Guadiana glue

Our enforced, rather easily mind, stay on the Guadiana river continued. We tried , and succeeded in forgetting about the recent theft of our beloved outboard motor and we were determined not to let it spoil our growing appreciation of this rather beautiful and fascinating part of the world.

To which end we began our usual habit of exploring. An ancient castle on the Portuguese side of the river seemed a good start, it was actually a highlight of a walk on one of the first information boards you see when leaving the pontoons at Alcutim.

The hike soon leaves the small town and climbs via a dusty track past the hotel towards a prominent hill.

The country is arid but alive with the sound of insects, there are a lot of beehives scattered around the hills. The views of the river are lovely and it becomes apparent just how many yachts are lying to either moorings or are at anchor in the river.

For some reason the Castle remains are fenced off but not locked and it is possible to wander freely around the remains. There has apparently been a fortification on this site since Roman times.

A lone tree provided Lynne with some welcome shade while I continued to the low walled remains which took on a recognisable form as you gained some height.

The layout of the outer walls and gatehouse were apparent as was several internal structures. It is Moorish in origin and dates from the time of the muslim occupation of Portugal that modern Portuguese find difficult to accept insisting they were only here for a short time (actually 600 years)

After a rehydrate and good mooch around we continued the walk back towards Alcutim. The path descends and although the dusty road continues on we diverted down a scrubby track back towards the river through many almond bushes and semi desert vegetation.

A very enjoyable but undeniably hot walk and we were grateful to finally arrive at Alcutims hidden treasure, the river beach for a well earned ice tea and a swim.

This is situated just outside town on a dammed tributary of the Guadiana, its agreat place to chill, swim and enjoy a drink in the beach taverna. showers are provided and you can even play beach volleyball if the fancy takes you. Most of the inhabitants of both Alcutim and Sanlucar have learned to swim here.

Later in the week and back on the Spanish side of the river Portugal and Spain met in the World Cup.
Both Flags were given equal prominence in the Chiringuito bar. It was a very good night and amazingly sporting. Every goal was cheered and a draw was the best possible result.

This truly is what the beautiful game should be about bringing people together. Even though we were in Spain, Portuguese TV covered the evening for local news.

Portugal's best striker is probably Renaldo , who at one time played for Real Madrid. So it was easy for Spanish supporters to cheer him on. A fantastic night at which we were made very welcome in this small community.

We returned to the quay and the pontoon to see the new moon in the old moons arms and Venus high in the western sky.

I don't know whether there was a need to celebrate but the fountain "Fuente" had been turned on in Sanlucar so we in turn celebrated with a drink at Sanlucar`s other bar, El Pozo.

Having collected two Portuguese Castles, it really was time to go up the frankly very steep and imposing El Castillo de San Marcos which stands imposingly above Sanlucar,

This has recently been fully restored, not without some controversy as the stark whitewashed exterior although authentic was felt by some to be over restored, It certainly stands out on the skyline and being someone unused to the previous unrestored grey ruin I think its great...…

Once the start of the footpath to the summit is located its a steady climb towards the small hut that is the launch point for the zip-wire, unique in Europe as it starts in one country (Spain) and after crossing the river finishes in another (Portugal)

In the photo above the launch point can be seen far middle right.
and here is a bit of the cross border people smuggling in action!

As you approach the Castle it really is quite imposing, the restoration includes parking and helpful signage. But however you cut it, it is a steep and very hot climb on foot.....

There is a small museum which we directed too by the very helpful curator after he had put on a useful video of the history of the castle , in English , just for us...

Below is a photo of the castle before restoration.

The views from the battlements are astonishing, seemingly all of the hinterland of Andalucía is spread out before you.

You also got a great view of the good ship Dark Tarn, or at least her mast, down in Sanlucar de Guardiana below.

We enjoyed the various (and all splendid ) views from the various battlements and also the soaring swifts riding the thermals.

The lovely curator could see that we were in need of refreshment and mentioned to us that cold drinks were available, these turned out to be in a small (and well hidden) bar just off a small chapel.

When the restoration is complete there will be a small cafe and information centre here.

The internal walls have deliberately left patches that retain the original rendering and whitewash.

I think it looks splendid, particularly lit up in the evening and viewed from Alcutim. Dark Tarn is directly underneath on the pontoon and is the boat with the black hull.

In a strange echo from Cangas and "Magic night", the tradition of fire leaping is alive and well on midsummer day everywhere in Iberia.

In Alcutim there was a small fire and we had an invite to attend. So along with the Magnets (Jim and Megan) we turned up. Apparently it keeps the witches away, however being born on Halloween gives me a get out card for fire jumping.

Midsummer celebrations continued in Spain with another invite to attend a medieval night at the local school. quite a lot of the permanent residents, Boat people who have become a part of the local community The Magnets again kept us company and as usual we turned up far too early. The main event was scheduled for sunset.

Meantime we were entertained, the man playing the saxophone is another Guadiana Brit, who lives on a property just up the river, he is also a world class saxophonist.

After dark we were treated to a performance of a "silent play", this was Where `The Wild Things Are`. I must admit the costumes and lighting were very atmospheric, particularly the dragon.

The children were brilliant.

Even the trees were decorated.

Definitely a night to remember, I could almost feel the Guadiana glue creeping over my feet, Lynne and I had already started looking at property, maybe we should leave soon?

I had decided to explore upriver on what turned out to be a brilliant footpath which if I had decided to would take me back to Huelva or even if I chose I could follow through the Algarve and eventually up to A Coruna and Santiago de la Compostela.

As it turned out I just walked a few miles up the river, This was a well that I happened upon and a few local guys who were whitewashing it let me help myself from the nearby orange grove.



I turned back and as I walked the path back into Sanlucar I noticed a tour boat coming upriver through the anchored yachts and again I felt my feet get just a bit more stuck in the earth. How nice would it be to just stop moving and just stay in this spot where we both felt we had made so many friends.
That's just how the Guadiana glue gets you!

Outboard thieves (Ladrones de motores fuerabordas)

It had to happen eventually, Sanlucar de Guadiana was NOT the place I had expected it to happen but happen it did. After nearly five years of constant cruising we have been the victims of theft.
Namely our utterly reliable Suzuki 2 horse power two stroke outboard engine.
I have stolen the title for this section of the blog from Martina who is a fellow boatie who has also suffered at the hands of the local outboard thieves. She has lived on the Guadiana for three years or there about aboard Carina of Devon , a Westerly Conway. We informed the council in the townhall who told us to inform the Guardia Civil. Upon finding the police station we discovered it was closed. It would however be open the following day.
That just left the insurance people to inform, they sent us a claim form which we printed off and filled in with the outboards serial number etc. As it was a named item on the policy the excess didnt apply and we hopefully would get the insured value of £300.
Then we attempted to source a new engine. Two strokes are no longer for sale in the EU so it would have to be a four stroke. The chandlers at Ayamonte could supply a Parsun, 2 hp for €699, I wasnt keen on a chinese engine as there is very little dealer backup, and a limited spares network. It was also a bit pricey. I tried to source one in Germany which was similar price with delivery but we could get a Yamaha, Honda or Suzuki, I was initially taken with the honda and it was either that or another Suzuki. Our old Suzuki had been a fabulously reliable motor and after a bit of research found one in good old England for £569, I phoned to confirm delivery costs to Spain as they quoted a rather unbelievable £20. Good as there word, well done Marine Superstore!
We arranged for the engine to be delivered to Ayamonte marina. Rosa very kindly came to the Guardia Civil with us to translate and we posted off the completed paperwork to our insurers.
There had been a bit of a spate of outboard thefts and the Guardia Civil said they believed it was people from Portugal coming over tge river. I believe it would make more sense for them to be Spanish with a van, and I have probably seen more crime than the Guardia Civil in Sanlucar de aguadiana!
Less than a week later our engine arrived in Ayamonte and we caught the bus down to Pick it up.



This meant us getting a lift across the river to Portugal to get an early bus to Villa real de San Antonio, which is incidentally a very interesting town, historically its one of the first of the pupose designed "New Towns" based on a grid system. We then had to get the ferry across to Ayamonte. Of course reversing that journey carrying a large and unwieldy box containing our precious new engine was not something we had put much thought into!



we managed to visit our favourite cafe before visiting the chandlers to pick up necessary oils for engine and gearbox (engines don't ship with any oil)
We did get some strange looks, and were actually asked directly by some dutch cyclists on the ferry" what on earth is in the box?"



We should have had it delivered to the post office in Sanlucar but in actual fact when we had arranged delivery we had actually planned to take Dark Tarn downriver, but since then we had decided to stay up the Guardiana for a while longer. The day out in VRSA was very pleasant  and we enjoyed an amazingly cheap lunch in a restaurant of fish and chips.



A proper day out!

Sanlucar /Alcoutim

A little bit of yachting folklore, the Guadiana is a place that yachties come to shelter, winter over and seemingly take root for years. I have always wondered what the attraction was and only after coming here myself do I think I begin to understand. There is not a lot of development on the banks. The twin towns of Sanlucar de Guadiana and Alcoutim sit facing each other across the river and indeed border.
In the time of Brexit I am reminded that these two towns, if you had been standing on either bank from 1966 to 1976, allowed no contact between the two .Of course people being people contact continued, a tradition of cooperation hundreds of years old was forced into secrecy and smuggling. To all intents and purposes now the border is invisible and the only raised voices to be heard are people shouting and whistling for the ferries. We move seamlessly from one country to another, at no time are we in any doubt which country are we in and given the history between the two this is an astonishing and wonderful miracle.

I suppose no less miraculous than a community that provides shade for ducks. This is the small beach area in Sanlucar.

We would later discover the river beach in Alcoutim, (blue flag ) I understand that there is now a lot of co-operation between the two communities, on an official level, rather than the illegal cross contamination of the recent past. However in this particular Alcoutim has it. But I would hesitate to swim in either.

There is a small bathing area and almost unique on the Algarve it provides showers. Something we have become used to everywhere else and were very surprised by its absence on the tourist Algarve.

But it was nice to see the local wildlife taking advantage of the facilities.

The architecture on both sides of the river is becoming more characteristic of  Andalusia, whitewashed walls and tiled roofs,  it is a very attractive style. There is a profusion of  public art and appreciation which tends to accent local artists, characters, historical events and celebrations.
From the sculpture of the above local artist we ascended the winding streets to the Church on the hill.

Its always on a hill, unfortunately the church is largely closed as the local priest has to spread himself very thin across three parishes and is only open (for services) maybe once or twice a week.

Its a beautiful, classically Spanish building. It has a couple of points of interest outside, one of which is the statue celebrating a local flower festival.

One other is a simple crucifix, shown in the photo below along with the windmills on the hill in the background. They are a skyline feature visible from many places in the town.

We were however totally perplexed by this miniature door we discovered built into a wall. It obviously is part of a representation of a windmill but for the life of us, we cant understand why?
Charming none the less.

As we have come to expect public amenities in Spain and Portugal are well financed and fairly ubiquitous, a case in point being Sanlucars Fountain/Well/ children's play area/ boules pitch/ just generally nice place to sit...…..under the windmills.....

There is a cafe bar at one end, El Pozo, very popular with locals for dining.

As we had already eaten on this particular occasion we wandered towards he upstream end of town and discovered the cemetery.

As if we needed reminding , we are back in Spain. The dead are very much alive.
We walked back into the town towards the river front and passed a lovely building with some unusual roof tiles. Someone somewhere has thought, "we need to decorate the underneath of those roof tiles".
Sir, I salute you.....

Here is the complete building, a masterpiece of understated elegance. God is in the detail, I cant remember who said that, I think it was a scientist, but it is absolutely true.

Meanwhile back on the pontoon the squirrely weather was throwing black clouds across the sky, so we decided a visit across the river to Portugal might be in order.



One of the first things you encounter visiting Alcoutim, leaving the pontoons, is this statue. It represents a smuggler. It is one of a trilogy the other two being the fisherman, to be found near the chapel of St Antonio, and the Fiscal guard who can be discovered looking down from a cafe overlooking the quay.

The view back across the river to Sanlucar shows the dominant castle (Moorish ) above the town.

It really is a most attractive spot. Dark Tarn can be seen in the photo nestled against the pontoon.

The water taxis are the two squarish looking craft with Bimini's on the Portuguese side.

It may have been an illusion but the weather seemed to pick up as we wandered the streets heading vaguely towards the Castle. This dates from the reign of king Dinis, in the 1300s.

The interior is a well kept garden area and steps lead up onto the battlements which enable you to appreciate the views over the river.

However there is also a fascinating museum of archeology to be seen.

This is enclosed within a purpose made building and represents a "dig" that it is possible to wander over and through using raised glass walkways.

There are explanations of exhibits, both on plaques (in Portuguese ) or in a handy book that is available on entrance. There have been fortifications on this site since the Romans and the various layers of history are exposed to view.

The Iberian fascination with cage birds continues to surprise us, there is a small aviary on the "Esplanade".

It was nice to be able to look back across the river to Sanlucar, later in the week we would return here for a picnic lunch. your ticket to enter the castle lasts a week.

Lynne seems now to have no fear of walking battlements, there was of course a sensible handrail provided on this occasion!

Finally we looked at an exhibition of old (really old) board games. These are held in the old castle "gunpowder room" and are largely Arabic in origin and consist of game boards scratched onto slates. Some were familiar like, Tic Tac Toe and a simple version of baccarat, others remain a bit of a mystery..

After the castle we returned to the river front to find the last sculpture, he is to be seen on the balcony in the photo below. We enjoyed a coffee before ticking of our last challenge. To discover the inland beach.

There is a small tributary river the Cadavais that joins the Guadiana at Alcutim. Here you can find the Pego Fundo beach. its a remarkable stretch of golden sand and apparently in 2003 was the only inland beach in Portugal to be awarded a blue flag. We had arrived just before they put up the shady beach parasols.

On returning back towards the village we discovered this great outdoor art gallery of Azulejo tiled panels, of course if you stopped for any length of time to admire them you ran the risk of being run over!

The following day we climbed to the windmills overlooking Sanlucar.

The views were now back towards Alcutim and Portugal.

And also the Moorish castle overlooking Sanlucar.

we deviated from the established path to discover an unrestored Mollinos de Viento hidden in thick woods.

The millstone rather gave the game away as to its history. Later we descended to enjoy a drink in the other bar in town. El Pozo. We had decided we really needed to eat here before we left.

That evening from the bar near the river we enjoyed a fabulous sunset and we hoped it foretold the end of the cloudy weather.

The following day our friends Jim and Megan aboard Magnet had come up river from Ayamonte, under the bridge of doom and had anchored a bit downstream of the two towns.

We met up and enjoyed a curry in the Indian restaurant in Alcutim. It was lovely to see them both again after parting company over a year ago in the Rias of Galicia.