It’s taken a lot longer than expected but I have finally arrived at the gateway to the Mediterranean, Gibraltar. Its been a difficult journey with bad weather, rough seas, finding out my mother is very ill, feeling low at times plus other difficulties. But we have done it, we are here and I feel fantastic. […]
Arrived in Gibraltar Read More »
After Christmas we left Sines and headed to Portimao. Good winds down to Sagres died completely after we turned the former so anchored overnight. After starting the engine the overheat alarm went off so we drifted into anchor. That night I replaced the water pump impellor and we were good to go. The next day
Portimao and farewell Nelly Read More »
We never left Sines and are here for Christmas 🎄 ❤️. Overnight one of the mooring lines broke which put a lot more strain on the remaining lines and the stern fairleads. This ripped the stern gunwale off (wood deck surround) 😔. That together with a change in the forecast meant following mother natures suggestion
We have been in Sines a few days and getting ready to move tomorrow down to the Algarve. Its a bit of a milestone because we change from travelling South to travelling East, hopefully away from the big Atlantic swell from the North West that has plagued us for so long. Sines is a pretty
I have been home to the UK for 11 days while Nelly looked after the boat and Dotty. On returning to Portugal, we did a 36 hour sail to Cascais. Why home? My mum is seriously ill so I returned to spend time with her and other family members. It was a special time with
Porto to Cascais via the UK Read More »
It’s been a while since I posted, mainly because although we have moved further down the coast to Porto in Portugal, we have spent most of the time sitting at anchor or at marinas waiting for the weather. It has been storm after storm coming in with less than 24 hours between each one.
We left A Coruña after waiting for a weather window and a package sent from the UK and are now in Muros waiting for yet another storm to pass on Monday. The current forecast then gives at least a week of good weather to move South to Portugal. While in A Coruña we did some
Nelly joined me in Santander and we have sailed West along the North Spanish coast to Gijon. We had hoped to get to a Caruna but very rolly seas and little to no wind forced us to come in for fuel. The masthead navigation lights have stopped working and we had hoped to have them
Sailing with Nelly Read More »
My windlass finally arrived in Brest, and with advice and reassurance from Darren who repairs boats for a living it was installed and is working great. I have anchored twice with it so far with no issues. I decided against crossing Biscay direct from Brest to A Caruna. The frequent storms and being single handed
New windlass and across Biscay Read More »
First the parcel, which was sent from the UK, its a replacement windlass and it was held up in customs. I knew I had to pay french vat and duty on arrival but didn’t know how this was supposed to happen. Apparently somebody on the French side should have contacted me to tell me. Nobody
Parcels, Anchors, Stramash, and Crew Read More »