Sunday 25 April 2010

Albufeira here we come



leaving Cascais after just one night, shame,
but the arrival of Lorna from the UK bekons us to Albufeira and a chance to catch up with Jane and Mark,
who recently moved from the UK to run their sailing school Learn 2 Sail,
into the brightly couloured port after 24 hours sailing it was off to Sharkeys bar
for a well earned beer and relax in the 24deg sunshine and await the imminent arrival of Lorna,
The moment soon came and the gang appeared around the corner,
a couple of wonderful days spent together, augmented with the appearance of some more friends Millsy and Kersten, who joined us for a short but fun trip to Villamoura,
another stunning port breeding superyachts nestled within fine bars and restuarants,
Kersten kindly invited us to her beautiful house in Loule for the evening, a cracking meal was presented,
A BIG Thanks to Kersten and the collapsing Millsy, from all of us, for such a wonderful evening.

Porto to Cascais



Glorious sunshine welcomed us into the port of Leixoes, at Porto, and an afternoon of sunworship was chosen, a fine looking beach bar was selected from the two available and a sunny perch was found,
unfortunateely the waiters and waitresses were all to busy with themselves so after a dry 15mins it was off next door to the immediatly attentive second choice.
after some sizzling in the sun it was back to the deck for the evening,,
Leixoes is the small marina in the huge busy commercial port of porto, probably not the first choice for a visiting yacht but in reality it was cheap and pleasant.
next day with the larder restocked Cascais was calling.
Cascais is a stunningly beautiful spot resting on the north bank of the entrance to Lisbon,,nestled in amongst the super yachts 'Inspiration' looked fine and dandy,,
All the books say its an
expensive stop off but we
found it one of the cheapest and, and the first bottle of free red wine from the welcoming capitanerie. FANTASTIC,,,

Viana Du Castello


With a few hangovers still around and a calm sea it was out into the sunlit bay for the short leg to Viana Du Castello, the first port of call in Portugal,,
with the change of lure on the so far unsuccsesful fishing rod
there was a hope of some fresh fish,
soon after entering the open sea the ratchet of the reel was off and we were in, a fine looking 'Pilot' fish was landed, similar to Tuna,
shortly after another and dinner was provided.

Arriving into Viana Du Castello we moored for one night alongside what appeared to be a peaceful quay by some modern bars and restuarants,,the beautiful ancient town in the early evening appeared void of any inhabitants, by 1.00am as we lay sleeping they all appeared, and what was a peaceful spot had turned into your crazy clubland, 7am we were up and off to Porto leaving the clubbers to continue into the mid morning with 'one more time' being played continuously.Nice,,

Friday 16 April 2010

Cote De Morte, (Coast of death)



With La Coruna behind us and the final part of the Cote De Morte (coast if death) ahead we we entered the atlantic swell with NE 5/6 forecast..by midday it was a howling 35kts and the anchorage at Corme, in the 'Bajo De La Averia' was selected for a more comfortable roast from Malcolm and a relaxed night..
Thursday morning the wind was a little calmer and off the land so it was off to PortoSin.(chosen only for the name) at the Eastern end of Ria de Muros, a stunning fjord like entrance, surrounded with tree lined mountains and beautiful cove beaches.
Turns out there is not much 'sin' in Portosin, nonetheless a good spot for a few beers, tapas and a kip.
Friday saw the early (8am) trot out towards Bayona, a fantastic sail with a 18-20kts off the land, no big waves and a beam reach we were cruising at 9kts under full sail and Dolphins dancing around the boat . Bayona soon appeared through the jagged rocky guards ( Islas Cies ) enclosing the entrance of Ria De Vigo., which houses Bayona in its South Eastern corner.
This being the last port of call in Spain before Portugal and reported to be a great spot it was well worth a stop. After a quick re-stock of the larder and an early inspection of the town it looked like a cracking little place with interesting old buildings, squares and allys surrounded by bars and restuarants, oh no!!, ive heard this before,, bugger!!

Sunday 11 April 2010

La Coruna


Away from Ria De Ribadeo just before first light for the 75nm leg to La Coruna, with no wind to start but by 9am we were under sail with a nice breeze behind us.
After a relaxing sail we hit port around 8pm, and head out for some Tapas,
Turns out that La Coruna is a lively upmarket port with a bustling centre of beautiful buildings around picturesque squares and winding allyways stacked with restuarants and tapas bars, bugger,
With the winds forecast as strong north east for a couple of days, some exploring could be on the cards.

Friday 9 April 2010

Beware Pirates


With an early evening departure from Santander to the next planned port of La Coruna we were off for the 220nm leg, wind was a breeze from the NW and all was set for a gentle star lit night with 6kts headway being made, We rested safe in the knowledge that any pirate attack from the Basque country would be met by our residend NINJA, (Malcolm sitting up asleep with his hat on).

Sun up and wind was now behind us and and increasing, by evening it was up to 38kts and so Ria De Ribadeo was sorted out as our place refuge.
All moored up by 10pm in the tranquil
waters of the first Ria,
The Rias are fjord like inlets along the coast and
with their backdrop of tree covered hills
are beautiful.
Punctuated by little fishing villages,
small resorts and fantastic sunsets,,

with a fine roast in us it was off to find some suitable watering holes, of which there seems plenty,, great,,

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Northern Spain



Easter Sunday and we say our goodbyes to Hondarribia as we set off into the early morning for Santander or Gijon, ultimately depending on the wind, with a good forecast we may even continue to La Coruna.
Hondarribia was a great little spot for the first port of call in spain with warm hospitality from all we met and especially the team from 'TXIN TXIN', the local bar restuarante in the marina, Fantastic tapas, cheap beer, good music and free wifi, great!!
The white topped moutains now form the backdrop to stunning beaches and picture postcard villages as we make our way along this rugged coastline. As the wind picks up in the evening to 30kts, we decide to go into Bilbao and catch up on some sleep,
Next morning and an early start westbound, nice stiff southerly off the mountains is giving us 8/10 kts, Guinness hats on for the sunrise (a gift from a bar in Bilbao), and a nice breakfast on its way from the gally, turned out nice,,
good headway was being made untill the wind turned onto the nose at 15kts, Santander abeam looked welcoming to sit out the headwind, with the wind turning to the north on Wednesday afternoon it was a relaxing day to be had,
( no the cans stayed closed, amazing, were not that bad at 7am)

Friday 2 April 2010

France behind us, YEEEHAA

Nice morning at first light and off for the 18nm chug to Spain, Hondarriba, promising to be a nice spot and well recommended, anticipation was up with a couple of days westerlys forcast we were in for two nights,
As we enter the port of Hondarriba it turns out its Good Friday, for the crew its GREAT FRIDAY as Sam gestates with our goodbyes to France on the left and welcome to Spain on the right. Although we did find some great people on our route through France,
Its a Happy birthday for one of our absent crew, Hilly, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY HILLY!! Sam says he misses you,,,
On early inspections Hondarriba turns out as anticipated, Nice spot,,,cheap beer and tapas,,,, Slight problem for Malcolm his Spanish beer glass had a small hole in it, with a fair amount of spillage seen,, Hmmmm.

Parked up and enjoying a couple on deck, its easy for the fellas to get distracted, as they watch some gentle aerobics or a pre sail warm up along the pontoon, nice!!

The Great Escape


With the changing wind now with us we slipped the moorings and the clutches of Bordeaux and headed off into the evening for the trip down to Hendaye, about 140nm,, first port in Spain, fantastic, wind was up in the night and with 30 kts on the front quarter we were hitting 8/9kts, great, 20 hours later with a fine evening and still wind now with us we called into Capbretton, to complete the now short trip to Spain in the morning.
Capbretton looked inviting in the evening sunset, sporty into the narrow entrance with a 3 meter surf rolling through, all moored up and a few cold ones,

Lorna's short trip


With the wind still howling from the south we took our Medoc bound souls across the Gironde estuary to Port Royan, not a great day but gave lorna a nice sail,, still not quite sure on her left right port starboards,, sure she will catch on,,
Port Royan sits on the northern tip of the Gironde turns out it was heavily bombed in the war as occupied France, apparently the English appologised a few years back and built a new church, not the prettiest concrete architectural creation,,, still nice town for a few days,,,,and Lorna had a nice picnic,,,