Sarah joins Shelena

Shelena
Phil Scourfield
Thu 20 Aug 2015 23:56
42:1N 08:49 W
Leixoes is the nearest airport to rendezvous with Sarah who was flying to
spend a week with us on Shelena. Not a pretty marina but we ended staying
for three days. The weather was dull and wet and we were on a pontoon
opposite the Pilot boats that seemed to work all night assisting commercial
shipping to the large commercial ports immediately next to us. With their
powerful engines the pilot tugs would go astern from their pontoon opposite
us and then make way to depart the marina and we felt the force of their
propeller thrust as they departed causing a wave that buffeted us against
our pontoon. In Portugal marinas seem to provide top notch security which
means an electronic card to access the pontoon gate and to find the
facilities. With just one card issued between us this was a real pain. In
any event, our extended stay was enforced because of poor weather with 3
metre swells which seemed uninviting so we stayed put.

We met Sarah with plenty of time to spare. Not because we were at all
efficient but it was not until we spotted a motorway sign displaying local
time did we recall that Spain is one hour ahead of England, but Portugal
(our present location) the same as England. It mattered not because the
local airport at Porto had wifi. We had struggled to connect for days and
days at most marinas. Our experience is that most marinas do not have wifi
that is really useable. Very frustrating from the point of view of those all
too vital communications. The latest offers at John Lewis and yet another
enticement for another credit card have had to go unread.

Sarah was in fine form and happy to be on holiday. Long hours at work meant
serious sleep deprivation had to be properly balanced. And so it was the
time just slipped away. That said we found time to visit Porto, Portugal's
second largest city. An attractive city, very hilly and the place had many
inviting caves to try local port tasting.. Set in a gorge in Ria Douro I can
imagine it to be a very nice place to spend to time if the weather was
sunny; which it was not for our visit. Interesting old buildings that have
ceramic tile outer covering and a splendid railway station as fine as you
will find anywhere is striking.


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