Brindabella

After 3 lovely days anchored in Rapallo harbour, it was time to move on. There was some rain forecast, so we decided to make the final trip of the summer back to Varazze. This is the marina where Brindabella will reside for the winter.

We spent 10 nights in Varazze and competed a lot of jobs on the boat. In addition, we have completed some preparation for next year. Varazze is a great town. The marina is very good with a nice selection of shops and restaurants around the port. The town is a real gem. It's rare that you see such a thriving town with a great range of small shops selling everything from fish, fruit and veg, hardware. One shop was selling just wool and buttons.

One job we wanted to get done while we were here, was to have some new elastic sewn onto the bottom of our curtains. Sure enough, the town had a small tailors shop doing exactly what we wanted. They took all 24 curtains and replaced all 120 elastic hooks. Not only that, they ironed the curtains as well!



We have had another fabulous summer on the boat and given the covid restrictions, we feel extremely privileged and fortunate to have had a holiday in France and Italy. However, the daily new infections in Italy have only been 10% of that of the UK.

With the covid restrictions early in the year, we were unable to get back to the boat in spring. In place of the normal spring and autumn cruise, we just had one long summer cruise. The daily covid infections in France and Italy have been much lower than the UK and both countries have sensible rules. You cannot enter a museum or restaurant without the "Green Pass" and importantly, the NHS pass works in both countries.

This year, we have completed the South of France and the wonderful French Riviera, stopping at iconic ports such as Nice, Antibes, Cannes and visiting St Tropez. We had some great anchorages in Ile de Porquerolles, Ile de Port-Cros and Ile Saint-Honorat. All wonderful islands and completely different. Monaco was an experience, just because it was Monaco. Having evening drinks at Café de Paris and watching the cars at Monte Carlo was great fun.

After France and Monaco, we moved on to Italy and covered the Italian Riviera and much of the Tuscan coast. We found great anchorages at Santa Margherita Ligure and Rapallo, which for us were the best parts of the Italian Riviera. The stretch from Rapallo to Portofino was possibly one of the most beautiful coastlines that we have sailed along. In Tuscany, we really liked the islands of Elba and Capraia.

In total, we have had 10 weeks on the boat this summer, that included 26 nights at anchor or on a buoy, which are always the best. The number of quality anchorages in the South of France and the Italian Rivera were a pleasant surprise.

It's been Daisy's first season on the boat and she has done really well. Although she is still young and completely mad, she has learned a lot about what to do and importantly, what not to do on a boat.

We can't wait until next year when Corsica and Sardinia are waiting to be explored. After another interesting adventure in the Mediterranean, we are signing off for another year. Goodbye!

Time: 5:15 hours Miles: 32nm Total Time: 88:45 hours Total Miles: 532nm