What a contrast ! Being woken by flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder doesn’t tend to auger well for the day. When it is followed by torrential rain and semi darkness it suggests that, rather than being obsessed with wind strengths, I should have been examining precipitation as well ! It is in these... Continue Reading →

Port Frioul proved to be a perfect overnight stop being quiet and un-pressured. The same could not be said of our mooring the following day. We had wanted to secure a berth in the picturesque old harbour in Cassis but despite calling at 6am, as recommended, we failed to secure a berth and defaulted to... Continue Reading →

Following a short sojourn back in the UK which involved a hugely enjoyable trip to Ireland, I returned to Marseille with my wife, Paula and Stephen and Mary Williams to continue what should be a relaxed passage towards our winter berth in Baie des Anges, just west of Nice. Stephen may be remembered for his... Continue Reading →

After the grandeur of the Pyrenees, the French coast becomes rather uninteresting with few natural harbours or anchorages. Our mission was therefore to eat up the miles and seek overnight shelter in suitable marinas. Although this coast is renowned for high winds – in fact, I have never previously crossed the Gulf Du Lion without... Continue Reading →

After Paula’s departure from Barcelona, I spent the rest of the day preparing for Carl Beetham’s arrival in the morning. I woke up in the night with a limerick in my head about the tank disaster, I guess it is all part of the process, coming to terms like a bereavement. So, with the morning,... Continue Reading →

Our overnight to Barcelona was very relaxed. With only 110 miles and plenty of time, we set off with a speed requirement so modest that the engine was run at about 1500 revs to arrive on the fuel dock around 9am. This is where our problems started…………… Filling the tanks with diesel, I took care... Continue Reading →

I do hope Dave didn’t tell his friends and colleagues that he was going on a sailing holiday because that would have been a fabrication and the prospect for tomorrows overnight to Barcelona doesn’t look as though it will yield a rally in our sailing prospects. The upside is that we have plenty of time... Continue Reading →

The irony of our meal in the Real Club in Alicante was that the starters of thin sliced scallop and the best squid ever were great but the much anticipated snails and rabbit paella was awful. The rabbit was all bone and the snails were so small they resisted extraction with the tools (fork) to... Continue Reading →

Almerimar promised little from the write ups but the Marineros were attentive on our arrival at 9pm, they confirmed that the fuel dock would be open at 7am and that we could then reclaim the deposit (which we forgot to do) on our shower key. We were shown to a berth adjacent to the shower... Continue Reading →

Having turned down the unique, deposit laden, 5 pin electrical plug offered at the visitor ‘welcome’ quay in Puerto Banus, we had to face up to a lack of AC in the stifling conditions. This coupled with a fixation on not eating ashore, we decided to cook a corned beef hash and this pushed the... Continue Reading →