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| Bridge in Aveiro |
SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2007
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| Susannah moored by the salt pans in Aveiro |
The clocks went back today and because we had a long way to go before it got dark, we had to set off at first light, about 7.00 a.m. We sailed and motor-sailed to Averio and made good time, arriving at the mouth of the Ria Aveiro about 3 p.m., an hour and a half before high water. There was about a 4.5 knot tide going up the river, which wasn’t mentioned in the Pilot Book – we were actually doing about 9.5 over the ground!
Aveiro was once a great sea port and there is still a lot of large shipping which makes the area seem industrialised with docks most of the 6 miles up to the town of Aveiro.
The salt pans of Aveiro were mentioned in a will of 959 A.D. and the town was extremely wealthy from the salt and bacalhoeiros who fished for cod off Newfoundland, but in 1575 a storm caused a sand bar to block the entrance to the harbour, creating a large lagoon area stretching about 30 miles north and 10 miles east.
We followed the buoyed channel to near Aveiro. According to the Pilot Book there is a floating pontoon where boats can moor or wait for the lock to open at high tide and enter the canal. The pontoon was extremely small and a 18ft boat was already moored there. We had no choice but to moor alongside this small boat, which was quite difficult in a fast flowing tide. A new bridge is being built over the lock and it was obvious it would not be opening for a quite a while! Projected finish date for the project was August 2007! There is a large area of salt pans near the pontoon and information about how the salt is made.
Roger didn’t feel it was safe to leave the boat, so I walked the 10 minutes to town, which was worth the walk. Aveiro is known as the little Venice of Portugal because of the canals and bridges criss-crossing the town, and the beautifully painted boats which were used to harvest seaweed.
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