Fruits of the forest

 We have been doing lots of walking, mainly to the south of the port, because when we move to our apartment it will be easier to access the south side so we will leave exploration of that side until after Christmas. One of our favourite walks takes us past a forest where trees are being bled for resin to use in the paint making industry.

It is a beautiful walk which takes us up on to the ridge and then down into the next valley,

At one point we noticed some trees, known locally as strawberry trees, which were full of fruit. Having heard that they were good for jam making (something I have been doing a lot of lately due to the abundance of cheap fruit) I decided to pick some and try my hand at a small batch.

I made a small jar for us and one for Dody but, whilst it was all eaten the unanimous verdict was that it was too seedy. Not one to try again. I will stick with plum and cinamon or pineapple and ginger for now.

A few weeks ago we decided to walk to the east of Nazare towards the high point known as Sao Bras. Our route took us through the area near the cemetery at the top of the ridge. What an attractive area it is: an older part of town with a lovely square and old style buildings and a great view of the lower part of town..

We walked down the hill and crossed the motorway and set off to climb up to the fire lookout on the top of the hill.

The last part of the ascent was via some old stone steps with a single handrail and a clear view of the steep drop. Heights are not my thing when you can see the drop. I sat down twice and willed myself to continue and Scruffbag was very supportive but about 30 feet from the top I could go no further. On the way down we passed two young men carrying heavy batteries up to the lookout. They told us the batteries weighed 18 kilos. Despite our failure to reach the summit, however, it was a great walk and the views were superb and an added bonus was that we found an underpass beneath the motorway which would give us much easier access to this vast area of woodland.

The next time we walked this way we spotted a woman with a basket collecting something which we thought might be fungi .We had seen people with baskets in these woods on our last walk and I was curious so I went over to talk with her and she was happy to chat and to show me her hoard as well as showing me pictures on her phone of other fungi that she was looking for. I said that we loved mushrooms and were very disappointed that in Nazare, unlike Leixoes, we could only get bland , white or chestnut ones. She then happily gave me the phone number of her friend who collected mushrooms for the Lisbon market. She said he lived in Nazare and had been out collecting that day and she was sure he would sell us some.

When we got back to the boat I asked Dody if she would phone him as my Portuguese is very limited and, although she had said he spoke some English I thought it might be a challenging subject linguistically. As luck would have it, he said he would be driving past the port in 5 minutes time so Dody and I met up with him and he sold each of  us a boxed selection of fungi for 10 euros and told us we should wash them then dip in boiled water for 2 minutes and then we could keep them for up to 5 days. I recognised the chanterelles but the rest were all new to me.

They were delicious. Thank you Julia.

Life in Nazare in the year of the virus

 We have now settled in to our life in the Nazare boatyard. This is the view from our cockpit complete with the bowsprit from the boat behind which we need to avoid when boarding.

It took some time to source the parts for the gearbox but they duly arrived and within a day of their arrival the mechanic presented us with a repaired gearbox. Scruffbag fitted it a few weeks later, We have not yet tested it because we have decided to leave Erica in the yard over winter. We intend to rent an apartment for the colder months of January and February and paying marina fees and apartment rent seems a tad extravagant. In the meanwhile we have found another cracked engine mounting (probably occurring way back in Martinique when we wrapped a rope around the prop. so we are lucky ) this has gone away with Alec the welder for replacement. We also bought wood for a new boom gallows and plan a few other jobs

We continue to live life under the shadow of Covid so, although things are ok here we are not using public transport other than the funicular railway up to the old town of O Sitio from time to time, Everyone seems to be good at obeying the rules here and mask wearing is obligatory in all buildings and inside spaces and outside wherever there are several people,

We have applied for and been granted temporary Portuguese residency so we can stay here and travel to Madeira and the Azores without Brexit restrictions which is a bonus,

So life goes on. We have been going on lots of walks, There are long unspoilt beaches to the north and south of us and forests, farmland and hills and valleys, we are spoilt for choice.

We have also now bought second hand bikes so that we can travel further afield.

We have  made some good friends too, Dody, a German sailor who has been here for some years working on her wooden boat, and Wolfgang and Birte, a German couple who arrived this year from the Caribbean and the USA and Canada  and, like us are waiting out the virus.

Dody has her own small caravan and a well equipped workshop. She is a skilled canvas worker and woodworker and speaks fluent Portuguese. She seems to know everyone and has been very helpful and very generous in driving us around , She has several cats, including a mother and kittens she rescued from the port dogs. They often come up the ladder on to our boat and surprise us by padding around the deck. Max, who I believe was Dody's first cat never visits our boat but is otherwise the friendliest of all of them and is definitely not for sale.

Wolfgang has been very industrious in carrying out his 7 yearly maintenance of his steel boat, working all day and every day and putting the rest of us to shame.

As well as the cats, we also have 2 favourite dogs in the yard whom we have christened Big Dog and Fluffy. Big dog likes to chase cars and he also likes to come up behind you unexpectedly and nudge the back of your legs. Fluffy appears much older and seems content to follow Big Dog around.

We have settled into a routine visiting the local market twice weekly for fruit, vegetables and meat and have a favourite cafe for coffee and wifi and the occasional toasted sandwich or rich, thick hot chocolate drink. The biggest downside is descending the ladder in the cool early mornings or dark evenings to visit the toilet block.

Settling in for the winter

 Back in. Nazare we set about sorting out the gearbox. At this point we were still holding on to ideas of sailing to Lanzarote once the work was completed.

The mechanic arrived the day after we got back and agreed that Scruffbag would remove the gearbox and take it to the workshop for him to repair. So far so good. 

Three weeks later we were told that despite lots of effort and lots of phone calls, sourcing parts for a 40 year old British gearbox in Portugal was proving impossible. In the meantime Scruffbag had removed the old exhaust hose, by the looks of it not before time.

We ordered a new exhaust hose from Germany and then chased up gearbox parts in the UK. The exhaust hose arrived within the week and we managed to source the gearbox parts but we're told that it would be five weeks and around £800 before they arrived. To add to the fun the foot pump for the water pump stopped working and it turned out that the spring had broken. Naturally the service kit didn't contain a spare spring so we were faced with several weeks of jjerry cans awaiting the part.

But the good news is... Nazare is a lovely place. The weather is great. There are some excellent walks. We have some great neighbours.