Day of rest...?

It's been cloudy all day - overcast and very humid - not what was expected at all. I've felt lethargic all day, possibly after last night's adventures.......
The marina is a good 40 minute walk from the old town, and it was decided to go for a slap up meal. (no surprise there then!) As the only one of us who'd been here before Glynn knew the way into town and the most sensible place to meet up. He and Pete went off to find the local Guiness bar and Martin, Joe and I took our time with leisurely showers before setting out to follow them. Albufeira is a maze of small streets that go either steeply up or down hill - nothing is on the level. We found them eventually! After a good meal with a brilliantly eccentric waiter (such a deep voice belonged under a sombrero in a b movie western!) the boys decided that 5 Guinesses were not enough and that they needed a couple more. Martin and I decided we had only enough energy left to find our way home so we left them to it and headed off - in completely the wrong direction as it turned out. We finally got back to Cariad after an hour and 40 minutes.... at least we made it home before the others.
So I've enjoyed an easy day and caught up with some reading while Martin, Glynn and Pete have pottered with boat type jobs and Joe's enjoyed a long day on the computer.
As previously stated - it's a tough life but someone's got to do it. HF

We made it!

We arrived in Albufeira at 9.30 this morning (earlier than planned, not quite such a long last leg as the skipper thought!) and popped the champagne. IT'S VERY HOT. Seems strange to think we're tied up now and any further travelling will be by bus/foot/train - all rather mundane....
Martin was the only one up for the last Significant Event, rounding Cape St Vincent, but he celebrated with a lonely can of beer. I woke an hour before we arrived to find I'd been bitten to death - the mossie that attacked Martin 4 days ago managed to survive the fumigation of our cabin. He won't survive much longer! The crew are all off celebrating and I'm having a bit of housework time - it's actually quite pleasant pottering and tidying while the boat if steady! HF

just to catch up on things.....

As blog virgins we are slowly getting to grips with the versatility of it but I also now realise that we dont always get the chronology right as time when sailing is a bit of a bendy thing. Two days at sea seemed a long time (great as well!!) whereas we have been alongside for best part of a day now and it seems like 5 minutes. So.....to catch up.
When we left Bayona we said goodbye to our great friend, Roger. Having been our support and all round good egg in Coruna, it had been wonderful to have him sailing with us for a few days.

Saying farewell was brief because we all new that if he could have afforded the time he would have stayed on for the full trip - thanks for the great help over the last year Roger and of course we will meet again very soon. As the picture shows, Roger had the Admirals en suite accommodation with a dipstick for the bath and vertically adjustable headlining. He was always comfortable and happy, never complained and only ever once had a slight smell of diesel!! Cheers Roger and best regards to you and yours.

When we left Bayona we hoped to make Sines in one hit and as it turned out the weather was as forecast and we had a great passage of 280 miles or so and did make it in one. The engine did her bit and we also had some good sailing with a current speed record on the surf of 9.3 knots (with some disregard to the course...). The only downside was heavy fog for about 6 hours before passing the entrance to Lisboa. The visibility was down to 2 dolphins, a measure we adopted as that was all we could see as they played with us for a while.

That's about it but here are some pics to be going on with. We will create a link soon to the full set of pics.

Rest day - still in Sines!

It seems a little strange but we're still in the same place after 24 hours - a weird experience after the last few days! Sines (pronounced Singe - as in the king of Spain's beard) is a lovely little town famous as the birthplace of Vasco da Gama. We're resting in the brand new marina which is nestled into a corner of the beach and totally hidden both from the fishing port on one side and the busy container port on the other. We've managed nothing more than a leisurely climb up into the old town, a wander around the castle and a rather prolonged lunch accompanied by Mateus Rose. It's not a bad life!
HF

Sines

Made it in to Sines at 6.20 PM, 49 hours after we set off from Baiona. Managed to get a bit of sailing in for the last 10 or so, even flying an extra sail (oooooh). Just putting this in as a preliminary post for someone else to expand on later.

Nearly there....

Just passed the Cabo Espichel off of Sesimbra, just south of Lisbon. Now have one last bay to jet across to Sines for some much needed food and rest. On course for a 4-5PM landing.

At sea

Thanks to the wonders of the unatural world, I can post this as we close the coast to shoot the gap between mainland Portugal and the Islas Berlangas just 30ish miles north of the entrance to Lisboa. The mutinous dogs have settled well and we have found fine weather. Next stop Sines for a rest and catchup tomorrow evening and we are well on plot to complete the full trip with spare days to enjoy ashore from here on in. More from the guys later and I hope some more pictures for you - sunsets are great here and go on for hiurs! MJF

Time to press on

The weather says go now or suffer the worse so off we go to make ground and a better weather system.Cariad is ready and happy after a little attention to her finer points today - I am happy to radar back working for the overnight legs.
Next stop is somewhere between 30 and 50 hours from now. More news then (with a portuguese flavour I hope!) MJF

A day of maintenance.

Ola, or if you prefer Hello!. We have spent most of the day in the marina here at Baiona. We had a couple of jobs to catch up on. Glynn has fixed our radar system, we have topped up 'Cariad' with fuel including filling two 20 litre cans to prepare for our anticipated long next leg, which, depending on conditions could be a marathon 2 day non stop sail.
Hilary (Cuddles) and Martin (The Wallet) are up at the local supermarket attempting to buy essential provisions for this next leg so hopefully they will return soon with supplies of beer, wine, brandy, port and possibly food!
As 'shipwright' on this boat (and god goes she need one) I have spent the morning rubbing down one of the cockpit floorboards using wire wool. These boards are made of teak and should be rubbed down each year and treated to a coat of teak oil. (hope you are all learning something here). The last time they were treated was when Cariad was built by Westerly which was in about 1985, way before blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Ipods, and Kia cars.So there was a bit to do.
Anyway this is my first ever blog. Bit of a milestone really, like your first pint or your first girlfriend, except I can't remember that far back.
Can I say hello to my lovely wife Carol and my son Anthony.
Cheers all, Peter.

Muros to Baiona

Late start at 6.30, dropped off mooring buoys and motored into the darkness of the Rias. out in to the Atlantic as dawn revealed a grey day and not a lot of wind, what there was was from the wrong direction for where we were going so set course and motored. The weather gradually deteriorated to more wind from the wrong direction and rain. Arrived at Baiona in clearer conditions and light rain. Arrival G&T's as per the norm and the rain clearing up, and so off to explore ashore.

Camarinas > Muros

Trip round to Muros today was a good one. Got off at 6 while it was still dark, and saw a few shooting stars before the sun came up a while later. Whilst we did motor out of Camarinas, for the majority of the trip we were straight sailing, achieving speeds of up to 9 knots in places (we averaged 5.75 knots). From a calm sea and good winds, to bacon sarnies and champagne, we couldn't of asked for much more

Photos

This is a website maintained by Glynn. Has lots of pictures of previous trips, on Cariad and others, and will hopefully get some pictures from this trip on soon.

http://www.gryachting.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Map

Relocated to top of page

Meet the team

The lucky bunch doing this epic, almost biblical, adventure are:


Martin 'The wallet' Freeman,
Skipper and owner






Glynn Rees,
Master Mate (say that carefully!)






Pete Dale,
Shipwright and storyteller






Hilary Freeman,
First lady (essential for the team balance and cuddles)





Joe Freeman,
Student, binge drinker, youth representation






Roger Piot,
The Local, translator and good egg

Getting ready and excited

Cariad is a Westerly Corsair that we bought last year and have been refitting and improving over that period. She now has a re-sealed bottom, new engine, new radar and plotter and a host of smaller improvements for comfort and safety. Cariad means "darling" in Welsh and she is indeed our darling. We have enjoyed a great year based in Coruna and now move to a new base for a year or so - we will be sure to come back to Coruna in the future tho!!


It is week to go before we gather at La Coruna and hopefully make the 600 mile trip to move Cariad to Albufeira in the Algarve.




Cariad is as ready as she can be and we are just bursting to get going!! The radar has been fitted and the last few jobs will be done when we arrive 20/8/09........

.......and we have stored the essentials already.


End of the first entry of this blog; next time we will be in Coruna and getting ready for the off (and it will be someone else's turn to do the blog entry!!) MJF