For our second day in Lisbon we planned a trip out on our bikes but the Atlantic coast of Portugal is not a friendly place for bikes - it is a tad hilly. Our planned route of only about 25 miles would clock 3000' of climbing - time for a rethink! We rethinked and came up with a marvelous plan - we would taxi to the top and cycle to the bottom - which still involved 1500' of climbing in between! Our first stop was a wonderful little convent built into the rock of the hills. With doors only 5' high and 2' wide it seemed more of a hobbits house, made more surreal by the cork - everywhere! It was mostly used for insulation on the ceiling which you can see in the picture but also for decoration round the doors.








Cork is a huge industry in Portugal. The bark of the cork tree (the bark which gives the cork as we know it is stripped once every ten years, the tree is then left to recover). Portugal makes 30 million bottle corks - a day!!! A week or so later we came across both the stripped cork trees and this store of bark waiting to be processed.

Enjoying a sun downer that evening we watched this fellows antics in a Moth dinghy - the latest in thrills for dinghy sailors - notice how the hull is right up out of the water, he is riding on a hydrofoil fixed to the bottom of the centre board. Super fast and super tippy!









There are few harbours on the Atlantic coast so it was two long passages of 50 miles each to the bottom left corner of Portugal that would take us to the Algarve coast. Two cracking days sailing, 25 knots of wind (force 6) behind us, the sun shinning and the big swells that had plagued us so far had reduced to less than a meter - wonderful sailing averaging a speed of 7 knots (8mph) - fast for a sailing boat! Woody has to be wherever the action is - the bow is always a good place helping with a sail change!
Both days we were accompanied for a time by a school of dolphins, swimming in formation up to 8 deep off our starboard bow; beautiful to watch and always a highlight of any passage. We over nighted at Sines then south round the corner for a well earned beer in Villa de Sagres.

Swell now gone altogether as we were protected by the Algarve coast with the wind from the north we had a ripping sail in 30 knots of wind on our beam to Lagos. With the thrill of the sailing we forgot to close one of the forward hatches; although the waves were not big 30 knots of wind will pick up any spray at all and throw it over the deck - I suddenly noticed our error as half a bucket full of sea water flew across the inside on the boat and landed on the cushions! The first job when we got into Lagos marina to re-water and give the batteries a good charge was to wash everything in fresh water. Even Woody's bed got a soaking. I reckon we get the prize for the best Chinese laundry of the week!

Just down the coast from Lagos is a beautiful big lagoon with the village of Alvor tucked at the end. We landed on the beach where Woody found a crab fest - dozens of little crabs running round on the sand  - what fun to chase! He did manage to get one in his mouth before hastily dropping it; I suspect it gave him a nip but it didn't seem to put him off!







On Tuesday Mike left for home and Melanie joined me once again. Nearby Alvor we visited 'Sand city' -  a large park full of sand sculptures - even Noddy was there!










Its getting pretty hot here now, low 30 degrees. On a nice but hot hot walk in the hills we came across this well. I hauled up a bucket of lovely cool water and doused poor Woody who was rather wilting in the heat!