July 21st – 26th August (Portugal/Spain)
Our next stop was at the marina in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, a mile or so up the Guadiana River. This river borders both Portugal and Spain and is not very wide, so as well as having the Portuguese courtesy ensign hoisted, we also required the Spanish one. The current in the river flows at 2-3 knots, so it makes for an interesting and sometimes eventful arrival and departure from the marina. After several visits to the local supermarkets, we were fully stocked with all the necessary supplies to last for two or three weeks, as we were intending to head up river about 20 miles to Alcoutim in Portugal.
We left the marina late in the afternoon, several hours before low water and anchored further up the river to wait for the tide to drop sufficiently to allow us to get under a bridge which links Spain and Portugal. According to the chart there would be 19 metres clearance at low water that day. We require 20 metres, but we’ve always enjoyed a challenge, and had been assured that boats similar to Mistroma had already gone through with no problem. Mike’s a bit paranoid about his pride and joy, so decided to try and reduce the mast height by attaching water carriers weighing 80 kilos to the end of the boom and swinging it out as far as possible, thus heeling the boat over by about 10° and reducing the height. I was told to stand as far outboard as possible, but refused to look up as we approached the bridge. We were still going up against the last of the tide, so if there had been a problem we would have drifted back down river. In fact it was pretty much a non-event; we had plenty of headroom and continued up the meandering river for about five miles until we found somewhere to anchor for the night.
The following morning we waited for the tide to turn before continuing on to Alcoutim through beautiful unspoilt scenery and finally anchored upstream of the village. The current is equally strong here and the boat always points into it regardless of the wind direction. It certainly makes the placing of the solar panels so much easier! The river is only a couple of hundred metres wide, with Sanlucar on the Spanish side, so we can have coffee in Spain and then hop into the dinghy and nip over to Portugal for a drink.
We met up with Steve and Lynne from Aztec Dream again and spent five weeks here, much to my surprise – I thought I’d be fed up after a week or so but we have loved every minute of the peace and quiet of the area. It seems to be the kind of place you get stuck in; we met one couple who sailed up about nine years ago and stayed. They have now bought a house in Sanlucar. We met another couple back in 2012 in Ria de Muros and they have been here for the past year.
It’s very easy to get sucked into the slow pace of life here. On Wednesday evenings we have a Portuguese music night in the village square from 10:00 until midnight – last week it was Spanish music and on Fridays it’s blues night at the Riverside Tavern – entertainment provided courtesy of the British liveaboards. Saturday mornings we have the local fruit & vege market and then usually a trip to a café for coffee with friends. It’s such a hard life! We haven’t managed to do as much walking as we would have liked, due to the high temperatures, however we have been to the castelos in both Spain and Portugal, the local Praia Fluvial (river beach), the museum and walks along the river banks. The wildlife is prolific – we’ve seen kingfishers, fishing as well as sitting on branches, little egrets, several different varieties of wagtails and apparently there is an eagle further up river. I’m still trying to discover the names of a few others but they’re not in my book, so I think a bit of investigation on the internet is called for! While walking along the riverbank Mike nearly stepped on a grass snake. We are heading down river towards the end of the week with Aztec Dream and will stay at a couple of villages on the way, before going into Ayamonte Marina (Spain) at the mouth of the river.
