The night before the morning after.

Today has been the day for getting the boat ready. Fuelled up, watered up and two beef Ras-al-halout's prepared for en route. Its great to buy really good spices but I 'chickened out' and  bought sealed ones, didn't fancy the open ones after seeing a hedgehog pelt covering one tub.

We found a large supermarket yesterday on the outskirts of Sale.

Sugar loaf

 We passed huge shanty towns, of immigrants from the countryside. The shacks were built of wattle and daub with reed roofs, desperately poor areas but they all had satellite dishes.

I am surprised how finding a supermarket for provisioning becomes so important and I never thought I would become an expert on plastic boxes!  I could never manage without 'lock lock'!



Tristan has been mending the main sail. I've been cleaning. We treated ourselves to wonderful almond paste  petite-fours for en route. Its back on the wobble board tomorrow!

I'd recommend this marina to anyone...the pilots have been excellent, marina staff friendly, clearing procedure by the police and customs was stress free and the marina very secure.  Tristan  gave feedback to the marina today and when pressed to recommend any possible improvements, commented on the showers.....turns out he'd been using the public ones! To think I've spent a week showering on the boat!

We leave early tomorrow and after clearance by the police and customs we are off to Lanzarote. I'm looking forward to the Canaries...... I've spent so much time whale watching on other peoples boats it will be great to be on our own.

Sale Rovers

Its always difficult to leave a place .....no matter how much planning is involved, something will always change. We went for it, knowing that the wind was set to go light, but eternally optimistic that there would be more wind at sea and stronger than WindGuru predicted! Sale and Morocco were calling. Tristan treated me to an audio book of the Sale pirates which we played at full blast through our new cockpit speakers! It was a wonderful sail....moderate wind and flat seas with nature's own fireworks, both shooting stars and bioluminescence from Noctiluca lucens. We saw the sun go down and come up again.....so peaceful.

We made good time but not good enough and had to sit off 12 miles off the coast of Morocco waiting to enter Sale, 22 hours later.

We could smell the city ....a combination of spices and rubbish. We were not brave enough to enter Sale at night and boy was that the right decision. Come morning we positioned ourselves two miles out and waited until near high water.

The sewage surrounded the boat from the river ...we were literally 'in the shit' off Morocco. Even I was shocked and I've spent my life looking at sewage outfalls. Bouregreg marina staff were brilliant and a pilot boat came out to take us and three other yachts into the marina. What an experience.

We followed in convoy to avoid the sand bar at the entrance and swell. We touched at one point but not enough to stop us. Tristan had a look of pure horror....and to add a little excitement locals in rowing boats went in front of us as we meandered up river to the marina. Meriva ploughed on like a juggernaut and I politely yelled off the bow, Tristan tipping his hat as we went by "Merci, Monsieur."

We all had to raft up for clearance by Police and Custom Officials. It was all friendly and polite......first time we had a sniffer dog on board and he kept slipping on the varnish. He also had to be dragged out of the sea berth..as that's where Tristan keeps his stash of dried sausages! We were guided to a pontoon and staff helped with the lines which was a real treat after Cadiz. We are really looking forward to the old town of Sale and souks and search for Tristan's spiritual roots.

Had a very humbling experience in Sale....was shocked by the poverty but also heartened by the care and charity shown to the poor by people who also had very little. There was a real sense of community amongst the people.

The medina was like a time warp. The stalls were selling everything including spices, plastic boxes, olives, pomegranates, small almond cakes, mandarins, and olives! The hedgehog skin in the pot pourri was 'interesting'. Didn't ask and didn't buy. The chicken butcher put us off eating meat...as the birds flapped around their cages whilst guts and feathers covered the floor. Looked like a torturous scene ......stressed meat. I did buy some henna powder, well that's what they told me it was. Just hope it is red. Last time I bought some in Egypt it was black henna and gave me a blue rinse. We didn't see another European in the Sale medina, and so stood out like a sore thumb. No matter how much you cover up and dress down short of buying a hajab being red heads you are always going to stand out. Being suckers for punishment we thought the late evening should be spent in the medina in Rabat. This felt a completely different place....the streets were cleaner and there was less blood, guts, mud and shit (though there was still quite a lot). We managed to get lost, several times, both being too proud to accept that we didn't know where we were going! The souks were very colourful with spices, carpets and shoes.

 We ended up in the residential quarter...fire crackers were being flung around by young boys, which had the desired effect of me walking at an Olympic training pace. Tristan managed a slow stroll on par with the locals which was unusual as he normally strides along with me running behind at home! We refrained from buying a 'boat tortoise'.....I haven't seen so many for years. Always reminds me of Blue Peter.



 I didn't take photographs in the souks -it wasn't a touristy place and it seemed inappropriate and intrusive. It has left an unforgettable experience - emotional, visual and olfactory.

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.

Add caption

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