The northern end of Portugal begins south of the Río Miño. For us this means a change of flag. Green and red now fly happily in our rig.

After leaving the river estuary behind us, we quickly reach the port of Viana do Castelo, which is comparatively easy to get to. The town and its surroundings invite us to linger and so we stay a little longer than planned.

Viana do Castelo is also located on a river, the Río Lima. There, however, we are spared having to navigate the always somewhat exciting combination of river current and tides. This is because a new port area has been designated directly at the mouth of the river. Wonderfully protected from the wind and waves of the open Atlantic. Which was just as well, as we were still struggling to get down our sails between an armada of kitesurfers in 30 knots of wind before entering the harbor. In the spacious harbor basin it was suddenly quiet and we were all tied up behind a small bridge, in a basin used by fishermen and a few sailboats, right next to the old town and the ferry to the beach on the other side of the river.

The atmosphere of the small town is incomparable, with its medieval squares, magnificent churches and the bridge built by Gustav Eiffel that spans the Rio Lima. The rest of the city is dominated by fishing, shipyards, and wind turbine blades that are shipped from here all over the world. Next to us in the harbor basin was a hospital ship that provided medical support to the Portuguese cod fishery in the North Atlantic until 1973 and is now a museum.

The immediate landscape is characterized by a green mountain on which a basilica is enthroned. After a short ride on the rack-railway, a spectacular view of the city, the countryside, the river and the coast opens up. The tourist information office brags that it was once named the third most beautiful in the world by National Geographic magazine. We think it’s just fabulous.

From the mountain to the beach: Before setting off again, we enjoy the sea and the beautiful beach. We use the inflatable surfboard and get into a real beach camp mood. Whilst waving goodbye, we pull a line into the bow thruster while preparing the spinnaker pole. Anyway, it’s quickly fixed when all agree who’s going to jump into the cold water.

The second port we call at is Porto. We would have needed more patience and time to see more of the Portuguese coastline, as the possible ports are quite far apart. Alsohe weather has to play along.

Not much needs to be said about Porto itself. Most people will have the charm of the old town with its picturesque bridges over the River Duro in mind. We spent a day in the old town, which we have explored in the past. It reminded us a bit of Amsterdam in its narrowness and crowds. Still, we could have spent more time there if it wasn’t for the tranquility and cozyness of the Marina Leixões harbor. It’s rare to walk straight from the boat to the beach in a wetsuit with a surfboard under your arm. Apart from the amenities in the immediate vicinity, we had to prepare for the crossing to Madeira. After all, we had four to five days at sea ahead of us. That meant going through checklists, checking the condition of the boat from top to bottom and inside to out, and keeping an eye on the weather.

The last part was comparatively easy this time, because we tested a weather service that advised us a date and a time to start. And it delivered. We had picture perfect sailing days. The wave pattern could have been a little nicer, but the wind was as hoped for. The bright yellow lightwind sail was set and hardly a sheet was touched until the very end. The wind shifted slightly and blew us on a nice course towards Madeira.

On the home stretch, we decided to change our plan and head for Porto Santo, an island about 30 miles from Madeira. We didn’t really want to go there, but we still had a chance to get there in daylight.

Porto’s tiles and walls: