Pronounced 'cinch', this is the birthplace of Vasco da Gama who discovered the sea route to India and later became a Viceroy of India. It is a small, but excellent marina with the best showers on route so far! Chris did a great job of shoehorning us into the last available mooring where we have spent a couple of days.

On route here, we tried out a 'hot tip' for washing your clothes. Put them into a black bin bag or similar, add water and washing liquid, tie to boat securely and place in the sunshine. For a coloured wash, you need about 5 hours at medium sun with a slight breeze. Worked a treat!

We had our first real leisure moment yesterday when we went onto the beach and had a drink on the way back from shopping and trying to find internet. You may find this hard to believe, but since we have arrived in mainland Europe, we have probably only had 3 x 3 hours slots when we have had the chance to put our feet up without having something to do. The rest of the time is mostly spent shopping, washing, looking for internet access and cleaning the boat. You don't realise how long things take. Just mooring into a marina and getting yourself sorted, and then visiting the various authorities to fill in paperwork and show them the ships papers and passports can easily take an hour. It has made us realise just how much rushing about we did back in England and we weren't rushers!

We are looking forward to a more relaxing week ahead next week when we get to Lagos as Dave and Elaine have family arriving for a week and, whilst we won't be we them all of the time, we will hang around to wait for them for the next part of our journey. We will be on the Algarve where, I hope, the water is warm because until now, the Atlantic Sea has been too cold to dip your toe into never mind anything else.