Sailing the Atlantic Portuguese coast

22nd Aug - 31st Aug

We left Biaona heading for Peniche, Portugal.  It was going to be an overnight passage.  Once again the winds were light as we started but picked up later in the day, which meant we were able to do some sailing but not a lot.  Our autopilot that had been playing up and decided to give up all together, which meant hand steering almost all the way.  We were not happy people, especially overnight.  It amazing how much more you can do with an autopilot, the rudder sensor has stopped working.  It stops us both helping out with the sails, eating, drinking, watching the dolphins, seeing the sunfish etc. etc.

We arrived in Peniche at 6pm the following day, not a place that looked particularly inviting.  From our anchorage it looked very industrial and our anchoring app had informed us that it was not unusual for the police to turn up and ask you to move on, like we're sea gypsies!!  We didn't even get the tender out.

Anyway, we had decided to stay the following day so that Steve could sort out the autopilot.  Lucky for us we had bought a 2nd hand system newer than ours and had not yet installed it.  Firstly Steve found the wire to the sensor had been rubbing against the alternator belt, causing 3 small breaks, he changed that and it still didn't work so he changed the main control box and 'voila' it worked - fingers crossed no more hand steering on long passages.

Our next step Cascais, Portugal. We head out early as it's going to be at least a 10hr sail, but the winds picked up and for the most part we had a cracking sail.  This knocked a couple of hours off the estimated time of arrival, we were chuffed as we averaged 5.5/6knts.  Cordelia is at her best and is a boat that likes to be sailed in slightly stronger winds due to her weight. We had our passage friendly dolphins a lot of the time and it was wonderful.


Cascais is a lovely town.  It was very busy as the Portuguese take their holiday's there too and the cruise ships that go into Lisbon take their passengers there too.  There's a huge supermarket called Jumbo about 10mins walk from the marina (which we weren't in, we were anchored in the harbour).  The marina also had a fuel berth where you could fill up with water too, €5 for 200ltrs.

From Cascais we took a train to Lisbon.  We loved Libson, WOW! what a place.  Such beautiful buildings.  The cost of the train was €4.50 return, we then bought a tram/bus all-day ticket for €6.20 that was great to jump on and off all day.  We loved the trams, what rickety old trams they were too but a fantastic ride with open windows that move fairly fast up hill and round corners with about 10cm between the side of the tram and the buildings - it was better than a fair ground ride!  It's a not to be missed placed to see.

 

The Spanish Rias

19th July - 20th August

Wow!  The Spanish Rias are beautiful.  So many beaches and little fishing harbours, tapas bars and great people.  We started off going to Corme and Camerinas, both of which are north of the Finisterre Peninsular.  Not quite into the Spanish Rias but heading that way.

Matt & Anna came to see us in Corme for lunch, which was a lovely surprise as we didn't think we were going to see them for a long time.  Lunch was delicious with scallops & garlic prawns.  There are few shops in Corme and a lovely small fishing harbour.

Camerinas is a slightly larger fishing town where we anchored and went into a marina.  We were there when the Spanish Galicia were celebrating the Feast day of St. James (Santiago de Compostela) with decorated boats hooting their horns, cannons being fired and Celtic market stalls- it was wonderful to be a part of something that is so bright & colourful.

We love the siesta's the Spanish have every afternoon.  Although it can a bind when everything closes up if you need something between 1pm & 4.30pm, it does mean the tapas bars become busy with everyone having their lunch-break & siesta time.  It also means that the day's feel so much longer because you stay awake later as everything is open so much later than we are used to in the UK.  Every day is a Sunday to us, it's brilliant.



This Atlantic coastline is very pretty.  Although it has it's pitfalls like the Great Atlantic Swell, which can catch a lot of people out, including us (more on that another time), when you are sailing along you would be pretty unlucky to not see a pod of dolphins and maybe a family of Pilot whales and if you're offshore a bit more you may even come across one of the many gigantic whales that swim in their own ocean.  The Atlantic Coastline itself is very rocky so makes for a very scenic sail and holds many surprises within the beautiful Rias.

It's very easy to spend weeks in the Rias as every one has many small anchorages or marina's if that's what you want.  Most of the villages are lovely to wander, some of them are a bit run down but that just adds to the beauty of the place.
Plenty of supermarkets & launderettes and the obligatory Spanish Fiesta creating a lively noisy but happy place to be.