Barcelona

Betsy and Tan in Madrid Highlights of the winter (in chronological order) were meeting my dear friend Betsy in Madrid, Christmas and New Year with Tan's daughter and son-in-law at their villa in Marbella. Derek's 80th birthday party in Wales, visiting my daughter Emma and meeting my 2nd grandson for the 1st time and catching up with friends Debbie and Colin, seperately.

Projects undertaken this winter included cleaning and doing maintenance on the two toilet holding tanks (unpleasant job) and mounting the solar panel array.

Our sojourn to Madrid on the 21st October was planned well in advance. I'd received an email from Betsy, a dear, lovely old friend from my California days, that she was doing a tour of Spain and Portugal and would it be possible to meet. Betsy and her late husband Max were like family to me, to the extent that I named my son after him (Timothy Max).

After reviewing her whirlwind itinerary, the only possible place we could meet was Madrid and only for a day. Flying was out of the question, it takes most of the day to get through the airport so the train was favoured apart from the cost. It would have been more than four hundred euros for both of us to take the high speed AVE train both ways so I opted for the overnight train to Madrid with the AVE back. MISTAKE!

Although I'd booked the best fully reclining seats in an empty compartment on the overnight train, it didn't quite work that way. When we got to our reserved seats there were already three north African's in residence. They were pleasant and moved to other seats in the compartment and when the ticket inspector arrived and determined they didn't have the correct tickets he let them stay because they were not going far. They talked a lot! The real problem came when two of them missed their stop and had to stay on the train for another three hours before the next station. Finally they left. We arrived in Madrid at 07:40 somewhat bedraggled but looking forward to breakfast after getting cleaned up. Madrid's Chamatin station is grim! It is dirty, the toilets are grim, so Tanya was grim. We had coffee and tea in the station then took the metro to the station closest to Betsy's hotel and breakfasted at a café near the hotel.

Rachel & Sophia opening Christmas presents It was wonderful to see Betsy again, we hadn't seen each other since I was last in California almost ten years ago and she had brought family photo's with her so we spent some time catching up. Betsy and Tan hit it off well together but I never doubted that. Betsy had only one specific thing to achieve in Madrid and that was to take a photo of the football stadium for a friend. We shepherded her through the Metro system to the stadium, got several photo's then back to the city centre for lunch.

We found a reasonable menu-del-dia at a restaurant in Placa Mejor of all places, after which we strolled around a little and had tea and coffee at a cafe. Our return train was from Madrid's Atocha station, a much cleaner and nicer station. The high speed AVE was fantastic, reaching 302 km/h. It was so quiet and stable you could be forgiven for thinking the train had stopped until you looked out the window! We arrived early and after a minor scramble at Barcelona Sants station we caught a train to Barcelona Franca with a few seconds to spare and were back on the boat a mere three hours after leaving Madrid. The first order of business was to have a good long shower.

The Christmas tree Autumn was unseasonably warm and sunny until the end of October when the showers and thunderstorms arrived, even so we didn't need any heating until the 6th November and then only for an hour in the morning but at least it stayed dry (mostly) for a pontoon party which was well attended.

The boat show opened on the 5th November to a showery grey day. As always it is in two locations, the boats on the water being here at Port Vell, the larger part of the show being indoors at the huge exhibition halls on Gran Via with free busses to connect. I went to the indoor exhibition on the 7th and was disappointed. A few years ago the show occupied five exhibition halls, last year only two, this year still two but they weren't fully utilised, a section of each hall having been screened off. The weather improved during the week and when the show closed on Sunday the 13th there was no fanfare of boat horns to celebrate as has been the occasion a couple of years ago.

On the 8th November we were back to shorts and T-shirt weather but at this time of year a blast of heating first thing in the morning is welcome . Many rumours abound about the changes to convert the marina into a super-yacht haven. Lack of fact breeds rumour, however what is fact at the moment is that the floating pontoons A and B (10 to 12 metre berths) are being cleared of boats ready to start work after the boat show. Several live-aboards we know have already moved to other marina's but it is especially stressful for people still here whose boat is also home and their livelihood depends on working on other boats (legitimately).

Izzy with her new dolls house Several days ago I noticed that Kathai, John and Da's boat was on our pontoon , it transpired that he sold his boat far quicker than anticipated, not surprisingly, since it was in such good condition and had lots of extras, so it was here waiting for it's new owner. John came back from Thailand early via Scotland to collect his car and empty the boat of personal effects. It was a pleasure to see John again and enjoy his company over an evening meal. The following night was the eve of Tan's departure to Wales and John came with us to the all you can eat "BWOK" which I've mentioned before. A couple of days later John left in his car loaded to the gunnels after bestowing us with lots of good quality surplus items, much to Tan's dismay as to "where we will stow it all"!

While Tan was away, I had several jobs to do on the boat – none of them pleasant. The most significant was to clean the holding tanks and refurbish some of the pipe work. We have two holding tanks, one for each toilet, which are used when we are at anchor and discharged when at sea. The work did not go well (for the technical details click here) and was not completed before the Admiral returned, much to her dismay.

Last year Marina Port Vell and several surrounding areas were bought by Salamanca Capital Investments who's stated intent is to make it the largest super-yacht marina in the Mediterranean. This year work has started in earnest. By the 21st November pontoon A (for boats under 10m) had gone and by the 25th all boats had moved from pontoon B and likewise it was removed piece by piece until by early December it too had gone.

I signed our contract with the marina and paid for six months a couple of days after arriving in October and it went "upstairs" for signature by the marina which can take several days. After a month without a duly signed contract I was getting a little concerned due to the rapid changes and lack of information. Despite having paid for 6 months, without a signed contract they could ask us to leave and refund the difference. I have no doubt that this was paranoia on my part but to ensure continued good nights sleeps I went to the office daily to enquire if my contract had been signed, on the third day it was. It was all done in good humour, including my offer to set up camp there!

Marbella

We spent Christmas and New Year in Marbella at Rachel & Andy's lovely villa. Marbella is several degrees warmer than Barcelona and the days are almost an hour longer – I could get used to it! Tan had a lovely surprise when her son Glyn and girlfriend Emma also came for a couple of days so she had the whole family there. There was some serious construction work in progress prior to Christmas, Andy and I constructed a large patio heater as used by restaurants but the instructions were terrible! On Christmas Eve Santa's local helpers (Glyn, Emma and Andy) were hard at work assembling a large doll's house for Isabella.

Gaucin The Christmas tree was spectacular, black with silver decorations and blue lights and surrounded by gifts. The opening of which on Christmas morning started at a very reasonable hour and amid much excitement and enthusiasm continued for quite some time. In due course Rachel prepared a superb Christmas meal, so good that no-one had room for pudding! After a slow start on boxing day we all had a very nice lunch at a restaurant on the beach where Isabella presented Tan with several onions which grow wild on the sand-dunes.

After Glyn and Emma left, we baby-sat Tan's two grand-daughters (4 year old and 17 months) for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year while Rachel & Andy went skiing. The girls were very good and it seems that changing nappies is like riding a bike – once you lean you never forget! We both enjoyed looking after the girls but I hope Tan doesn't get pregnant!

Rachel & Andy - New Year's Eve I had pre-booked a hire car at Marbella airport so we were independent. Apart from being very useful for shopping, we went to some of the towns and villages in the Sierra mountains. Our first excursion after dropping Glyn and Emma at Malaga airport was to the town of Velez-Malaga, a typical provincial town with comprehensive range of shops, bars and restaurants and an old historical area. The most notable thing for me was the quantity of oranges growing on the trees lining the streets. Pleasant but not outstanding so we went to the coastal town of Nerja where we had a light lunch. Apart from a considerable number of British ex-pats the town was quiet but would no doubt be busy in summer.

Our next outing was to the town of Gaucin, dazzling white buildings with very narrow streets perched on the side of a mountain. Our first encounter was with two donkeys laden with building materials being led up-hill, it reminded me of the Greek island of Hydra. Gaucin is a lovely clean town whose friendly residents obviously take great pride in their community. Beautifully illustrated acrylic plaques showing different birds of the area and giving information in two languages were positioned around the town. Tourism from walkers and cyclists is probably the back-stay of the economy here. We had a very nice lunch in the small town square sitting outside in the sunshine and breathing fresh mountain air.

Gran Tan and Isabella Although it was getting late, we took a detour to Casaris on the way back. Another white town but this time straddling a steep sided ravine between two hillsides. Tan went for a stroll and discovered a gem of a traditional mountain village with hidden shops and profusion of flowers.

Our last outing to Monda was disappointing. Apart from the old Arab wash house there was little else of interest and we thought it dirty and unkempt. We sat on a bench in the sunshine while Tan began to master the new iPad Rachel and Andy had given us for Christmas. On the way back we took a narrow twisting road down the mountain to the village of Ojan which looked very nice but it was too late for us to stop and look around.

Prior to our visit to Rachel's I was a little apprehensive, twelve days off the boat was going to be the longest since we left in 2003. As it happened, my apprehension was groundless and I had a wonderful time – many thanks to our hosts.

Barcelona again

Core sample drill rig Soon after we got back Tan contracted a bad cold which progressed to heavy bouts of coughing and generally laid her low for well over two weeks. We celebrated Rachel's Birthday (18th January) by Tan treating me to an excellent menu-del-dia at one of our favourite places (Casa Pasqual). Two weeks of interrupted sleep and a full tummy wiped me out. I was in bed by 18:30 and rose next day at 10:00 fully recovered.

Continuing the saga of the marina transformation - December 15th saw the landward third of pontoon C severed from the rest of the pontoon and from the land. The orphan bit of pontoon was then rotated by 90 degrees by two large RIBs, one end was connected to pontoon D whilst the other was connected to the seaward side of pontoon C forming a link. It now looks like a capital H with the right leg sawn off below the crossbar. To access boats on pontoon C you go down pontoon D, turn right and across the link to pontoon C. he changes were made so that heavy floating equipment has access to the dockside to perform the necessary shoring-up work to halt the gradual sinking of the quay. Core samples from several places around the marina were taken from a barge with a mobile drilling rig onboard. The barge has long tubular legs which can be lowered to the seabed to keep it in place while drilling.

Glyn annd Emma 2012 started with lovely warm sunny weather through most of January but February opened with cloud, rain and cold. The extreme cold weather most of eastern Europe was suffering arrived with overnight temperatures dipping below zero. In the north of Barcelona there was snow for several days and Rachel called to tell us that it reached -2 degrees in Marbella. Several more boats left Port Vell for other Marina's in January and February.

February also saw the project to mount the solar panel array. We experimented with two solar panels last summer but they weren't permanently mounted which was very inconvenient. Solar panels are coming down in price but the cost of mounting them is going up and can cost more than the panels themselves. I bought a third panel and decided to make the mounting myself. Six metres of 25mm tube, two metres of 12mm tube, numerous fitting, and even more nuts and bolts all in stainless steel went into the construction. The electrical work involved 10 metres copper cable and an MTTP solar regulator. Solar panels generate over 17 volts whereas batteries can only be charged at a maximum of 14.2 volts so the MTTP converts the unused power to higher current at lower voltage increasing solar output by 10% to 30%. Pete and Debbie (Paradox) gave me a hand to do the final mounting of the panels on the supporting poles. Pete was the lifter and Debbie was the Puller but despite all my planning it didn't go well. The electical cables should have pulled through the tubes easily with the strings (called a mouse) I had istalled - but that was not the case thus adding credence to the proverb "That the best laid schemes of mice and men".

Derek with Tan, me, Sue, and Helen The 26th February was a glorious warm sunny day which made the Barceloneta Carnival procession even more special with the people jubilant in their colourful costumes. As usual there was a diverse mix of themes from the locals, including a priest jazz band, gangsters, three blind mice, ladybirds, turtles and marching bands, There were also several spectacular displays of traditional dancing from different parts of South America, all of which were in full tradition costume. It is heartening to see that regardless of origin the participants span two or three generations from grandchild to grandparent. The music, colour, and motion blended to create a memorable experience.

Meanwhile work on converting the marina continues, huge circular saws dissected the concrete quay in front of the Museum of Catalunya into giant rectangular slabs. A barge made of 13 metal cubes strapped together in a 3 x 4 + 1 configuration was used to float the slabs to the other side of the marina where a 12 wheel crane lifted them off. The operation was ingenious. First, water was pumped into the cubes until the barge could be slid under the quay, then water was pumped out until the slab was lifted up above quay level and slid out. All went well until one day when 3 of the cubes broke loose and the barge sank in 10m water. Fortunately no-one was hurt and divers with floatation bags assisted by a floating crane raised the barge and operations continued.

U.K.

Arran and Sam making fresh pasta with mum 2nd March we flew back to the UK to visit family and friends and for Derek's eightieth birthday party. While in Wales we visited Jackie and Barry and Tan's sprightly 84 your old aunt Mary and Tan's cousin and his wife. Derek's party was a great success with over 70 of his friends and family attending and it was nice for me see Derek again and to catch up with Sue and Helen. We enjoyed Glyn and Emma's hospitality for a few days before I drove down to Hampshire to stay with Emma, Sherwin and my two lovely grandsons while Tan stayed in Wales to visit her friends and family. Apart from seeing my family, I also got to spend special time with Debbie and with Colin and his new family, including the new baby.

and Barcelona again

It still amazes me just how quickly the seasons change here. March started chilly at night but lots of sunshine in the day, by mid-March we were up 20C and by the end of March the suntan lotion and sunglasses were deployed although the wind could still have quite a bite. Work on the boat in preparation for departure around 12th April is intensifying.

Apart from being a general strike in Spain the 29th was quite eventful for us. My long awaited and disputed tax rebate came through in full. Tan thought she had her handbag stolen, fortunately she had her credit cards in her pocket but the bag contained her expensive bifocal glasses and a mobile phone. I called the phone and it rang which puzzled me because a thief would have turned it off. I went back to the last shop she was in and called the phone, nothing. I searched all the bins in the area, calling the phone and listening, nothing. I finally gave up and came back to boat. Tan was obviously upset and very concerned about the loss of her good glasses. In desperation as Tan was leaving the boat, I sent a text message to her stolen phone asking that the glasses be returned. She heard a phone proclaiming it had a text message. It was hers. Her bag hadn't been stolen, it had fallen under a large fender on the quay while she was unloading her bicycle. What a relief!

Weed on bottom of boat Normally we would have been invited to put down a deposit for next winter but with the conversion to a super-yacht park this has not happened. However, due to the contractors having difficulty getting some planning authorisations several boat owners who were originally told they had to leave by the end of April are being offered a berth until September. Our contact at port Vell ended on the 12th and although we could have stayed we decided that if we have to pay for a berth we may as well check other marinas. So we went to Badalona, 5 miles to the north and had a good look around. It's well connected to Barcelona and is the up and coming place.

The journey should have been uneventful but a small one man sports catamaran (Hobie cat) came from behind us with the intention of crossing very close across our bow, when he realised he couldn't do it he aimed directly at our midships expecting me to do some dramatic course change. I didn't. Because he came from behind I had right of way even though he was under sail, nevertheless I got a mouthful of abuse.

The boat was very sluggish, probably due to weed growth on the hull so we arranged to have it lifted and power washed at Badalona on Tuesday (Monday was fully booked). We employed Qnautic, a small local company to do the power wash and they also helped us negotiate the best lift out price. While they were doing the power wash Tan and I cleaned the prop and replaced anodes. Qnautic did an excellent job and I would recommend them to anyone. However, some of the primer paint we applied four years ago has peeled off so we will have to have a proper lift out and paint job next winter.

Clean bottom The port of Badalona is quite compact but the berth we were in was uncomfortable even when using our mooring lines with the shock absorbers primarily because we were perched near the outer end of a pontoon. The facilities are quite good especially the showers which are large private units each with it's own toilet, shower, and hand basin. The town is a large sprawling affair a couple of miles away and separated from the Marina by a railway track. There is a regular bus service and its in easy cycling distance. In the opposite direction there is a large Alcampo supermarket and train and tram station a ten minute cycle ride away. Badalona is busy converting itself from heavy industry to a tourist and commuter zone and much work and money has been spent but it's lacking a cohesive feel.

We used Monday to check out port Ginesta some 20 miles south of Barcelona. We took the train to Casteldefells, the nearest town and immediately fell in love with it. The town is compact and has a nice feel. It has everything we need for provisions with all the familiar shops and supermarkets. Unfortunately the Marina is quite a distance from the town but we decided to take the boat there for a few days to get first hand experience.

It was an ignominious departure from Badalona on Thursday, the fairway between our pontoon and the next is very narrow and the slime lines share a common ground-tackle chain down the centre leaving very little room to manoeuvre for a boat of our draught. Despite the wind being light we were still blown onto the slime lines and had to call for help because using our engine and prop would have risked tangling or cutting the a slime line as we have witnessed other boats do on numerous occasions. Eventually the port RIB arrived and after a few false starts towed us off.

The sea-state was very uncomfortable for the first part of the passage so we debated putting into Port Vell on our way past and forego Ginesta but we both decided to persevere, the sea-state improved and we covered the 25 miles in good time. In contrast to Badalona, Ginesta is huge with over 1500 berths, it takes a good 15 minutes to walk from the boat to the marina entrance. The regular bus service winds its way through the steep hillside communities taking 20 minutes to get to the centre of the town of Castelldefels, but as I said it's the town we fell in love with.

22nd April we left for Mallorca.