Update 15th Oct

1st – 3rd Oct
Still in Nazare until the weather settles and we can head on south (usual story) but I’ve had a (well overdue) haircut and Carolyn had a chat with her Dad on the sat phone to wish him a happy 80th. Still going strong, well done, Jim – and we hope you have many more.
Our mobile phone provider (0044) tell us that it could be November before they have the system back up and running; the network provider that they use has gone into receivership and of course its not an over-night solution.

Wed 3rd
Leave Nazare to Peniche, but we wont be staying there long because it has a bad reputation as being uncomfortable due to the speed that the large fishing fleet passes by. We got in at 14:30 so still have enough time in the evening to go a walk through the town and see some of the streets, and a quick beer in one of the bars. Early start next day so nothing excessive! The officials are smart enough to be aware of the date on my passport and are very nice to me….

Thurs 4th
Head out at daybreak (7:45 ish) for Cascais and arrive at 16:30 and go straight onto the fuel berth to top up again (should have bought a motorboat).
We spend the next day in Cascais which is a very nice holiday town near to Lisbon, and top up with some stores from the big supermarket ‘Jumbo’. Every thing is slightly more expensive in Portugal than in Spain which may be due to the difference in VAT (but we’re not sure). Today is a public holiday which explains why everywhere is so busy and why there is a town square called ‘5th October’ (I think it’s republic day); but on the town hall in the square there are tiled panels on the building depicting various Saints. I am amazed to discover that there is a panel dedicated to St Mateus (I thought he made the wine….).

Sat 6th
Another dawn start to go to Sines and we arrived at 17:45, but we’ve already planned on a 6am start for tomorrow so we only get checked into the marina, have a shower & something to eat and have another early night. We notice another Barbary Ketch in the harbour but it looks like it’s closed up for the winter. Also see Charlie & Alison’s boat ‘Breagh’ but they are also not onboard so we leave a note.

Sun 7th
Depart at 06:00 and arrive at 19:15 so a long day but that’s us round Cape St Vincent and onto the Algarve. Now we can relax and just hop along the coast when we please. From the corner at St V to the entrance to Lagos we have a great sail because the wind is from the North (from the land) and there are no waves or swell to talk of, about 19 – 23 knots on the beam; so the last 15 miles brings a smile to our faces – great sailing at last! Just as we pass the Cape at Sagres Seawalk calls us up on the radio – they are anchored with Nocturne in the bay and see us passing and wonder if we are going to join them, but we explain that we want to get into Lagos as soon as possible because Laura is now here in the Algarve. So we book into the marina for a week and hope to have a good time.

8th – 14th
Lagos Marina
Parked up in the marina for at least a week! The marina has a very active international group of cruisers that are either wintering or passing through (ARC participants etc) and run a radio net on the marine vhf a few days of the week to give weather & other info including sales & wanted, borrows, and technical info / assistance – and also organise various activities, which all helps those that are new to the area or need help with something.

As I said earlier in the blog Francy & Richard brought Laura through and she had a couple of days with us before she went through to visit Stacy & Amy in Albufeira. We went through on the train with her and didn’t realise that the train station is actually 7k from the town.. Ah well – taxi ! Both the girls looked good – hale & hearty and after a quick beer we made our exit back to the train and left the girls to catch up with each others news – Laura would come back on Friday.
We’ve also had a good walk round the town here at Lagos and a lovely meal out with Laura before she went to Albufeira; Diana & Jaap came with us on the train to Faro when Laura was going back to the airport. But while she was here we did manage to get out for a couple of hours sail and have a close look at the coast, cliffs and small islands. The rest of the time has been spent doing the other exciting necessities like shopping (food) & laundry etc., and explaining grib files for the weather to Nicholas & Colette on Xing before they went to Madeira.

It’s now been 3 months since we left Ardorran and it’s actually quite amazing that we’ve been existing in this small space for that time and are actually still enjoying each others company. The sites and experiences along the way have all been quite remarkable and although we haven’t put it all on the blog we’ve tried to give you all a selection of what we’ve seen and done. (don’t want to bore you with too much detail) We’ll get some more photos ready to put up after this and let you see something of the section from Sada down to Lagos.