On Saturday morning we visited the market in Nazare, plenty of fruit and veg and a good selection of fish in a rather run down concrete structure. On the advice of our friends on Joshua’s Wake we bought two sole from a lady who could speak to us in French- which helps if you want to know what you are buying! Together with tomatoes, fresh peas, raspberries and blueberries the fish was stage one of our haul, with wine and some other bits from the small local supermarket finishing the job. We also stopped for coffees and ‘pastela de nada’ the local pastries, we are getting quite a taste for them!
As Neil and Sue on Joshua’s Wake had bought the same meal we agreed to cook it together on board Splice. They brought their fish, frying pan and fresh peas and we produced crushed potatoes with garlic, olive oil and butter. We roasted some almonds with lemon and salt which we served with our aperitifs, this was followed by some melon and Serrano ham which sorted out the starter. Sue and Carolyn managed to get enough pans on the hob to fry off the Sole and cook the peas. The meal was delicious and was washed down with a bottle or two of local white wine – we are enjoying wines from the area of Alentejo, they are drier than the more famous Douro wines and the white has a nice bite to the finish. It was also the first time in many years we had actually had fresh peas, you know, in a pod, have to shell them before they can be cooked. They were twice the size of the frozen ones and were really tasty, raw or when boiled. Neil then disappeared over to their boat and returned with a tray of local cheeses and a bottle of port.... well, when in Portugal.... We had a good evening with a bit of a lie-in the next day and had to jump up to wave off Noorderzon with Klaas and Carla on board as they set off south.

On Sunday Joshua’s Wake had loaned us their folding bikes so we had a cruise around. We visited the marina at the other end of the port and concluded that we had made the right call to opt for the Naval Club. It’s somewhat run down, a long way from town and probably suffers more noise from the big fishing boats in the marina, as well as loosing the sun in the very early evening whilst we are still basking in the late rays. Sunday afternoon was a bit colder and grey with strong winds so was spent on inside stuff and reading Kindles. If you are travelling, the Kindle (or other electronic reader) is fantastic, I can finish a book, decide I want to read the sequel and download it inside a couple of minutes. We are carrying easily a hundred books with no weight or space taken..........as long as you remember to charge them!

The photo shows the ‘Fish Supper’ onboard Splice- sorry about the blurry shot, can’t think why!