The Rock - the Sequel - text then photos

andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Fri 21 May 2010 11:53
The Rock – the sequel (and you thought it hadn’t been made yet!)

It’s been quite a busy time here in Gibraltar and we have had a variety of
things to do. We did go shopping and I was quite restrained really being
just content to window shop up the main street which made a nice contrast
to our trips to Morrisons. We have decided to make some inroads on the
tinned provisions we will need for November and have therefore spent quite
a few trips back and forth dragging our trolley behind us and getting
longer arms from the weight of the food stuff. However as we have
discovered along the way each country has it’s foibles and different food
stuff and it is surprising what you miss (pork pies for one) and in Spain
and Portugal where there is fresh meat readily available they do not seem
to stock tins of meat other than meatballs so it was nice to be able to
get something else for when the fresh food runs out. We now have the
challenge on where to store everything though I am hoping that as we are
starting early we will have time to get inventive.
Our berth in the marina is very interesting as it offers us an
unparalleled view of the airport runway and therefore grand stand views of
aircraft landing and taking off depending on which way the wind is
blowing. Fortunately there aren’t that many each day and not any at
night, so our beauty sleep hasn’t been disturbed. Andrew did indeed make
me a ‘passarelle’ and I hope you will admire the photo – I am sure you
will all want one now.
Along with provisioning and doing the washing etc we suddenly had time for
some sight- seeing as Andrew had lost a day which we suddenly found. On
Sunday we decided to take a taxi tour of the Rock as this was recommended
by the folk on the boat next to us. This proved to be a good idea as
although you can walk every where the various venues are well spaced and
all up and down hill and it was particularly warm. We went along to
Europa point to have a look across at Africa and see where we sailed in to
the bay then it was along to St. Michael’s caves. This was fascinating as
it is a huge cave system which took about 25 mins to walk through. The
cave consists of an Upper Hall filled with stalactites and stalagmites,
connected with five passages with drops of 40-150 feet / 12-45 m to a
smaller hall. Beyond this point a series of narrow holes lead to a further
succession of chambers, reaching a depth of some 250 ft / 62 m. During
WWII the cave was prepared as an emergency hospital, but was never used.
The cave is now opened to visitors and makes a unique auditorium for
concerts, ballet and drama. We took some photos but the flash wasn’t
strong enough and the spaces so huge so you will have to imagine what it
was like. After that we went up to the Apes’ Den and saw the famous
Barbary Apes who all appeared to be very friendly with the taxi drivers
who all came armed with peanuts. Here we could also look over the other
side of the rock where there was a sheer drop to the turquoise sea below.
Our last stop was at the Siege Tunnels where excavation started in the
1780’s to enable them to get cannon up the Rock. The tunnellers relied on
the strength of their arms, on their skills with a sledgehammer and a
crowbar, and were also aided with gunpowder for blasting. In five weeks 18
men had driven a tunnel 8 square feet (2.4sq m) by 82 feet long (25m) into
the Rock. It is interesting to compare this with the record of a fully
mechanised tunnelling company in Gibraltar during World War II, who in a
week advanced 180 feet (55m). It was quite amazing to visit two
underground features in one day, one man made and one made by nature, both
were well worth the visit.
Whilst in Gibraltar we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of our Parasailor
sail and on Monday morning Thomas arrived on the jetty with it. We had
great fun sorting out all the lines and blocks we needed and found Thomas
an absolute mine of information to get things set up then it was out into
the bay to have a play. The sail is gorgeous as you can see from the
photos and we blasted across the bay in 20knots of wind dodging all the
anchored tankers etc. Then it time to turn round and motor back across to
have another go. This time under Thomas’s expert guidance and him being
our ‘auto pilot’ we put the sail up ourselves and then enjoyed another
ride across the bay before getting it back in its snuffer and returning to
our berth. We really think we are going to have a lot of fun with this
and can’t wait to get on our way again to practise a bit more.
Since then we have been doing our bit for the local economy by visiting
the chandlers and buying some nice new rope for our new sail and stocking
up on some blocks that seem to be particularly good value. We also walked
to Spain to La Linea and had a look round. This was very amusing as we
had to walk the runway to get to the border and then stroll through. We
had a brief look round La Linea and then walked down to the marina to
check it out. We could see, when we on our tour, that there was a new
marina being built and we thought it might nearly be finished but from the
ground it is apparent that there is still quite a bit to do before they
will open for mooring but once they do there will be plenty of berths
available. On the way back to Gibraltar we had some great views of the
Rock and the bay and could see 2 huge cruise liners looking like blocks of
flats in the distance. Getting back into to Gibraltar was more difficult
than getting out and fortunately we had taken our passports with us as we
had to show them twice (unlike there being no interest in us leaving). At
the moment the wind is buffeting us about and blowing quite heavily so I
expect it will be Saturday before we go on our way.......time for a few
more shops to Morrisons.......I wonder if the wheels on the trolley will
stand it? Will post some more photos separately.
Susan and Andrew
S/v Andromeda

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