Sighting Africa!

Jan here again

I have no idea why I got so excited today when we spotted the African coastline.  Let's face it you can see it from southern Spain but it was the fact that we were sailing so near and the realisation of the possibilities ahead just got to me. 

We are now one stop away from Gibraltar.  Tonight we are in the marina in Barbote where earlier this afternoon we are convinced we encountered Manuel's brother from Fawlty Towers.  He kindly offered to take our mooring lines even though we had it under control...but he insisted and ran around frantically like a little buzzing fly muttering and shouting in Spanish but unfortunately he just draped the mooring lines over the cleats instead of securing them and before we knew it we were all at sea again, but with the stern of the boat veering towards a particularly large metal pillar.  Greg was not amused.......we are going to have to do a bit of 'touching up' in Gibraltar! 

This is the third Spanish state run marina we have been to this week. They are all consistent in price and facilities but are all located in a concrete wilderness absolutely miles from the town and none of them have wifi or bar, restaurants or shops.....as the pilot says of the Cadiz marina ...

'..though set amidst bleak surroundings nearly a kilometre from the old city walls (another understatement), it offers good shelter and security for the yacht while the crew explore elsewhere. 'Thank goodness we have the Brompton bikes with us!

Anyway although there is not a lot architecturally or culturally to recommend Barbote .... as luck would have it, we soon discovered that there is a festival here today when we heard the band tuning up.  There are two massive stages just across from the marina on the outskirts of the town and we are being treated to competing and very loud music. Greg had a look at the line up but we don't recognise any of the bands.  I am pleased to report that we can hear it without needing to pay and it goes on all night apparently!

We have encountered some pretty high winds and strong swell on this coastline, with odd wind shifts and not always as forecast. Apparently it hasn't been typical. Sometimes it was exciting when we were going downwind as in when we turned east at Cap Vicente towards Lagos but when banging into it not so comfortable.

Just about to turn east towards Gibraltar

At the start of this week we actually turned back when we were en route to Cadiz because the winds became so strong on the nose and we ended up in an interesting place called Chipione.  It was a very colourful place and the beach umbrellas were particularly striking.

The calm after the storm in Chipione

They corral fish there by building walls to hold the sea water in at low tide and trap the fish and shellfish.  It is forbidden to walk on the corrals and I got up early to try to see the Corralisters catching the fish. I only spotted one man there so perhaps I was too late.

One of the man made corrals to trap fish and which also serves as a saltwater swimming pool for tourists during the day

We then went on to Cadiz and loved the city, enhanced by an absolutely brilliant meal out in the evening at La Candella.  Greg told me off for trying to attract the chef's attention when he was cooking (it was one of those open kitchens) .......I just wanted to give him a thumbs up because the food was delicious but apparently I was a  bit embarrassing.  Cadiz was a relaxing experience because there are many lovely interesting streets to wander through in the old town and lots of nice bars in which to sit and watch the world go by.  

We then took a train to Seville for the day.  We have noticed that there are still many people employed to do jobs here that are now automated in the UK.  There are assistants at every counter waiting for customers to help...not a queue in sight! The Spanish trains are so clean and air conditioned...it was a very civilised journey and we passed through a very beautiful station at Jerez; home of sherry making!

Seville is beautiful if you haven't been there.  We absolutely loved the cathedral and the views from the tower.  It was so vast I found it really difficult to take photos inside because nothing I could take on my phone actually captured the majesty and scale of it.  The views from the tower were breathtaking and and the ancient architecture as well as the new parasol building are stunning.   Why do people feel the need to carve their names on everything though; its so sickening. 

The parasol structure, built with the minimum of foundations over Roman remains so they can still be seen 

Greg was as always the height of tourist fashions our trip to Seville.  I was just grateful he decided not to wear his Vibrams though!

I am told this sock look is fashionable

Stunning views from the Giralda Tower of the largest gothic cathedral in the world in Seville

Our only regret on this bit of coast is that we didn't spend enough time in the Algarve. We spent a couple of days in the marina in Lagos and then we anchored in Portimao. In Lagos we hit the eye watering £90 a night marina fee and we had to stay 2 nights because of the high winds but in that time we got to talk to quite a lot of people in similar circumstances to ourselves.  We were struck by how many had succumbed to what I believe is sometimes called 'port rot'.....ie they arrived, stayed a bit...liked the place...stayed a bit longer...met some friends...stayed a bit longer.... now live there on their boats and haven't left the marina for at least a year! There was quite a Brit community there, enjoying retirement in the sunshine on their boats.

We decided to celebrate our arrival in Lagos with one of my retirement presents.  

We haven't caught port rot yet but I have so many purple, yellow and green bruises that you could be forgiven for thinking I had some other kind of rot! (I have spared you the story of falling down the slippery steps at the dinghy dock in the dark last week in case my mum reads this!)

I have to catch a flight back to the UK for a few days for the HfL MAT Board meeting next week, so we have spent less time in some places than we would have liked.  As a result we were sad that we narrowly missed seeing friends who were on holiday in the Algarve.  We are looking forward to slowing down a bit once I get back from the UK and spending a bit more time working our way up the Spanish coast and being available to meet up with more friends and family if possible.  

We have travelled over 1500 nautical miles in the last 2 months to get us here to the entrance to the Med. Although we thought we might get to Greece by August we have realised that we need to go at a gentler pace and go where the wind blows; so our plans are shifting and Greece  is now looking much more likely in 2018 than 2017.