Nearly at journey's end

Safely in the charming surroundings of Bilbao on a lovely sunny day. There's a trailer from Winchester here which now looks a little small...

Time to go home...

Boys clearly missing from the photo below; unfortunately the ferry doesn't sail until tomorrow evening.
The final day saw a strong tailwind blowing down our usual course, providing testing conditions for the younger crews but also the opportunity for some fast times to round off the week's training. A fairly late flight today allowed for a bit of downtime yesterday and the traditional 'quiz' on the final evening.
Now back to the rather surreal experience of being in a hotel which is being thoroughly gutted and sluices by Isabel, Rosa and the team...

Portugal latest

Today a decidedly wet day was sent to try tired bodies and to dampen spirits.  Up until now, even on rather grey days, we hadn't really come away from outings much the worse for wear, but today there was definitely no escape.  Spirits soon recovered over dinner however, and the forecast for tomorrow is rather better.  Tomorrow will see the traditional end to Portugal, with 1500m pieces in different boat combinations, before the business of loading 21 boats, 68 blades, 8 ergos, 5 engines, 2  inflatables and goodness knows what else onto the truck and one trailer.  I keep reminding people that in 2003 it rained more or less relentessly for the first 5 days (of 9)...

Portugal news

After a rather chilly and damp start, the sun has now come out, and the boys have made the most of it for these past two days, not least as the forecast suggests it won't last, sadly.  However, the weather has been kind in terms of wind, and the lake has been near mirror flat for the technical and distance work in the mornings, with rather more breeze for the pieces in the evening (good practice for Nottingham!).  Today was warm enough for the traditional swim to the island for a group photo, which should be on the album on the right before too long.  Now that we are more than halfway, there is  a much needed lie in tomorrow, before we get going with the final three days.  Plenty of good progress has been made thus far, with most crews feeling that they have really moved on.

Off to Portugal...

I'm driving...

Off to Portugal...