By the time we left Peniche it had come to feel like home, we had even got used to the smell of sardines made by the fishing boats and nearby fish auction. Will definitely visit gain.

Arrived in Cascias at about 6:30pm and decided that we would anchor, it was a beautiful evening and it seemed a shame to ruin the tranquility. Anchored overnight with the sound of Euro Disco booming out across the bay until 6am. Thankfully far enough away to be a feature rather than a profound intrusion. Left the anchorage and took on the mammoth task of sailing five miles down the coast to Oerias, to the new Marina offering good discount to participants of the ARC along with free access to a fabulous salt water swimming pool.

We have been here for 4 days now and taken full advantage of it's easy access to Lisbon. Three have been spent doing the tourist bit, including a trip on a tour bus (first time for us all)!! After a mini train in Peniche and a open top bus in Lisbon, I guess pedaloes are not that far off. But, we are converts the open top bus was a splendid way of orientating ourselves to what Lisbon had to offer, which is plenty and three days does not do it justice. We have also made good use of the open air swimming pool, often having a 40metre pool to ourselves and Kate and Molly also confirm that Oerias is good skating territory.

We also spent a day at the EXPO site in the east Of Lisbon, site of the 1998 Expo it was a fun day with a cable car ride, tightrope cycling for Molly and Kate in the Science Museum, a wander around the Oceanarium with Sunfish, Sharks, Otters, Penguins, Sea Dragons for company. A half hour Cycle Go Kart hire for the girls enabled us to have a coffee before heading into Lisbon for the evening. Dinner with Fado, traditional Portuguese blues music, was fun with the waitresses and cook entertaining the dinners with splendid singing, accompanied by guitar and some sort of lute, until we left until at about 10pm arriving back on the boat tired and relaxed after a smashing day. We bought a couple of CD's, and listening them this morning suggests that we have bought the equivalent of high quality East London pub singers singing trad. standards about how they love their old Lisbon home.

While at Oerias we decided to get the alternator looked at, which was not charging properly, it was a good idea as tests showed the alternator was burnt out and needed replacing. Found a good firm of marine electricians, who put in a new alternator for Euro 381, about �250, which is less than the alternator would cost in the UK. Left Oerias with an eye on the charging system that confirmed it was all working well, putting about 14.8 into the batteries and keeping the alternator charge at a reasonable level, and not tripping the system. Hopefully having got these things sorted we feel more confident about the health of the engine and it's associated system.

Arrived at Lagos, after a very dark overnight passage, marked by no moon, lightening storms and light rain, at about 4pm to find Beyzano and other familiar boats already on the dock. Spent time catching up with some familiar faces which was cool after a week on our own. Saturday was spent at Stephan's 40th birthday party at the marina pool club, fantastic party with numerous cruisers swapping stories and ideas while grazing on fabulous food and smashing cold beers.