15th April 2009 (still in Lagos)

Still in Lagos.. We’re still here, been quite busy and have been very fortunate to visit out into the countryside on the last two weekends, but before we tell you about that we must mention the oranges… I don’t know how we forgot but on the last post about Albufeira and leaving there, we totally forgot to mention about a couple of visitors that used to pop round to see us a couple of times a week. It started with Trevor arriving back down the boat and speaking with Liz who had come round to the pontoon that we were on to check out the Scottish flag and then being joined by her husband Sandy and Maurice (Sandy‘s long time pal). Sandy & Liz have a catamaran in Albufeira and were just down to check it out – anyway during the chatting it turned out that they had been in Dunoon for part of their time in Scotland and also involved with the Mountain Rescue and also know people from Aberfoyle. Anyway, Sandy and Maurice used to call in for a coffee and a chat most of the times that they called at the marina and brought some paper-back books and bags of oranges from their grove that they live in a couple of times and also just before we left – so that we have (almost) enough oranges to last us back to Scotland. Should keep the scurvy away….!

Right then – Lagos, we’re still pottering about, Carolyn has been varnishing the woodwork outside the boat and keeping up with the daily shopping. Bob & Di (Sheer Fantasy) are now back in the water and just along the pontoon from us. We’ve met up with a couple of boats that are going east and have been round to pass on the info that we gathered on the places that we visited. Had a delicious meal on Suerte (David & Sue) that David had prepared, we now have the recipe for Persian Spiced Chicken with Jewelled Rice – very tasty.
John and Rita had been down to the boat towards the end of last month (we didn’t manage to meet up when we came through in 2007) and we went to stay at their place for the weekend. They took us on a tour round the area near the small village where they live – it is wonderful. We had a fantastic weekend and also met up with Anne & Nick, who also lived near Aberfoyle and are now based near Silves. Last weekend we were there at their beautiful place – up a hill in the countryside and very near to the old town of Silves. It was wonderful to visit the historic town and to be in the countryside at both places, very picturesque - amongst hills – very like Scotland in some ways but with more blue skies and less frost…. Of course all this opinion is based on an abundance of spring flowers and the greenness at this time of year. If anyone was thinking of coming out to Portugal – and not be on a ‘Package Holiday’ they could consider checking out http://www.photographportugal.com or arrange their own accommodation through http://www.algarve-rentals.com either would give a good alternative.

How much longer we will be here is still a bit of a guessing game – the weather is still from the north and looks that way for a while. We’ll let you know when we’re on the move again and put up some photo’s in a week or so.