Crank

Crank.....a nautical term. Felt quite sad when we left our friends in Lagos......parting of the ways, but knowing at some point we may bump into each other again. We arrived in Cadiz after one of our best sails yet. Flat seas, strong winds and heeling past 20 degrees at times. The waiting pontoon was surrounded on three sides and it was low water, so we chose an easy pontoon to tie up to. The marina was empty and no cruisers, no wonder! The marina staff were very unfriendly and unwelcoming. The marina is at the deserted end of the commercial docks surrounded by derelict buildings and cats. A promenade to no where has been started but they must have run out of European money! We were told there was no internet.....not allowed to be sold in Andalucia and they obviously weren't going to let us log in. Great!

We walked into Cadiz via containers, port bins and a derelict row of buildings. It turns out that on a Friday night, portaloos are put in place and these turn into night clubs, seedy,scruffy dumps of places. I never really felt threatened, but then I had Tristan with me! Cadiz sea front was stunning at night and there was a good atmosphere in the narrow city streets.

If you can get over the location of the marina, Cadiz is a beautiful city....narrow streets and lots of beautiful parks with specimen trees and fragrant Mediterranean flowers.

We walked miles.

We managed to buy a depth sounder....the one we were convinced to have serviced is intermittent and we are freaked out when we enter a new port, so we needed to sort the problem out. As soon as the wind blows from any direction but the south west we are off. Morocco is calling.

Lumpen proletariat

'When are you leaving Cascais?' 'Tomorrow'.  We had several tomorrow's due to unreliable weather forcasting. Tomorrow finally came and with a little help from our friends, we were hauled off the pontoon and away, and then came back again, to return a pilot guide we had borrowed from Richard & Catherine on Vagabond.  We motored out  into a slop with huge waves pouring into the bay. Tristan was on deck and  finally knew what it was like to pull in the fenders under full throttle. 'Don't worry', he said, 'The worst will be all over in four hours, and will be easy sailing to Cadiz.'

I was surgically attached to the wheel ........my comfort zone. As it got dark I was ordered below but only made the cockpit floor and surgically attached myself to a bucket for several hours! 'Don't leave me' was the cry as the thunder rolled around us and streak lightening pointed to the ocean floor.

I wish we hadn't had discussions about lightening strikes and metal masts and how the worst that could happen was a two foot long keel bolt fall out! I have since learnt from our  Canadian friends on 'Salty Ginger', that you should always put a GPS and hand held radio in the oven, when there is lightening. 

The 'rough sea' did not improve after four hours.......it was lumpen all night and we were the oppressed proletariat. I said I want to go to Lagos, meaning Sines which was a lot closer at this point. I need  to hug a tree.  I knew how ill I was when Tristan yelled 'bottlenose dolphin',  as I clutched the bucket again and couldn't care less about dolphins.

As soon as we turned the corner, Cabo de San Vincente, life was different. The seas went flat, the wind blew, dolphins surrounded the bow and we had a brilliant sail. Life was good. We inched into Lagos marina at low water.....bit dodgy for a 2.3m draught but we didn't touch.  Tristan then told me the hatch over the bunk had leaked and my side of the bunk was wet and, 'I've bought two laundry tokens', expecting me to be pleased.

 I had  a drink, climbed into my Musac and slept for hours.....woke
 in the middle of the night to find Tristan asleep on the floor in   galley!

We have been here a week......drying out, fixing hatches, rescrewing the deck and for the first time since Gijon, varnishing. 

Bumped into lots of friends and looking forward to seeing friends we last saw in  2004 in Falmouth.

Visted the Old Slave Market in Lagos, a reflective place.

In 1445  slaves from Africa were brought into Lagos and  auctioned, a trade established by Henry the Navigator. A place of misery.

                                                                              We don't eat out but I promised we would when we found goat. We found goat and Tristan ate goat and more goat and cakes, Dom Rodrigos  and Morgados, and more.......he's gone quiet now!

This plate on the wall of the restaurant was by Egon Schiele, 'The Artist's Wife' reminded me of Amy!


We feel we are definitely at the back of the pack.  We were told today that rain hadn't fallen for 18 months and reservoir levels were at 40%. They will have been topped up today and more is forcast for the next few days.


Looking forward to heading south!

Thermodynamics

Cascais Marina

The flight path  to Lisbon followed the Rio Tejo from its source in beautiful wooded hillsides, down over the agricultural floodplain to the estuary. Tristan had single handed Meriva from Peniche to Cascais Marina whilst I was visiting Mum in Derby.

I took the bus from the airport to Cais do Sodre train station absorbing the sites of Lisbon ....a beautiful  characterful city, mentally taking note of places to visit.

The train journey to Cascais followed the estuary of the Rio Tejo. It was aerial view to street vies in less than an hour. 

A welcome meal was awaiting from our fellow sailors, Rod and Julie on RoJo washed down with our current tipple, Mundos verde.

We spent two days walking around Cascais....very pretty but 'neat' and tidy exuding affluence. 

Expensive hotels and spa's and mainly restaurants in the town....an almost complete lack of Chinese plastic junk shops, which dominated Peniche's shopping area.

Yesterday was spent in Lisbon and Tristan's Vertigo was challenged going up the elevator of Santa Justa built in 1902. Panoramic views of Lisbon from the very top. It is a chilled out city with lovely squares and places to enjoy drinking coffee.

We were approached on a few occasions by well dressed men selling sunglasses. 

When we refused the sunglasses they offered us what was in their pockets! William S. Burroughs eat your heart out!

Tristan has fitted new boom clutches for reefing the sails and general maintenance jobs.....so as soon as the wind blows from a better direction we are heading further south.

The alternative will be to connect the heater!

Philip, a tough Darlington Pro-Kitesurfer who sailed down from Stockholm with his girlfriend has got his heater on already!

Huge waves are breaking over the breakwater which protects the marina, and as our German freind Ralph said, 'He's glad he's on the right side of the wall'. We first met Ralph in the middle of Biscay when he had a 'towel around his screw'.

We have been at Cascais for a week now and its time to move on and find some heat.

Next stop, Lagos. When? Whenever we are ready!

Going downhill

Anchoring in Bayona (had to remove the washing!)

Bayona was an interesting place with its castle – with a statue where the Pinta return bringing news from Columbus that the new world existed. S V Rugg and the boys had just arrived before us.

We anchored for two nights but the holding wasn't brilliant as the bay was full of Ulva lactuca.....sea lettuce.

When we arrived the one thing that struck me was the smell of eucalyptus..... made a change from fish oils.

Heading south downhill

We had a brilliant sail with huge seas and very little wind. Tristan had the head sails poled out and we were downwind sailing for the first time, although it was downwind surfing most of the time! It was like being at the top of a mountain then down in the valley with the odd rogue knocking you off course.

Lesson learned …..when enjoying yourself, don't be greedy! We decided to carry on as the wind got up and the entrance the some of the Harbours were challenging in strong winds.

We blew into Portugal and kept going.

For me it was the night of hell.....winds were strong and 4 often 5 metre waves, mainly from behind but occasionally one would sneak up on the starboard side and give us a push just to be awkward.

I woke Tristan after being flung from one side of the boat to the other.....the final straw. 'Decster' our favourite wind steering gear was not keeping up! The wind got up one sail came down and we were still doing 10 knots occasionally 12 down the front of the waves. Whilst I was teaching I described whale watching as 'Kodachrome, hydrophone and a semi-submersible sea sick machine'. Meriva is a 'semi-submersible seasick machine'. I now know what they meant, when previous owners describe her as being 'lively'.  She is and frolics in the waves with no respect for the humans on board. Tristan has always pointed out that boats rarely break at sea but human often do..........he must have had a word with her before we set off! However I have noticed my stugeron going down quicker than I would expect and I wasn't the only one taking them! We put 180 miles in on  that trip and were safely down the Portugese coast. We surfed down into Peniche … appropriate as its the surf capital of Portugal.

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This is a real place, no frills, a fishing town with an old prison.

We also did the tourist bit with fellow sailors, Rod and Julie to Obidos.

Another beautiful walled town without health and safety regulations.

Look no rails !

We walked around the walls occasionally peeling Tristan off to move on to the next crenellation. He talked continuously, so obviously wasn't scared at all. This was a very pretty place with a wealth of colour from the painted houses and beautiful flowers.

Tristan is going to stay in Peniche for a while as I have to return to the UK as Mum is ill in hospital. I will return with a Navtex so we can get an up to date weather forecast and Tristan will keep the maintenance on Meriva going! He has the task of keeping his 'other' women under control and sailing her solo to the next destination, Cascais when  I return.

I was perched outside in the pouring rain......

It has been great having internet access, the first time since we left the UK. Being boat bound hiding from terrific rain and winds provides excellent 'catching up' time.  We left after unpredictable weather all summer and we are still having either too much wind from the wrong direction, huge seas or no wind and huge seas.

Big skies and calm seas precede a blow and its weird being on the edge of a weather front.
The last four days have been gusting over 45knots of wind and 4-5metre seas.
Tomorrow looks like a day to head south. Although the wind will have died down the seas
will still be big so  I will breakfast on stugeron and  biscuits!

Looking north towards Finisterre

Heading south

Approaching Ria De Muros

Hiding in the Ria's

            After a drift and then a fantastic seven knot blast upwind to Ushant in a strong Force 3 we sailed across Biscay with variable wind conditions from nothing to a full gale, which was certainly a good  sea trial. We had a leaking oil filter and not enough spare oil, so were without an engine when the wind disappeared, but  enjoyed drifting with the whales and dolphins that joined us. On responding to a pan pan from a German sailor, we discovered Ralph who had a 'towel in his screw'.  He wanted a diver to 'go down and free his screw' but there was no way I was getting in the sea in Biscay! Like us, although he had no engine, he could sail, so we decided that his need was no greater than ours. We both sailed off, in our case unbeknown of an imminent gale.  We spent two nights 'hove to' whilst the massive waves broke over us. Baptism of fire, thankfully I had plenty of ginger biscuits. The gale blew us off course so we didn't make La Coruna but fetched up in Gijon. Ralph turned up 24 hours later.......he had a tarpaulin from the hay bales in Spain wrapped around his propeller.

Dolphins off the bow

La Coruna

            The lack of engine due to a, now very leaky oil filter, and leaking stern gland caused problems which Tristan had to sort out. We  spent two weeks on the hard whilst we waited for an imperial bolt to be sent from the  UK. Plenty of time to paint and varnish but it was difficult with the constant coal dust from the port. We enjoyed cycling around the city on free bikes courtesy of the marina.
     It was a relief to finally go back into the water and we sailed for  Viviero, but decided to keep going and sailed for La Coruna.  More night sailing in strong winds but no way as bad as Biscay! We had  over an hour of common dolphins swimming in the bow wave.....it was beautiful.  From La  Coruna we sailed to Camarinas and anchored for two nights whilst another gale blew through.   We are currently in Ria De Muros hiding from a strong southerly......its all or nothing but at least its warm.   Our plan is we have no plan. We need a northerly wind to get us south.

Departure imminent

Fuelled up, watered up, provisioned up, everything is stowed and we are ready for off!
Well nearly. We had our 'sea trials' yesterday with our friends
and Meriva sailed beautifully.
Our first planned destination is Northern Spain which could
take 4 days with the light winds  forecast. The prospect of
low swell and light winds is music to my ears......I'm sure I
will hunger after increasing wind strength once we have the
handle of the yacht.