To Peniche

After dropping off our electronic gizmo for the gate we left around 10 oclock. We raised the mainsail and motored out into a windless swell.



It was really quite pleasant, but I couldnt stop waiting for it to go wrong somehow. Thats part of the problem with this coast. Its just so prescriptive. You are leaving here so you must be going there because there really isnt anywhere else to go. The weather will either cooperate or give you a hard time.



The above is a case in point, between Nazaré and Peniche, this is the only anchorage, the extremely narrow entrance is only feasable with very little swell. We looked at it and saw breakers from side to side. We passed on by.



This is it from seaward, we were forced to leave it for another day. A pity because it looks perfect, however we have heard of  folk who have been trapped inside for days, the swell comes from hundreds of miles away and doesnt necessarilly reflect conditions locally.
Soon we were trying to make out Cabo Carvoeiro, it looks surprisingly like an island until you are up close.



This was something we were not acustomed to, normally we are beyond the 50 metre contour, both to avoid breaking waves due to swell and lobster pots. 50 metres puts us 1-2 miles offshore. Now we could wave at people ashore, and there were loads! The cliffs seemed to be infested with platforms restaurants, ladders and hidden stairways.
Soon our concentration was distracted by high speed RIBs coming out of the harbour, I must admit to giving one the finger to the amusement of a local fishing boat who also gave him the rigid digit and waved and laughed with us.......he is just ahead in the photo below.



The marina only allows berthing on the wavebreaker pontoon in Peniche, you are expected to raft up if full. Luckily there was one gap which looked like we could just fit in. A Swedish guy helped to secure our lines, although he could have been worried about us hitting his boat! It was all done in a seamanlike manner and we were safe and sound in Peniche.



As it turned out it was a National holiday in Portugal so there was no one in the marina office, after the theoretical closing time of said office three French boats came inand were   forced to raft up with other boats. After some multi lingual exchanges it turned out that at least two were leaving early in the morning which led me to wonder if they were just trying to avoid paying the quite modest overnight fees. However they could not avoid the young Portugese policeman in the GNR-Brigada Fiscal boat at the end of the pontoon. Portugal has a sophisticated monitoring system, computerized no less to keep track of a boat and its occupants movements whilst in the country. We prefer to adhere to the rules, to which end we also now have this document.



For the sum of 2 euros it covers the cost of lights and buoyage in Portugal for six months, of course if you havent got one we have heard that the fine can be 5000 euros. No brainer, Another anomally is that if you elect to pay for 12 months its 12 euros. Suffice to say we will renew in six months!
I believe this priciple is dont tell anyone and make money on the fines. Our friends Bruce and Pam didnt have one and didnt get fined, however their boat was gone over from stem to stern, looking at expiry dates on flares, liferaft and EPIRB service and expiry, etc.
Got to be worth two euros eh?
So tomorrow we can explore Peniche.



In the meantime........the sea is calm, theres a full moon, and its warm......

Cutting room floor

I try to keep the blog current and descriptive but like all journalistic endeavours it suffers from a certain amount of editing. Not least from Lynne who will declare "your not blogging that", when I happen to catch her in a less than flattering pose or maybe with ice cream over most of her face,

So just for interest here are some bits that didn't make it into the mainstream blog.

First up, a local from AVELA, hard aground in the Rio, this photo could have been taken in our home river of the Ribble. The unfortunate yachtsman would have been a contender for the "Sandbanks Trophy". He was stuck for over an hour as the flood tide held him fast in the shallow bank, look closely and you can see the tide flowing past him.
Other times its just the strangeness, The video below correctly should have been shot in France home of the existentialists and the surrealists, however I have just remembered Salvador Dali was Spanish. However it doesn't adequately explain, an accordion, a dog in drag and a chicken in Portugal ( this was a Sunday market in Aveiro. )

 A prize for most elaborate footbridge ever goes to this fine example in Aveiro

Eight separate looping structures, and four spiral staircases, just fabulous. Turns a simple bridge into a good walk.



Extreme fishing in Portugal.

Nothing so unusual about a couple of guys fishing until you realise they are on top of a 300 foot cliff.
Big reels needed! Navare.



Almost inevitable that you come across some strange boats, the cruising community has its fair share of eccentrics but this is a beauty. “A” frame mast, twin booms, twin rudders, I am guessing steel turtle deck. A close inspection will reveal much else in the prototype category. Always interesting to see some of these ideas, we dont often see them at sea however.



A statue to the Transcendentalist spiritual leader and Peace Run founder Sri Chinmoy on the beach where the Mondego river meets the Atlantic ocean.  Figueira Da Foz has a rich history with the Peace Run and World Harmony Run organization and projects . He also worked with the U.N. for 37 years. Apparently if you hold his flaming torch (as used on the peace runs)  it will contribute to world peace. Has to be worth a punt eh?



Near Aviero they have perfected the concept of the shed, here is a perfect example. “Rural retreat, all mod cons, fully tiled. Outdoor bar-b-que.”



Aviero was also the place we discovered things you dont expect to be knitted.



Sometimes art is just beyond me, a theme that was ever present in Aviero was the heads on feet sculpture, lots of them, all different both in detail and material. What are they all about? No idea......



Someone must know, in actual fact they do grow on you....

Another from Figuera de Foz, possibly the worlds biggest sun clock, or sun dial. The sail is the gnomon. it tells time, and I believe the house of the zodiac we are in, however I cant confirm that.
But for me it beats the council spending money on smaller bins though.......

Nazare

The next day saw a return of the fog that has haunted us down this coast. we breakfasted, drank coffee and gave Dark Tarn a much needed rinse off, by which time the fog had lifted and moved offshore a little. We walked along the front to the open air, dried fish museum. I kid you not, for ever (well hundreds of years anyway)  the women of Nazare have sun dried fish on the beach and it is now an attraction and also a means of maintaining the tradition. The fog can be seen lurking over Lynnes head.

Our aim for the day was to visit the small village of Sitio which is perched on top of the cliff above Nazare, in the photo below the miradors or viewing places can be seen jutting out on top of the overhangs. A very airy spot!

But before we ventured up we had a picnic on the beach and then found a small cafe for a drink. by this time the sun was getting seriously hot . The fog however continued to hang around offshore.

The funicular railway took us swiftly up the precipitous slope. The red tiled roofs of Nazare were spread out below

Normally Lynne doesn't do heights, but she seemed to be fairly composed about the viewpoints.

The fog was starting to drift in to the clifftop which was adding a bit more atmosphere to an already stunning position.

 Behind the cliff top cafes and restaurants was the village square. Very touristy  There were a great many souvenir shops and a lot of coach parties being shepherded from one thing to another.

The church is the outstanding building on the square, For some reason the entrance was garlanded with flowers.

Properly the Church is known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady Of Nazare.

When we went inside strangely there was a mass in progress, the strange thing being that the service was in English. As is usual in Portugal the inside of the church is richly decorated in acres of gilt.

There was a painting that caught my eye just at the back of the nave, I was puzzled as I am getting quite good at recognising various saints now but this image had me puzzled.

It seemed to depict a deer falling off a cliff, followed by a hunter who was being saved by an ethereal figure. This turns out to be a local commander of the Castle of Porto de Mos who one foggy morning ( I can believe that!)   in 1182 was saved by appealing to the Virgin of Nazare as he nearly followed the Roe deer over a cliff,  only being saved by his horse digging in its hind hoofs. In thanks, Fuas Ruarpino ordered a small chapel built that is known as the  memory Chapel. It sits across the square from the church almost at the top of the cliff.

Its quite a squeeze if you are unlucky enough to be in there just as a coach party arrive!

Its interior is a fabulously tiled ( 17th and 18th century) and there is a cramped stairway that descends to a small crypt or shrine to our Lady of Nazare. Off to the right in the above picture.
As the fog was still swirling around we were in two minds whether to walk out to the Fort of San Miguel Arcanjo this is also a lighthouse and famously overlooks the break  at Praia do Norte where the biggest wave ever surfed was ridden in  October 2013. (The St Jude's day storm )
We decided it was worth the walk and we would gamble on the fog.

This photo shows Brazilian Carlos Burle on that day in October

Luckily the waves were a lot quieter when we were there!
The fort is also a museum dedicated to big wave surfing as Nazare is a regular venue for big wave events. surfers need to be towed onto the wave using jet skis so it has become known as tow surfing.

It is a long downhill walk to the fort but there are a few things to see on the way, a sculpture symbolising the melding of modern surfing and ancient history, remember Fuas Ruarpino and the deer? I don't really get it but as I turned a corner I did get what I could see in front of me.

The legendary Praia do Norte beachbreak, even on a day like today it had the power to impress, you can get an idea of scale by finding the person on the beach.

For the princely sum of a euro you can look around the ancient fort, see videos of huge waves, have the complicated hydrology and geology of the underwater trench explained and see legendary surfers boards in an atmospheric dungeon. Each board has a biography and every board has ridden the waves just outside.

Even Lynne was impressed, normally her interest in surfing extends no further than the fashions...

The views from the fort roof are wonderful, we are seriously thinking of coming back during the winter whenever the big swells appear. From a viewpoint like this the experience should be spectacular.

The cold fog and mist by now had moved well out to sea and we were able to take off our jumpers and enjoy the sun. we took a last look at the view from the Miradors. Dark Tarn is tucked at the back left of the harbour at the top centre of the beach.

We descended the Funicular and enjoyed a coffee and pastel de nata (flaky pastry custard tart) before taking a last look at the lighthouse before the long walk back along the beach.

Nazare, home to the biggest waves on the planet............but luckily not every day!

Here is a little video of our day.

South again......

We left Fig Foz at 9.30 after topping off our diesel tanks, the morning was pretty windless but was thankfully clear of fog. the wind began to fill from the west and we tried our best to sail, avoiding the ever present pot buoys.

around lunch time the wind finally strengthened to a force 3 and under full sail we could finally dispense with the engine. We began on a broad reach which was perfect to steady us against the swell but as the wind swung into the north we were on a dead run and sailed wing and wing for a while.

We had a glorious couple of hours before the wind again fell fitful. Here is a little video.

towards the end of the afternoon we were approaching Nazare, there is a distinctive lighthouse and a fishing village atop some very impressive sandstone cliffs.

This photo is taken from the point at which last year the biggest wave ever surfed on a board was ridden. the wave was 100ft high. At this point our echo sounder went from 25 metres to over 180 metres as we passed over the huge underwater trench that runs almost all the way to the beach and is responsible for the huge waves that are generated near Nazare.

It shows up quite nicely on Navionics sonar chart, if you can visualise a westerly swell, the deep trench amplifies and steepens the resulting wave, creating some genuine monsters!
Luckily those conditions didn't apply today and we reached the harbour with a relatively modest couple of metres of swell.

As we entered  the outer harbour we noticed a man waving us into the Club Naval marina, this is on the left as you enter and until recently was private however it now welcomes visitors. It can be fairly tight, but we had assistance from the mariner and a British yachtsman whos boat we berthed next to.

The marina staff were friendly and helpful. The other marina recommended in our pilot was not well used by visitors, it is however highly regarded.
We had a quick look around the town which is a short 1 kilometre walk away along the impressive beach.

It is a holiday town and was quite lively along the front with many "holiday shops" selling balls and buckets and spades etc. There also appeared to be a huge selection of eateries. Our attention however was drawn to the funicular railway leading to the cliff top village, that would be our goal tomorrow. The forecast held no wind for the next few days so we decided we may as well stay and look around.