Lost in Cyber Space - Spain into Portugal
Gillyb
Thu 18 Jun 2009 14:52
|
Position: 38:40.61N, 009:19.06W
Hi All, Well we are now at Oeiras (pronounced
wee rash) near Lisbon and hopefully back in Wi Fi contact with the world so
apologies for this longer blog to catch up. We seem to have been to so
many places either by boat or by coach and my diary is well behind.
Bayona to Povoa de Varzim 11th June and Ali and
Susie joined the crew for this leg. Out of Spain and into Portugal.
Weather humid and dull and with light winds behind us we had a sloppy
sail/motor to Povoa where we had a warm welcome from the local club and the
SUN. Susie even managed to get very red legs in the few hours they were
exposed. We all enjoyed a very good dinner that evening before dumping the
girls on the pontoon and leaving at 0700 for our leg to Figueira da
Foz. We had a really great sail with lots of wind round the last headland
and with the swell surfing us forward to the marina we clocked 13.2 briefly on
the instruments. We were having a terrific sail hitting 10,11,12
knots and yet the rig very stable.
Figueira da Foz: 12th - 14th June
We had a sardine BBQ provided by the yacht club and
with warmer weather it was nice to sit outside eating endless sardines and salad
and potatoes with the wine flowing well and rally crews getting to know one
another better. The next day 13th June we went on a coach to Coimbra
and enjoyed seeing the university (which was originally the palace) and then
the medieval market in the oldest part of town. We visited a
lovely old castle on the way back where there was a wedding in progress
in the chapel - well there would have been if the bride had arrived but
apparently its traditional for them to be late (45 mins?! at
least).
That evening we went to the casino in Figueira and
had a typical portugese meal (cod saltfish and potatoes) and then saw a show
which was very lively - mostly english dancers and singers we believe - doing
excerpts from musicals such as west side story etc.
14th June (Sunday) we found a lovely local market-
covered - which sold loads of fish and vegetables and I bought some excellent
fruit and salad etc. (Graham is astounded that I managed to buy 1 kilo of
cherries!) It was a misunderstanding! Still we have nearly eaten
them all and they were good.
In the eve one of the ladies on Red Skies had a
birthday so we were all invited to a pontoon party and their boat was decorated
with balloons and a great time was had by all except we nearly managed to sink
the pontoon as there were so many on it.
Monday 15th June and we sailed again - this time to
Nazare. a change to the programme and we were only there one night
but we went exploring the local town and found a good butcher and then went up
the cable car. Great views. The locals were all very friendly but
next day we were off again..
Tuesday 16th June sailed to an Island called
Berlenga where we had lunch on a mooring buoy. We would like to have gone
ashore as it looked very interesting with a small fort lots of rocks and
caves, but we did not have a lot of time and set off again to
Peniche.
Wednesday 17th June Peniche - Arrived in this
rather windy marina and had to raft up beside a long pontoon three or four
deep. The local electrics could not cope with it all so the power kept
going off. We were entertained in a lovely old castle overlooking
the marina and then were glad of a reasonably early night as we set off again
the next morning.
Thursday 18th June. A super sail again
and now we are not far from Lisbon in a newish marina. (See above -
Oeiras) We have some facilities here and 15 boats are all trying to catch
up with repairs, laundry, shopping etc. There is only one washing
machine and one dryer though and the supermarket is a good walk so I have queued
for the washing machine and James and Graham have cycled off to the supermarket
with a list! Graham has also been up the mast sorting out chafing
points on the sail and down in the locker checking steering gear etc.
We have sailed 890 miles since Plymouth! Carolyn and John's bits of
leather have come in handy as they are now stuck to the ends of the
spreaders. (could this be a new marketing opportunity?)
Tonight there is another dinner and tomorrow is a
visit to Lisbon. It is now very hot and we have our fly swat out and
all the fly screens on the windows etc. Have not seen any mosquitos yet
though. We are eating more salads and drinking more white wine
and portonics (white port with tonic water). Wearing shorts
and tee shirts most of the time as even the wind at sea is warm
now.
We will set off again on Saturday to Sines and then
the last leg is next week to Lagos. We hope to be able to send more
news later but meanwhile its back on the coach or is it the boat - hard to keep
up with it and we are not doing badly for old age pensioners!
|
