The next time you hear anyone in Britain moaning about the immigrant population taking over: the Poles, blacks, Asians, whatever, tell them to take a trip to the Costa del Concrete on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. There are more Brits, Germans and Scandinavians here than you can shake a Full English Breakfast at. Everywhere you go it's English Pub this, English Tea-rooms that, Sunday roast, Sausage and mash. Gibraltar was more Spanish than this. Everything's written in English. It's horrifying – like being in a Saga holiday timewarp. I'm beginning to appreciate the other bits of Spain we saw before we got past Gibaltar.
We're just heading eastwards as and when the wind and weather permit towards the south of France. Only another 700 miles to go, then about 850 miles of canals through France, providing we can get the paperwork we need, which involves somehow doing a test to prove we understand all the rules and regs on the Inland Waterways, which we should have done in England. Apart from that, will our engine be able to cope with the constant current coming out of the Rhone, with no tide from the Med to help us up it, against the flow?
We've now come over 2,000 miles from Poole. It's a long way home again.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Monday, 1 February 2010
On D Move
Friday 29th January
On D Move
That's the name on one of the buses that runs on Carriacou. Aah, I remember last winter, it was sun, sun and more sun.
Still, I can see Africa from here! I'm on the boat and we're sailing from Barbate to Gibraltar. The nice NW wind we were promised hasn't really materialised, but they're still forecasting Force 4 – 5 off Tarifa. I'll believe it when I feel it.
The wind can be fierce in the Straits and it's notorious for the Levanter from the East, blowing opposite to the current which is constant into the Med from the West (due to the evaporation) and can cause horrendous seas. Not today, we hope. Our chart marks about 30 or 40 wrecks along the coast around Gib. I don't want to join them.
It's going to be weird being in a bit of England. We have great hopes for finding Marmite, tomato purée and other delights from home.
We left Ayamonte on 15th January. We managed to break free from the Rio Guadiana, where we'd been since September. It was lumpy as hell getting out of the mouth of the river, but we felt liberated once we'd made it. Two nights in Mazagon, one in Chipiona, then we spent a few days in Rota, which was lovely. A really unspoilt old town with strong Arabic influence, right next to the marina. We took a bus to Jerez and made a visit to the Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Art to watch the beautiful Spanish horses “dance”. I loved it, although it was a little bit naff. Andy looked a bit bored, even though I kept up a running commentary of the names of the movements they were executing, and my opinion on how well they were doing them! If you've seen what the Lippizaners of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna do, it's much the same. Traditional stuff. All laid on for tourists. Beautiful buildings though.
Apart from the riding school and the many sherry bodegas, most of Jerez is really run down. The bodegas are huge grand estates in the centre of the city where sherry is still made in the traditional way and tourists can do tours and tasting, except if you go in January, when most of them are shut! Sandeman and Tio Pepe were still open, but we didn't have time after the stables as we had to get the bus back to Rota. The bus ride took us through hectares and hectares of vines. Well they have to make the sherry out of something. We looked through the gates of the Domecq bodega and could see hundreds of barrels stacked up and smelling strongly of raisin. I don't like sherry anyway, but I would have liked a tour and a taste.
Since Rota, we anchored overnight in Sancti Petri, then had a cracking sail, bit lumpy for my liking, round Cabo Trafalgar made famous by Lord Nelson. The Spanish navy is still called the Armada. We emailed them to find out if we could sail out of Rota as they keep doing live ammo manoeuvres off Cadiz. There's a huge US Navy base in Rota, too. It was funny waiting for an email from the Spanish Armada!
We managed to get out of there without them getting their revenge for Trafalgar on us, but we kept hearing heavy artillery explosions in the distance.
On D Move
That's the name on one of the buses that runs on Carriacou. Aah, I remember last winter, it was sun, sun and more sun.
Still, I can see Africa from here! I'm on the boat and we're sailing from Barbate to Gibraltar. The nice NW wind we were promised hasn't really materialised, but they're still forecasting Force 4 – 5 off Tarifa. I'll believe it when I feel it.
The wind can be fierce in the Straits and it's notorious for the Levanter from the East, blowing opposite to the current which is constant into the Med from the West (due to the evaporation) and can cause horrendous seas. Not today, we hope. Our chart marks about 30 or 40 wrecks along the coast around Gib. I don't want to join them.
It's going to be weird being in a bit of England. We have great hopes for finding Marmite, tomato purée and other delights from home.
We left Ayamonte on 15th January. We managed to break free from the Rio Guadiana, where we'd been since September. It was lumpy as hell getting out of the mouth of the river, but we felt liberated once we'd made it. Two nights in Mazagon, one in Chipiona, then we spent a few days in Rota, which was lovely. A really unspoilt old town with strong Arabic influence, right next to the marina. We took a bus to Jerez and made a visit to the Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Art to watch the beautiful Spanish horses “dance”. I loved it, although it was a little bit naff. Andy looked a bit bored, even though I kept up a running commentary of the names of the movements they were executing, and my opinion on how well they were doing them! If you've seen what the Lippizaners of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna do, it's much the same. Traditional stuff. All laid on for tourists. Beautiful buildings though.
Apart from the riding school and the many sherry bodegas, most of Jerez is really run down. The bodegas are huge grand estates in the centre of the city where sherry is still made in the traditional way and tourists can do tours and tasting, except if you go in January, when most of them are shut! Sandeman and Tio Pepe were still open, but we didn't have time after the stables as we had to get the bus back to Rota. The bus ride took us through hectares and hectares of vines. Well they have to make the sherry out of something. We looked through the gates of the Domecq bodega and could see hundreds of barrels stacked up and smelling strongly of raisin. I don't like sherry anyway, but I would have liked a tour and a taste.
Since Rota, we anchored overnight in Sancti Petri, then had a cracking sail, bit lumpy for my liking, round Cabo Trafalgar made famous by Lord Nelson. The Spanish navy is still called the Armada. We emailed them to find out if we could sail out of Rota as they keep doing live ammo manoeuvres off Cadiz. There's a huge US Navy base in Rota, too. It was funny waiting for an email from the Spanish Armada!
We managed to get out of there without them getting their revenge for Trafalgar on us, but we kept hearing heavy artillery explosions in the distance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
