It seems hard to believe that it hasn’t yet been a month since we left Falmouth, our normal life at home seems a lifetime ago. We’ve already sailed just short of 900 miles, nearly one tenth of our total distance for the trip. If those 900 miles are anything to go by, the next 9000 will give us the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It feels like we’ve already had such an enormous adventure and at times it is hard to believe how much of a journey we have ahead of us and the discovery and excitement that comes with it. The adventure has still only just begun.
Ria de Vigo
After sorting out our paperwork and stamping into Europe (this was all very relaxed, we just had to mosey around town looking for the Immigration Office and an Officer to stamp us in. Once we tracked them down, the very friendly Officer gave us an entry stamp and told us to make sure we stamp out when we depart the Schengen Zone) we spent some time exploring Vigo, getting excited by Tapas and what we were going to have for a celebratory dinner. The couple of days we spent in Vigo followed a very similar pattern of eating, exploring and getting excited at how much cheaper everything is compared to home. We climbed a couple of Castelo’s (Iron age forts) and were rewarded with incredible views of the Ria and wondered why we had never thought of visiting this part of Spain of before.
We then headed to an anchorage on the north side of the Ria and walked to Ria de Pontevedra. We had an interesting chat with some local fisherman about Orcas, they told us not to worry as there weren’t any in these parts! I had also just finished reading Snow on the Atlantic, a book that Ben had previously read and said it was worth reading whilst we’re in the Rias. The book talks about the history of drug smuggling in the area, this gave us quite an eerie feeling when exploring some quieter areas! Our brief time in Spain was also spent trying to find the best free snack to come with a drink, the worst were some stale crisps and the best, a chorizo and potato stew. We have since recreated it in the pressure cooker and it is likely to become a boat staple!
We had thought that we would spend more time exploring the Rias, but lower latitudes are calling and we decided to head south to Porto from the Anchorage, a passage of just over 60 nautical miles. We wanted to get to Porto in the light and slack water as this would be our first river mouth entrance in Portugal. We left the anchorage on the 2nd September, just before light and of course in thick fog. We crept our way through the unlit mussel beds and towards the south entrance of the Ria. As day broke, the fog cleared from the entrance and lingered behind us further up the Ria, we were rewarded with an ethereal sunrise. We were not alone in heading south and were soon in a flotilla of 10 other boats, reassuring should any of us have a meeting a with the resident orcas. The passage was relatively straight forward – we spent half of it motoring and when the wind filled in had a lovely asymmetric sail to the mouth of the river Duoro. The pilotage into the river was equally simple and we were quickly settled into Marina Duoro and a new country.
Porto and the Rio Douro
The long-range weather forecast showed the wind was going south/south west for a few days so we had plenty of time to explore Porto. Our first day was spent on the beach reading and enjoying the start of the endless summer. That evening we wondered into town for an explore. The marina is on the south side of the river, home to the Caves or Port distilleries. We made a swift turn around upon arriving as we had forgotten it was Saturday night, the scenes we were met with were very similar to those of The Barbican in Plymouth and not what we were looking for. Back near the marina we had traditional BBQ fish and squid from one of the local restaurants and celebrated our second country and our second wedding anniversary.
The follow days we explored more of the city, which, the Saturday night aside is very beautiful with lots history and fascinating old streets to amble around. Ben loved the arty side of Porto and thoroughly enjoyed the graffiti and took us to an incredible Banksy exhibition. We had also been told that the marina provides a complimentary distillery tour at Churchills Lodge, the only English tour we could get on was at 10.00am – not a prime time to be drinking port. The tour was really interesting, and I hadn’t realised, although it seems obvious now, that Port can only be certified as Port if it comes from the Douro region of Portugal. It was also clear that our palettes are not particularly refined as we couldn’t tell the difference between the 100 euro bottle and the 15 euro bottle. You can guess which bottle came back with us. Being both of our first times in Portugal we were keen try the local food. Port and Tonic is delicious, in contrast the Francesinha, a local Porto sandwich, we concluded is very strange and would probably be most suited to a hangover. It’s simply, three different meats, in white bread, wrapped in cheese, with a fried egg on top and covered in gravy. The Caldo Verde, or green soup went down well. Portugese tarts are, of course a daily occurrence.
We explored the beaches to the south of the river and found some waves for Ben. The search for Jen friendly waves continues, the massive swell driven by the low-pressure systems hitting England was not for me. Getting anywhere from the marina involved a lot of walking, however, Porto is awash with electric scooters and we soon found ourselves scooting everywhere to save our legs. Ben successfully scooted the 4.5km to the beach with a surfboard under his arm. I chose the running option, as if my step count wasn’t already high enough.
We left Porto on the 8th September, the wind and swell had dopped off and the forecast was for light southerlies, with more west filling in throughout the day. Our plan was to head to Aveiro, a river mouth 30nm down the coast that offered an anchorage. As we motored up the river to the mouth, it was clear that the wind was a lot stronger than forecast. We could also see that waves were capping on the entrance. After a bit of a bumpy ride out of the river we hoisted the sails to balance out the boat in the swell and assessed our options. We had read that Aveiro was a tricky pilotage and not great in swell, with lots of tidal flow. We decided to instead head for Figueira da Foz and if too uncomfortable agreed that we could always head back into Porto. We were now settling into a 60nm passage instead of 30, Ben also wanted to arrive in Fig Foz on the next high tide which was at 3am, it was only 8.30am.
With the sails up Cariad rode the swell happily and after a couple of hours the wind and swell dropped to what was forecast. We alternated between motoring and sailing as the wind and run line allowed. We knew we had to slow the boat down so as not to arrive at Fig Foz too early, a frustrating approach to passage making. We wouldn’t normally be unsatisfied when the boat is making 5 knots. Luckily the wind dropped, and with this the boat speed dropped to 3 knots. A useful sailing speed to ensure our delayed arrival time. As we knew we would be motoring into the night, we wanted to be able to keep the speed up under motor to make the remaining swell more comfortable.
As sunset approached, we were escorted on our journey by an abundance of dolphins. All particularly enthusiastic with their acrobatics. On the highway, we had found ourselves sailing with a couple of solo sailors. One was with us currently, and as it got dark, they looked to be changing to an odd course, and stopped and were left wallowing in the swell. We tried calling on the radio to check everything was ok, but had no response. We continued on our way, telling ourselves that if there was an issue it would be clear. Th threat of orcas still loomed over. As we were on a short night passage, Ben offered to stay awake and suggested I sleep for a bit. I slipped easily into a light sleep, only waking once to the squeaking of dolphins. Ben got me up at 1am at our waypoint just off of Cabo Mondego, the headland that leads into the Mondego River and Fig Foz and confirmed that the solo sailor was back with us on AIS. Luckily the moon was bright and gave us enough light to spot fishing pots, we had been told the coast here was littered with them but we only came across one or two. In comparison to our departure from Porto, our entrance into Fig Foz was calm with no capping waves in sight. We tied up onto the fuel pontoon around 3am.
Figueira da Foz
We had read reports that the marina at Fig Foz isn’t great and the staff unhelpful. Luckily, this wasn’t our experience, despite being very busy and clearly understaffed we checked in very efficiently. The only downside is the long walk to the showers and toilet. The next day more boats accumulated in the marina, only they weren’t arriving on slack tide, they were arriving mid flood. It seemed we could have actually arrived at a normal hour, in the light and not spent hours slowing the boat down! We concluded, however, that it was better to play it safe and were happy with the decision that we had made.
We were hopeful that Fig Foz would provide us with some better waves and so slightly jaded after little sleep the night before we went for an explore. As with Porto, it was clear the beach closest to the marina was a closeout, but as we walked further towards Cabo Mondego, the waves that we had been looking for came into sight. We spent the next couple of days surfing and chilling on the beach and once again our calves are exhausted given the 6km round trip to the surf. Doing this with a 9ft longboard under your arm in the 26c heat made us long for the Caribbean and our dreams of dropping anchor and jumping into the surf from the boat. We also had a quick chat with a local who told us that the south side of the river had a really good longboard wave. We pumped up the tender and went to check it out. It was evidently that good of a longboard wave that a pretty major longboard comp was taking place and it was heaving. We watched for a while and decided to come back the next day when the comp was finishing up and it would hopefully be quieter. The next day, it was still very busy with some pretty major egos flying around on the water so I tapped out. Ben jumped in and held his own in the water surrounded by some of Europe’s trendiest long boarders.
It is now our turn to be hit by a low-pressure system, we’re currently sitting out a few windy days as we wait for the next weather window to continue south. We walked up to Cabo Mondego and were rewarded with sweeping views of the wild, open Atlantic and its marching swell lines, violently interrupted as ocean meets land. On our return, we filled our rucksacks at Lidl and here returned the calf burn as we traipsed our way back to the marina, both now wondering if we are in fact on a walking holiday instead of a sailing adventure!
Sailing South
As soon as the weather breaks, we hope to head to Nazare for a night, before jumping to Peniche and then Lisbon. Lisbon will be our final stop on the Portugese mainland before our next offshore passage to Madeira. We are finding the sailing along the Portugese coast pretty hard work, particularly as we have found ourselves marina bound for a few days each stop so far with a southerly wind set in. This stretch of coast is really the Atlantic highway for boats heading north, or south to the Med or the Canaries. We wouldn’t describe it as enjoyable cruising ground and reminds us how lucky we are to cruise in the SW England. It currently feels like we are on a delivery trip and, in a way we are. We need to get to the boat to the Canaries to prep for the biggest part of the adventure. That doesn’t mean we aren’t enjoying our time in on this coast, but we are undeniably looking forward to exploring the islands nestled in the depths of the Atlantic and the freedom of anchoring again.
One of the joys of the highway is meeting other sailors and unlike meeting new people at home, where the most common asked question is ‘what do you do for work?’, the often-asked question here is, ‘are you heading North of South?’. Most people we meet are heading south to the Canaries, with similar plans to ourselves and there is a general sense of excitement and trepidation as we all contemplate what the Atlantic will hold for us.
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