It has been a slow restart for our sailing adventures, but we have compensated for the lack of sailing by packing in a lot of sightseeing. We started in Valencia, staying in a lovely hotel in the centre of the city – the best bit of the hotel was the air-conditioning! It is a luxury we don’t have on the boat, but was greatly appreciated in Valencia in August. Nonetheless, we ventured out, taking in the sights, including the striking architecture around the City of the Arts and Sciences. We also enjoyed a paella class, making our very own authentic seafood paella under expert tuition.
After three days in Valencia we managed to wrestle ourselves away from the air-conditioned comfort and took a bus down to Almerimar and back to our boat. We had left Merryn in the hands of the local boatyard for a rigging replacement, together with a few odd jobs, and were relieved to find that all was well, and Merryn now has shiny new standing rigging. Still, after a month of accumulating Saharan dust, she needed a good clean, the sails needed re-hoisting, so we generally kept ourselves busy getting our boat ready to continue our sailing trip.
By the 9th of August we were keen to move on. No wind, sadly, so we motored along the coast to Motril. The marina here did not exist three years ago when we passed in the opposite direction, but since opening has been getting great reviews from the sailing community. We have not been disappointed, getting a friendly welcome from the marina staff and tips on local sights. On our first full day the marina staff loaned us (free!) a couple of bicycles and we cycled – in the full summer heat – to the neighbouring town of Salobreña, with its quirky side streets, shady restaurants and abundant flowers.
Motril is the closest coastal spot to the famous city of Grenada, with the Moorish Alhambra, and we took the bus there on our second day, visiting the amazing gardens of the Generalife and the old palaces, before wandering around the old city itself.
The last highlight of our visit to Motril has been meeting up with two more of the Vikings boats – Frank and Rosie of S/Y Amnesty, and Stan, with crew Jeremy, of S/Y So What 1. They have their boats on the hard in the boatyard whilst getting some repairs completed (wisely, Stan’s wife Julie has stayed at home for the repair work!), and we have had some terrific evenings – extending late into the night. It has been reassuring to find that the crews of all the rally participants we have met so far have similar levels of experience, similar hopes and worries, and we get on so well together.
Today – day 3 in Motril – we were due to sail further west, but the marina we tried to book is full, and with strong westerly winds coming it looks like we will be in Motril for a couple more days. Hopefully, we will then be able to make good progress to Gibraltar and can start to plan some ocean passages.
