Freya & Us

We returned our hire car just after we wrote our last blog and were stung for a €398 charge for a chipped windscreen - a tiny little one hiding beneath the wiper that may have been there before. Anyway we hadn't seen it if it was and were liable. Luckily Clive and Jane, fellow boaties from "Jane G" had recommended some annual car hire excess insurance, which at £40 a year was a fraction of what the hire car companies want each time you hire a car. We submitted our claim for the windscreen a few days later and yesterday the money was in our bank account, a two week turnaround. Thanks Jane - at least the money we have saved will cover the guitar Clive has persuaded us to buy.

Lorraine spent a couple of days slaving over a borrowed sewing machine (thanks Julie) and has completed the Bimini cover, some cushions and also used it to turn up my new pair of jeans. The Bimini looks great and looks as if it will do a grand job. Meanwhile I've been up the mast again and completed our check of the rigging. We do this regularly and usually find nothing, this time there were a couple of broken screws on our jib sheet travellers and a lost sheath on one of the blocks for the topping lift - just goes to show that it is worth checking these things.

We did our final walk with the group last Sunday and Maria had saved the best until last. It was a beautiful walk in the mountains along a stream and an abandoned early 20th century hydro electric scheme, with the walk going along the channels and through the tunnels that fed it with water. The scent of the pine trees and wild rosemary added another wonderful dimension.

On the the social side we have been very busy, we had Phil and Julie over for dinner to say thank you for looking after Freya, Norbert (our pet air plant) and for the loan of the sewing machine. We had coffee in a house (not a boat!) with Ted and Sally, a rare treat for us these days and we did another quiz night. It had a slight German theme and because of our brilliant minds and careful team selection (Hans, Andrea and Uta) we won both rounds that night.

The following night we were invited aboard Matelot with 5 others for a meal, with our hosts New Zealanders Richard and Philippa that made 9. After a few drinks we started discussing the open mike session in the Irish bar that was on later that evening, after a few more drinks Richard got out his Sponge Bob ukulele and we decided we needed to do a piece that evening. You guessed it the comedy slot - Three Brits, two Kiwis, and four Germans singing "My Old Man's a Dustman" it was great fun and went down a storm - at least we thought so.

The weather calmed down and having completed our boat jobs it was perhaps just as well that we managed to leave Almerimar on Monday. We moved 37 nautical miles northeast along the coast to anchor off San Jose for the night. We had a lovely evening enjoying the peace and solitude after the bustle of Almerimar. We settled down for the night feeling very content. Then the wind died and the boat went side on to to the swell, it was a very rolly night!

We woke early (did we get any sleep?) and opted for an early start, it was great to get moving again and leave the rolling behind. The wind was on the nose for the first half of this passage but we made steady if a little slow progress as we motored on. We both took a couple of watches so we could catch up on our sleep and we were able to deploy the sails, motor sailing close hauled for the last third of our 30 mile trip into Garrucha, where we are now.

Garrucha is a very Spanish seaside town and very pleasant - couldn't be more different from Almerimar. We went to the fish market last night which was fascinating. As the fishing boats returned their already sorted trays of fish were put on a conveyor belt and auctioned so quickly it was hard to follow what was happening. There was everything from prawns, octopus and sardines to sharks and tuna.

There are some heavy winds blowing through just now and it's forecast force 7 for tomorrow, so I think we will be staying put until Friday or Saturday when we hope to make the 45 mile passage to Cartagena, which looks like it has a lot of history to keep us busy for a few days.

Click here for the interactive map of our travels