Figuera de Foz to Nazare - 38 Miles

Cliffs at Nazare

MONAY 30 OCTOBER 2007

We had showers before leaving at 9.15 a.m. and Roger put his back out putting his socks on. The wind had died down but there was about a 3 metre swell, which made the trip a little rolly to start. The wind then strengthened from behind which stiffened the boat and we were managing about 7 knots with full main and genoa. By the time we reached Nazare the wind was about Force 5-6, with a large swell running into the harbour. 

This coast can be extremely dangerous in strong winds and swell, but once inside the harbour the sea flattened, but there was still a strong wind. I jumped off the boat onto the pontoon with the line and slipped, with half my body in the water. The strong wind was blowing the boat onto the pontoon and crushing me between the boat and the pontoon. Luckily some men from an Irish boat came and pushed the boat off me and helped to berth the boat, but I felt very battered and bruised!

A customs official arrived immediately for paperwork before I could even get out of my wet clothes. However, he was very friendly and very handsome – which always helps! We were finishing off securing the boat, when a policeman turned up to look at our passports. We then went to the Marina to complete the paperwork there with the marina manager. You might be forgiven for thinking that three people to do a job which in the UK would be done by one is a bit excessive. However, we learnt that there is also a (English) Harbour Master who was yet to appear.

There are quite a few English, Welsh and Irish boats here, including the Irish couple from Arklow on Broadsword who we’d met in Pavoa de Varzim, and we chatted to a couple from Conwy who have been living on their boat about four years.

We had a quite evening on board, nursing our injuries.

Marina: 14.50, free showers

Aveiro to Figuera de Foz - 39 Miles

Leaving Ria Aveiro

MONDAY 29 OCTOBER 2007

Another early start at 7.15 to make the tide and we arrived at Figuera de Foz about 2 p.m. We were greeted by the Customs official who wanted us to complete paperwork before finding a berth. By the time we had done this, filled with diesel and done the paperwork with the Marina, it was 3 p.m. so we went in search of lunch. Because we had the usual bottle of wine, the rest of the day was spent having a long siesta. It was quite windy in the night.

Marina: 17.50, free showers
Diesel: 1.19 euros per litre, 67.79

Pavoa de Varzim to Aveiro - 50 Miles

Bridge in Aveiro

SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2007

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.

Pavoa de Varzim

Jan and Tini on Cocon

SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER 2007

We had a lazy day with breakfast in a café and working on the computer. Tini and Jan invited us to Cocon for afternoon tea and cakes as it was Jan’s birthday. We went into the town of Pavoa de Varzim and had a superb dinner for 42 euros in a lovely restaurant

Train to Oporto

View of Vila Nova de Gaia from the Cathedral

FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER 2007

The new metro system runs trains every 20 minutes into Oporto and we got there about lunch time. We had the cheapest Menu del Dia yet – 5 euros for a 3 course meal and drink!

Oporto seems a strange mix of beautiful 15th and 16th century buildings surrounded by alleys of terraced houses, many of them in a poor state of repair. Many of the houses are beautifully tiled on the outside and the walls of Sao Bento Station, Oporto’s central railway station, are decorated by fantastic Azulejos – Painted Ceramic Tiles.

The views from the Cathedral over the red rooftops are amazing. We walked over the Dom Luis I bridge, which was built in 1886 by an assistant of Gustave Eiffel, and had spectacular views of the River Douro, Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia, where all the port lodges are.

12 years ago Roger, Tony, Jessica and I canoed 250 kilometres on the River Douro from Miranda do Douro on the Spanish border to Oporto, and it was interesting to see where we had landed the canoes when we had arrived. The new Infante Dom Henrique bridge upstream from the Dom Luis I bridge was being built at the time, and we had to time our passage under the bridge as the workmen kept dropping things off it!

Roger had another custard tart, and decided this one was definitely the best so far.

We caught the metro back to Pavoa de Varzim and went to have dinner with Jan and Tini on Cocon.

Viano do Costello to Pavoa de Varzim - 21 Miles

Viano do Costello Swing Bridge

THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER 2007

We had a leisurely start, as we did not have too far to go, and left about 10.30 after a very cheap breakfast in a Portuguese café – 2.60 euros for two coffees and two croissants! We motor-sailed most of the way, apart from about an hour where we managed to sail.

Pavoa de Varzim is a new, friendly Marina – some of the buildings are still being finished- and seems a better option for visiting Oporto than Leixoes. When we arrived we met Diane, one of Roger’s sailing students, who is delivering a boat to the Canaries.

A café in Lisbon professes to make the best custard tarts in Portugal, so Roger is doing his own research to see if this is true. He had one this morning on the boat, and one this afternoon in a café after we’d been shopping. The one this morning was the best so far.

Jan and Tini, the dutch couple on Cocon are going to spend the winter here and we spent a pleasant evening catching up and having a meal on our boat.

Baiona, Spain to Viano do Costello, Portugal - 35 Miles

WEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER 2007

It is definitely getting warmer! After an uneventful motor-sail in a flat sea we were welcomed to Portugal by the Marina staff. A swing bridge has been installed at the entrance to the Marina since we were here 3 years ago, so we berthed on the waiting pontoon. 

We decided to stay there overnight rather than go in to the Marina and have to wait for the bridge to open. It seemed peaceful enough, just outside a café/bar – that is until the Karaoke woke us up at 1.00 a.m.! The Portuguese girls are no better singers than Swansea girls! However, the café did have WiFi which we managed to log onto.

Marina: 14.40 euros

Entering Portuguese waters