We follow Rose & Brian's cruise as they sailed from Holyhead in the summer to the Mediterranean, and then onwards...

As planned, we stayed in Almerimar for over two weeks.  The Eberspacher parts were finally ordered from the UK by the chandlers – it would have been faster to do it ourselves so that is a lesson learned.  The Spanish dealer in Madrid helpfully emailed parts lists which we were given, but they didn’t seem to match up with what we wanted.  Anyway the exhaust tube kit and outlet tube, filters and plug finally arrived and Brian spent an uncomfortable afternoon and morning fitting it all back together.  We tested it and it worked much better than before as the glow plug filter had been all but completely encrusted in scale.

We managed to stay an extra day in Gibraltar despite the threatened eviction for the forthcoming regatta while we continued to re-stock and I paid a visit to the “Rock”. I went with fellow sailors from Rampage with whom we had been barricaded in Barbate.  We managed to get into St Michael’s Cave which was amazing – huge stactites and stalagmites in winding passages opening into a huge cave similarly encrusted which is used as an auditorium.  The tunnels at the other end of the rock were closed when we got there, but it gives the impression that the whole place is almost hollow.

I hadn’t realised how long it had been since I last wrote up our voyage notes for Sailers [Not helped by the Editor's absence in September! - Ed].  Time flies when you are having fun!  From La Coruna we carried on south in fits and starts, stopping at Camarinas, Pedras Negras, Bayona, Viana do Castelo, Leixoes, Cascais, Sines, Lagos, Vilamoura, Cadiz and now Barbate.  

Our time spent in La Coruna was occupied with finding supplies both of victuals and items to service the anchor windlass after Brian had fixed the initial problems.  The gear oil had become contaminated with water (the anchor locker drain hole had blocked and the whole thing was awash for a time until we discovered it!) and was also very low.  The roller arrangement that the chain runs over was also a problem, in that it rotates and lifts the chain above the gypsy when winching in, so the chain would slip off and run out again!  An M12 bolt was required – not available in our collection. 

Benodet to La Coruña – via the Bay of Biscay

While in Benodet we waited for a nice westerly breeze to set in for a few days for our Biscay crossing – and waited, and waited for almost a week. We had decided to give up and head east along the Breton coast to L’Orient, La Rochelle or possibly Belle Isle. But I mulled this over and thought that this would add another two weeks at least to our journey to the Med if not more – and I wanted to be somewhere warm! So I persuaded Brian to look at the Biscay crossing against the weather map on a 6 hour plot to see what the wind looked like at each position.