Another beautiful hot day.  Can’t complain about the weather.  Washed and polished IOLA until she gleamed today – very proud of my efforts.  Various boats have come and gone over the last 2 days.  Our German neighbours, with two dogs, have moved on, but we have new French boats beside us.  I saw a monohull leaving earlier today with both a blue ensign and an ARC flag, so we will no doubt bump into them again soon.  From tomorrow, the ARC net starts.  This is an unofficial network which runs from 1 August, and allows ARC vessels to get to know each other over the short wave radio.  It presumes I can get the thing working which is not obvious – I have done the course and passed the test, but it was some time ago and am definitely rusty. 

 

We visited John Moore’s tomb today.  He was instrumental in securing a safe retreat for British troops in the 19th Century, and was buried in a mausoleum in some gardens.  Very impressive, and was being used today by a Spanish family’s confirmation.  Did get a snapshot of the young man in his finest.  Later, we decided to visit the planaterium.  Having studied the handouts from the tourist office, telling us it was open till 10 pm, we duly arrived on our bikes around 8 pm.  Oh dear – they shut at 8 pm!  They have been trying to get the tourist office to update their info to no avail for 2 years!  In fact, it would all have been in Spanish and of little use to us.  I think our computer program will show us the stars we hope to see on the ARC quite successfully.  The Planatarium is on top of a hill.  Hard work on the bikes going up, but what a whizz coming down!

 

Supper tonight was 5 star a la carte!  Lesley cooked Waitrose medallion steaks in a gorgeous mushroom sauce with “pommes vapeur” and beans.   All washed down with a suitable glass of  “grape juice” – a perfect end to a beautiful day.

 

Weather favourable for the next few days, and hopefully batteries tomorrow (monday).