ALONE IN VILAMOURA

Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Sat 6 Oct 2012 18:09
Nigel had to return to the UK on Tuesday afternoon to see to some outstanding business which meant Karen was going to be left on board Persephone on her own until Sunday.   (Well someone has to check out the beaches!)   After lunch, in one of the many local restaurants around the marina, it was time for Nigel to set off to Faro (only about 20 minutes away) and take the Ryanair flight back to Stansted. 

It  an odd feeling being left on board Persephone on your own - but Karen was sure she could occupy her time,  after all there was the laundry, the oven to clean, the bilges  to be checked and cleaned  - see nothing changes whether on land or at sea!   (with the exception of the bilges).

Wednesday arrived, laundry duly done there was nothing for it but to hit the beach!  It promised to be a hot day and armed with the Kindle (thank you boys) and swimwear it looked like a good opportunity to top up the tan (which after 8 weeks away  is coming along nicely ).      Vilamoura has long golden beaches and are not too crowded at this time of the year and Karen was able to secure a comfortable sun bed and sunshade (again someone has to check these things out).     A very relaxing day.....  before returning back to the boat for a glass of Sangria and a chill out to what ever Tim and Oliver had supplied on the hard drive in the way of films.

Vilamoura is a lively marina and tends to be a little noisy at times - Wednesday night the Arsenal game was being shown in local bars so again, as with the golf, cheers echoed around the harbour and Karen could tell when The Arsenal were playing well and knew Nigel would be glued to the TV back in Lightwater.

Another full day on the beach followed on Thursday with yet again glorious weather.      However by Friday the morning was not quite so bright, grey clouds  greeted Karen at breakfast time.  Not so surprising as Friday was a bank holiday in Portugal so to us Brits this  seemed quite normal!    However, unlike the UK weather, you could almost guarantee it would clear up later on in the day.   So after lunch Karen took a walk to the next small town of Quateria to have a wander around the fishing harbour.   Quarteira is a real Portuguese town and a pleasant change from the clinical Disneyesque surroundings of the marina at Vilamoura.   

Saturday was back to normal weather wise and Karen was looking forward to meeting up with Carol and Francis again who had kindly suggested they come down to Vilamoura to take her out to lunch…..  before that those bilges need checking and cleaning!!!

Nigel is due back on Sunday and hopefully we start making our way to Madeira on Monday.