In some ways a quiet couple of days has passed and yet still interesting times. We finally decided it was time to leave Oeiras. It was a fun place to be with good facilities on site and a good base for visiting Lisbon, but in other ways it was a bit cut off. Our next stop is round to a boatyard near Seixal to get a little work done, so we went a day early to see and enjoy to place. It gets a good write up in the book – and we were not disappointed. Navigation getting in is a bit tricky, and we did it at low water knowing we can always lift the keel, and got in OK. The estuary is full of drying sand banks and mud flats. Wading birds everywhere and fishermen raking for cockles. The town of Seixal is delightful – little back streets and plenty of charm. A far cry from Lisbon which is not that far over the water. Loads of money being invested here in redevelopment of the town – probably EU money. We took a long walk down the shore.

Our first social encounter was with a lovely Portuguese couple on a catamaran we had tied up alongside. They have done some very serious ocean passages and they had a wealth of information that they were happy to share so we were pleased to listen. Kate got some hot tips on how to prepare bacalao on our crossing!

Late in the day we met a fellow Scot who had anchored off in the channel. He had single handed from UK in his 27’ boat. Turned out he had also single handed across the Atlantic in the Jester Challenge, amongst other major trips, in this boat – another very impressive sailing CV. So we enjoyed hearing his stories and may meet up in the Algarve when his lady friend arrives.

The day finished with very fine grilled swordfish steaks in a local restaurant, and vine verde a pression. All in all an interesting place and some different encounters.