Sunday morning and spring tides greeted us on our anchorage outside Ayamonte. The plan was hatched to haul up the hook a few minutes before actual low tide and benefit from two connected phenomena; the maximum gap between the water and the imposing suspension bridge a mile upstream and the flood tide to take us up the river.

We had loosely arranged to meet up with Eddie and Claire Proctor, formerly of Nuance, now with  substantial cruising yacht Rubaiyat and are based way up the river Guadiano, a couple of miles downstream from San Lucar.  

We squeezed under the bridge...a truly heart stopping moment, with what looked to us like a few inches to spare, and then motored gently up the river for just over 3 hours....even though we were ostensibly coming up on the flood tide, it seemed merely to slow the current slightly, rather than actually help us over the ground.

After 20 miles or so gently sliding upstream, twisting and turning through dramatic Iberian scenery, with an increasingly hilly landscape dotted with farmsteads and patches of cultivated olive groves, we swung around the last bend to be greeted a view of a charming house, yellow painted, perched a little way back from the river, high up. This was the Proctor hacienda!  Rubaiyat was anchored in the river, as was another ketch owned by their friends, Mike and Tracy from Carolina.

Eddie greeted us in his launch and we went ashore to catch up.  The Proctor story slowly unfolded.  After several years, and two different boats, exploring almost every corner of the Med, they came up the Guadiano to explore about a year ago, and have never left!  So attractive is the place, that they are now in the process of putting roots down by buying the yellow house on the Spanish side of the river.

Last night, the house of Proctor hosted an impromptu garden party, perhaps to celebrate the autumnal equinox, and we put a little band together, formed with a number of itinerant and other sailors, many of whom have followed the same path as our hosts, and found this spot in the far south of Europe, difficult to leave.

We all had a whale of a time. Beers and wine flowed, Eddie manned his barbecue and around 30 of us managed to be fed, "watered" and entertained....there was even dancing, (Hildi, Tracy Karen Claire and Trish, with various maracas and some neat steps) such was the conviviality of the atmosphere.

I played bass, using an instrument supplied by Paul, who lives on his huge Baltic trader up at the dock on the Portuguese side of the river. Mike handled the harmonica and wowed us all with a special guest star role as lead vocal  

In a superb rendition of "Sixteen Tons".  Then there was Jacque, from France, or Belgium, who expertly improvised lead guitar on everything, backing up Paul and Hilary, who supplied the equipment and most of the repertoire. Les on banjo was a formidable talent and the surprise was Belgian, Dominic, who added a certain je ne said quoi, with his flute.

The festival atmosphere was enhanced by the inclusion of Valery and her magical hula hoop, who entranced us with her extraordinary display of control and poise. And Adi, a Dutch delivery skipper who showed some talent with his illuminated "gaucho balls". I'll say no more.