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Portugal Approaches

Saturday 20th June

Last blog ended with a large G&T (they're always large in Spain) prior to fiesta activities in Combarro, up the Ria de Pontevedro. Really quaint old village with a warren of extremely narrow streets with loads of bars and everywhere decorated for fiesta time. Found a busy bar for Tapas spider crab croquettes,langoustine and spicy sausage with some Rioja whilst we watched events in the main square which was decorated like a medieval fair and all the locals dressed in Medieval gear. Apparently it was the fiesta for a Mr Colon so will have to check him out next time we have WIFI. Surprisingly quiet night at the Marina as apart from jousting no annoying fun fair or loud music.

Ps Its Christopher Columbus!

Sunday 21st June

Must be mad as decided a run was in order this morning. Ridiculously hot and all up hill from the Marina. Lots of barking dogs and vines. Very happily turned to run back down with fabulous views. Hosed down ourselves and the boat when we returned then healthy breakfast of fresh fruit, nuts, yoghurt and honey and then time to leave. Just as we were organising ropes we met a couple from Lymington, Richard and Celia Lassen on their Swedish yacht. Guess what they've also done the ARC so more chat before we set off for an anchorage recommended by Gareth Thomas. He borrowed our Galician pilot book and has put in some very useful comments eg nudist beach, caught a squid here and some which should not appear in a blog!

Gentle potter tacking up the Ria accompanied by some leaping Dolphins and a custom's boat who is giving everyone a good look. The few Spanish yachts seem to just genoa up to an anchorage for lunch and then return. Gareth's spot very lovely. Initially 3 other yachts and a few stink pots who all started leaving at 7ish until we were all alone. Very hot evening, rose to drink tonight and more music as there is no one here to disturb.

Monday 22nd June

Slept until nearly 10 o'clock and on a Monday morning too. Lazy start today, scrambled eggs and Spanish ham before setting off for the Ria de Vigo and Cangas. Still very warm but a little overcast.

How deceptively calm and lovely at our anchorage and how wrong are weather forecasts. My first Atlantic gale but at least it was a warm gale! I think we would have turned around in our old boat especially as we were beating in to the wind. Saw three other yachts, 2 Brits and an Irish, only we are mad enough to go out in this! Luckily there was space in Cangas Marina. Tee hee we got the last berth. Day trip to Vigo tomorrow.

Lovely day in Vigo pottering about and climbing up to the old castle with lovely views, then a wander through the old streets where we happened on a very busy restaurant and couldn't resist! Pimientos de patron, baby squid and prawns followed by cream cheese, walnuts and honey. Then ferry back over to Cangas.

Weds 24th June

A bit of motoring down the Viga in a bit of a gloomy morning. Managed a bit of sailing around into the bay of Baiona. Moored on a wobbly finger pontoon in the very picturesque Monte Real Yates yacht club, claimed to be the oldest in Spain. It is situated just below the lovely old castle and we shall walk the walls tomorrow. We have also spotted a bakery with loads of mini cakes and tarts which we will definitely have tomorrow.

Time for a run this morning all along the promenade, round the headland and along the beach. Pretty hot again so back for showers and boat cleaning plus a few jobs. We have found a helpful Chandlers where Alex got a robust swivel shackle for the anchor and ordered an anchor buoy that will arrive by 10 tomorrow am! Lovely old (1957 ) wooden boat came alongside. Drumbeat heading North back to the Isle of Man. Got chatting as one does and turns out that the lady of the boat is an anaesthetist who knows Dashers - Adrian Dashfield who was a consultant in Plymouth.

Got the BBQ this evening and had a rather amazing dinner of BBQ ribs from the Uraguayan butcher and butter beans in a barbecue sauce. This was followed by a selection of mine cakes all absolutely delicious. We have been very healthy so far but really enjoyed this treat.

Friday 26th June

A trip up to the supermarket and a good stock up of food. Alex collected his buoy from the chandlers plus some more tarts from the lovely patisserie. Met Irish Mike from Galway with his beautiful 72 foot ketch made in Holland called Orchestra. Loads of Irish in Galicia, apparently a lot just stay and don't get any further South. I can quite understand as it is a lovely cruising area with some great unspoilt spots, friendly people, superb sea food,cheap and the wines pretty good too. What more could you want? We had a lovely guided tour of Orchestra and even I had to admire the immaculate engine room which was nearly as impressive as the galley and master bedroom including a pole for dancing! Again lots of general chat about sailing and the ARC and the Caribbean. We do meet some lovely people and everyone wants to discuss their adventures and experiences.

Replica of the Pinta the first of Christopher Columbus's boats to return, in the marina at Baiona

Decided to go and moor in the bay to save 45€ - and that is with our ARC discount, so as we're pensioners we need to save our cents! Beautiful in the bay with one other French boat and time for some R&R followed by scrabble. We seem to have started a trend as by evening half a dozen boats anchored. Decided to make them all envious with our barbecued sea bass and pimentos peppers. Lovely especially as followed by fruit tart and lemon meringue pie from the patisserie. We are certainly keeping up our extremely high haute cuisine standards at the moment!

Saturday 27th June

Portugal here we come. We will cross the border around lunchtime today which will be another big step in our trip towards the South. Absolutely beautiful morning with clear blue skies again and lovely and warm. Cruising chute poled out today.

Got it up and out very easily, practice makes perfect! A good run in the morning and goat cheese toasties for lunch to celebrate our arrival in Portugal. Portuguese courtesy flag up and a view of the Spanish/Portuguese border

Wind started its afternoon increase so chute down and running along on just the genoa with a good 1 knot current whisking us down the coast. Great sunbathing until wind reaching over 30 knots then tops on as we whizz around into Viana do Castella. Yet another amazing beach with loads and loads of windsurfers and kite suffers enjoying the gale and sunshine! Just had to hope they were all in control enough to avoid us as they were relishing storming past us, doing jumps, waving and generally seeing who could get the closest to us! It was a relief to get round the bend in the river when the wind dropped to 10 knots and we were ridiculously hot again. Moored at a visitors pontoon, helped by very nice Marina man.literelly just below a rather fine road and rail bridge designed by a certain Mr Eiffel and you can see the resemblance. Nicholson in front called Elfin Lady from Bristol heading Northwards from the Med and a Bavaria 46 moored behind us with 6 Fins on board. They are heading for the Canaries for August and doing the ARC next year.

Went for an evening perambulate. Beautiful little town with a massive church, Sacre Coeur, perched on the top with a funicular railway. You can tell we are in a different country, pretty tiled houses and a definitely quieter atmosphere. I've found a new drink- White port and tonic, very aromatic and refreshing served in a massive glass with tons of lemon and ice. I'd read about it in the guide book and the lovely waiter at the bar in the square recommended the White port. I shall have some more of these! The bill for that and a large beer was 6.40€, not bad at all and a lovely setting plus free crisps. Back to the boat for Galician steak and chips with garlic spinach and evening sunshine. Next food we buy will be Portuguese.

Kate phoned at 4.30 this am so had a major panic but she was still merely out on the town in Plymouth and rang accidentally. Calmed down and went back to sleep. You never stop worrying about children! Alex's are all at Glastonbury so hope they're all ok and having a great time.

Sunday 28th June

Couldn't quite decide what to do today, so many options. Shall we stay in this lovely spot or anchor at one or another of the potential harbours down the coast. As it is such a lovely sailing day decided to leave and keep our options open as we travel down the coast. Hot and sunny with a F 5 abaft the beam, calmish sea, just perfect. Needed to avoid a wind farm which turned out to be a lone turbine in the middle of the sea. How weird it looked.

Plenty to keep us occupied on passage. Navigation, sail trimming and sail pattern changes according to the wind. Tidying, eating and drinking. Spanish to learn and I've also got to keep up with my sailing theory as I am definitely doing my Yachtmaster practical in Gib at the end of August. Plenty to keep my brain active.

Decided to anchor at Leixos. As usual the wind kicked up as we were heading in to harbour. Leixos is on the North bank of the Douro and is Porto's big port so we were basically anchored off a small beach in the middle of a container port! However quite interesting watching the tugs and pilot ships in action. 2 other boats at the anchorage so nice and quiet.

Monday 29th June

Woke up to dense fog and a fog horn blasting every 30 seconds. Couldn't see more than 30 metres or so. Our plan was to move to the marina in Porto which is literally 6 miles or so but we need to go up the Douro during a flood tide otherwise it gets very tricky. If the fog doesn't lift by 12 ish we will have to stay. Decided to head in to the local Marina at 2 ish which is just around the mole and visibility slightly better. Safely moored in the marina and weather improving now, just sort of misty. Off for an exploration through the old village and identify some potential restaurants for the evening. Find the Camping gas supplier but he's gone off on his hols and is shut for 2 weeks - that's no good! Out of the old village and find a massive beach and lovely promenade with lots of pretty tents you can rent as beach huts. Loads of people on the beach, paddling and volleyball. At the end of the promenade we find a big supermarket. First Portuguese shop. Alex has been desperate to find pate de sardines and we are not disappointed. Well supplied we return to the boat along the promenade then out for dinner. Oh what a night! Found a very busy back street family run restaurant which was almost full at 19.45. Big party of ladies with Dad the only chap there who was probably only there to pay the bill! We didn't need to choose starters as we were presented with a massive plate of prawns and some delicious battered sardines and bread basket. We then ordered a clam and pork casserole. The patron told us one dish would be enough for both of us and he was certainly right about that. Great dinner enlivened by chatting to Mona and John, a Portuguese teacher and lawyer who told us we were in the best restaurant. They live in Porto but often come out to this restaurant, about 20 mins from where they live. Most people were having the dish of the day, spaghetti, chicken and spicy sausage which Mona and John let us try. Spent the evening chatting with them and staggered out about 22.30, a late night for us!

 

True live aboards with our herbs and over 750 miles so far !

Tuesday 30th June

Hurrah we can see this morning so we shall make haste to Porto. Engine on and out past lots do local fisherman. Quite an exciting exit from the harbour as we had to rapidly reverse as a large tanker loomed into the narrow harbour entrance. We watched as the tugs turned him around so he reversed in. We snuck past as he turned aft to. Lovely entrance to the Douro with plenty of local fishermen cluttering up the transit as warned about in the pilot book. Into the Douro Marina, very smart with definitely a higher calibre of boats around. Saw the Fins leaving as we moored up

Chatted to Frank and Ann on their Ovni and also met a chap from Newton Ferrers who knows John Lytle who has kept his Bowman in the Carribean for 10 years. Decided to walk in to Porto and have a nosy about. Realised we were going to walk right past all the Port Caves and got waylaid by Taylor's! Arrived just in time for the 2 o'clock English tour and a little glass of white port whilst we waited. Really interesting tour and the aromas from the oak barrels was fantastic.

Afterwards we were given a glass of Ruby and Tawny port and we retired to the terrace to imbibe and soak up the lovely views of Porto across the Douro.

Continued our walk along the Douro and cross the bridge into Porto. Lots of lovely old buildings along the front, a funicular and good views up the old streets. Decide to return to the boat via the old tram line with trams from the 30s and a water taxi back to the marina. Roast chicken tonight but I first had to remove her head and feet. Made some stock but discarded the packet of chicken blood which came with her! Ann and Frank popped round to give us one food as they were heading home in the morning. We may meet up with them later as they are also heading for the Canaries. Slightly disturbed night from the fair and noisy warp. Luckily music stopped at 01.00 rather than 04.00!

Weds 1st July

Off to find the large supermarket which delivers to the Marina. An interesting walk up the back streets of the old fishing village. Lots of new apartments at the top and massive supermarket which was very quiet. Not like the supermarkets at home which are heaving in comparison. Had a little wait till they found someone to speak English and managed to organise the delivery. More of a hypermarket but all nicely laid out and great fresh produce so we will come again before we leave. Eventually manged the checkout after again eventually managing to arrange delivery and saw all our shopping loaded in to boxes. We have had a good stock up on wine, water, milk, tins and some new gin to try, etc. Hope we see it all again at the marina!

Decide to go in to Porto for the afternoon and do an open top bus tour. Water taxi and tram in to the centre and then have a pleasant hour and half seeing the sights from the bus. Hop off before the end and meander back down to the river for a white port and tonic and watch the world go by. We decided to walk back across the bridge and get a taxi back which works out cheaper than tram and water taxi. Get the washing in which we'd hung out in the morning. No sign of the supermarket shop as yet. Just before dinner of chicken curry we thought we should check with the marina office and there is our shopping. A very nice marina man loaded it into a trolley and brought it down for us. They are lovely here and a very nice lady who speaks excellent English n the office is very helpful. We organise a taxi for the morning as we are going on a river cruise. Stow the shopping, dinner and bed ready for our adventure tomorrow.

Thursday 2nd July

We need to be at the station for 08.30 so up early and leave just as the marina fresh rolls are delivered. We had them for breakfast yesterday with our very expensive French honey. It's very nice to have warm rolls delivered in time for breakfast. They should do that at Salcombe! Taxi waiting for us so off to the train station. We will be on a train for a couple of hours and then cruise back to Porto on a river boat. We get to the station in plenty of time so go in search of some naughty Patisserie. A pineapple pastry for me and a peach one for Alex and a very cheap cafe con leche at the train cafe. Meet up with the tour guide and looks like about 30 on the trip. Train trip through the Portuguese countryside watching out for vines and pretty allotments. Some beautiful bits along the river so should be a picturesque cruise back. Passed through some very pretty little stations with beautiful gardens. Who will win the best kept station award?

Arrived at Ruega where we followed our guide down to our river boat. Loads of room on board and we settled ourselves at an outdoor starboard table. Lovely scenery as we started down the river past a Sandeman vineyard.

Then downstairs for lunch where we sat with a lovely Norwegian couple, Oyuid and Tone and spent a very pleasant lunch chatting. Red wine was supplied and nice lunch veg soup, pork and loads of veg and chocolate ice cream cake. A pair of elderly French sisters didn't manage any of their bottle so we helped them out. We had a very relaxing afternoon on deck watching the Portuguese countryside roll by until we arrived at the first dam. We followed another river boat into a massive lock, the deepest in Europe and descended 70 m. Very exciting.

We went through 2 more locks which were still impressive but not as deep as the first. A lovely day out with a little more port and tonic to finish the day.

Friday 3rd July

Jobs day today after all that R&R yesterday. Off for a run along the coast. More beautiful beaches around the headland. Then off to the supermarket for more supplies and then back for washing and cleaning. BBQ out for a large reddish fish, some sort of Dorado which cooked and went beautifully With our very cheap ratatouille ( 10p for courgettes, 15p for aubergine ).

Sat 4th July

Happy 18th Birthday Wills, we will ring later! Ready to set sail today. We are going to do a longer trip and sail overnight and see where we end up as there are a couple of options. Hot sun and good wind so perfect.

 

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