Wednesday 14th to Friday 16th August

It was only a short distance to Portimao from Albufeira. With no discernible wind the motor did the work. It was good to be back at anchor tucked in close to the beach. In the morning we took a long dinghy ride up to the town. It must have been a saint's day as most things were shut. After wandering around we found the Pingo supermarket which was the highlight of our trip. The distance to Alvor was even less. We crept in at low tide and felt our way to anchor near the town. It was Emily's opportunity to eat sardines at a restaurant. Before lunch on the friday we moved round to the entrance to the lagoon. Our final leg of the journey back to Lagos was a matter of 8 miles so it was good to sail most of it in 20 knots of wind. Emily and Raff are leaving tomorrow and Lucinda and I only have a week before we head home. We've achieved our main aim of crossing Biscay and getting to Portugal. It's been wonderful to have friends aboard and to spend the summer just in t shirts and shorts. I's a bit sad to be packing up while the weather is so good but we have excellent reasons for leaving now. We've covered some 1750 miles and journeyed the complete coast of Portugal and then some.