Fw: Sadko update 25 June 1430
Sadko
Martin Lamport
Mon 25 Jun 2012 15:01
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Unfortunately as Hugo left us in Flores to take up
a work placement in the City and Noel, the wind vane steering, had also jumped
ship, we were not strong enough to complete the transatlantic crossing to
Milford Haven. Had we done so I would have expected to arrive around the
end of the first week of July as planned, but instead have decided to store
Sadko in the Azores and hope to do some more cruising with her here next
year. This also gives us the option of a gentler run home, touching
in Portugal, rather than the commitment of a long north Atlantic leg with no
escape from the weather.
We departed Flores at noon, managing to leave the
small marina in a reasonably competent manner. The wind was still a bit
strong and gusty with quite a lumpy sea after yeaterday's blow, but conditions
are predicted to ease and we need to crack on to ensure we arrive at Sao Miguel
in daylight.
If you like out of the way places you would like
Flores. It is a spectacular volcanic mountain top sticking out of the sea
with beetling ciffs and gushing waterfalls all round. Parts of the
interior look quite like British upland, or farmland with little fields, but
there is precious little land that is not sloping steeply up or down. The
lush valleys are full of vegetation, none of which I could name except for
fearns and cheese plants and a sort of broad leaf tree rather like oak. The
wild flowers, particularly hydrangeas, would put the Chelsea show in the
shade.
There are plenty of reasonably priced restaurants,
serving tasy, if not cordon bleu cuisine. We eat in one at the bottom of a
farm track, near the most westerly spot in Europe, which has spectacular
cliffs and waterfalls. The restaurant at the end of the whole Eurasian
landmass! The people are friendly and laid back. All in all not the
sort of place one can visit without dreaming of chucking it all in and
emigrating there. The only draw back seems to be the weather,
which is extemely damp and misty, so that all of the spectacular views
in the interior were masked in thick cloud. On a clear day it must be
breathtaking.
We expect to fetch Ponta Delgada on Sao
Miguel some time on Wednesday afternoon.
Signing off
Martin
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