A Lady trip avoiding the recession

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sat 19 Sep 2009 15:13
Hi there everyone
Because we left the boat for a trip to Spain on sunday 16th, I will quickley go through the next couple of weeks. 
 
Sunday 16th Aug 2009
08.00 the crew Stephen and Aileen had an earley breckfast, followed by mass to pray for others,
11.00 we collected the rent a car, this little hundai "getz" was all that was available, and we were real lucky to get the little beauty,
It seems that as a result of the recession, there were very few rent a car's in stock in europe.
We packed our bags and off we went heading for the shack near Estepona in Spain, A distance of about 600 km, we kept to the motorway via
Saviella ,on down close to Cadiz ,through Algecieras and up to bermuda beech.
 
We arrived late so went out to eat in sabinallas and had an earley night....zzzzzzzzz  in a real bed
 
Monday 17th Aug,
Lazy breackfast, did a shop in the local s new supermarket, booked golf for tuesday  in Las Brisas for three people as Alfred was arriving
tonight from Ireland.
We had a light meal when Alfred arrived , a few scoops and off to the bed.......zzzzzzzzz
 
Tuesday 18th aug
06.30 early rise as we were playing the golf at 08.10 and it takes 1/2 an hour to get to the club ,
 A beautifull day, we all played good golf, but alfred took the money.....I was gobsmacked. as Aileen nearly always gets the cash..
We met Tony Foran for lunch in the club and arranged another game with him the following thursday.
We also arranged with Alfred a trip to the Clarinbridge Oyster festival in 2012 ..  something to keep a bit of interest in life..
We had a duck dinned back at bermuda beech that night.. yum yum
 
A few glasses of wine and off to bed..  zzzzzzzzz
 
Wednesday 19th Aug
Slow get up, lazy breckfast, a bit of tidy up  and went to marbella to collect our own car, which was in for a service,. we also had to get a switch fitted
to the car to turn off the battery when we were not around. otherwise the thing would be flat everytime we went to spain.
We went to our favourate restaurant " aroya Hhondai " that night and had a great meal as usual , had to catch up with the owners , Christian and Norikka
and their new ( 8 months at least ) son Charlie,
Very warm weather, 30 degrees
 
 
Thursday 20th Aug,
06,30 Up again and off to the golf club . met Tony Foran and played the golf, and guess what , that tipp man ( Alfred ) took the money again.
again another beautifull day, A tour around the locality after lunch and we met TONY and MARY for dinner in the golf club that night.
Back to bermuda beech for a night cap and bed.     zzzzzzzzzz
 
 
Friday 21st Aug
09.00 Up again and after a light breckfast , a discussion with the cleaner, we left bermuda beech again bound for Lagos in Portugal.
After 4 and1/2 hours we reached our destination, THE BOAT ,  It had all its pipework to and from the loo's replaced and some other things put right.
some of the halyards had also been replaced, acording to the rigger , most of the halyards were older than the boat, and some one had obviously
removed the originals. this applied to the sails also.
We went ashore for a meal later and then the superbunk.... zzzzzzz
 
Saturday 22nd
Crew Stephen,Aileen, Alfred,
Sub crew:-  The Martins from Cork,   Richard, Etta, Rachel, Paul, Simon,
The day was beautifull again, we left the marina about 11.oo hrs .. went out under the opening footbridge and went west for a while, The sea
was dead flat, we saw flying fish ,which was not only exciting for the big people , but can you imagine the excitment of the kids..
later, having passed a few dolfins, we went back tto Alvor ,where  we went for a trip in the rib with the children taking turns to drive.
Of course we went for a swim, or lots of them, and then Alfred the fisherman dad to get into fishing with Paul and Simon, Alfred enjoyed it as much as the kids did.  WE had a bit of excitment with the anchor,, it would not lift with the new up and down controls put in in Cork, however it did work with the buttons on the steering column.  it turned out  later that the wire connections in the bow had corroded away, and these were new,
 
Any we made it back to the marina in Lagos and we all, includind the Martins went to the Indian for a meal, those children were so well behaved, it was a pleasure having them on board, all credit to Etta and Richard.
 
By the way. Richard is a DIRECT decendant of Charles Darwin.. how about that. However I am a direct decendant of Gladys Leach,
and she is still going strong at 92 +  ...well done gladys
 
The Martins went off to their place in Alvor by taxi and we made our way back to the boat by foot. 
 
 
The super bunk ....zzzzzzz
 
 
Sunday 23rd Aug
We went to mass in the local church on the hill , afterwards we walked around the town and generally took it easy for the day,
We were invited to the Martins resort for dinner so we all spruced ourselves up and got a taxi at about 7 pm.
They were staying in a real luxouras place ( SPELLING )  we had loads to talk about, god after one day you would think we would be cleaned out of 
conversation, but no, and much much more to come. mind you the CHARLES DARWIN thing gobbled up lots of time..   I have been pushing Aileen
 to come up with some interesting " blue blooded " relations that we could hang off.. ( she is working on it. )
It is really impressive, A straight line decendent of Charles, and whats more, his mother is also good looking and just as interesting.
Enough , we had a great night and it was late when we got back to the boat.
 
crashed out in the superbunk....zzzzzzzzz
 
 
Monday 24th aug
05.00  Alfred got the taxi to Faro airport for his flight back to Dublin
Stephen and Aileen got up at a slower pace
We spent the day talking to the boat yard plus a roam around the town.
We cooked on board that night and had an earley night.
 
 
Tuesday 25th aug
11.00 We were joined on board by the Martins, This time we were going on a cruise to Albufeira
Again the weather was just perfect, off we all went  with a nice breeze behind us,  but the kid were dissapointed that Alfred the fisherman had gone home and deserted them.. when we arrived ,the kids went off with their dad in the rib for a bit of fishing and exploration, the skipper prepared a meal which was duly demolished by all on board, thank god for " uncle ben " sauces and rice plus a bit of home cooking, and the cats my aunt,
The harbour was facinating, cut out of a cliff, worth a visit
 
later we went on a tour of the marina village.visited an art gallery, with all these sensual paintings, which were greatly admired by all males present.
that night there was great excitment about the sleeping arrangments for the younger members,,
there was a great night of gentle prrrrrrrrzzzzzrrrrrrr
 
Wed 26th