Friday 7^th October, 2016

Cala Fornells, Menorca, Spain 40 02.9N  04 12.1E

A Joint Blog by David  and Richard (Time zone: BST+1; UTC +2)

It rained yesterday, very heavily. Then it rained, more heavily and for longer. After that, it rained heavily.  Oh, did we mention the thunder, lightning and the 35+kts squalls?

After an initial attempt to sail into a light breeze  blowing from exactly wanted to go, we had motored overnight from Barcelona. We had picked Menorca because although rain was forecast in Barcelona it seemed that it would be clear in the islands.  However, as we closed Menorca the morning forecast predicted all manner of bad news most of which proceeded to materialise – right on cue.

Undeterred, Richard and William decided to go and explore Ciutadella (the port where we had moored) “before the rains came” setting off around 10.45.  They sheltered under a parasol outside a café – drinking largely coffee they say - through the worst of it, then bartered for some rain protection:

The proprietor grinned from ear when they entered the shop and smiled even more when they left  - their wallets considerably lighter!

It rained heavily into the evening and night, so much so that David proposed,  rather than us all get soaked going to the restaurant that William and Richard had carefully selected when they got soaked earlier, we eat one of his signature Thai curries aboard. Beer, gin, white wine, red wine and brandy all provided the perfect accompaniment to the curry, along with a few episodes of Spooks. We had made a pact not to discuss Brexit last night …………………

This morning, we explored Ciutadella which is a small but pretty town which has been occupied by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Aragonese. It was repeatedly attacked by pirates, including a Turkish one called Barbarossa. (Richard insists that he has Barbarossas in his family tree so we are a little wary of him at the moment.)! ^{Note 1}

The British were the last invaders and basically closed Ciutadella down and moved the islands administrative centre to to Mahon.

After a slow start to the day, an  hour’s motoring in sunshine took us to Cala Morell. No mushrooms there  but a large cooked brunch of bacon, eggs, sausages and tomatoes in a mushroom shaped bay.

Errr.   That’s it

Notes

1              Barbarossa is also a type of grape  used by Italian wine makers (Ed.)