Sorry for the delay in keeping the blog up to date - John is having trouble
keeping up with his expanded duties as skipper, chief nurse, cook, laundry
walah, and tour guide, to mention but a few. Yesterday we left in the car at
about 0900 and headed across the border into Spain. Interesting - there are
no checks on the Gibraltar side but the Spaniards are still checking cars
and passports. No real hassle and I guess they are just making their point.
Its a cheek really as they have two enclaves in Morocco which are identical
to Gibraltar and which they will not even discuss! We headed up the Costa
Del Sol and stopped for a coffee at Escapona which was a nice little village
with a small marina. It was almost entirely populated with British and
whilst attractive from a visual point of view we could not see any reason to
stay. The marina shop was well stocked so we did pick up some basic part for
the boat. Little were we to know at that stage that the further we
progressed up the coast towards Malaga the more we entered a high population
density of Brits. All the hotels and Cafes were titled in English and if you
blinked you would have little idea you were in Spain. It was nevertheless a
pleasant drive up the coast and we went through the centre of Malaga and out
the other side to find a little restaurant on the sea that served a lovely
Spanish light lunch.We decided we had seen enough of extended Britain and by
1430 headed back down towards the rock which was by then 200+ kilometres
away. Again it was pleasant drive back and it was interesting to see that on
the Spanish maps they do not even use the name Gibraltar which was initially
a little confusing. However the road signs did pick up the sign about 30 Km
out and we had no difficulty finding our way back and redelivered the car at
about 1700. Tim and Denise from Friendship were still alongside having been
delayed in the lift out. So - they can on board and we consumed a few drinks
before heading to our local cafe on the quay for dinner.
This morning we dutifully headed for the hospital only to find the A & E
unit closed due to a swine flue scare. They sent us off to another unit
where Anita's dressing was changed. It is still not ready for the stitched
to come out and is also still leaking a bit. So we are back up there
tomorrow for another inspection. Hopefully all will be well by Friday as we
really do need to start back to Smir on Saturday.The rest of the day was
spent getting a Burger King, which we had decided we had a craving for and
working on the boat in the afternoon. We have invited Tim and Denise over
for drinks tomorrow evening and may even cook on board albeit something
simple.
