20 miles upriver from Ayamonte is a gem of a place that is unique, friendly,  beautiful and full of history.

The cruise getting there takes you under a suspension bridge that is so low it’s nick named “Laxative Bridge” because of the nature of the anxiety it produces when looking up at the top of the mast that looks without a doubt about to hit the concrete structure.  But it is still 20 meters at high tide.

The river has a wicked current, sharp bends and eye popping scenery.  The further up you go, the higher the hills on either side, becoming mountainous.   Virtually no development exists except a few quintas (Portuguese farm houses) and a few fincas (Spanish farm houses) sprinkled in among the  sloping grass and trees, and also an occasional tiny village on the Portugal side.  Also an occasional cow or two or three and sheep. The sounds of many song birds is impossible to ignore, as is the sound of sheep bells as they are being herded by actual  shepherds.   And the color of the water becomes what they say here, “chocolate” as you get more inland.

The river separates the rival countries Portugal and Spain.  Seemingly at war with each other throughout history and somewhat still today.   Going up, Portugal is on the left, Spain on the right. And there is a one hour time difference.  Portugal sides with the same time zone as England,  one of their closest allies, while Spain sides with the same time zone as the rest of Europe.

Once you reach the 2 towns of Alcoutim on the Portugal side, and San Lucar and the Spanish side, the “Guadiana Glue starts to take hold.

We arrived in the very late afternoon, and after a healthy long anchor watch in 20 –25 knots of wind, we ventured into San Lucar Spain to look for a pay phone, thinking that the later hour in Spain would make for a better time to call the U.S.   We landed our dinghy at the free “pontoon”, as they call it, which is a floating pier parallel to the sea wall.   It is free, and some of the boats have been tied to it for many years. We walked into “town” which hosted a café, a bank, and a closed tourist office. Which we later discovered never opens.   I couldn’t get my eyes off the incredibly beautiful planted flowers on most of the porches of the spotless clean apartments, and the luminous pink glow, casted onto the white building sides, reflected from the red floor tiles of their porches.

But the town was oddly quiet. We found a teeny tiny grocery store and asked (in Spanish) if they knew where the pay phone is. The guy inside answered (in Spanish) and we walked right to it.

The next morning, we went into Alcoutim and discovered a much more lively place.   Busy cafes, little shops, tourists, (not too many) a hardware store,  museum, bank and a tourist office that was open.   Also we talked to several folks on their boats, tied to the “pontoon” (10 Euros a night with a “relaxed” 3 night limit)

The time it takes to dinghy from Portugal to Spain is seconds, not minutes, and by the end of the morning, we had staked out all three grocery stores (tiny)  two in Spain, and one in Portugal. The Portugal one has better bread and frozen meat, and the Spanish stores have better fruits and vegetables and general stuff.

Later the second evening we had a knock on our hull from a man standing in a flat sided dinghy.

“Hello there, welcome to the Guadiana” said our new friend Paul, from Ireland.  “Do you plan on staying a while?” he said after introducing himself.   We told him we planned only to be there a few days, because we have crew flying into Faro soon, and we need to start the trek back towards West.  We spent a week.

“Well I’d like to invite you to a sort of Happy Hour at the Seaside Tavern in Alcouitm tomorrow evening. All the boat people go. Starting around 8:00, Portugal time!”  He then proceeded to tell us about some great trails not to  be missed for hiking, including one  that involves possibly meeting Paco, and 83 year old Spaniard, full of history and stories, who rides one of his 2 donkeys out to his finca from town and back every day. 

So the next morning, we did go into the Spanish side and hiked the trail along the river, and came to a spot where we heard the unmistakable sound of a donkey and shortly after,  saw a little guy leading two donkeys toward a little stone wall, supposedly built by Romans a whole many years ago.

We asked him if he was Paco, and he answered, “Si!  SoyesterytuioPacocbertalladauioretyuislestlcbatyuattalattabatladdaladalatta!!!” (Rapid Spanish)  If we had understood Rapid Spanish, we could have learned much about Paco and his family and the history of San Lucar, but we do not speak Rapid Spanish, and instead we nodded and smiled, and had a wonderful hike up  the stone road (laid by Romans).

Later, we did go to the Happy “Hour” (which for some was more like Happy Many Hours) and saw our friend Marcell who we met in Portimao, and we also met many new boat folks. Marcell was sad when we said we weren’t going to stay that long, because he wanted to hire me to paint hise (eyes) on his boat. So I said that I could do it the next day, which I did.   And on the way to his boat, by dinghy, people waved to us from their anchored boats, and shouted, “Are  you on your way to paint?”.    Word gets out fast!! 

The job was tough, from the dinghy, in 28 knots of wind and a 3 knot current.  But I finished.   However  I wanted to return the next day to do a second coat. Which I did hanging upside down, once Marcell removed some netting which made the job MUCH easier, given the same 20 plus knot wind.  I talked him into a shadow on the already painted name, and he was so excited he tipped me 25 Euros and offered to take us out to dinner!!  I like this place!!

We also met Paul, from England,  who has been there several years, and has found a little shack to rent, and get off his boat, that you can only get to by dinghy. Or maybe donkey. And it  has solar panels for electricity. And lots of fruit trees. We sat on his new porch and swapped sea stories and boatyard stories.  I love this place!!

They call it the Guadiana Glue and I totally get it.    I can  see how attractive it is to stay there, with the beautiful river, cozy grocery stores, such friendly people, a fresh water beach, (on a little creek in Alcoutim that is drop dead wonderful), the hiking trails and the safety of the river.

But we have to move on.

In fact, we left that anchorage and headed back to Ayamonte, the first time we actually back tracked this whole adventure, which officially starts the journey home.

I am very sad to be leaving my new friends in mainland Europe.  But I also look forward to the sailing that we have ahead.