Off we headed again. Cadiz is only about six miles across the bay from Rota and as the fog came in as we left, it seemed a good place to head and enjoy the City at night. I say at night as we had gone across there in the ferry from Rota and spent the day getting lost in all the wee narrow streets searching out all the tourist attractions.

I can remember standing at Charing Cross train station (in Glasgow) after a hard day at Biggart Baillie, hearing all about Cadiz from a friend, David Bias, who just loves the place. He asked me if we might go there when, and if, Gordon and I ever realised our dream to do this trip. Seems like a lifetime ago. Still can’t quite believe we are actually here now.

There follows a smorgasbord of our time here:

Ferry from Rota

Entering Cadiz

Plaza San Juan de Dios

The Cathedral

Sore back so …….

Medicinal stop and dinner here tonight

 

On the move again, off to Rota which is in the Bay of Cadiz. What a nice place. It’s where a lot of the Spanish go on holiday, so no mass tourism – well that is unless you go to the beach on a Sunday.

We encountered this back in Bayona as well, it’s as if they gather on the beach to catch up with what’s been going on the rest of the week. They have no problem laying their towel right beside yours, I mean practically on top of yours. Anyway, I love listening into other people’s conversations, shame I couldn’t understand any of it.

We also got an invite to a Spanish wedding. Well, not quite strictly true, Gordon said you would have thought I was one of the guests as I was right in there with the photographers taking pictures of the bride and some of the hats for my wee friend Karen who is a Milliner. I can provide her number if anyone needs an amazing hat. Anyway, back to the wedding. Outside, after the ceremony the best man pulls out a guitar and the groom sings a love song to his new wife, talk about not a dry eye in the house. Lovely.

There is a mixture of old and new in the architecture. Notably amongst the old are the Castillo de Luna and the Church.

Lots of winding alleys in the old town which seem inexorably to lead to Paella

We had a visit on board from the Guardia National Civil, they were extremely nice guys and just had a look at our passports and made sure we weren’t hiding any illegal immigrants on board, lol. They asked if we were considering heading to Africa and highlighted the dangers. All-in all not what we had heard about these visits, perhaps it’s just the way you treat people just doing their job that pays dividends?

 We had a few more days in Ayamonte socialising with a nice couple, Louis and Linda.
 
We helped out an American boat that unfortunately got stuck in the mud going out at the wrong time. The entrance to Ayamonte hasn’t been dredged for a few years and it is a well-known problem in this marina that you need to enter and leave at high tide. Pity someone hadn’t thought to mention it to these poor people. Another boat had sunk before our eyes a few days previously despite us all trying to save her. We took a “Stroll “along to El Moral and Isla Canella which turned out to be a twelve mile round trip! But we did have some of the best tapas we have had yet, so well worth the scorching heat and near dehydration. Didn’t see any bird men though. This was just the start …… On it went ….. and on …….. And on Finally. Now only the trip back again! By a different route along the shoreline passeo or walkway

 

We really liked Ayamonte; everything was easy, the supermarket was a two minute walk from the marina and town, good restaurants and shops just across the road. However, we managed to drag ourselves away to travel up the Guadiana River for a few days. Seemingly, the best time to go is in spring as the flowers are out and it is cooler. Since we are here in summer we had no option, so off we toddled up the river.

The Guadiana is one of the longest rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. Roman geographers like Pliny called it “Anas” and later the Arabs added the word “Uadi” meaning river, resulting in Uadi Ana and finally Guadiana.

Our first stop was Foz de Odeleite, seven miles upriver where we anchored for a night.

There were a scattering of boats, it was so peaceful.

You could hear the splash of fish jumping at flies in the dusk.

A further 10 miles or so was Alcoutim/Sanlucar.

Alcoutim is on the Portuguese side of the river and Sanluclar, the Spanish. We anchored in the middle erring towards Sanluclar. Both villages were lovely, perhaps a few more small restaurants in Alcoutim. We had a couple of nights at anchor before heading back down to Foz de Odeleite as it was extremely hot with very little breeze and nearing 94 degrees!

A mini “African Queen”

Breakfast feeding time for the duck family.

The current runs at about 3 knots so a bit of fun getting back to the boat.

We dinghied ashore for dinner even managed not to get Louise’s dress wet!

Alcoultim looking across to Sanluclar

And again

And again

Next morning another dinghy ride, this time to Alcoutim

That’s Camira in the middle distance with the awning.

Just as we arrived there the engine heating alarm had come on again. Obviously, it wasn’t the thermostat that was causing the problem as this had been changed in Villamoura.

Back to the drawing board. Headed back into Ayamonte marina where Gordon stripped the cooling system and cleaned various bits and bobs and ran vinegar through the engine, something an engineer in Lagos had used with a friend of ours when they were having the same problem. Hey presto, looks like we’re back up and running.

 

The Rio Guadiana forms part of the border between Portugal & Spain. The river which has strong currents is navigable to Pomarao some 25 miles upstream. On entering the river there are two small marinas – Villa Real de Santo Antonio on the Portuguese side and Ayamonte on the Spanish side. The former was largely rebuilt in the 18^th century following destruction in the 1755 earthquake and tidal wave which decimated Lisbon as well as much of the Algarve. Ayamonte is a village of Greek origin and has a few old and interesting churches. This was our next stop for Tapas and is very traditional Spanish, great for watching the locals on their evening paseo.

 

Captain Chaos here (Gordon)

We left Lagos on the 10^th of June and headed off along the coast to Portimao where we anchored for the night just behind the breakwater. Unfortunately it did very little to lessen the effect of the long Atlantic fetch and we spent a very rolly night. However the new Rocna anchor was very good.

From Portimao we had a nice sail in a force 3-4 along to Villamoura. The engine was overheating so it was a sail entrance between the breakwaters at Villamoura and used the engine sparingly to get from the arrivals berth round to our pontoon for the night. I took the cooling system apart and checked all likely culprits. It seemed that I had a sticky thermostat. I’ve always suspected I had one of those lol. Anyhow managed to source a replacement and we were mobile again.

Villamoura is a bit purpose built and you feel a wee bit closed in but still nice for a change – very pricy though.

The next day we again had little wind and motor sailed to Culatra. At least it tested the new thermostat.

Culatra is an anchorage east of the entrance to the Faro channel at Cabo de Santa Maria. There are sand banks to avoid on the entry and it gets quite lumpy with over falls and eddies with 7 knots of tide on spring ebb. It is working fishing village but has a very nice beach and lots of people come across from Faro & Olhao by water taxis for the day. As we were anchoring we got a call on the VHF from Liz & Dave, who were also in Lagos for the winter and we arranged to meet up later for them to show us around.

The trusty dinghy came out with the not so trusty two-stroke, which I had completely stripped and serviced in Salema. It did start 1^st time and got us ashore and back before giving up the ghost on the next trip. Liz & Dave towed us back. Suspecting the worst I checked the fuel first though – there wasn’t any! – It was leaking -but an easy fix.

There is an old lagoon that you used to be able to enter however the maritime police have now cordoned it off. There are a number of liveaboards “locked in” some who have been there for 15 years, they are  allowed out but no-one is getting back in. Clearing it by stealth.

The beach is a walk through the village and then onto a raised decking walkway to the other side of the island. At spring tides the gulley’s fill in up and it is very picturesque. To conserve water our daily shower was from a tap located on this walkway and a plastic bottle tipped over our heads. Luxury or not ?

One day we all took the ferry to Olhao only to find it was shut for a holiday! (Anyone remember last year’s blog when we did the same thing at Brest?) However the breakfast was good and was nice to at least have seen the place.

Most days ended with a sun downer and then back for tea on the boat followed by entertainment on someone’s boat for the evening. I won’t say too much about the afternoon Louise & Liz polished off 3 Jugs of Sangria between them.

On our penultimate day we all went a walk along to Farol at the Cabo de Santa Maria end of the island and got the ferry back. Farol was more Milngavie to Culatra’s Partick. Very pretty and looked like mostly holiday homes of people from Faro.

That night we had a farewell dinner ashore with most of the people from “C” Pontoon in Lagos. Liz & Dave had kindly invited us to their wedding anniversary meal in the coming week, but we were so low on water we had to sadly miss it , boo!

 

Jana organised a night out at the Garden restaurant for a group of us. She said we couldn’t leave Lagos without tasting these ribs. How right she was!

We’ve had a fantastic time since arriving in Lagos last September and have met some lovely people. Alas, all good things must come to an end and on the 10^th June we set sail on our travels once again.

Further updates to come.

 

I travelled home for a week at the end of May for very special persons 18^th Birthday

Happy Birthday Harry Taylor………..

What an amazing party, everyone had a fantastic time. Well done Diane, you can organise a party for me anytime.

 

A great day out on Billy and Jayne’s Rib followed by a BBQ at their house.

 

Anyway, we are now back on the boat permanently, she has been antifouled, polished, new solar panels fitted and lots more. We need to get used to moving around each other in a confined space again before setting off. We are not sure quite when that will be, although the weather is really sunny now, it’s still unsettled as it’s only early April. We are hoping maybe mid-April but we will just need to wait and see what the weather gods give us. Meanwhile, now that most of the bigger jobs are done we will take it easy and slip back into boat life.

Spinnakers Bar Lagos

Just before Gordon’s Birthday in April he managed to damage his Achilles that he had ruptured some 4 years before so we had to put off leaving until he visits the local hospital for physio!

John and Claire made up this pop up card and gave him some sticking plasters for his birthday because he is so accident prone.

A whisky tasting night on Claus’s boat with Mary & Bonny

Day sail to Alvor on John’s Cat

Louise Sunday racing on Shennanigan

Vic & Marge , our neighbours on Ice Maiden , a HR 352

Celebration of the taking of Ceuta by the Portuguese

With “Lord” McMillan