Villa Real de Santo Antonio to Cadiz – Tuesday 30th June 2009

Our last day in Portugal was one of the most perfect so far. Instead of heading out to sea, we decided to meander up river, under the suspension bridge and onwards. The weather was utterly perfect, the water utterly still as we drifted along at about 5 knots. Portugal was to the left of us, Spain to the right – it was strange to think that we were in no man’s land (or water) somewhere in between and one side was an hour ahead of the other! The scenery was beautiful and totally unspoilt, and we eventually dropped anchor under a stand of poplar trees on a curve of the river where birdsong drifted on the warm air and the banks were lined with oleander bushes. The only thing we couldn’t do was to take a dip to cool off from the relentless heat. On the way up river, we had seen thousands of jellyfish – and mean looking ones at that - and although they were heading downstream, there was too much risk that one or two may have hung around looking for tender Jersey flesh to sting!

We had intended to spend the night in a marina on the Spanish side of the border, but when eventually we returned to the river mouth, the wind had risen and it was more prudent to head back into the same Portuguese marina we had left earlier in the day.

This morning dawned hot and bright and after a quick bread run into town, we slipped out of the marina and out to sea. The Portuguese and Spanish fishermen had obviously been competing with one another to see who could lay the most pots in our path…there was no clear winner; both sides had done a magnificent job!

Our journey took us across the bay of Cadiz and for most of the 5 hour trip, we were almost out of sight of land. The conditions were wonderful and we dropped the bimini cover so we could enjoy the sunshine whilst being cooled by the breeze created by our speed. As usual, the wind came up in the early afternoon, but by then we were almost at our destination and now here we are, back in Spain, but a very different part of the country from the rainy northern coast we left behind a couple of weeks ago!