Portugal
Thursdays Child
Robin & Joanna Minchin
Fri 10 Oct 2014 17:23
Thank goodness for diesel engines, we arrived in Leixoes harbour this morning after a 15 hour journey, only 2 of which were sailing!
Leixoes is about 3 miles north of Porto, has a very beautiful and rather exciting surf beach, it has also been an eye opener for the children to see enormous cargo ships, container ships, tankers and cruise liners up very close, but as the Pilot Book talks of raw sewerage emptied up river this rules out most activities that the Minchins tend to do whilst at anchor; swimming, scrubbing TC, fishing or digging for bait, so we may not stay long!
Delightful people, warm, friendly, and with (thankfully) exceptionally good English. Showers are top and the sun is hot so it's not all bad.
We have just had a cream tea on TC to mark the occasion exactly one year ago when 300 lovely people came to the Isle of Wight to join in our Thanksgiving Service for the life of my darling Pa, Robin, who passed from us on 16th August 2013. The singing and stories in the Church were then followed by 96 bottles of bubbly and 700 scones, all of which had been organised by him. Sue's scone recipe of 3 cups SR flour, 1 cup cream and 1 cup lemonade were etched in my memory and we've just had a pile, together with the last of Dave and Ann Meaning's home made blackcurrant jam. Welcome in Portugal!