Merry Christmas from the Guadiana

Well, we have now arrived at our destination for the winter - the Guadiana river, on the Spain/Portugal border. From Portimao, we went to Vilamoura, a purpose-built marina surrounded by fancy shops and restaurants. We wouldn’t have stopped there except it cut a long day-hop into two shorter hops, and turned out to be surprisingly cheap for a marina. Lagos, the first stop along the Algarve quoted us 60€ for one night, whereas a night Vilamoura cost us less than 20€!

From there, we went to the Ria Formosa, a large inland waterway near Faro. We anchored off Olhau, a lovely little town with impressive market buildings right on the waterfront. Throughout the morning, fishermen whizz up in their small but powerful boats and unload their catch. Half an hour later, you can purchase the same fish from the market. We were intrigued by the variety of local fish, we were put off by their unsavoury looks and plumped for the safe bet of seabass – delicious!

Shiny eels at Olhao market

Intriguing eels at Olhau market

  

Our French friends on the yacht ‘Lilla Loppan’ had set off for Morocco, so we were very surprised to see them appear at the anchorage next to us! After turning back once to pick up a set of oars and equipment mistakenly left on the pontoon, they had found themselves making 2-3 knots in choppy, uncomfortable head seas and decided Morocco could wait! The children were delighted to be reunited with Margot and Jeremy, and spent a happy afternoon aboard their boat drawing and playing games.

Jeremy & Reuben playing chess

Katie & Margot playing guitar on 'Lilla Loppan'

The next day, the children again jumped ship to the French boat and we all motored out to the Isla Culatra, an isolated fishing community on an island made completely of sand.  We walked across the dunes to the beach and had fun trying to catch waves on our boogie boards. 

boogie board fun

sea snake or eel by our boat at Culatra

leaving Culatra against strong swirling tides

From there, we came directly to the Guadiana river, and anchored off the large town of Ayamonte, on the Spanish side. This would be our last visit to a big town for several months, so we went ashore to do a last bout of shopping. We were a bit wary of leaving the dinghy as our friends had had their children’s life jackets stolen on a recent trip to this town. We carefully tied and locked our dinghy to the harbour wall, but our spirits sank when we pushed our laden trolley out of the supermarket to find a group of teenage lads sitting nearby. However, we needn’t have worried. Not only were they not messing with our boat, but they spontaneously made a human chain to pass our bags down the steps to the dinghy – our faith in humanity was restored!

On the way back to our boat, we were amazed to see enormous jellyfish go floating by. They were weird looking creatures – some were nearly a foot in diameter, and they had fat, ‘frilly’ tentacles like a big brown cauliflower. Reuben managed to catch one in the fishing net, but it was surprisingly heavy and after a brief examination he soon let it go again.

jellyfish near Ayamonte

Together with our French friends, we motored up the river on Sunday morning with the tide (and plenty of pancakes!). Twenty miles upstream, we reached the twin towns of Sanlucar and Alcutim and dropped the hook. Stopped at last! Katie is particularly pleased that there will no more sea trips for a few months.

flying both the Spanish and Portuguese flags

So, what is it like here? 

Well, the water is brown like the Exe, and flows hard both ways with the tide. A local type of bamboo called ‘caña’ grows all along the river banks, and lots of it finds its way into the water. After a few days at anchor, a clump of caña accumulates around the anchor chain. Every now and then a big bamboo ‘island’ comes floating up the river, often with a heron or egret sitting regally on top as it drifts by.

anchored in the Guadiana

watching a clump of bamboo drift by the boat

a heron and two egrets float by on a bamboo island

The two towns sit on opposite banks of the river - a cluster of white houses and red tiled roofs amongst the bare hills. Each town has a church; the Portuguese one rings out the hour seven minutes early, and the Spanish church follows but the time there is an hour later. An impressive castle sits high on the hilltop on the Spanish side, its white walls floodlit by night. Newly planted pines below the castle dot the hillside with splashes of green.

looking across to Sanlucar from Alcutim

We spent a few days further upstream during our first week here and our friend Nick took us exploring ashore. The landscape itself is hilly but very dry. The land is brown rather than green and scattered with prickly bushes, and little olive and oak trees. It was so peaceful and quiet at the top, not a sound could be heard except for the odd sheep or horse. On the way down, we stopped off at a little oasis of orange trees near a functioning well. It really is like going back in time!

walking in the hills with Nick and Martina and the children

water well amongst orange trees

pulling up a bucket of cool, fresh water

The river constitutes the border so we can take the dinghy and land in either Spain or Portugal! It gets confusing in the shops to think whether to say ‘obrigada’ or ‘gracias’ (thank you). There is a pontoon on each side, and boats seem to alternate between sitting at anchor or mooring alongside the pontoon for a few days at a time.

On the Portuguese side there is a library (with free internet), several café/bars, an Indian restaurant, a bank, Post Office, a hardware shop, a grocery shop and a cheap Chinese shop. A bakers van passes every morning and there is a weekly meat, fish and veg market.

On the Spanish side there is a bread shop, a Post Office for one hour a day, several cafes, and two small grocery stores (one of which seems to stock everything!). An English couple use their house as an unofficial English book swap and mail-receiving house.

Looking down over Sanlucar

On first appearance, you might think that there is very little going on, but after two weeks here, we are beginning to scratch the surface! Thanks to our friends Martina and Julian, we have been introduced to some of the local community, and found out how things work.

If you knock on a certain house door, a Spanish lady can sell you a surprising range of vegetables, free range eggs, and wonderful juicy oranges. Reme, at the grocers’ store, can order larger joints of meat as well as what she has on display. Mondays can be ‘music night’ on the Spanish side, and Tuesdays are ‘music night’ at the beach bar in Portugal. Lots of cruisers gather to eat a decent meal for 7 € and have a jam afterwards.

Julian, Martina, Lily & Katie

Martina and Julian have been here on their boat for over two years, and their children Lily and Katie attend the local Spanish school. There are less than 30 pupils in the whole school, and they welcome visiting boat children as, for one thing, this helps their funding! We weren’t planning to enrol Katie and Reuben until after Christmas but they seemed keen to start so we decided to go ahead.

They have now had seven days at school and seem to be taking it in their stride. They have Lily and Katie to translate when they don’t understand and, as in most schools at this time of year, the emphasis is on fun stuff, including the Christmas show (this Thursday!).

sheep on a local farm on the walk to school

Reuben picks up the friendly dock cat, nicknamed 'Yousilly'

School finishes at 2pm, and the children come home for lunch. Most afternoons, around 4pm, the children gather again in the playground for some kind of sports – mostly football or volleyball. Reuben is loving playing football every day, and Katie has also been a keen participant.  It is such a novelty to be able to play outside most days - during December!

The temperatures took a dip as soon as we arrived and we wondered if we had made the right decision, but I am happy to report that the weather has now stabilised somewhat. We have a chilly start in the mornings for school but the sky seems to be generally clear and blue. Temperatures reach a balmy 18 degrees in the daytime but drop overnight. We are plenty warm enough with our diesel heater and little log fire.

Katie collecting firewood

This week, the other French family also arrived on the Guadiana, having obtained a boat sale at the end of their adventure. We all got together to celebrate with the weekly barbecued chicken at a bar in Portugal. 

waiting for the chicken to cook!

School finishes on Friday and the boat is looking festive. Inside, we have lots of decorations, lights and a little tree, and on deck we have made a bamboo tree and strung our rope lights over the masts. We are looking forward to a quiet family Christmas with lots of chocolate, a DVD or two, and some hiking in the hills. 

Merry Christmas everybody from the good ship ‘Ros Ailither’!

Christmas lights on!

mince pies!!

 

bamboo Xmas tree