Fai Tira - Fai Tira still in Gibraltar Friday 16/10 36:08.98N 5:21.30W

Fai Tira still in Gibraltar Friday 16/10 36:08.98N 5:21.30W

Fai Tira

pete.callis53@googlemail.com

Fri 16 Oct 2009 19:56

Fai Tira Blog

Fai Tira in Gibraltar Friday 16/10 36:08.98N 5:21.30W

All

Well we have been here in Gibraltar for nearly a week now. We had attended a couple of seminars. We have had our boat safety checked which we passed with flying colours. We have also been exploring a bit. I will not bore you with lots of details of the discussion groups but let you know what we have been doing as part of this adventure.

Tuesday.

We did some maintenance work on Fai Tira and then decided to find a chandler in Spain. So we got on our bikes and headed over the boarder which is only about half a mile away. We followed the precession of cars and mopeds crossing the middle of the runway that were headed in a relentless mission to evacuate the rock. After finding the tourist information office in the border town of La Linea we cycled through the old bit of the town and then headed for the industrial zone. After riding around the estate for ages we eventually found the chandlers.

We then headed for the beach area and followed the coast back to Gibraltar which gave us spectacular views of the rock with oragraphic and lentular cloud over the summit. We rode though a really rough and ready fishing village which we later found out was out of bounds to tourist only a couple of years ago. We headed back over the border and crossed the runway yet again to head back to Fai Tira in time for yet another party. We had a great time at the Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club and got to meet new arrivals to the BWR. We returned to the marina and were invited onto Paul and Denny’s beautiful Swedish boat. I fell asleep as usual and had to be a party pooper whilst John parted on returning back to Fai Tira three am.

Wednesday.

I recovered from the party whilst John did some jobs.

Thursday.

We did some more maintenance work on Fai Tira and then decided to ride to the top of the rock on our bikes. Are we mad? We set off at midday and headed up and up and up. It was hot and sticky and so was the weather!! He He. We had to run the gauntlet of the apes which were actually quite friendly. We arrived at the top after one and a half hours completely knackered.

Onwards and Upwards Mum Dad and a little Monkey

Near the Top The only people on bikes

Completely Knackered Our Marina and Airport

We headed back down and I visited the Great Siege tunnels built in 1782 by the British to hold off a combined Spanish and French force.

Big Gun Dig it man

STOP WHO GOES THERE The Cavern

We carried on down the rock and passed through the old bit of Gibraltar and stopped for a quick beer before returning to Fai Tira for a quick shower before getting ready to head back up the rock to do some caving.

The cave was spectacular. It was formed in the Durasic period and was full of stalagmites and stalactites not to mention curtains and coral formations. I have been in quite a few caves, but we agreed this was the best system we had ever been in. We had a brilliant guide called Tito and he not only made it interesting but also entertaining. The cave was not the normal tourist attraction it was a technical descent into magnificent caverns using just ropes to hang onto before crawling through narrow passages.

John all prepared Show me the ropes

Down Below The mites go up. The Tights come down

The most exciting bit was negotiating a lake by walking around the edge on a shelf only three inches wide. There were nine of us on the adventure and we all really enjoyed it. We returned to the marina via an Italian restaurant completely tired out.