Well Covid has the better of us this year. Having finally sold Sphinx in April, we have been renting on the Isle of Wight. The exciting news is that last month we have exchanged contracts on our new permanent house, Sandford House there. Move in is on 6th August. \240Having sorted out the sale and purchase of our houses we were eager to get back to our boat to see how she was doing and to take her out. \240However due to houses, family weddings and Covid, we knew this year we weren’t going to be able to do a proper gap year on board so we \240renewed our mooring at Portosole in Sanremo Italy until April 2022.

So this post will be start of a somewhat strange gap year. We’re off today on the ferry from Fishbourne IOW to Portsmouth and then tonight over to Caen. \240We had an antigen test yesterday and the results are of course negative. We have our double vaccination proof and our French attestation d’honneur!

We are escaping the English summer for a few weeks - yippee 😁😁😎

We have arrived in Villedieu Les Poêles in Normandy to stay with French friends for a few days. Not without challenges of course 😅, just as we pulled off the motorway our tyre registered a leak and so the first task was to find the Pneu garage, which had moved since we were last here. Anyway we found it just in time & new pneus were ordered for later in the week & the spare fitted to see us through. We stayed with Parlttick and Marine because la Jouverie had been destroyed over the winter by a catastrophic water leak 😱 caused by the water company slamming on the water supply after a mains leak in the road nearby.

We \240had a meeting at La Jouverie with the insurers of our French house to discuss the reparations. The insurers fortunately are going to pay for the complete rebuilding of the interior of our house.

We had some lovely french food & wine of course whilst we were there. Once our tyres were fixed & we had done the correct Covid testing we headed off on the long 1350km journey through France to Italy.

We are now driving the 1,350km from Normandy to Sanremo, Italy. \240A swift 500k’s today takes us to Bourges where we are stopping of for a French meal and a hotel stop in this lovely half timbered town.

A very very very long drive! 3 hours of nose to tail jams and a 12 hour drive for us to Sanremo this evening. \240Yesterday morning we had another PCR test done at a lab in France because Italy requires this. \240We were expecting to have to show all of our covid documentation and passports etc at the border, but no! \240We just arrived here. We have however reported and send all of our docs to the regional health authority in Liguria and now we must quarantine for 5 days on the boat. We loaded up the car with provisions at a supermarket in Nice just before we crossed in to Italy. \240It’s suny, blue sky and sea and we have finally arrived!!

Yippeee - our first and possibly only boat adventure for 2021. We departed Sanremo very smoothly (given we hadn’t done it for 9 months) and headed up the coast to Marina di Alassio. All ran beautifully smoothly except the sea state which was a bit more swelly than we expected or was indeed forecast but it was fine. Pretty unadventurous really, which is how you want it when out at sea, VA behaved perfectly.

Arriving at Marina di Alassio we were a bit concerned because we might not have logged our Covid status properly but even that seemed ok and our berthing was near perfect (even in quite windy conditions). As for most Med marinas the office was closed 12-3pm so we waited to check in & once we did that headed straight to the beach for our first med swim of the year - gorgeous warm waters no longer the icy chill of the channel.

We strolled into Alassio town in the evening and what a lovely surprise. A fabulous resort town with lots of energy, lovely restaurants & shops and some beautiful old villas. We have already decided to stay a day longer & watch the Euro Finals here (probably on board in case we win 😂). So we are here until Monday & then we might head to another new port along this lovely coastline.

Here are a few photos taken so far.

After 3 days in Alassio we have decided to move back towards Sanremo. We have decided to visit Porto Maurizio Imperia which is only an hour or so up the coast from Sanremo but looked very pretty with an old town on a hill looking down on the marina. It’s not a big place but joined with Oneglia is bigger. Porto Maurizio is definitely the better side of town so we are pleased to be here.

There is some very windy weather due today with large waves so we will stay here for 3 days which is probably more than this place needs but rather that than endure stormy conditions. Anyway the sun is shining, the food here is delicious & we are growing to love Liguria. So all is belissimo.

Our Italian is improving by the day here (we didn’t have much to start with) \240although Spanish seems to come out much more readily! There are many similarities but then suddenly some words are bizarrely different.

Oh I should give special mention to the pistachio gelatos that I have tried so far - delizcioso 😋

We returned to our berth in Sanremo on Thursday with a hitch hiker on board. We rescued Julie from a sailing boat that moored next to us in Porto Maurizio. She wanted to get off and back to Nice so we offered her a lift here to get a train from here back to Nice. It was lovely to meet her, a British ex pat now living in the South of France.

Since returning we have had mixed weather, quite heavy rain yesterday in fact although today was better. We decided to take the car in land to the mountain villages and ended up in Bajardo, a beautiful town perched on a mountain surrounded by more mountains and reached by very windy roads with hairpin bends. We had a delicious Ligurian lunch in Bajardo & then headed back down to Sanremo.

Now we are on the final few days before heading back up through France & home next weekend. The government have kindly changed the rules yet again so now we have to quarantine on arrival home for 10 days or pay to get a 5 day early release test - which we of course are going to do. So frustrating that things keep changing all the time but c’est la vie.

We will enjoy our last few days here in the sun, eating delicious Italian food & drinking the lovely Pigato wine. Tomorrow we host our boat neighbour Anna on board for lunch in the hope she will continue to keep a watchful eye on VA whilst we are away.

Anyway here are some photos of the last few days.

We said goodbye to VA on Wednesday after a fabulous 2 & a bit weeks on board. It was so lovely to be back in Sanremo & we spent the last few days pottering locally.

We did a day trip to Villa Hanbury and Dolceacqua by the French border. An amazing botanic garden at Villa Hanbury that was created by Lord Hanbury & then his daughter in law between 1860 & 1939. It’s now owned by the University of Genoa but is a fabulous garden. Dolceacqua is a medieval town with castle that spans the river north of Ventimiglia & had amazing streets going up the hill to the castle.

We headed off on Wednesday early & drove the long arduous roads to Vichy in central France (home of Vichy water & thermal spas). We spent a night here in this very grand and touristy town which was ok to visit but felt a bit sterile & not as exciting as we had hoped.

Onwards and upwards on Thursday back here to Villedieu this time staying in Le Fruitier Hotel in town. We are here to get our PCR test done so that we can board the ferry back to Portsmouth tomorrow- we passed!! It was another nasty experience but we are clear to travel & now just need a day 2, day 5 & day 8 test plus 5 days isolating on our return to the Isle of Wight. Hey Ho 😩 it’s been worth it for the lovely 3 & a bit weeks we have had.

Here are some pics of our last few days.

We are home (or at least temporary home for 2 more weeks). We are now quarantining as per guidance for Amber + France arrivals. 10 days with tests on day 2 & day 8 but we are going to do an early release test on day 5 so we are free to leave the house on Saturday - yay 🤪.

We move into our new home on the 6th August and will no doubt spend the rest of the summer making it beautiful. Gap year 3 will hopefully start next May - Italy, Corsica & Malta planned.