Our first insurance claim!....

If we were to assess this month in terms of the Ups and Downs, it would probably be fair to say the Downs have it.  But everything’s relative and if you are reading this at work on a gloomy, cold rainy day you are probably scoffing.

Since we got back from Ceuta to La Linea the weather has been very variable, requiring some duvet days and hunkering down as well as venturing out when sunny to visit other local attractions. We also took the opportunity to build up some stores of bits and pieces we hadn’t even realised we had missed from the Eroski (Waitrose stockists) in Gib.  Spanish cider tends to be very sweet so we now have a cupboard full of decent cider which should last us - until at least the end of this week.  The quality tea bags will last a bit longer and hopefully we won’t need the porridge and hot chocolate for too much longer.

Duvet day...

On a sunny day, we cycled from La Linea to San Roque but had a bit of a nightmare when we found ourselves accidentally on a motorway on our bicycles! I really struggled after all that Christmas pud and chocolate to get up an extremely steep hill; wobbling and panting away with lorries hurtling past.  Greg chivalrously cycled well ahead of me and got off the motorway more quickly in case the police saw us there.  He was probably thinking one fine would be better than two…….

San Roque turned out to be a very picturesque mountain village.  The tourist information office personnel welcomed us with open arms and adopted us for the afternoon; it had clearly been a slow month.  We were getting a bit restless as the lunch time restaurant opening hours were fading fast but our British politeness prevailed and sadly the restaurant we had planned to go to for lunch was already closed when we finally got there.  

However, the head of tourist information drew a new route for our return avoiding the motorway and it turned out to be very interesting if not a typical tourist trail.

The route took us round the back of the oil refinery in Algeciras, past some very deserted beaches and a very impressive graffiti wall.

Some cool graffiti

I wonder why the beach is so quiet?

We also passed through a section of deserted mansions, built on sea-front land purchased in the 1950s by a rich woman hoping to create a Sotogrande resort, only to be thwarted by the building of the oil refinery next door in the 1960s.

It would have been lovely without the refinery next door....

We decided to head north when a good weather window opened and managed a fabulous day sailing to Fuengirola. 

Another trip to UK had to be scheduled for a follow up medical appointment and the flights from Malaga were even better than from Gibraltar. It's easy to see why Malaga airport is so busy. There's very easy access to the surrounding areas - the metro goes every 20 minutes from Fuengirola to the airport for 7 euros return.  Compared to the cost of the Gatwick Express or even a normal train ticket in UK it’s a dream.  I think that's the difference between a state owned transport system and one that needs to make a profit! 

It was a glorious day in Fuengirola when we arrived and we made the most of it by getting out our shorts.  It felt as though winter was over, but how wrong could we be!!!

Now for the disaster………………………

We knew the forecast was for high winds whilst we were back in UK so we made sure we were well fendered up and pulled away from the pontoon.  Unfortunately last Sunday the winds were upwards of 50mph; "unexpected and unprecedented" said the Marineros!  During this gale, our staysail became unfurled and the clew flapped about creating lots of damage to the sail and the forestay.

When we returned Greg rang Pantaenius, our insurance company to make a claim for the damage, only to discover that they don’t cover sails (or anything to do with sails for that matter). Why are we not surprised?? So today it has taken four hours to get the sail down and taken away for repair.  We will know the estimated cost on Monday ☹. Looks like the planned few days skiing in the Sierra Nevada might be on hold.