Cruising at an end for this year, we have reached the new marina in La Linea which is adjacent to Gibraltar but it is quieter, cheaper, safer and cleaner. We are settling in for the winter now although presently it's still 23 degrees outside and the shorts are still on!
After leaving Lagos we spent a week in Albufeira - where my parents flew out to stay with us and with their rental car, we spent a fabulous week with them exploring the Algarve, both inland and on the beaches where Finn spent hours in the water on his new body board! The Portuguese put us to shame with their excellent spoken English and we loved it here - made all the more special of course because mum and dad were there to enjoy it with us.
After a sad Goodbye to mum & dad in Lidl car park (well it had to be somewhere, and we thought shopping would stop us being sad...), we made an overnight passage to Rota which is in the Bay of Cadiz. This is a small tasteful Spanish tourist/fishing town near Jerez, also known as, Sherry.........now some of you may know that my husband has a passion for the oloroso dulce or sweet sherry and he is also to known to an elite few as 'the sherry monster'; therefore a necessary bus trip was taken to Jerez where a local bogeda, or sherry house was visited. We took a really interesting tour around the Tio Pepe bogeda and finished up with the essential tasting and shopping. Jerez also has the BEST market I have ever been to. It is the usual meat, fruit, and fish market but the stall holders where artists in the way they displayed their wares, and the buzz of excitement as hundreds of scary middle aged Spanish Senoras did battle to get the best produce and bargains was inspiring to watch ....I've certainly added a few of their battle manoeuvres to my repertoire for when I next go to market armed with my wicker basket and granny trolley.
We spent a lovely relaxing few days in Rota and in part were very sad to leave as the next leg of our journey would be the final trip this year. The trip itself was about 15 hours and as we entered the Bay of Algeciras towards Gibraltar we were 'shown the way' by hundreds of dolphins, we were completely surrounded as far as the eye could see and they were showing off riding in our bow wave and leaping out of the water. We were excited to get to La Linea to catch up with some good friends Michelle and Michael and their two gorgeous little girls, Charlotte who is nearly two and Evie, who we hadn't met and is just three months old and is completely scrumptious.
We are still struggling with an internet connection, it's extortionately expensive so we think we need to order a booster thingy from the UK and then we'll be able to answer your emails, Skype and catch up with everyone. For now we are looking for some work to tide us over the winter and intensifying Finns schooling. Also we have friends Wendy, Ian and their son Sam coming out to see us at the end of November and we'll be celebrating Wendy's 40th...my god our friends are getting SO old .....!! Can't wait to see you guys. As for Christmas, we're not sure yet whether we'll be coming home - it really depends on the work situation. Thank you all for the great messages that you leave us, its so good to know you are all still near in spirit, if not in body. I'll keep the updates coming on the blog as regularly as possible but in the mean time Gibraltar is just a ten minute walk away and a large bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin is only £10.50........these boots are made for walking!