Arrived In Lagos

We have internet access at last, since arriving in Portugal access to the internet has been none existent in the harbours/marinas, hence a delay in updating the blog. Now we have arrived in the Algarve, still Portugal I know but they tend to cater more for our needs down here.

After leaving Portisan in North West Spain we continued to explore the Rias, we first went to Ria De Arousa, this is the largest Glaician Ria and one of the most attractive there are lots of places to moor up either in a marina or at anchor. There are also numerous Viveros, which are large mussel farms which you have to navigate through so wouldn’t like to enter this Ria in the dark.

Viveros (Mussel Farms)

 We initially found  a quiet anchorage off the beach, nestled amongst some rocks, there is something magical about being at anchor its usually very peaceful especially if you find a secluded beach, and you feel that you have the world to yourself for a short time anyway, plus the other benefit is its cheaper. The following day we moved onto another anchorage, again just off a wide sandy beach, this time there was a small village nearby, so we hopped into the dingy and rowed ashore, well Kevin did the rowing I just sat and admired the scenery. The village was quite small with narrow cobbled streets, with no shops or cafes to speak off, so we decided to go back to the boat. It was such a hot day I decided to swim back, the distance being about three quarters of a mile, this was my first venture into the sea this trip and boy was it cold, Kevin thought it would be very funny to take photos whilst I showered off on the back of the boat after getting out of the water.

At both anchorages when we lifted the anchor it looked as if we had a large flower arrangement attached to the anchor, as it was covered in seaweed.

From there we moved to Vilagarcia which is a town with a marina, as we approached the back drop looked quite impressive with its mountains and forests behind the town, and so we decided to climb one the following day. First however we had to find our way to the bottom, once found we started our ascent, the tracks were wide and not too steep and so we didn’t find it as hard going as we thought we might.

On the way down we came across some tin shacks which at first we thought were derelict but no people were actually living in them, then a few hundred yards further down the road we came across several gated posh looking houses the contrast was phenomenal.
That night Kevin took over the cooking, it was steak night and he cooks them to perfection.

From Ria Arousa we sailed to our final Ria. Ria De Vigo and Baiona, this would be our last port of call in Spain before heading to Portugal. Baiona is a small thriving tourist resort steeped with History, apparently it was Columbus’s first mainland landfall after returning from the new world, and there is a replica of the “Pinta” permanently moored in the marina. The town also has a castle and within its grounds a rather posh looking hotel, the view from there is spectacular and would be a great place for a wedding venue, (hint to my son Steven who has just got engaged).

From Baiona we sailed to Lexeos in Portugal, the marina and town were not much to speak off but we took the metro and went to Porto for the day. Porto is apparently the second city of Portugal and sits on the river Douro, the architecture is magnificent, with lots of large old buildings, large squares and narrow cobbled streets. Whilst there we became tourists for the day and took a river cruise and then visited the Croft port wine cellar which was really interesting and we came away with a bottle of Pink port wine to try when Kevin’s Brother and family come out to join us next month.

From Lexeos we sailed to Aveiro where we anchored for the night, due to its position, it’s, an inland waterway, we were sheltered from the wind and you couldn’t tell we were actually on water it was so calm. Unfortunately there was no real town or village to speak of, its actually next to a military base, so we only stayed there for one night, the sunset was spectacular though.

 We set off for Nazare at 5am the next morning as we had a long days sailing to get there, when we arrived we were met by a grumpy old English man who told me off for not radioing in on channel 9 to let him know we were coming. The harbour is a good 1.5K from the town and is quite bleak so again we only stayed the one night. Getting off the mooring the following day was a bit hair raising, the wind was pinning us to the pontoon and it wasn’t long enough for us to spring of from the back of the boat, and there was an obstacle at the back so we couldn’t reverse, all the time we were being watched by the grumpy old man who professed to be a dab hand at sailing not one of our finer moments.

From Nazare it was off to Peniche another anchorage although we could have gone into the harbour, but there were reports that it was noisy due to the numerous fishing boats coming and goings at all times of the day and night so I think we made a wise choice.

The following day was another early start as we headed south to Cascais which was a good 46 miles away, again we decided to anchor as we had heard that the cost of mooring in the marina was astronomical. Cascais was traditionally a fishing village but since the 19th century it was transformed into a fashionable summer resort when the king of Portugal converted the Fotaleza da Cidadela into his summer residence. I have to say both Kevin and I loved Cascais with its narrow cobbled streets its old buildings and the friendliness of the people.

We anchored of one of Cascais numerous beaches along with several other yachts, it was a great position to watch the various posers in their speed boats speeding across the bay, one boat in particular caught our eye as it looked more like some sort of hydrofoil.

On our last day there we took a trip in the dingy to shore to have a walk along the beach and have a coffee, on the way back tough the wind had whipped up and we got absolutely soaked from head to toe on the way, talk about a wet T shirt completion.
That evening before moving further south there was a hive of activity in the bay as numerous tall ships left Lisbon and sailed across the bay, as well as several other sail boats, some old some new which were part of the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race event anchored in the bay. At one point it reminded us of the chaos in the river estuary at Portsmouth.

The next day it was another early morning start as we headed off to Sines, the town can be tracked back to Roman times and until the 70s was a quite fishing port, now it has become very industrialised and handles 5000,000 ton tankers. You can see its many chimneys and storage tanks for miles off, and as you approach the harbour you can smell the petrochemicals. However when you get into the harbour it’s like you are in a different place, it has a beautiful wide sandy beach and you can’t see any of the industry. The marina staff were very helpful and there was an old English guy who has been there for 8 years and was hoping to stay for another year. The town again has very narrow cobbled streets and in some areas it looks as though it has been lost in time. We also saw some old tin shacks perched precariously on the hillside which people lived in, showing us again the contrast between poor and wealthy. The music and food festival was due to be held in the town, the food section had started but they were just completing erecting the stages around the town for the various performances, it gave the whole town quite a buss.
From Sines it was another long days sail to Lagos, 77Nm so again another early start, this time though we were in thick fog, you couldn’t see more than a few boat lengths in front of you, at the same time two other boats were also leaving but they seemed to be hanging back, their tactic was to wait for us to go out and they would follow our navigation lights.
The fog cleared at about 9am and we had beautiful clear blue skies, the waves swell was still around 2 meters and there was no wind and so we had to motor the whole 77 miles making a very bumpy ride again. As we approached Cabo de Sao Vicente, once classed as the end of the known world, the landscape becomes very dramatic and looks almost pre-historic. The area is known for its windswept and wild seas, however as we had no wind we did not encounter any difficulty in getting round the headland and into the Algarve.

Cabo de Sao Vicente

The whole trip from north Spain has taken us just less than two weeks, we are going to spend the next month in the Algarve and on the 9th August we are being joined by Kevin’s brother and his family so we are really looking forward to that.

Total distance to date: 1538 Nautical Miles

Our current location: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=37.109476,-8.673706&hl=en&sll=37.108244,-8.680658&sspn=0.044219,0.104885&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=14&t=m&z=14

Into the Spanish Ria's

From Rebadeo we have continued to move west, we anchored for a couple of nights in two separate bays which were very tranquil, although on one night the fog descended on us and we ended up not being able to see the beach. At one of the beaches Kevin took his first dip of the trip, after seeing him go in I decided it was too cold for me, after swimming ashore Kevin took a stroll along the beach before swimming back.

The scenery along this coastline is very impressive, Kevin described it as the Cornish coats meets the Lake District and I have to say I can’t think of a better description.

We then moved on to A Caruna, which is a major city we decided to stay here for five nights, whilst there we manage to purchase a new radio so that we can use my iPod as we only have one CD and we have started to get fed up of listening to it even though it’s very good. Kevin also got his hair cut whilst we were there, he certainly won’t need another for several weeks.

The town of A Caruna although big is much nicer that those of Gijon and Rabadeo, there were plenty of shops, and I did manage to purchase some items of clothing although when I came to pay on the credit card they wanted to see my passport, never had that happen before. Kevin also took me to see this huge square, with a very impressive official looking building where it appeared several weddings were taking place.

Whilst in A Caruna we also met up with Nick and Judith who we had met in Rebadea, not sure who is following who.

From A Caruna it was back to anchoring as we moved more south west, there was no wind at all and so we had to motor all the way, within the first hour of leaving the marina we felt the boat jolt, we had something stuck around the propeller which reduced our speed by more than one knot meaning our journey would take a little longer. We found an anchorage in Laxe, and as soon as it was secure Kevin once again donned his trunks to swim under the boat to release whatever was caught on the propeller, it turned out to be a sheet of plastic, the look on his face said everything, it was freezing, he has warned me it’s my turn next time. That night as we sat on the boat  we could hear the cheers from the Spanish as they won the European cup, again the fog descended on us, so we moved on the following day to Calamarinas. On the way there we could see the clouds rolling over the hills, it looked as though we were watching a waterfall in slow motion.

 When we arrived in Camarinas we decided not to go into the harbour but anchor by the beach as we prepared to drop anchor we got an awful whiff, only to find there was a fish factory across from us so we moved further up wind and just hoped that the wind didn’t change direction in the night. We had also clocked up our first 1,000 miles and so we celebrated with a bottle of champagne and a nice juicy fillet steak.

The following morning we had some wind and so we sailed out of the bay and headed towards Finisterre. The weather again was cloudy with some mist, the wind was in the wrong direction for us to sail straight there and so several tacks were required, we didn’t seem to be making any headway at all so we decided to motor as it looked like more rain was on its way. We planned to stay for two nights in Finisterre and spend a day walking to the lighthouse on the headland to look at the impressive views, but when we got up in the morning the headland was covered in cloud, and so we decided to move on to Portosin which is in Ria Muros.

The marina itself is very nice but the local town does not have much to offer, once again we have bumped into Nick and Judith, and have spent a couple of evenings with them in the marina bar. This is the first marina where the British have outnumbered the French, never seen so many red ensigns or red dusters as they are nicknamed.

Whilst here we took a trip by local bus to Santiago de Compostela, where apparently in the 9^th century the tomb of St James was discovered, and the town is now the focus for thousands of pilgrims who visit each year. The new part of the town is full of department shops but the old town has narrow cobbled streets with numerous shops selling souvenirs, and café bars and restaurants so you are spoilt for choice when looking for somewhere to eat.

There is also a beautiful old cathedral with very ornate carvings both inside and out, the alter is completely covered in gold leaf it looks very spectacular, and around the outer sides there are spate little chapels.

One thing we have noticed whilst sailing in France and Spain is that the fishermen must work on some sort of point scoring system, because whenever we are near one, they head straight for us. So we think the scoring system goes something like this, one point for getting a yacht to alter course whilst motoring, two if under sail, and three at night.

Since leaving Britain I have tried to learn both French and now Spanish, I am able to ask for things like wine and the bill, good morning and hello, but I keep forgetting where I am and so now I speak a bit of Spanish, a bit of French and a bit of English all in one sentence, it must confuse the hell out of the person I am speaking to.

We are planning to leave here today to move onto Ria Auros where we again plan to do some anchoring, the weather at the moment is awful, raining and it sounds as if the wind is picking up, but having kept track of the weather back home its certainly better here than there.

Total distance to date:  1068 nautical miles

1 nautical mile = 1.15077 mile

Our present location:  https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=42.759617,-8.946304&hl=en&ll=42.762642,-8.923645&spn=0.38212,1.003876&sll=42.723308,-8.951797&sspn=0.382363,1.003876&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=11&t=m&z=11