Return to Porto and much feasting...

Each day on the Douro was a delight. We were overwhelmed by the peace...
No other boats were attempting this slightly tricky journey, except of course the huge cruisers whom we encountered at mooring places. In Pinhao we were lucky on our upward trip to find the only unoccupied pontoon. All the rest were bagged by the Biggies...
Here we are having a quiet night in Pinhao before we were joined by our Dutch friends, Harry and Ati.

The next few days were passed going deeper into the quiet, 'between walls of shadowy granite' (line from Tennyson's The Lotus Eaters) (actually the rock of which the soil is composed is apparently chist, although I am sure we encountered some black basalt...). It was utterly magnificent. We would sit silently absorbing the warmth of the hills. Every day sun. The rocky or the tree-filled slopes are coloured in intricate complexity. Here a pic!

Still waters sometimes, as here, but at the end of the day the wind could get up, whooshing down the river, urging us into a secure sheltered spot.
We cooked splendid suppers on the boat (our two-burner stove proving itself very good at subtle adjustments of temperature!).
And of course it is grape-harvest time, and often along the road bordering the river we would see the lorries loaded with fruit, being taken to the Quinta where it would be pressed, put into casks, later to be bottled...

This is a grape-laden lorry at one of the places where we moored on our way back down the Douro.
I would have liked to do a little grape-trampling but I suspect you have to arrange this in Portuguese, and so far I am limited to asking for beer or vinho verde (actually I'm slightly more fluent than this would suggest, which is proving very useful...).
Going down through the locks I spoke a mixture of English and Portuguese on the mariphone, and all went extremely smoothly.
It was marvellous to have Harry and Ati with us, helping with tying fast the boat when necessary, often doing the washing up (!) and to have their company during these days. David and Harry exchanged engineering talk, Ati and I shared a more artistic take on events...

Unforgettable days. Long hours in ever-changing light. Quiet evenings. We all slept deeply and untroubled. Stories for grey winter nights...