Alcoutim Saturday
Thursdays Child
Robin & Joanna Minchin
Sat 13 Dec 2014 21:33
007:28.110W
Re-anchored in Alcoutim
Gentle rain all night then during breakfast torrential rain and strong wind making TC "sail" around her anchor at the change of tide, then HORROR, Bol noticed our neighbour's boat through the porthole about a foot away ~ he was also sailing around his anchor! Etiquette meant that as we were last to anchor we had to move.
Fortunately this hadn't happened in the night, unfortunately it happened during an absolute downpour. However, we are now short distance further downstream and can swing freely and the damp cabin has damp clothes hanging off every hook.
Then followed a very pleasant morning cooking mince pies with the children. Having not bought mincemeat with us from the UK, we had to start from scratch concocting a rather creative mix of dried fruit available locally, which together with Granabelle's orange pastry recipe were delicious ~ two hours to make, about two minutes to hoover!
This afternoon we went to the Spainish town of Sanlucar de Guadiana, opposite Alcoutim, for a walk about. They have an interesting-sounding tradition of the Kings on January 5th which we hope to be around for.
A lifetime treat came around dusk; we rowed up a little river that leads through Alcoutim and spotted a Kingfisher. Drifting slowly up to it we managed to get within 10ft of it perched on a low hanging reed. Then to our delight it hopped even closer to us before dipping into the water for a fly, then back onto its branch and shook its feathers dry. We all froze, absorbed by the moment, it was an utterly exquisite sight so close up and the experience must have lasted about two minutes. It was a real highlight of our River trip so far and ended the day on a real high.
