Costa del Sol

I suppose it's what we expected.  Busy, very built-up, full of English and expensive at the Western end, and busy, built-up, full of a different kind of English and not quite so expensive in the East, where we are now.  Well, we're only two or three days from the corner, just short of Almeria, so we've nearly done it.  And we don't have to go back!

We had some pleasant sailing for the first day or two, but the wind has now died, and the temperature has shot up.  It's really very warm now.  And that's without taking account of the howls from the nearby bar, where England are apparently playing Germany (this may be my last World Cup comment!).  We swam ashore from the boat where we anchored yesterday, carrying just enough cash for a couple of icecreams.  Then I dropped mine.

The highlights so far have been:

- Malaga.  We took a train there from Fuengirola.  A very pleasant, tranquil old city, with a stunning Moorish castle - the Alcazaba.

- The views of the Sierra Nevada - still surprisingly snowy 

    (but note the polythene in the foreground.  This gets worse as you go East.  We call it the Costa Plastica)

- The general ambiance, friendliness, good food and good wine.  Worth a lot really.  It would be even better if it was easier to understand the people.  I was chatting (in my bad Spanish) to a lady in the marina office here (Almerimar) today, and moaning how hard I found it.  She said (in very clear Spanish) that she had had the same problems when she moved here.  I asked her where she came from - the answer was Seville!

Thanks for all your comments - please keep them coming.  It reminds us that there's another world there somewhere.  And we're sure that White Magic will get to like Scotland once she's mastered the accent!

All change

We've certainly had some contrasts in the last week or so.  After the mass tourism exposure in Vilamoura, with Ian and Helena, we pottered up the river Guadiana.  Spain on one side, Portugal the other, in the sunshine.  It was really lovely lush rural country.  Then back in the rain. 

Ian and Helena left us in Cadiz, a fascinating old walled city. The cafe on the pier was memorable.  It's a real greasy spoon equivalent, but served us excellent grilled fish and chips and bad wine with very friendly attentive service.  They were so surprised when we paid what we thought a very fair bill without demurring, they plied us with free brandy and sherry in too large quantities for us to remember afterwards.

Some of the trees were particularly interesting.  Please let us know if you can identify them!

 
Cathy and Marion joined us in Cadiz (and returned to the pier cafe with us!).  We have had two very good day sails with them, first to Mazagon, then on to Gibraltar.  Avoiding the fixed tunny nets was quite an effort.  They are huge - up to 3 miles out from the shore, and connected to the shore.  Not pleasant to be caught in, we would guess.

And so to Gibraltar. 

First impressions are better than we expected  (Cathy had suggested Aldershot-on-Sea).  But the great news is there's a Morrisons!  A big one!  And they have PG Tips, Pringles, Walkers crisps, Ryvita, Hobnobs.  We hadn't realised how much we'd missed them.  But we're now into Mediterranean style docking, with the bow up near (but not too near) the jetty.  Some clambering is required.  Val is wondering if she needs to go ashore before the canal!

Adeus Portugal

So that's it for Portugal.  We're back in Spain, in Ayamonte on the Costa de la Luz. 

With Ian and Helena, we experienced the full  head-on tourist experience in Vilamoura on the Portuguese Algarve.  An all new development, packed with bars and restaurants and thousands of people - mainly Brits - milling around it.  It was a big shock, but I'm sure we have more of the same to come when we get to the Med.  Still it was quite a relief to get back to Spain, and a sleepy, traditional town, without more than a few hundred policemen.

The weather continues to disappoint.  Cloudy, little wind, spots of rain at time, and up until today quite cold.  It must change in the end.

More Corners

We rounded Cape St Vincent on Monday, and we're in Lagos (no, no, we're not that lost - it's in S Portugal - pronounced La'gosh).  The cape is another impressive corner.

We've had some splendid sails.  The wind always picks up, to really quite strong, in the afternoons, and it's been behind us most of the way.  But the real highlight has been the dolphins.  Large groups of them, up to 20 or 30 at a time, choosing to while away their time playing with the boat.  It's a real joy to see.

Portuguese bureaucracy continues to amaze us.  On two occasions, I had just returned from checking in at the marina office, where they typically spend 20 minutes copying out details of passports and boat papers (horsepower of engine?  do you have radar?  what was the colour of your grandmother's eyes?) to find two policemen patiently waiting at the boat to repeat almost the same, but subtly different procedure.  There are apparently at least three police forces, all of whom can go through similar processes.  Our last stop, Sines, consisted mainly of a very large police station, with a small settlement surrounding it, to service its needs. 

By the way, I promised a picture of the harbourmaster's office in Cascais.  It's on the right.

Still, now we are really down South.  And it's raining.  Our guidebook says that Lagos has less than one rainy day per summer.  So we're hoping it will stop soon.  We have met Ian and Helena here and we will be setting off with them towards Cadiz tomorrow.  We also met their friends, Janet and Michael, who live here, and gave us some local perspective over a lovely dinner at their home last night.

Pottering South

So our first visitors - Andrew and Sue - have come and gone and we amble gently on.  We´re in Sesimbra, about 30 miles South of Lisbon.  The weather has stayed fine; not much wind most of the time, but occasional strong puffs, mainly coming into port in the evening.  Today was an exception when we had a strong wind all day, and a lovely sail under jib only.  Docking wasn´t so easy, but we got help from several marina chaps who all had fun shouting instuctions to us and to each other in Portuguese.  It worked in the end!

There are some splendid places - and very little but perfect beaches between them - all the way down this coast.  We went inland to Sintra yesterday.  It´s full of palaces and castles - really very impressive.  Even the harbourmasters´ office in our last stop, Cascais, was palatial  (picture will follow).

~More detail when internet access improves - watch this space.