Splice is nearly ready for winter here in Cartagena. Most of the main jobs are done and we are now counting down to our return to the UK on Wednesday. We were sitting outside until after 22.00hrs the other evening and given the daily temperatures here are still in the mid twenties plus and we are existing in shorts and t-shirts, the UK weather is going to be a big shock.
The main news of the last couple of days is that we have finally invested in some folding bikes to carry on Splice. We have borrowed different makes and tried bikes in shops for the last year or so and they were either too expensive, too heavy or, at the cheap end of the market, felt as though they would break within a few days. We found a friendly bike shop with a good stock of ‘folders’ near to Parque Mediterranean ( the main shopping Mall here) . ‘Mundobici’ is a few minutes walk from the main area (exit via the main road entrance, turn right and then left up the hill, (it’s not the first bike shop you come to, keep going up and turn right). The staff were very helpful and we settled on a couple of ‘Tern’ bikes. They seemed to strike the balance between feeling well built and price. We have just spent the morning reorganising the port forward area to accommodate them. Less walking to the shops next year!
We have more ‘locals’ coming on board tonight for ‘aperitifs’ so another social evening to come.

Our lift to the airport Is organised, our flight is mid afternoon so we will arrive in Gatwick early evening as we are flying via Madrid. We plan to return to Splice early in the New Year to do some work on her and then be back out for the season sometime in March 2016 as Cartagena has festivals all over Easter.

Next year our outline plan is to sail north towards Denia, then across to the Balearics, Sardinia and Corsica. We have heard good things about this cruising area and have lots of information from fellow cruisers to help planning for the next season.

Hope you have enjoyed reading these rambles in 2015, see you next year!

Photo: Splice in her winter berth in Cartagena, Spain