All set to start again

All four of us (Sam, Camilla, Guy, Ben) are now on board Kalessin in Lagos, ready for departure tomorrow - well, moderately ready. At the moment it's coolish, with mixed sun and clouds, and a nice northerly breeze blowing. Northerlies are good around here as they blow offshore, don't kick up a big swell, and allow you to sail either way along the coast. The forecast for the next few days looks good, which is encouraging.

Coming out here from Luton we were trying to remember the last time all four of us flew together. We think it's when we had a few days in Nice in spring 2005. The flight was fine and the minibus transfer here from Faro particularly rapid as we were the first to be dropped off.

Our plan is to head for Vilamoura tomorrow, a relatively modest 28 miles or so. If that goes well, on Tuesday we'll head into unknown waters (for us), to Vila Real de Santo Antonio, which is right on the border with Spain. It's on a river which is said to be lovely, although unfortunately it also has the disadvantage of a tidal entrance with a bar - apart from the barbecue at Alvor, the first really tidal harbour we've been into since... errr... don't know. Somewhere in France.

Two nights at least in Vila Real, since we have to wait for an OK tide to leave on at the right time of day, and then a long run to Chipiona (55 miles) which would put us within reach of Seville on Good Friday. However, the really serious celebrations (the chaps with the KKK-style hoods) start at midnight in Seville, so we might not quite make it for that.

Then only a couple more hops required down to Gibraltar. Currently the forecasts indicate that the wind might go easterly (against us) on Friday, but at least once we get to Chipiona we are within some kind of reach of Malaga for the flight home.

Not sure yet what kind of internet access we'll have - Spain is a bit less provided with hotspots than Portugal, in our experience - but we'll keep you posted as we progress.