The La Linea Diaries - Part 1
16 March 2012 | La Linea de la Concepcion
Really rather spring-like
Long time no blog! An update of our movements (or non-movements, as is the case) is long overdue.
As most of you will know, we returned to the UK for a 10 day visit at the end of February/beginning of March. The visit was whistle-stop taking in the usual haunts around our home-ground of Hamble and Bursledon and included trips to Chester and Lutterworth to meet up with our respective families. By the end of the 10 days we felt we needed to come back to the boat for a rest! It was a great trip - thanks so much to everyone who made the effort to meet up with us (some of you even driving up from the West Country) and thanks to everyone who put us up (or put up with us!) and fed us - we also needed to diet when we got back here!
Our intention was, on returning to La Linea, to lift the boat out, scrub her bottom and do some maintenance work on the prop, drop her back in the water and then start making our way either across to the Med coast of Morocco or up along the Costa del Sol. However, on our return we discovered that one of our fresh water tanks was leaking. After removing both tanks (we had to remove tank no. 1 to get at tank no. 2 - the leaky tank) Cap'n Robbie made the decision that, as there was obvious deterioration of both stainless steel tanks, we'd better set about replacing both of them. This has meant arranging the manufacture of two new polyprop bespoke tanks from a company in the UK. All being well, they should be delivered by the end of April and then we'll be on the move again.
Removing both the tanks wasn't a straightforward task. They've been in-situ since Spring Dawn was built in 1983 and we weren't entirely sure whether they could be removed from the boat via the companionway hatch...thankfully they could. Robbie was ably assisted in the heavy lifting work by Telfer, one of our neighbouring yachties. That left us with the task of cleaning out a layer of sludge at the bottom of the bilge - yukky, horrible job!
In the meantime how have we been keeping ourselves amused? To be honest, we've slotted into a nice little groove here. La Linea itself is definitely not the most picturesque or exciting town in Spain and on the surface, Gibraltar is much the same. However, if you dig a little deeper, start chatting to the locals and go for a mooch about, both places have redeeming features. We've made good friends both in the marina and onshore and each week our social calendar now has a few defined slots e.g. quiz night on a Tuesday at the Theatre Bar in Gib and lunch on a Saturday with a group of local residents. The Saturday lunches are conducted in Spanish style, starting about 2.30 p.m. and we usually find ourselves wandering back to the boat between 7.00 and 8.00 p.m.!
One bonus of staying put is that the marina in La Linea is very efficiently run, the facilities are tip-top and the mooring fees are incredibly reasonable - much cheapness! Provisioning is much cheaper on the Spanish side of the border, the market and supermarkets offering produce of better quality and value than in Gib. However, as Gib is a free-port, naughty things like bottles of spirits and ciggies are really cheap - Bombay Sapphire at £9.95 a litre....what can I say!?!
Shortly after our return from the UK, as it was my birthday we thought we'd have a day out so we caught the bus to Tarifa, about an hour's journey in a westerly direction. We'd sailed past Tarifa on our way here from Barbate (see previous blog about high winds!). Half of the town is dedicated to kite-surfing and sail-boarding schools, shops and all the paraphernalia that goes with those sports. The other half is old and traditional with a 10th century castle and huge, thick walls around the town. Tarifa is the point of Europe that is closest to Africa and is where the Atlantic meets the Mediterannean. Strong winds funnel past Tarifa for 300 days every year into the Strait of Gibraltar so it makes obvious sense for the kiters and boarders to congregate here. However, in the past, Tarifa had a reputation for having one of the highest suicide rates in Spain - not surprising if you're being battered by high, relentless winds day in and day out.
It was a tad breezy the day we were there but the sun was out - warm enough for shorts and t-shirt - and we enjoyed a visit to the well-preserved Guzman castle near the port, built by order of caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III in 960, a walk out to Tarifa point, a leisurely lunch of freshly caught fish near the harbour, and a stroll along the long beach watching the kite-surfers perform their acrobatics. We stopped for a coffee in a beach bar that had enormous sofas which were more like beds with big squashy cushions - it wasn't long before Cap'n Robbie nodded off!! We returned to La Linea early evening, in time to meet some of our yachtie friends from the marina (a mixture of English and Norwegian) in one of our favourite bars in La Linea for a couple of birthday cocktails.....it's a hard life!!