We have made the start line! After only one more passage, from Pasito Blanco on the South of Gran Canaria to the capital at Las Palmas, we are now on a pontoon in the marina meeting our fellow Vikings Explorers sailors. The last couple of weeks have been more than a little frustrating. When we …
We have taken a little break from sailing… Merryn is safely tucked away on the hard in Pasito Blanco, on the south coast of Gran Canaria. She is having some minor repair work done so we have taken a few weeks off. Our first stop was back in the UK, where we packed a lot …
https://youtu.be/zOlJHioK1DI Apologies for the tardy posting of this video. I filmed it during our passage from Spain to Madeira, but have only just got round to editing the footage and posting it to YouTube. Funny how the “3 m high waves” don’t look so high in the film!
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 …
So much has happened since our last blog – over a month ago! …leaving Spain, we flew to England and had a whirlwind tour – visiting my Dad, Cate’s Mum, seeing friends, and going to a comedy show (Ed Gamble), two concerts (Abba and the National), and an impressive exhibition of the Apollo moon landings …
We almost waited too long for the passage across to Menorca! The winds had abated so much that we motored all the way, using the sails only to add a bit of stability and increase the boat speed by half a knot or so. It was a gentle passage, with a moonlit night, and plenty …
We start this season back where we began our first full Mediterranean summer – in Santa Maria Navarrese on Sardinia’s east coast. This has become one of our favourite spots – relaxed, beautiful, great value, and with the perfect boatyard to winter Merryn, owned by Umberto in Arbatax. Umberto, as before, had done a great …
The weather, typically for this season, has not been kind to us. Warm southerly Föhn winds have brought slushy snow conditions and large quantities of Saharan sand that have turned the slopes orange. So our grand plans to spend the spring ski touring have been thwarted. We have managed one small trip to the Leisse …
With the weather still very unsettled we have been stuck in our Chalet for much of the time, albeit enjoying great views, as the pictures of the rainbow above and the mist to the right show. Of course we remembered to celebrate St Patrick’s day, and went to the Monal for drinks and to listen …
The last few weeks have been pretty full-on, with this weekend marking the first time in five weeks that Cate and I have been left solo! Since our friends Alex and Anna left at the end of our last blog, we have entertained my sister Lucy with her family in the first week, and our …