13^th April  MARINA DEL ESTE

36 43.7 N  03 43.4 W

Had a coffee and toast in the sunshine, generally mooched about. Then Nick decided to venture the 4 km road over the hill to La Herredura, a village in a bay just to the west of the marina. I said I’d catch him. I’d been wanting an engine service and an impeller check when I could fit one in, so I wandered over to the Varaderos working by an office with a Volvo sign on it. It was 11.45.

By 14.30 the engine had been serviced, impeller cover was badly worn, it and impeller replaced – and they even sprayed the replacement cover in Volvo marine green to match the rest of the engine. Two guys, very cheerful and helpful, chatting away in broken English about work in Spain and London, holidays in Bali and so on.

Really good service.

I then set off to find Nick, who had installed himself in a bar by the beach at La Herredura. The road uphill was steep, but the sky was blue and you could smell the pines, and at the top you could just, very very faintly see Gibraltar, past Estepona. The bay was stunning, the sea green and blue – there were loads of villas – but some of them were in superb positions, really high quality.

I found Nick about to devour a plate of frittura (having already demolished another tomato and avocado salad) and having embarked on a local wine (he’ll remember the name, I forget). So I got a salad and joined in. The wind was getting up, justifying our day in port. Around our table (inside one of those plastic/glass shelters they build round cafes in Spain,) hopped a one legged sparrow, so I fed him some crumbs which he sped off with rapidly. Outside a disconsolate seagull stood, the wind ruffling his feathers, a length of fishing line about 9 inches long protruding from his mouth, which he kept trying, unsuccessfully, to swallow.

We managed to get a taxi back to the marina, and had a fairly substantial dinner at Restaurant Barco on the quayside.