Movin South

First things first Jake has finally been able to get the second instalment of the ‘Gleda’ series videos finished and uploaded. I think you’ll agree he’s done a fantastic job. Look out for a particularly amusing sequence about 1 minute in. Jake was sat on the portside companionway hatch filming when we ploughed into a particularly steep sea. The water, hit the underside of the centre beam lifted first the starboard battery box lid and then the port. Immediately afterwards the forward beam hit the sea and Jake got doused, much hilarity ensued. We called it the ‘warned you once, warned you twice, OK here it is’ sequence! I’ve since added latches to the battery box lids to prevent it happening again, I had worries of the batteries drowning if it happened again.

We’re currently having a brief stopover in Figueira da Foz before heading down to Nazare tomorrow. We’re now on the same latitude as Minorca in the Mediterranean and although we had a dullish day yesterday with a little rain the temperatures are getting higher.

After leaving Povoa de Varzim we sailed down to Aveiro and anchored overnight. It’s a busy industrial port and we encountered a bit of ship traffic on our way in. Pleasingly the fog stayed away though.

On the morning we left it was cloudy and drizzly but that hadn’t deterred the dozens of locals from clogging the harbour entrance as we left. They were a friendly lot though waving as we passed by.

There’s always a twinge of guilt when we leave a place without taking the time to explore. The town itself looked quite interesting and apparently has a touch of Venice about it with it’s canals winding between the streets. So many places so little time!

The following day we set off for Figueira. We had drizzle, cloud and little wind to start with, then it brightened and we got enough wind to sail. The coast most of the way consisted of low lying sand dunes so there wasn’t a lot to see. Gail likes to read as we’re going along anyway.

The wind picked up even more and the cloud came down as we rounded Cabo Mondego towards Figueira which made for a lively last hour. It was still warm enough to work on deck in a T-shirt though.

To be honest Figueira isn’t anything to write home about. It’s a beach resort but the town itself isn’t particularly interesting although there is another amazing indoor market opposite the marina.

The shot below shows the marina and town, you might just be able to make out ‘Gleda’ dead centre of the far pontoons.

So tomorrow we sail another 40 odd miles South and we’re now over halfway between Cabo Finisterre and Cabo de São Vicente. We’re planning on slowing down and exploring a bit more as the coast gets interesting again.