Here we are back from a summer at home in the UK, catching up with friends and taming the garden etc, as our sailing plans had to be put on hold. This was mainly down to my health problems, I had a fall in Lagos and went over on my left ankle but fortunately it was just a sprain but it still took about 3 weeks until I was back to normal - very frustrating. Next I needed a minor operation under local anaesthetic in Lagos and was unable to sail until the wound had healed sufficiently and finally, as if that was not enough, I injured the index finger on my right hand and it got infected. It took over a month to heal properly and I learnt to do most things with my left hand so that I was well on the way to becoming ambidextrous. Jeff from La Linea visited us which was handy as he was able to help us sail her back to Gib as my injured finger meant I was little help handling ropes etc. The hospital in Gibraltar was great, they changed the dressing on my finger every 3 days and the prescription for anti-biotics was only £2.50!

On returning from Gibraltar airport we bumped into Tara and Mark, who we had met just before leaving to go home. They invited us for drinks and Tapas, made by Mark, which were delicious and saved us doing a late night shop for food. Sue and John, who we met in April in the boatyard at Lagos, were still in La Linea as well and we went with them to a great little Tapas bar the next night which was heaving with locals - always a good sign. The Tapas and wine were good and not expensive.

The boat was fine and we had had a lot of folk keeping an eye on her. The big attraction of La Linea is the view and most importantly the berth prices - 14e a day plus tax and electricity and water - a far cry from 29e in the Andalusia Junta marinas or Lagos at 46e.