Friday 28^th September – Peniche - Cascais

38:41.448N 9:25.138W

This morning we left Peniche early; they were right – the fishing boats do go in and out at speed day and night.  As we all left, we noticed that many of the others on the visitors’ pontoon were getting ready to leave too.

There was very little wind and mercifully only a little swell as we motor sailed down the coast in brilliant sunshine.  As we rounded Cabo Roca (the westernmost point in mainland Europe), the wind increased a little and we sailed for about half an hour before we were becalmed again.  I took the opportunity of fishing but alas there were no fish in the sea … that is until I brought my line in and I saw a shoal of sizable, potentially delicious, fish swim by about six feet from the boat near the surface.

We arrived in Cascais, a very large marina outside Lisbon, mid afternoon, re-fuelled and spent the rest of the day cleaning the boat and tidying up.  The weather is due to deteriorate tomorrow and so we will be here for a few days.  The cockpit enclosure has already gone up as we saw some black clouds approaching this evening – they are currently hanging just off shore.

Tomorrow we will explore further, but Richard has already spotted that the marina complex has a number of chandleries and restaurants.