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!

An eerie sight in the morning and a visit to Lisbon

Nazare has quite a reputation - it claims the largest wave in the world but certainly the largest wave ever surfed - a massive 100' high! Here's a photo of me ripping it up just off the Nazare headland light house, that waves just a tad under 100', pretty exciting!





Happily as we rounded the headland the waves were  not too bad.







We parked up in the rather dilapidated marina where we found this little chap wandering round the pontoon under the beady eye of his parents.

There are some nice beaches here but sadly they are all quite steep and the waves (a little more civilised by this time) were dumping badly on the beach so we couldn't get in for a swim and a play in the waves.
We headed off for a bike ride instead to this rather impressive church and monastery (there seem to be quite a few in this very Catholic country).






On the way back we came across a pine forest with every tree tapped for its sap, a nice smelling sticky substance said to be used for a huge variety of things from sealants and an application to the bows of violins to a treatment to rheumatism and even a laxative!



The following morning we woke to a very eerie sight. The sun  glowed a deep red in a very hazy sky and a quick look around told us that something not good had happened as the deck was covered in what seemed to be black ash. Word soon went round the marina about the terrible forest fire that had happened during the night just 30 miles from us; we were directly down wind of the fire.

Later that morning we jumped on a bus inland for some sight seeing from which we intended cycle back but the road we planned to cycle on was so busy that we aborted and returned to the boat for a quiet afternoon washing the decks and doing a few other jobs.

We have had a spell of completely windless days and the following morning was no different as we headed for Lisbon under motor dropping anchor 5 hours later in Cascais harbour a few miles from Lisbon city centre.
Its getting hot here; it is a wilting 36 degrees on the streets of Lisbon!

Lisbon has the usual eclectic mix of big city architecture and buildings but two stood out as particularly special, a church recently converted into a national pantheon and the Jeronimos monestary. A pantheon, once a collective place for all the local Gods has more recently become a place for a group of famous people and so it now is in Lisbon. Amongst the heros is Vasco da Gama, Portugals hero explorer famed for being the first to reach India in 1500.

Portugal was in the 15th century the first of the  colonial powers of the renaissance which by 1570 extended right through south east Asia to Japan.  Portugal became hugely wealthy on the back of the spice trade. 'Vasco' has always been the nickname for the navigator in my family!
The pantheon, constructed from an unfinished church, was completed in 1960 and is a magnificent space with huge domed roofs and a wonderfully calming and uplifting atmosphere. I'm afraid photos really cannot do it justice.

Jeronimos monastery is quite the most extraordinarily ornate place I have ever seen. Its cavernous church and intricately decorated cloisters are magnificent.
















Tomorrow we will head inland for an explore on our bikes.....

All kinds of fun down the Portuguese coast

We recently had what turned out to be an amusing scare with Woody. Melanie spotted that he had what looked like a huge angry boil on his gum. We got him to a vet the next day who took one look at it, exclaimed in alarm and rushed him off to another room. A couple of minutes later he came back in with a grin on his face and the culprit in his hand. Far from having a huge boil Woody had picked up a red and brown nut somewhere and somehow it had got stuck above his teeth on his gum! All's well that ends well.

 Its windy here! There is a pretty constant north westerly wind that blows along the coast which is then beefed up by a thermal wind caused by the heating of the land by the sun; the result is a pleasant 15knots of wind in the morning that builds during the day, in the summer it is said to regularly reach 30 or 35 knots! Happily the most we have had is 25 knots (force 6) but that has made for some pretty lively sailing. The regular wind makes also for a pretty big sea and it has been quite rolly. It does however encourage an early start - get out there and get back in before the winds really starts honking!

We pulled out of the waves for a few days at Porto, the home of that rather pleasant liqueur. Made from grapes grown further up the river the wine was moved down the river on rather splendid gondolas and taken to the mixing and warehousing areas of which there were many; all the big names flying their flags on the river bank.

Porto is a winderful mix of higgeldy piggeldy houses as the city has grown up from the river bank over the centuries. Lots of colourful tiles on buildings, even the train station is a tourist attraction with the internal walls fully tiled with images of country life in Portugal.

After a day looking round Porto I went home for a couple of days for my Uncle Toms funeral and Melanie stayed on the boat baby sitting Woody as it is very complicated to get him home.

For the last five years Moondance has usually been one of the bigger boats in the marina; in Porto that has suddenly changed with a bang! Moored close by use were two 60' yachts and this beautiful yacht moored up alongside Melanie. Next James Bond came to town in this 160' long creation; we felt rather humbled in little Moondance!

Now here was a clash of cultures. As we left the marina to walk up the river we came across a communal washing house; many women stood around big baths of water scrubbing clothes which were then hung out to dry on lines. We were stood on the quay watching something that you only expected to see on the banks of the Ganges and parked just behind was many millions of pounds worth of super yacht!

When I got back to Porto it was time for Melanie to go home to see her Mum so Mike has come to join me for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately I have got into trouble again, twice in three days! In Porto whilst I was waiting for Mike I ran the boat up on the beach to do some work on the underside of the hull. No sooner had the tide gone out than an official came out to tell me that this was a national park and I couldn't stay here - I had to explain that just at the moment I wasn't going anywhere but I assured him that I would move as soon as the tide came in - job done. 

2 days later mike and I were anchored up one of the canals in Aveiro just south of Porto. Just as the sun was setting over came a rather official looking boat with a blue light mounted in his rigging; we thought he was coming to warn us about the shallow water we were in as he wouldn't have known that we can dry out. To our surprise he told us we couldn't anchor there - it was a national park - is there anywhere in Portugal that isn't a national park?! The tide was very low and although we were still floating at the time we seamed to get away with telling him that we couldn't possibly move in such shallow water but we would move as soon as the tide came in. He looked up the next high tide - 7am the next day - perfect!

 Mike and I left Porto on Tuesday planning to get the boat down to the Algarve where I will pick Melanie up in two weeks time. The rolling as we sail downwind  can become quite tiresome - but we have a solution! The original owner of Moondance kitted her out with something called a Twizzle rig, specially designed for down wind sailing which he bought for the trade wind sailing across the Atlantic. As we have spent the last 5 years beating our way round Europe it hasn't come out of its bag but now is the time. Mike and I pulled out the sail and with the help of Google and a little head scratching soon had this wonderful sail rigged and flying well. It is two head sails sewn together a bit like a spinnaker but attached to the boat at the bottom in the middle. It is flown without the mainsail.


 For the sailors out there the bit that is so different is that the booms are not attached to the mast, they are joined together in front of the mast and are allowed to swing from side to side; it is this that dampens the roll. Instead of the main and boomed out genoa pushing the boat further over as she rolls, whilst the boat still rolls with the waves the exaggerated roll caused by the sail pushing on the mast is no longer there, the rig simply swings to the side of the roll and back again.

 My bete noire for this year (other than the generator which is awaiting some new electronics!) is the radar. Radar is one of those things that most boats have but hardly ever gets used in anger but when you need it you really need it. Fog is the sailors nightmare and radar is the answer. The original sat nav died 2 years ago and was replaced; there was nothing wrong with the radar but they work together and as the new sat nav was digital and the original radar analogue the radar had to be replaced as well (that'll be another £1000 thank you very much sir!) Oh well, all new kit, no problems for years to come...........hmm. Last year it worked fine (and wasn't needed). The west coast of Portugal is notorious for its fog so I wound up the radar as we approached Portugal only to find that the sat nav wouldn't talk to the radar this year. Its wifi which really didn't seam a good idea at the time, if it can go wrong on a boat it probably will so don't be clever - happily as I had a bad feeling about the wifi I also put a cable down the mast so I could hard wire it if necessary. Raymarine the manufacturer suggested updating the software and all sorts of clever stuff none of which worked - I decided to hard wire it, I only had to extend the wire from the base of the mast to the sat nav screen. I didn't have the proper cable but I did have an 8 core ethernet (computer cable) that would do. The connections were going to be a problem because the wires are very fine and I only had the plastic screw in connectors.

 However, an hour later the connections were made and all was well with the the world - for a while. Two days ago we left Aveiro in a nice breeze and blue skys but an hour later down came the fog. No problem - I have eyes in the fog - turn on the radar! Aaargh - no connection! I was pretty sure of the problem, one of the tiny wires had worked its way out of the connector so I headed down below as we sailed south leaving Mike at the helm peering into the gloom to try and fix the radar. On the third time of trying (as I worked on the connectors 2 more wires broke) we were back in business and able to see through the fog. An hour later the fog cleared! My next job is to find some ethernet connectors and do the connection properly!

After a very pleasant 30 mile sail we pulled in to the small harbour at Saint Nazerre.

The western Rias and onto Portugal

And so into the Rias Bajas, 4 big flooded river valleys on the west coast of Spain. They are much hyped up for their beauty and tranquility; sadly we were a little disappointed after all the hype, they were not a patch on the Scottish lochs.

Still, our first stop in Portosin in the northern most ria de Muros was pretty, quaint old world cobbled streets winding up the hill.
A big feature of the rias is the mussel rafts, there are thousands of these things lining both sides of the rias, a huge industry here.








Walking up a local hill one afternoon we got a splendid view of the extent of these things, anchored in lines for miles like a huge fleet of small ships.







We had a close shave with mussels just after A Coruna. We found a lovely collection of big fat mussels growing on the pontoon floats in a small harbour. As we collected a big bag full for our tea a local came and warned us off them. Apparently they carry a virus which is prevalent in the area that will make you very sick; the locals leave well alone. A close one indeed but what a shame! It seems the farmed mussels are okay as they are picked when they are young. Mussels have been a staple for us ever since the early days sailing round Ireland, lets hope this virus doesn't carry on down the coast too far!


A common feature in Galicia are the ancient grain stores known as 'horreos'. It seems that most homes in the country had one; note the big stone discs at the top of the legs to keep the rats out!

From Portosin we hopped on a bus to Santiago de Compostella, capital of northwest Spain’s Galicia region. It’s known as the culmination of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes, and the alleged burial site of the Biblical apostle St. James; his remains reputedly lie in the cathedral. It was St James who it was said brought Christianity to Spain and it is his remains that pilgrims come to be close to; certainly an awful lot of people have walked an awfully long to pay homage to him so I hope its true. The routes run in a lattice work all over Europe from as far away as the Baltic coast - that's a long walk!

Santiago is a beautiful old city. Sadly the very grand cathedral front is covered for an extensive refurbishment but we did get inside and were able to see the small sarcophagus that is said to hold the remains. Look what we found down a side street on the side of an ancient building - is nothing sacred?!








Back on the boat having a sun downer we were approached by this rather threatening looking beast - spanish customs -fortunately we were not guilty!







Just south of the rias is the northern border of Portugal and pulling into the harbour town of Viana de Castelo I immediatly felt a difference from Spain. The Spanish towns generally had very little character, nearly all the building being just painted concrete. I do not know where all the old houses have gone. Portugal is a complete contrast, old higeldy pigeldy lanes and houses everywhere, many decorated in the beautiful tiles that are a theme of Portugal, even the smaller houses have some decoration on the outside. The whole atmosphere was helped by the street decoration for an upcoming festival.




























This pretty church at the end of the main street had a stunning tile mural












I am going to like Portugal!

Home of the Armada and azur blue waters

On to A Coruna on the north western tip of Spain, the oldest town in the province of Galicia. A Coruna is mentioned in Irish myth about a Celtic hero (they get everywhere!) by the name of Breogan who came to the Iberian coast and built a tower here. There is in fact a tower here, the Tower of Hercules which dates from Roman times which may or may not have started as Breogans tower!
We weren't sure about the welcome here, it was only 400 years ago that a fleet of 130 ships left A Coruna with the Spanish Armada and got soundly whooped by Francis Drake (once he'd finished his game of bowls at Plymouth Hoe), Drake then popped down to A Coruna the following year and gave the town a good spanking for its cheek!


All was well however although they still required insurance documents, ships papers, passports and a form completed saying where you came from, where you were going, the height of the mast, what the boat was made of.......only stopping short of the colour of the skippers underpants! These they duly copied and filed, never to be seen again. Oh well, jobs for the boys I suppose.
The Tower of Hercules was fascinating. The tower, built by the Romans as a lighthouse lit using olive oil stood tall for 1500 years , quite a monument to Roman building but by the 17th century it was falling into serious disrepair. Even in those days they treasured their antiquities and not wanting to loose the tower altogether they built a 'modern' stone skin around the outside and extended the height by 5 meters for a new light. When you go inside you can see the whole of the inside of the original Roman structure; very impressive.




On one evening that we were anchored in the harbour the big boys were out racing. This fellow must have had his wife on board who wanted to take the opportunity to dry the bed sheets! (An expensive days sailing!)











From A Coruna it was south west and the winds are firmly behind us, quite a treat after 5 years of beating into the prevailing winds. The north west coast is know as the 'Costa del Muerte' - the coast of death - hmm! There are two versions of the name; the first is from the ancients who believed that the west coast was the end of the world and offshore was where the dead folk lived so the coast was the meeting of the dead and the living or, more recently, the coast of death was the home to thousand of ship wrecks on this unforgiving Atlantic coast. Either way - take care! It is rugged indeed but the scenery is beautiful.

Round the great Cape Finistere, famed as the most westerly point of Europe, (actually it isn't but it nearly is and makes a good stop for the tourist coaches!) we stopped in at Corcubion, the home of lace making in Galicia. Before the industrial revolution caught up with the cottage industries of Galicia hundreds of women could be found gathered together making all manner of beautiful lace items. With a pattern fixed to a cushion, many lengths of cotton each length wound a spool would be interwoven and run around pins stuck into the pattern. The clacking of the spools as the women fingers flew across the pattern must have made quite a symphony!


We were told by some folk we met in A Coruna that rounding the great cape the temperature would take a significant step for the better. An old wives tale? No, it really did! With jumpers on in the breeze on the north side we were down to tee shirts on the south side with exactly the same wind - extraordinary but rather nice! The sun was out with a vengence for the next few days and we discovered what Melanie had come for, golden beaches and azur blue waters, even warm enough for Melanie to swim!

Engines; who need them?!

The weather has improved as promised AND the second fuel tank has proven to be free from the dreaded diesel bug - all is well with the world!
From Viviero we headed west,  Barquerio, Ortigueria and then onto a gem, Ria de Cedeira - golden beaches, forested peninsulas and beautiful sunshine! Navigation in the rias was however something of a challenge. As they are flooded river valleys the whole estuary looks like it has plenty of water  but much of it is covered by only a few feet of water even at high tide with plenty of depth only in the river channels themselves. We are quite used to this in the UK and simply follow the marked channel keeping the red bouys on your left on the way in. It sounds easy enough, the trouble is that this is not the UK and the Spanish seem to take rather less care of their seafarers! Heading for our anchorage up river and following the marked channel into Ortigueria  I duly rounded one red channel marker heading for the next one along. I had several meters of water under my keel when the depth suddenly dropped, not just a bit - the next thing I knew was we ground to a halt in 2 meters of water - we were on the bottom!  Happily Moondance has a lifting keel so a press on the up button and I was able to back off, scratch my head and consider the situation. There was an unusually small distance between bouys so either the bouy I was headed for marked a significant dog leg or..........

Some hours later we went for a walk along the bank of the river and all became clear. You can see the bouy I turned at in the back of the picture; the bouy I was heading for (in the foreground) was well out of position and a few hours later was high and dry on a mud bank! I wonder how many boats that out of position bouy has put on the putty.















Woody was pretty chilled about the possibility of being stuck on a mud bank.














It was all worth while though, it was a beautiful place.

We decided to spend a couple of days in Cedeira; it was time to tackle the generator.
The generator provides a quiet and efficient source of power giving us 240 volts to run the  battery charger. I had been unable to start it since getting back to the boat this year so we had been relying on the main engine's alternator to charge the batteries.
The generator is run by a small diesel engine, fantastically reliable machines, all they ask for is clean fuel and compression in the cylinder. I quickly established that there was fuel getting to the engine (the generator happily runs off the starboard fuel tank, unaffected by the diesel bug problem), that only left compression. As diesels have no spark plug but relies on the mist of injected fuel being squeezed very hard to cause it to go bang and run the engine.  Pressure was leaking out of the piston so no compression and no bang - almost certainly a problem with the valves not seating properly which let the air in and the exhaust out; the cylinder head would have to come off to take a look.

Sadly nothing is easy to get at on a sailing boat, no nice big engine room for Moondance, just a little hole in the floor for me to squeeze into.

3 hours later, 2 seized bolts removed, 1 set of nuckles skinned and instead of a partridge in a pair tree one sense of humour failure - but the cylinder head was off.









There were obvious signs of corrosion on the valves (the small circles inside the bigger circle in the picture), probably caused by condensation over the years. The valves would have to be replaced and the cylinder head refurbished. A call to the agent and 700 Euros later, Bobs your uncle, a refurbished head on its way. Did I mention that boats were a bottomless pit to throw your money into?! I will pick the refurbished head  up in a week or so and send them mine a bit further down the coast and guess what? Another few hundred Euros to get it fitted and the valves reset, a high precision job and beyond my abilities!
Moondance rolls on southwards.