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Hugh, Anne and Hector's Sailing Adventures
Hi Folks
Well we made it to Lisbon with a day to spare and Tim has now gone home (at least for a day or two before he jets off for more international travel - or a real holiday as he puts it!).
Lisbon was extremely hot 36°C + and a huge contrast to the wild and windy coastal weather we've had. We spent a couple of days exploring the city, but I think it needs much more time to get any real feel for the place. I don't think it's a strolling around sort of a city - although that may just have been the heat affecting my judgement. We did discover some wonderful old trams and an amazing funicular system (called Elevadors). These Elevadors have been running since 1885, one of them is a completely vertical lift (i.e an exterior lift) and the other two climb steep narrow streets between old houses. There are no safety measures as such, one of the carriages we were in had no doors and a passenger just stepped off with his door key in his hand as it passed his front door. (bit like being in a Monsieur Hulot film)
The trams are short and stubby - quite cute, but they are driven by complete maniacs at ridiculous speed - we used them once and were grateful to get off in one piece!
From Lisbon, we have moved south to Sines, which will be our last Atlantic stop. It's a curious place - beautiful beach/holiday resort combined with Grangemouth style heavy industry that somehow doesn't spoil its charm. We will stay here for a day or two before the last big push around Cap S. Vincente into the Algarve.
The Atlantic weather has been remarkably predictable so far, we get quiet mornings with variable amount of sea swell, and then the wind builds up from lunchtime till around 7 o'clock, and then disappears again. The strong wind in itself isn't a problem for us, but the sea swell that builds with it is a significant factor. It throws the boat around and makes sail handling almost impossible. Our tactic has been to plan the journey so that we arrive at our destination by 4pm ish in the afternoon to miss the worst of the swell, but that means Hugh has fun berthing in strong winds and tight pontoons - fairly chaotic all round.
Hector has been charming all the port officials that come our way - they all say "oh what a beautiful cat" and in one port Hector didn't even hide away when the officials came on board. One of the officials wanted to stroke Hector, but I warned him that he was likely to be scratched or bitten. Undeterred he moved towards him claiming to be good with cats and we all froze expecting the worst - but amazingly Hector just accepted him. (and all of you who know Hector will know how amazing that was!).
Hector also has a favourite shelf on the boat, but when the conditions are really bumpy he slides all over the place and can't stay on it. This shelf was used by the previous owners to store videos and has two thin elastic straps fitted to hold the videos in place (we don't have tv or video on board). Anyway during a particularly rough ride a few days ago Hector somehow managed to get under these straps so that he was securely attached to the shelf! Smart cat.
Anne
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