Nazaré turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. Before we arrived the only thing it had going for it was it's day and a half sail from Porto and an "all weather" entry. We were eager to leave, anywhere that took us closer to Madeira was a bonus while we waited for some decent weather to cross.
After a glorious night sail with a bright full moon and good wind we arrived in fog, again. Fog so thick we couldn't see much more then 20m in-front of the boat. Thankfully all-weather includes pea soup, we navigated in using the GPS and electronic chart... this style of port entry was getting a bit too familiar!
Having taken the bikes out of their rather compact sea berth in Porto- we hadn't bothered to put them away for the sail down the coast. Soon we were at the maps looking for some nice trails and roads to explore. Having brought along a bike lock but no key (well done us), the first job was to go in search of a bike shop. 8km by road away... So we took the farm trails and forest tracksinstead. It was a relief from the Grockle tourist shops of Nazaré.
From Alcobaça we took tarmac to the coast and were rewarded with a fantastic descent - payment for the nasty climb out of Alcobaça. Sadly our day at the beach was curtailed by being completely wiped out from the riding. A year of working on the boat instead of training really made itself felt.
Nazaré is home to the worlds largest surf wave - or something along those lines - the highlight for us however was the excellent cyclocross riding. Although some days we spent more time scrambling up impossibly steep and slipper clay hillsides than riding - such is life, and the downhills made up for it!
Our second ride was after a night of rain which lead to comical quantities of mud EVERYWHERE. Also we might have been pushing the limits of CX bikes capabilites at times- but we had fun! I only have photos of the bad bits as we were too busy riding on the good bits! Oops.
Towards the end of the week what looked like a weather window to cross to Madeira opened up. Suddenly it was time to spend a day or two getting the boat ready for the crossing. That is how our wedding anniversary dinner was spent in a kebab shop in a car park in Nazaré. Excellent kebab though!
