Viana do Castelo

Having been weather bound for five days we were itching to get moving and reach Portugal.  Our planned first port of call was Viana do Castelo, some thirty miles down the coast.  Our usual obsessive search for the best forecast lead us to discover that it was safe to go on the Friday although there may well be better winds the following day.  We had to take into consideration the bar at the entrance to Viana and wanted to arrive on a rising tide and so eventually chose to leave around one o'clock.  Zephyrus was also going that way but Lycka had not made up their minds.  They kept their options open, thinking they may well call back to Islas Cies if the wind wasn't up to much.

As we left the anchorage that had kept us so safely sheltered from the gales we were excited to be on our way.  The Atlantic Ocean greeted us with one and a half metres of swell and 20 knots of wind on the nose.  We could see though, beyond the headland of Cabo Silleiro, a much more calm sea and were happy to continue on our way.  The wind dropped and for a while we had to put the engine back on.  We were keen to sail, however, and so when a south westerly picked up to 10 knots we decided to beat to windward rather than chug along like a motorboat.  Hanna and Jochen had finally decided to join us and we came close to having a bit of a race.  For a while we had the better of them but our decision to keep off shore lost us the wind and Lycka got ahead.  Then we realised they had put their engine back on!  We did the same because there wasn't enough wind really and by 1820 it was time to hoist the Portuguese courtesy flag!

A call from Ian and Jo to say they were safely in the marina at Viana raised our spirits and they advised us to give the breakwater a good wide berth on the way in due to quite unusual swell!  They were right, and we watched with interest as the waves broke over the bar close to the dredged channel we had to follow.  Ian was waiting on the sea wall to direct us to a berth he had organised for us with the harbour master.  We were the lucky ones; a rare finger berth was to be our home for the next two nights!  The customs man was expecting us to report to his office at 9.30pm and we remembered to turn our watches back one hour because Portugal has the same summer hours as Britain.  While Chris tidied the boat I set about making a Special “Spanish Omelette" containing potato, onion, bacon and tomato that went down a treat.

The customs man was very friendly and welcomed us to his country with a bow!  Following a fifteen minute form filling exercise, in a stuffy little portacabin office with the oldest looking typewriter and telephone I have seen for some years, we went to find the others to buy them a drink to say thanks for sorting out the berth, but they had gone to bed!  Instead, we wandered into Viana do Castelo in search of a bank machine to get some escudos.  The beautiful town square that greeted us took us totally by surprise.  The pilot book had said that this 16th Century town was a good introduction to Portugal but we did not expect such an amazing array of stunning buildings.  We wondered what the rest of Portugal will be like if this is just an introduction.

In order to have some time exploring we decided to spend a second night at Viana, and the six of us went out for a meal the following evening in a small family run restaurant that seemed popular with the locals.  Chris and I had spotted it as we wandered through the pretty little streets admiring the different styles of architecture, from Art Deco to Manuelline.  The restaurant had no menu.  Instead the waiter told us what he had and we chose from only about four suggestions.  The meal was delicious.  Some of us had grilled fish, bass and cod (I think) and Chris and Ian shared a roasted baby lamb with potatoes.

When I poked my head out of the companionway about 9am the next morning, both Zephyrus and Lycka had gone!  We couldn't believe it!  They were certainly keen to get to our next port – Leixoes, or perhaps we smelt?