We’ve spent the last few days at Ayamonte while Rosanna gets on with the canvas work to extend the spray hood and bimini across the whole cockpit and sort out side walls, etc.– not easy as each boat is different and there are loads of things to work around.
We need a part for the engine and after asking around found that the main Yanmar dealer was about 20miles away so we hired a car for a couple of days with the intention of getting the part in Spain and then driving back to Portugal to decide where we were going to lift the boat out of the water. At the motor dealer the response was “not in Spain – impossible”. Not too desperate as I can put the engine back together and carry on but slowly – but I think that this has decided us to leave the boat where it is and come back to it in a month or so and then take it out rather than rushing to do so on this trip. All is not lost as we still had the car and decided to go site seeing around parts of Portugal. We firstly ended up at a place called Alcoutim – about 30 miles up river from Ayamonte, We got chatting to a English chap, Ted, on his boat, Edewsia of Fowey – He’s 69, still sailing the lovely boat he built himself whilst in his early sixties and looking very well for it too – makes a pretty good cup of tea as well.
From there we travelled inland, due west. The map suggested we stop at a small town called Martin Longue – when we looked up what was so special it was described in the guide book as the “centre of nothingness”, take a look at the photos!
On leaving there we saw a sign for Parque Lazer pointing up a dirt track 
– 8 miles of dirt track later we came to two fords – managed the first one in the brand new hire car but bottled the second after wading across it – nearly knee deep. 
The fords were just below the Parque Lazer – it turned out to be a picnic site for long distance walkers and mountain bikers – great track though – should have been in a Land Rover. Tracks went all over the place, it was fantastic. 
After managing to get back to tarmac we headed roughly south and ended up in Albufeira. Carole found a great hotel on the edge of the old town, €60 for B+B in a 4 star hotel – good haggling! 
– 8 miles of dirt track later we came to two fords – managed the first one in the brand new hire car but bottled the second after wading across it – nearly knee deep. The fords were just below the Parque Lazer – it turned out to be a picnic site for long distance walkers and mountain bikers – great track though – should have been in a Land Rover. Tracks went all over the place, it was fantastic. After managing to get back to tarmac we headed roughly south and ended up in Albufeira. Carole found a great hotel on the edge of the old town, €60 for B+B in a 4 star hotel – good haggling! Since then we’ve been back on the boat, helping(?) with the canvas work and doing various jobs.
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