We are back in our comfort zone (from a linguistic perspective), we are back in Spain (Andalusia). Only just - the other side of the river is Portugal but this side is most definitely Spain. It’s a pretty town and tonight they have a huge artist exhibition all around the streets. We also found a lovely restaurant serving our very favourite pata negra bellota jamon, delicious local cheese & the best tomato salad ever.

We have had a small technical issue with the blog since leaving Portugal so I am now trying to catch up.

Yesterday we travelled in hot sunshine from Ayamonte to Mazagon (near Huelva). Not much to see or do in Mazagan so spent the afternoon on the beach and had my first planned swim in the sea for a while. Finally the sea was warm & I didn’t go in shrieking eeeh eeeh it’s cold in here. Andrew of course did not venture in but conceded that the water \240was definitely warmer & might come in soon. Today Mazagon is gone & we are on our way to Puerto Sherry (the clue is in the name) from here we will explore Cadiz, Jerez and El Puerto de Santa Maria & I expect will taste a few sherries along the way.

This is the closest we can berth to Cadiz so is very convenient if not the nicest marina. We have wanted to visit Cadiz since watching Rick Steins long weekends several years ago so it was a must see on our journey. The marina here was a very ambitious project started before the last crash and therefore sadly has quite a few unfinished buildings around the marina. It is in the Sherry town of El Puerto de Santa Maria and just across the bay from Cadiz.

Today we did what we came here for. We went to Cadiz on the ferry & spent the day enjoying this fabulous city. Following in the footsteps of Rick Stein we visited the Mercado which was fabulous. We ate sushimi with a Montillada Sherry & then fritos sortida (assorted fried fish). We walked to the fort along the long breakwater in the searingly hot summer sun only to find it was cerrado temporario (temporarily closed) - note Andrews pissed off face. We climbed the tower to get the best views of the city & we walked through the lovely old narrow streets of this amazing city. To say we loved it is an understatement, it is up with Donostia San Sebastián as one of the best places we have been so far. It was very very hot so after a lot of walking we called it a day but I think we might pop back on Saturday to finish off seeing the city.

For today’s excursion we travelled by train from Puerto de Santa Maria to Jerez la Frontera & not just for the Sherry😀. It is only a 9 minute journey & cost €2 each way. \240First of course we found the Mercado - which as usual is amazing. Also there is a fabulous Alcazar here with a baroque palace inside (only in Spain). At one time they even built a hotel within the 12th century Alcazar walls on top of the ancient ruins but luckily they have demolished that now and reconstituted the lovely gardens.

Of course in addition to seeing some history we did have to sample some Sherry. We tested out 2 of the city’s oldest Tabancos - San Pedro & El Pasaje and tried some lovely Olorosso & amontillado sherrys. We also watched some fabulous Flamenco in El Passaje and ate some delicious tapas (including a great carrot salad that we had never had before).

Now it is 35 degrees so we are heading back to Puerto Sherry \240because tonight we have tickets for a bull fight.

Today we are heading South East towards Gib but planning to anchor on the way. Puerto Sherry (pronounced cherry) has been a safe home during strong easterly winds, it’s not the prettiest place we have been but it enabled us to explore the amazing cities of Cadiz & Jerez so has been great.

Well that was a more interesting journey than we would have liked😱. Rather than the calm seas of the past few weeks we found ourselves out in a storm where massive easterly force 5 & 6 winds had stirred up a horrendous sea (2+m waves) before and around Cape Trafalgar (as in the battle of Trafalgar) which again had us fearing for our lives. Very stupidly we were not wearing life jackets and it was far too bad to get them once we realised they might be a good idea! We wore them religiously until the last couple of trips and just got complacent with flat calm seas. Lesson learned.

Needless to say we are not anchoring tonight so have found refuge here in Puerto Deportivo de Barbate - city of Tuna - until the sea is calm again (maybe tomorrow) & we can continue our journey to Gibraltar.

Although Barbate wasn’t a planned stop & not that pretty we were recommended a fabulous restaurant by the marina staff. The restaurant specialised in the fresh tuna caught locally & we were totally converted from only really liking tuna sashimi to for the first time having the most delicious cooked tuna from different parts of the fish. It reminded us of pan fried food gras it was so melty in the mouth. It made what was a horrendous day a lot lot better.

We made it to Gibraltar 🤗- yippee. This was our original objective for this summer. \240Since we still have a couple of months of good cruising weather ahead we are going to continue into the Med and up the Spanish coast. Before we do that however \240we are going to do a quick trip to Africa, to Tangier in Morocco later this week because it could be 3 years or more before we are back this way.

Another first today, our first stern to mooring so that was an experience & I am only glad that we had an English speaking marina guy to help me do it. It’s a mucky business but it is what we will be doing all around the Med so a useful practise run.

I am so pleased that today’s trip was calm again, not sure I could have handled one like yesterday’s again for a while.

What a lovely few days we have had here in Gibraltar. Alex has joined us on board for our trips to Morocco & back to Spain which is lovely. We also spent a couple of fabulous evenings with Barry & Sue - friends from \240opposite us on the Thames who live here mostly. One night we hosted them on VA & last night we joined them in their amazing house halfway up the rock for a delicious dinner & a bit too much booze!

Gibralter has been better than expected with lots to do and amazing views everywhere. It’s also been nice to have some familiarity with a Morrison’s & M&S for shopping and to use English again (albeit there are lots of Spanish speakers here.! We have been to the top of the rock twice, we have been to Europa point, we have seen caves, apes & lighthouses we have walked miles & seen lots of batteries & guns.

Today we depart for Tangier’s in Morocco, for the first time going back on ourselves but only for 31 nm.

We have arrived on a new continent through thick fog & a bit choppy seas. Saw a lovely pod of dolphins on route but sadly no orcas or tuna. We have been through customs (which was rumoured to take hours but actually only took us about 30 mins) \240and are currently awaiting the allocation of our berth.

Ok we finally got our berth and had to master a completely new way of mooring, similar to stern to but different. Luckily we had some help from the actually quite competent marina hands. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the medina & Kasbah, initially doing quite well at fending off would be guides but finally succumbing to a very tenacious one as we left the museum. Mohammed did turn out to be good value and luckily seemed pleased with the 10€ we gave him. He did however leave us in a crap restaurant with bad Moroccan food so that was our only disappointment. Anyway lots of photos below of our walk.

It’s September already - where have the past 4 months gone!

We had a driver & guide today for the 2 hour trip into the Rif Mountains to the town of Chefchaouen. Apart from the quite scary drive (although no where near as bad as India) the town was a delightful Berba town all in lovely blue and lavender colours. Built mostly in the 1500’s this is an ancient fortified town - now mostly touristy but worth the visit.

Yesterday was our last day in Tangier so we planned a day for chores & shopping etc which was totally hijacked when we left the marina by Abdul. Abdul claimed he worked at the marina and had seen us on our boat, he started to chat and suggested we go to see the berba and nomad markets, then of course he gently suggested he take us! He was very friendly & credible (of course). We did in fact end up back at the medina but on the way saw some new stuff & it was interesting but despite all his promises we inevitably ended up in a carpet shop with the full on sales pitch. I stupidly gave a tiny buying signal and that was it, the most ridiculous quote for 2 cushion covers I have ever had. We finally managed to extricate ourselves with no rugs or cushion covers \240& realised that yet again we had been had - but that the value we got was probably worth the pain.

We also finally managed to get a real Moroccan meal, not the tourist rubbish we had been fobbed off with before (again a symptom of the illegal non official guides). We did the research and found a small Moroccan family run place & the tahinis were much better, still not as good as the ones we get in Spain though.

I am happy to be leaving today though because you get to the point where you just no longer trust anyone and that is sad. I also found the very male culture difficult, I have worn very respectful clothing for the past 3 days (many tourists don’t) but it is clear that women are second class here. All our guides (official & unofficial) spoke mostly to Andrew, then Alex rarely addressing me even if I asked a question the answer would be given to Andrew which is waring. . \240Tangier’s is a great city with lots of interesting sights but I personally prefer being left alone to explore & fixed pricing to haggling.

Today we return to Spain, to Duquesa Marina where we might leave VA for our return to the UK.

We said we wouldn’t do any more rough journeys but today we did - not quite do bad but still unpleasant. Worthwhile though because we made it to this lovely marina & we are finally officially in the Med - yeehaa 😀😀

Part 9

Duquesa to Current location