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!