Hello from Gib

We had a great sail down to Cadiz from the Guadiana

 

Still chilly enough at night for FWG, but some stunning skies

 

As previously mentioned, Cadiz was a most enjoyable city 

Not the sort of anchorage one imagines as picturesque, under a half constructed bridge in an industrial landscape, but actually very interesting - plus good holding. An ideal place to dine in a civilised manner!

 

-   - one could cycle everywhere and because of its position on a peninsular, there was a constant breeze.  (I have no idea why this has suddenly decided to underline itself! )

 

 

 

There are lovely public gardens, big, open squares and the usual plethora of enormous Spanish monuments!

 

We cycled right out to the lighthouse we had been watching on our way down from the Guadiana - "Castillo de San Sebastian Fl(2) 10s38m25M Horn Mo 'N' 20s. Aluminium Tower on Castle" (Non-sailors - that means you can see it from 38 miles away, it's 25 metres high and flashes every 10 seconds!)

 

 

 

 

We took the train up to Seville - the temperature rising about 10 deg.C in the process!  Because of the dodgy knee and due to previous interesting experiences in other cities, we took one of the open topped tour buses to get a feel for the city - sadly, this was disappointing, as so much of the city has been pedestrianised and the remaining streets are so narrow the buses can't get down them.  So they are limited in where they can take you.

 

 However, we eventually found ourselves in a most attractive area - but only after having risked our health by having lunch in a restaurant chosen for its authentic look [tiled interior, no printed menu].  Why we didn't back out at the first [of VERY many] loud explosion of coughs, hawks & sneezes from the toothless proprietor, or when Simon found a fly on his Jamon, I don't know - we must have been very hungry & were certainly extremely hot & thirsty!  Again, rather like Cadiz, really hard to get any good photos.

 

I did like the look of some of the cool courtyards to private houses though.

 

And although we all checked ourselves for dire symptoms over the next 48 hours, returned to Cadiz unscathed.

 

As mentioned at the top of this post, we arrived in Gib on the 21st June, via Tarifa and Ceuta - a Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast.  About 24 hours after we arrived, the wind turned sharply through 180 deg., at times a full blown Levanter, meaning any  progress towards the Balearics would have been slow, uncomfortable and expensive, so I changed plans and went back to UK on various commissions while Mike stayed in Queensway Quay marina, attending to any number of tasks.  It was especially sad as our friend Susie Barrett  arrived in Gib, anticipating a jolly sail to Ibiza, instead of which she caught some vile bug on the plane on the way out, leaving her miserable as well as unlikely to sail anywhere.  She is now back in Scotland and we very much hope to try again in September.

 

Gib has some advantages - a Morrison's where we have stocked up on Mango Chutney, Horseradish Sauce, Chilli Sauce, Naan breads [a former engine driver who taxied me back after my trip commented that the Spanish aren't really interested in trying anyone else's cuisine] smoked mackerel, fresh milk, Fox's Bran Biscuits, a good assortment of marmalades; Main Street where you can, if you can fight your way through the ex-pats waddling from an English Pub with all day breakfast to M&S or Mothercare, stock up on duty frees; La Linea the other side of the runway - in Spain -  where you can buy good fruit and veg at sensible prices   ~ and, of course, loads of history.  One thing they do NOT have is decent wifi.  I tried to update this blog in Scotland and was doing really well until there was a power cut for no apparent reason which wiped everything I had done, and have been trying hard since I got back, but Gib telecom has other ideas!  So I am going to post this now and add some more pics when we have a better connection.

 

We are going out to anchor tomorrow and hope to proceed Eastwards at the beginning of the week.