We cast off at 8am – after an evening of the best fish ever in a local restaurant at Leixoes – heading south for Lisbon. The sail is around 180 nautical miles, so we were lucky enough to have Gillian join the crew. Having a third person on board gives any one person’s 6 hours ‘off watch’, allowing a chance of some sleep and sanity!

The weather was forecast to be a steady 14 knots, but didn’t appear till the middle of the afternoon. As luck would have it, we haven’t done a lot of down-wind sailing, so this was our first overnight with sails up and the wind behind us. What a night – dolphins, an orange supermoon and then mist thick enough to drench us – made for an entertaining evening.

This morning, the mist cleared, the sun came out and we arrived into Cascias – at the mouth of the Rio Tejo in the middle of the afternoon. Jellyfish the size of dinner-plates heralded our arrival. Time for a quick dip!