June 1st – 17th June (Portugal)
Our next stop was in the Ria de Aveiro, which has very strong currents at its entrance, but once inside the estuary it’s possible to get out of the current and there is a lovely quiet anchorage, where we stayed for two nights. The town of Aveiro is about twelve kilometres from the entrance and to get there we tied the dinghy up to the fishermen’s pontoon, hopped on to a ferry which took us across the river, where we caught a bus into town. It’s a very attractive town, like a little Venice with a canal, complete with gondolas running through the centre. They offer free bikes, so we borrowed two for a few hours and did a bit of sightseeing.
We then had an excellent sail down to Figueira da Foz, where we met up with Ananda again, before leaving the following morning for another great sail down to Peniche. The wind was forecast to increase in strength and swing round to the south the following day and true to form we had 30 knot winds and heavy rain overnight. The rain stopped the next morning, but the wind continued for quite a few days, so we used the time to catch up with jobs we hadn’t got around to earlier. They seem never ending, but hopefully we’ve only got a few things left to do.
Once the wind settled back in the north we headed down to Cascais and anchored in the bay for a few days. When we were returning from our first trip ashore, we noticed that Mistroma was facing the opposite direction from all the other boats at anchor. We had used a tripping line (light rope attached to the anchor at one end and buoyed at the other, used to recover the anchor if it gets caught on an obstruction) and noticed that the buoy had disappeared. We assumed that it had managed to get wrapped around the keel or rudder, so Mike donned Fred Jnr (new wetsuit), mask and fins and leapt into the water to investigate, expecting a lengthy task to get it freed. However, he was back on the surface in about 10 seconds and I thought he needed some other tool, but no, it was all free and we were slowly turning round to face into the wind again. To stop the same thing happening again, he removed the buoy and tied the line directly to the anchor chain, which seemed to work well enough when we took the anchor up several days later.
Cascais was originally a small fishing village which has grown over the years to become a popular holiday destination for the Portuguese as well as a lot of other nationalities. It was the first time since we arrived back in Spain that we had come across so many Brits. I must admit, I prefer much less touristy places where no English is spoken; unfortunately a forlorn hope in the coming months, as we go further south! We visited several small museums and lovely gardens and managed to find some old parts of the town away from the tourist areas.
Once we left Cascais, we headed up the river Tejo towards Lisbon and anchored in the bay at Seixal on the opposite side of the river. This area is surprisingly peaceful and picturesque given its proximity to the capital.
Next stop Lisbon!
