The Spain/Portugal border is at the Ria Mino which was about half way on today’s journey. We knew we had crossed the line when we started seeing lots of lobster pots (which we had read about). We had a flag changing ceremony, taking down Spain for now and raising Portugal.
Here it is
Dean ready to hoist the Portuguese flag
Once again the water looks calm, believe me it wasn't!
Meanwhile, the cruising chute still hung there strapped to the genoa waiting and hoping for some wind. Eventually we put it away as we neared our destination. We had been warned that the wind would pick up drastically as we entered the river mouth and indeed it did to 17 knots. But we had everything under control and about a mile up river we berthed on the marina visitor’s pontoon. Oh my word, the heat from the land suddenly hit us, and it hasn’t let up all afternoon. 34.9 degrees inside the boat, and even higher outside in the cockpit.
We headed to the office to book in and show our papers etc and had a bit of a shock when we discovered it’s 55 euros per night. Wow that’s expensive for a river pontoon, even though it’s high season. One of the most expensive marinas we’ve been to and we were a bit fed up about that, especially when the local speedboats go past at full throttle and we all rock and roll all over the place on every occasion. Plus we’re right next to a bar called ‘Insomnia’… oh dear, we wished we had only paid for one night now instead of two.
Our thoughts about the place started to change when a couple on the neighbouring Brit boat returned and started chatting to us. They said the town itself was lovely and we should go and look at the real fancy church up on the hill. This evening we did take a walk about the town and the heat was just becoming bearable. It’s true, the town is lovely and there was an orchestra getting ready to perform later on, tomorrow, and the day after so we are going to go back tomorrow night to listen to the open air concert.
Friday 3rd August… The heat of the night was bearable with all the fans going and the mobile Transcool Air Con Unit. I forgot to tell you yesterday that we had to put the clocks back an hour as Portugal is the same as UK time. Also we had dolphins as we crossed the border, I think they came to check our passports!
Today we were out and about by 9am before the place heated up too much. We walked through town to the funicular railway which takes you up to the magnificent Santa Luzia Basilica on the hilltop overlooking the town. It was delightful and reading the tourist info we found out that Santa Luzia became the Patron Saint of Sight after going blind and having a miracle recovery. We likened it to when Tibby had the same experience and decided we shall dedicate every 3rd August as SAINT TIBBY DAY and make it a BANK HOLIDAY!! Because there just isn’t enough bank holidays over here.
Crossing over the lines at the railway station
Tiled artwork of the Basilica
Hopping onto the Funicular Railway, all to ourselves
Looking up
Ooh there's one coming down too
At the top
Looking down
and out to sea
Tourists
A peep inside the Basilica, no Cashurro's allowed
Walking the gardens
After a look around the place we sat at the café for coffee and orange juice. Dean tried his Portuguese ordering technique but amusingly the waiter asked us if we would order in English please because he didn’t understand what we were saying, lol. We were amused on the menu they had Cashurro which we understood to translate as Dog, because Saffy’s name is now Saffy Cashurro. Bemused at having Dog on the menu, and thinking it must be a weird cocktail, we later realised it meant HOT DOG, another lol.
It was almost midday when we took the return journey on the funicular railway, abit like being in Bridgnorth we thought, and it was getting hotter and hotter. Back at the boat we had some lunch and tried to cool off. By mid afternoon the sky had clouded over somewhat and a strong blow came through dropping the temperature from about 32 degrees to 26 in an hour. That gave us some respite.
Tonight we are looking forward to going into town to watch the open air concert, hence my early blogging. On the move tomorrow to Leixoes just north of Porto.
Saturday 4th August… Firstly, a couple of photos from last night.
All on our own tonight
Umbrella Street
At the concert
We were too late to get a seat because we'd been drinking Sangria
It was a really calm morning as we slipped the lines at Viana do Castelo. We thought we would try a new sail plan today by staying just a couple of miles offshore as there seems to be more wind in that area, and as a northerly was forecast we had the symmetrical spinnaker at the ready.
There was an inshore nature reserve we had to miss and the wind was north west not north so we couldn’t fly the spinnaker as the wind needs to be right behind us for that sail. However, we put it away and got the cruising chute out and it worked a treat. We must have flown it for the next six hours at a steady average 4 knots. The swell was down and we had a really good sail, and we were happy. We only have to look at Saffy to see how things are going and if she is asleep or relaxed we know things are going well.
We reached the Port Atlantico de Leixoes at about 5.30pm, and called up the marina for a berth, but they said they couldn’t get us in. Oh no, that never occurred to us, so we had to go in the anchorage outside the marina with four or five other boats who obviously got turned away as well. Normally we would be happy at a free night but today it meant we had to get the dinghy out again which is a little bit of a pain, just to take Saffy ashore. Plus we hadn’t written that into our plans and felt a bit at sixes and sevens.
Cruise ship in town as we approached the port
Anyway, we did go ashore at 8pm. It’s easy to dinghy into the marina which is so much easier that trying to land on a wavy beach. The place doesn’t look very nice from what we saw, but we do think we’ll stay and have another look around tomorrow. There’s some winds coming through from Tuesday onwards so we’re trying to work out a plan of where the best place to stay a few days will be. There’s not a lot of options along this part of the coast, and at the moment we feel a little disappointed with what we’ve seen.
Sunday 5th August… Trying to make the most of this place, so took a walk along the seafront this morning and found a supermarket. Then walked back along the promenade, the beaches we packed with bathers, mind you it was very hot again today. Back at the marina we went into the yacht club for refreshments, and it was really nice. We sat outside under the shade of the umbrellas. It’s only a small place and they also have a very small swimming pool. Linda was so tempted to get in and cool down but didn’t have a swimsuit handy.
The lido on the beach
Wow, this is what i call a crowded beach
Our view of Thesee from the yacht club
The afternoon we spent on Thesee, it was hot, 31 degrees today. We’ve heard it’s 41 degrees down the coast in Lisbon! We had time to relax and do a few bits and bobs. Linda spent a couple of hours doing a jigsaw and Dean did some reading and snoozing. We have a large piece of felt to do the jigsaw on, and then just roll it up for carrying on next time. It seems to work really well.
We’ve sent off some enquiries to a few marinas about Winter Berthing. Tomorrow we’re leaving here and heading to Figuera da Foz about 70 miles down the coast. We may be there for a few days because of weather, but will see how it goes.
Monday 6th August... Internet is hit and miss so it will be a short blog post today. A long sailing (motoring all the way) day today reaching Figuera da Foz at 7pm. Glad to be in the marina, the town beyond looks very pleasant, tomorrow we'll have a good look around the place. 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. Late supper, quick shower, bed.
Here's a couple of photos of the day.
This morning's cruise ship 'Magellan' arrives in Porto
A fleet of fishing trawlers down the coast
The headland at Cabo Mondego, just before arriving at Fig Foz
Tuesday 7th August.... Here's a few words from Dean to begin with...
A few weeks ago I mentioned or better still did not mention the G word. Well. While we were in A Coruna I had some parts sent over for the gas alarm. After a bit of an argument with the manufacturer I contacted the supplier and they supplied the parts FOC and mailed them to Spain.
It turned out as we thought, it was not the sensor, (hence the argument) but the sensor holder that was faulty. Any way the unit has been back up and running now for a couple of weeks and so far so good. ASAP supplies are brilliant, they have supplied a few parts for Thesee over the last few years and always been excellent.
Nice sunny day today and not overpowering with heat. We had a good look about town, some lovely buildings, and overall very pleasant. We came across the Bull Ring, but it wasn’t a bit like the Bull Ring back at home in the Midlands! Nothing like a shopping centre at all.
Did some laundry and had a beer and coke at the nearby café. Went and paid our ‘Light Dues’ 2 euros at the local Maritime Police Station. Apparantly this is for the upkeep of the navigation lights in Portugal. Hardly worth the trouble for 2 euros we thought. Paid our marina fee for 3 nights, cost 103 euros. That’s a good deal for three nights.
On the way back to the marina Dean spotted a motorbike with a UK number plate and the reg was actually a DY number (Dudley). We spoke to the owner and would you believe it he came from Bridgnorth! He said he moved out here a few years ago to live on a boat here in the marina. He was only 43, early retirement, renting his house out in the UK and living off the proceeds, just come back from a bike tour of Northern Spain. Living the life.
Quite windy this afternoon but all our neighbours left this morning, more came in tonight though. Here's some photos of our walkabout.
Nice sunny day today and not overpowering with heat. We had a good look about town, some lovely buildings, and overall very pleasant. We came across the Bull Ring, but it wasn’t a bit like the Bull Ring back at home in the Midlands! Nothing like a shopping centre at all.
Did some laundry and had a beer and coke at the nearby café. Went and paid our ‘Light Dues’ 2 euros at the local Maritime Police Station. Apparantly this is for the upkeep of the navigation lights in Portugal. Hardly worth the trouble for 2 euros we thought. Paid our marina fee for 3 nights, cost 103 euros. That’s a good deal for three nights.
On the way back to the marina Dean spotted a motorbike with a UK number plate and the reg was actually a DY number (Dudley). We spoke to the owner and would you believe it he came from Bridgnorth! He said he moved out here a few years ago to live on a boat here in the marina. He was only 43, early retirement, renting his house out in the UK and living off the proceeds, just come back from a bike tour of Northern Spain. Living the life.
Quite windy this afternoon but all our neighbours left this morning, more came in tonight though. Here's some photos of our walkabout.
Wednesday 8th August… We had to visit the Maritime Police Office again this morning. Reason being that we tried to scan the ‘Light Dues’ form we got yesterday, and instead of our printer scanning it, it decided to print something right over the top of it, completely obliterating the whole page! We felt a bit daft having to go and explain what had happened (especially with the language barrier), but thankfully they were very understanding and had a duplicate form made up for us straight away. We have found the people here in Figueira so friendly and obliging, all except in the small Chandlery who were quite the opposite.
Dean, happy with his duplicate Light Dues form
The laundry here is just 5 euros for a wash and dry, other places have been 5 euros for each. So we did another two loads and are now completely up to date. We took a lovely walk through the local park and sat for lunch in a great little family run place along the esplanade. Tuna salad, Omelette & Chips, two drinks, coffee, 15 euros. They gave Dean a tot of something afterwards and he said it was so strong his tongue had gone numb.
Later on Dean washed the boat down and Linda carried on with her jigsaw. Then tonight’s load of visiting boats started arriving, about 10 in total and there were a lot of big ones too, the visitor’s spots are full. One of the boats was our new friends on Silhouette. They are doing the ARC+ this October (Gran Canaria, Cape Verde, St Lucia), and also a boat called Perle who we’ve met recently. There’s probably about 5 Brit boats here tonight, and some are even Brummies!
Linda's jigsaw coming along nicely
Thursday 9th August… Today we walked down the seafront to where there’s a display of Classic Cars going on for the summer holidays. It was very windy today, especially when we walked the boardwalks across the sands on this massive beach. I can’t remember what we did this afternoon, but this evening we were invited for drinks by not one, but two boats so we split our time between both Silhouette and Perle. They both made us feel very welcome and we really enjoyed meeting everyone and hearing their stories and telling our own. Most of us are heading south over the next day or two, so we hope to keep in touch here and there. Here's some of today's photos.
Figueira Fire Engine, seats on the sides
Painted bullet holes on this one
Friday 10th August... There was shopping to be done today, eventually we found Pingo Supermarket and came back with quite a trolley full. These days we buy our water in 5 litre containers so thank goodness we do indeed have a trolley to carry everything. Today's water was a complete bargain at 0.59c for 5 litres! Wow.
Another afternoon spent around the boat doing bits and bobs just to keep occupied, then this evening we had another invitation to drinks and snacks, this time on the American boat 'Bora Lá'. Another very pleasant evening i must say. We've met so many lovely people this last week here in Figueira da Foz, at least most of them are going our way so we'll meet up again sometime somewhere soon we hope.
This will be the last blog entry entitled 'Into Portugal'
The next blog entry will be entitled 'Onwards to the Capital'
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