To Lisbon

 


We left Porto at sunrise to a beautiful setting moon and shot out of the river Douro with 3 knots of tidal assistance. The only issues with our journey were we had to burn load of diesel because there was no wind and I broke my poor toe leaving Porto. Didn't hurt at all just made a horrible cracking noise - first injury, not a bad one. Besides that we had a wonderful journey. The coast from Porto to Lisbon is basically one gigantic beach with only 3 or 4 places to moor if you are day sailing to avoid orcas. First stop was in a cool marina in Figueira de Foz where we left the cook on board and went for a lovely jug of sangria in a really trendy bar. We scoffed all the fruit as it was so delicious.

Next we passed Nazare where they have the biggest surfing waves in the world, (you can see why in the contours of the nav chart) 


Then we dropped anchor for the night in a very protected little cove, Baia de sao Martinho do Porto, which was a bit scary getting into because of the waves crashing on the rocks at the entrance. But once in was a lovely calm Portuguese holiday resort with an amazing cheeseburger sunset.





The following day we stopped at Ericeira, a bit of a rolly anchorage, number 1 went for a swim and did a hull inspection with her paddleboard.

In the morning, while waiting on the beach for Neil and Jo to arrive and the cook to get some shopping, I had an amazing conversation for about 40 minutes with a local fisherman, Miguel, who couldn't speak a word of English. Lots of writing in the sand, He was 70, showed me his boat, asking me questions about my boat, where we were headed, offered me a ciggie, invited me for a coffee (I wish I had gone now). Of course he knew Liverpool because of the Beatles. Such a cool, friendly guy. Some people really do just want to have a chat. Really made my day meeting him.



Picked up Neil & Jo and gave them a lift to Lisbon, well Cascais. Lovely sunny day, great company, great conversation and great fun. 

The ladies having a mid anchoring chat.

Sad to see them go.



Staying in Cascais for a few days now.








Comments

  1. Anonymous5 October 2023 at 08:51

    ...have told you about those orcas Wam, you need t send for Frodo !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jen5 October 2023 at 16:22

    Loved hearing about your chat with the Portuguese fisherman - how amazing it just shows where there’s a will there’s a way! Sounds like another fab journey and great experiences for you all including Jo & Neil. Big hugs 🤗 can’t wait to see you! Xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stephen Adamson5 October 2023 at 19:38

    Loving the blog 😊 tickled me when you mentioned the fisherman’s age as if he was old, that’s us in 7 years !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chris6 October 2023 at 21:06

    Looks amazing Wam.
    Good to see everyone working together. Mandy checking the hull -you chatting to the local young bloods -and the unidentified cook doing cooking stuff
    Enjoy and really loving the blog. Hope your toe is on the mend. Lots of love to you all and safe travels
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kim13 October 2023 at 11:58

    Wam know that coastline reasonably well. Stayed in Foz about 20 years ago! Your adventure looks amazing. Portuguese are probably the friendliest people in the world. Definitely the most laid back

    ReplyDelete

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