Friday 28^th December – Lagos (lunch at Portimão)

37:06.610N 8:40.494W

As we had everything tidied away and stowed, we decided to go for a sail to see if we could remember how that goes. 

Unfortunately the answer was ‘No’.  However, once we had had some breakfast, we perked up and set to some sailing.  We will need to get some more practice in though.  We realised that this may be the longest we’ve been without sailing since we bought Pyxis.

The offshore forecast said East or Northeast 4 or 5 following an easterly 5-6 (there was a blow through Gibralter overnight).  As we motored out the wind was light at 6-7 knots, despite the swell, so we motored further out - testing the stowage of the bicycles against the guardrails in the swell. 

Eventually we decided to head up to Portimão to anchor for lunch.  We sailed part of the way – trying out the practicalities of sailing with the cockpit enclosure up, and then motored the rest of the way into Portimão.  We dropped the anchor just inside the harbour entrance and then enjoyed lunch in the afternoon sun before heading back to Lagos.

Just after we arrived back Stephen and Anne called round and we shared some wine, making Stephen hungry.  He wandered back to Wandering Dragon and cooked for us all.  He apologised for putting out so much when he served up, but he reckoned without us and our appetites, forgetting that we had been sailing all day and were totally ravenous – we demolished the lot, no problem.

After a glorious win by the girls at Scrabble, Richard and I retired back to Pyxis.