4th October– 1st November (Spain)
We left Gibraltar at first light and finally entered the Mediterranean (something we have always said we were not going to do, but some people are very persuasive!!), and motored for 85 miles in a flat calm to Caleta de Velez where we anchored in the bay overnight. The next morning we again left at first light and watched the sun come up over the hills (a beautiful sight). We motored a further 60 miles in a glassy calm to Almerimar and were safely tied up several boats down from Aztec Dream by mid-afternoon.
Next morning we met up with Steve & Lynne and went off for a few games of boules. It was good fun and we all seemed to be fairly evenly matched, each of us winning about the same number of games. It was then time to visit one of the local hostelries for tapas and drinks. We enjoyed another couple of days in Almerimar, before heading off to Aguadulce, about twenty miles further east, and where we are going to leave Mistroma for the winter. We originally had a berth on the far side of the marina, which was really quiet and a very long walk round to the town, but after a couple of days managed to move somewhere slightly more central.
Aguadulce is a quiet little town (at least it is just now, as quite a few of the bars and cafés are closed until December) and we are enjoying our stay here. The bikes are being used every day as everything is a fair distance away (it’s even a 5-10 minute walk to the loo). There is a very good supermarket and laundrette as well as quite a few decent tapas bars. The water in the marina is crystal clear and looks inviting. We walked for about 100m either side of Mistroma's berth and saw a shoal of very large fish. There were hundreds of them ranging in size from 4-6 feet. Closer inspection confirmed that they were barracuda, so swimming in the marina looks like a bad idea.
We’re slowly working through the long and laborious winter maintenance list, with a day off for good behaviour every so often. So far we’ve taken a bus trip along to Almeria which is a fairly big town and we were looking for bits for the boat, and in the opposite direction we cycled to Roquetas de Mar , doing a round trip of about thirteen miles. It’s a nice easy run along the seafront, all on the flat on dedicated cycle paths through a salt marsh and then on to the paseo (walkway along the seafront). We had a lovely lunch in a bar near the marina and then cycled up to see the Castillo de Santa Ana, which sadly was closed for lunch. Maybe we’ll manage to get back again when it’s open, but I think it’s unlikely given the amount of work we still have to get through.
We are being lifted out of the water on 10th November and leaving for Madrid on the 13th, where we’re staying three nights before flying back to Edinburgh, so the final blog for this year will be from Madrid.
