday was overcast in the morning
and in the evening it rained! The first rain since the first day I arrived in
Spain. (I don't count the wetness that comes with the fog we had in Povoa de
Varzim and Nazare). It was a good day to check out the marina's excellent
laundrette facility - the effectiveness of the dryer meant that not being able
to hang anything outside didn't matter. Wednesday was spent taking
advantage of the marina's wired network - much more robust than
WiFi- and then the only issue was the speed with which the laptop battery
went flat!
 Not sure
what this whale's tail is supposed to represent but it sits on the hill
overlooking the marina at OeirasWednesday evening was spent very convivially with
the crew of Remedios, learning about the Great Lakes and eating Portuguese food
and huge ice creams. So, if you are reading this, Hi and thanks for a great time
to Pat, Tom, Robert & Mary. We hope we will meet up again later in the
passage.
 The
Remedios and Moorglade crews at dinnerWe concluded our gruelling trip up the River Tagus
yesterday by motoring gently with a lot of tidal assistance from Oeiras to
Doca de Alcantara in Lisbon in just over an hour. It was the first time we
had travelled with the new sunshade in position, but nothing untoward happened
and it seemed very stable, even when we were doing 8kn over the ground. The
river was thankfully clear of large ships, although I saw a small fishing boat
with nets out. The Ponte de 25 Abril is 70m high so no worries about clearance,
although I hadn't realised it was another double decker, with very frequent
trains and much motor traffic.
 Fishing on the River Tagus  Fairytale castle of Belem on the banks of the
river Getting closer and the big,
iconic statue in the background You can
see the train on the lower deck and the motor traffic above (last one of
this bridge you'll be pleased to note!)We had to wait for a swinging foot bridge to open
before we could enter the very long marina, just past the bridge, but eventually
were able to tie up fore and aft in Moorglade's home for the next 5 weeks. It is
hotter and more windless than the marinas further out to sea and the noise from
the bridge is fairly horrendous - like a permanent swarm of angry wasps - and we
are also on the approach path for the airport, and they were loading containers
just the other side of us into the night, so peaceful it is not. Still we won't
be here for most of the time.
 Waiting for the footbridge to
open at Doca de Alcontara (I didn't say no more bridges or exclude the
background!) In
the marina, but not our final resting place, which is nearer the dreaded
bridge!Since we got here we have been fully occupied with
work and jobs around the boat. This afternoon we had a trip into the town to the
chandlers to buy all the necessary bits to finish the jobs on the boat and also
visited a tourist information kiosk to get information on the many unfathomable
forms of public transport. This at least enabled us to come back on the
tram - a fast modern one rather than the rattly old, but picturesque, ones
we had seen earlier in the town.
From the little we saw Lisbon seemed to have
quite a few elaborate large buildings and be very hilly. Hopefully the jobs
won't take so long that there won't be time to have a better look round
tomorrow.
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