Tintin
in Australia!
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Reflections of a Galley Slave Sue's Reflections up to the Atlantic have been copied here. Start at the top and read your way down or click on the link below. At the bottom of any section either carry on reading or click on "Go to top of Page" to return here.
© 2002-2003 Sue Campbell-Ross except certain photographs taken by Rich Macey and Brian Basset.
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Bonjour 12 May 2002
Sunday,
4th May Dear
everyone We
are now in Le Havre having vomited our way across the channel - well, the girls
in the family anyway! Tintin sailed very beautifully and the skipper is
very, very pleased with her performance. She is very steady and fast.
Yesterday the yard in Le Havre demasted Tintin and we spent today tidying
all of the chaos and mess that that created. The children found some
children of hippies living in a boat in this marina and they have had such fun
running and scootering all over the pontoons. Emily of course, is never
allowed to stray too far from her mama!! All getting used to living in the
boat - children love their cabins and the way of life. School work taking
abit of a back seat at the moment!! The galley slave gets seriously pissed
off with having no hot water, no storage space, no working freezer, (it is there
just doesn't work!) only one plate on the stove working, having to walk miles to
get to the shower block, the smell of diesel that permeates every nook and
cranny AND SO ON!! But smiling through it all - most of the time!
The skipper does get his ear bent from time to time by my verbal
abuse................. well, someone has to take the brunt and guess whose idea
this was in the first place! Sue Next
day (5 May 2002) Pic
attached of Tintin having her mast taken down. An absolute sacrilege taking the
mast off a boat that sails so beautifully. Now in Honfleur after a complete
circus of getting through the lock. All worth it as Honfleur is v. beautiful.
Now in the Seine, we have left the sea behind us and we motor up to Rouen
tomorrow. This will be a long day as there is nowhere to stop for the next
110km. 110km in a car should take an hour, it will take us a whole day! We
might just be forced to eat a little cheese and drink some wine. cheers
all Rod About
a week later (11 May 2002) As you can tell we haven't found a place to send our emails and now discover that the French internet cafe system works completely differently and you can't just go and plug your laptop into a phone point - you have to use their computers only.......... So a big rethink is happening on the email front. Luckily when we get to Paris in a few days time we will send our mail from our friend Kenny's house but then won't probably have a chance again until we get to Provence about 3 weeks later! So please keep sending emails but just expect a long wait for the reply! Anyhow, now disregard the order at the beginning of this letter to send things to Paris - rather don't! We
managed by the skin of our teeth to get into Rouen before you have to stop
motoring on the Seine (9 pm) - it was a long day and only one near beaching! It
is very leisurely motoring along the river watching the world go by.
We explored Rouen the next day - it is a very beautiful Normandy
town with wonderful timber frame houses and a huge cathedral. The children
were gripped by the story of Joan of Arc being burnt at the stake in Rouen
and we visited the sight of this dreadful event. Pippa stood and looked at it
for a minute and then said "Coooooooool"!! Well, it wasn't so
cool for poor Joan. Spent another day on essentials like laundromat,
supermarket and so on. Next day we wandered on to Les Anderlys and
nearly wedged ourselves in the mud in the marina so decided to moor on a barge
mooring and hope for the best. We were luckily not crushed by a barge
mooring on top of us during the night - Rod had given us the Christmas tree
lights look so it would have been a blind barge driver who did. Les
Anderlys is very beautiful but it was pouring with rain so we pressed on to
Vernon - also lovely Normandy town with timber frame houses and wonderful
cathedral. Our friends from Paris came for lunch and so I hit the local
farmers market this morning (with the rest of France - we all had the same
idea!) and got stocked up on delicious stuff. Trundled back to Tintin with
my shopping trolley knowing that nobody I know will drive past and see me.
(It is terribly useful actually................ but don't know how long it will
last given the loads it is expected to carry.) Had fabulous lunch and
walked over to town to have an espresso and show the wonderful cathedral off to
Kenny and Dominique. Staying in a pretty mooring with lots going on around
- Pip and Harry all over the place on their bikes. Emily on her push along
motorbike. Lots of noise! Harry has got bored with just
general bike riding and is constructing ramps to ride over. Consequently,
he now has plasters (the extra big ones) on each knee and elbow. Tomorrow
we ride our bikes to Giverney, the home and garden of Claude Monet and then in
the afternoon press on towards Paris. Sorry
if that all sounds like a blow by blow but just thought I would add it on incase
anyone was interested. Will be in Paris for 4 or 5 days so please email
like mad for the next few days whilst we are there to collect them. Love
to all Sue Next
day: 12 May Lucky
to be alive! Some stupid bloody kids sitting round a fire last night, came
and untied our mooring lines during the night and we woke up this morning
drifting in the river. If you saw how absolutely huge the barges are that
blast up and down the river you would realise how being hit by one of those
would leave not alot in one piece. Anyhow, very angry and upset and shaken
- of course, the frogs couldn't give a toss! Tonight in a lovely marina in
a disused quarry - but anchor is in just incase the idiots have followed us up
here. Read on or Go to top of Page
=================================Storming
the Bastille 18 May 2002
Dear
Everyone Well,
here we are in the centre of Paris - well, centre-ish at the port at Bastille.
It is a brilliant spot to be in as far as getting around is concerned and we
have definantly been getting around. First of all, we thought that we had
been burglared here in the Marina, because the computer disappeared and a huge
amount of heart-ache was expended on the fact that it had been stolen (there is
this little Romanian refugee who is working this port at the moment and stealing
anything not locked down.............. so naturally when we couldn't find it
anywhere we just assumed he had come into our boat too!) - I was
particularly devastated about my e-mails all being lost. As you can
imagine, Rod paid dearly for his mistake of not locking the cabin door and
therefore allowing Mr. Romanian Thief in to steal my computer and take all my
emails with him. I must admit spitting blood probably comes quite close.
Anyway, today Rod was scratching around looking for our canal guide for the
route out of Paris which we intend to take tomorrow and found the computer
lodged behind the books in the bookshelf! We plan to keep very quiet about
it because we gave the "Captainerie" hell about the useless security
which we pay big money for! Anyhow, who cares really - the main thing is
that my emails are back and I am happy again! So back to the journey
proper. We
got to Rueil-Malmaison in time to go to Kenny's house and have a fabulous meal
and evening with them - did my washing, sent my emails, bathed the
children.............. basically made myself at home! The next day
we motored on into Paris to the Bastille. It was pouring with rain as we
left but by the time we began to enter Paris proper the sun came out and shone
gloriously for us. It was seriously cool to be chugging along past all the
landmarks and to see the people (mainly Japanese!!) scratching in their handbags
for their camera's. At one point we had all the children plus Tanya
(Kenny's 19 year old daughter) sitting along the mast and then later sunbathing on the mats
- looked wonderful. It is all very jolly - bateaux mouche come past all the
time and so there is alot of manic waving and holding up of wine glasses.
We squeezed into our mooring which involved some superb steering skill
from the Skipper - not the mention the outstanding back seat driving from the
galley slave. Our neighbours (well, we share a pontoon) are a French
family living here permanently on a barge. They helped direct us into our
mooring and since then we have got on particularly well. We have just been
out to dinner with them tonight. David (pronounced Daarveed) and Marilyn
have had particularly colourful pasts and you know how I do love people with
colourful pasts!! I still haven't managed to get to the bottom of David's
past - lots more to dig up over coffee tomorrow morning before we set off.
Their son, Cedric, and Harry are inseparable - Cedric speaks no English and poor
old Harry can only say "non" and "bonjour", but funnily
enough this makes no difference and considering how they shriek with laughter
for hour on end they must communicate very effectively on another level.
Cedric comes with us on some of our outings and is a dear little thing.
Tanya (Kenny's daughter) seems to like it with us too because she hasn't left
yet. Infact, she is now feeling so at home in Harry's cabin that her
boyfriend is spending the night too tonight!! I wonder if she is coming
the whole way with us. She helps with the housework and is so quiet and
tidy that I hardly notice her anyway. So
day one was the big touristy day - Notre Dame for starters. Harry has
actually been quite traumatised by the fact that we are so close to the
cathedral and I haven't been able to tell him whether the hunchback is
still alive or not............. We had a jolly good look whilst we were
there but saw nothing other than pigeons. Inside the cathedral (for those
who haven't been there) are two totally amazing rose windows. I was
carrying Emily around and she said "Oh look at that web" and then
after a moment or two reflection, said "A big daddy spider must have made
that", and then saw the other one and was delighted because that was
apparently made by the mummy spider. We made our way to the Eiffel Tower
(the Awful Tower to Harry!) and went right up to the top. I hate shooting
up in a lift where you can see out and see the buildings getting smaller and
smaller, but felt fine once I stepped out of the lift. Only feeling
slightly hysterical when Harry tried to climb up the wire around the top.
Pippa had her birthday treat early - hot chocolate (with cream) and a waffle at
the cafe on the second level. We saw for miles - it was great. Day
two we got out the bikes and cycled a disused railway line to the park Vincennes
and cycled all around that and then got lost coming home, but as I said to Rod
at the time, at least I can tell the world I now know all about the heavy
industry and cement works of Paris. Both Pippa and Harry rode into poles
at some point in the journey and Emily had two sleeps, her little head bobbing
around from side to side. Even so it was a great day and the children
just loved it. I was hoping to wake up this morning and find that I
was a stone lighter (we did cover an awful lot of ground) but no
change so far. I have to walk about a kilometre to shower in the morning
or to do my washing and then I always forget something vital, like the washing
powder so I have to walk back again, to flush the loo involves pumping the pump
about 100 times, walking all the way back to the boat with my grocery
shopping is hard labour and still no change in the old body shape. I
am beginning to feel a little let down. Rod promised me I would loose
weight and get slinky doing this and so far it has been a total waste of time on
that score. Anyhow, such is life. Today
has been a children's museum which they loved but which exhausted us. I
hoped since their schooling was so scanty that they might pick up something
educational today, but I don't think much of it really sank in! So
now it is just getting everything ready to set off tomorrow. We will head
out of Paris and make our towards St.Mamme and then onto the Canal du Loing.
We don't have Euan (Rod's brother) anymore. He has gone back to the UK but I suspect
will be back shortly. He was a great help in the locks. Now it is
just down to the Skipper and me. Anticipate alot explosions and marital
discord. Anyway,
again another blow by blow but it seems from the response that blow by blow is
what is wanted! If it is too boring just skip to the bottom.
David (Daarveed) has a phone jack in his barge so we can send this in
the morning. Love
to all and thanks for all your emails - it is my pleasure and delight to
read them. Skipper is paging through his charts but I know he feels
the same. Keep
well all of you and loads and loads of love Sue P.S.
How's this for French restaurants and their attitude to children - we went to a
great cafe tonight with our neighbours and all the children, of course. It
was really getting out of hand at one point, Emily was climbing all over the
place and we had to keep rescuing the glasses and so on. Anyhow, after their meal, the waiter taught Pip, Harry and Cedric how to fold the table
napkins and then said they could redress the table for the next lot of
customers. This kept them so busy and made them feel so important and
helpful. It is questionable whether or not the next lot of customers saw
their handiwork or not, but I thought that was so sweet. No more noise and
jumping around children in an instant. Emily just hovered around holding
her napkin incase anyone tried to fold it but it seemed to keep her happy too. Read on or Go to top of Page
=================================
Sur
le Pont d’Avignon;
17 June 2002 Dear
all, Tonight
we lie rafted up to one boat with another rafted up to the side of us on the
river Rhone. The boat rafted up to us is full of Scandinavian beauties
(all of 13 years old!) who Pippa chatted to and then jumped into the
river with, to cool down. Abit worrying because this is much less of a
river than a torrent - anyway, they all scrambled back up again feeling
refreshed. Then it was get yourself dressed up and made up and off to the
sweety shop. They asked Pippa if she wanted to come which sent her spiraling
down into her cabin frantically looking for something seriously cool
to wear. She then said desperately "Make me beautiful mummy".
I said "You are beautiful", and she said "No mum, with make
up" (Duh!!). Luckily, Tanya (yes, she is back again - no boyfriend -
doesn't like him anymore - he is too young apparently!!) is back and she stepped
in and did a completely satisfactory job on Pippa and so these young things
all sashayed off down the pontoon in the direction of town. Sadly,
it is Sunday evening in France and nothing moves, so they were back soon with
all their money. So,
yes, we are done with the canals and also done with the river Soane and now are
almost at the end of the Rhone. Just looked through the log book to get
some inspiration and to remind myself of where we went after Digion and this
caught my eye (written by Rod), "4 June, Montchanin to Chagny, 23
locks today! Phew! Locked out! Sue fell in, but held on grimly
and hauled herself out." Poor old baggage - yes, I remember that one
and it wasn't funny for me. Anyway, we left the canals and joined the
river Soane just above Chalon but motored through and arrived in Tournus.
What a place! It has an abbey all mixed up in amongst the houses and
little alleyways. We just loved it. Next day was Trevoux -
another completely wonderful town full of ancient buildings and bridges, but
best of all, a huge play area right beside the pontoons! The children
enjoyed the facilities whilst Rod filled up with water - we had run out earlier
in the day! From there we went on to Lyon. Being the
unsophisticated farm girl that I am, I had no idea that Lyon was a place that you
really do want to go to. It is such a fabulous city. I wish I had
known this before! We stayed there a week but during that time I went
to see my friend Abi, who was holidaying in the south of France and also my friend
Cheryl, who lives in Geneva. In between all that we
managed to get a lot of sightseeing done in Lyon too. Our little trips
to see land based friends reminded us how nice it is to live on mother
earth............. well, it reminded me. Staying with Cheryl reminded my
poor children how a perfect mother operates. They cried and cried about
leaving Cheryl. Had I suggested that they stay with her, I think they
would have dropped me like a hot potato!! Cheryl looked after us with
indescribable kindness and generosity, and Geneva will forever be a
"golden" place because of our happy time there. Rod
has been very happy to be back in the rivers again. There is lots of water
under the keel, the rivers are wide - no beaching or being pushed up against the
side when oncoming barges come the other way, no sucking in of leaves and weed
into the water intake system, long stretches between locks and when you
are going downstream, you go fast! Saying that, we are
very glad to have done the canals (even with a little damage done to the boat!!)
and we have enjoyed the experience immensely. It is something which I have
always wanted to do and it is a great holiday for children. They love the
locks and cycling along tow-paths and the gentle pace of life in rural France.
Sometimes we would drop Harry and his bike on the edge of the canal and he would
race along the towpath next to us! It is one of my challenges every day to
try and wear out Harry!! Too much energy in one little body. We have
stayed in some beautiful places and met some very interesting and
lovely people along the way. Also our fair share of peculiar
people too!! Night before last we were in Valence - it was just
so hot that we had to stop earlier than we had planned. For me
it was a real pleasure because as we moored up, I caught a glimpse of the huge
supermarche nearby - aswell as having everything I ever wanted, it was
air conditioned and cool!! In the cafe' area, I met another English
couple who have their boat permanently moored in Valence and they offered
to drive all our shopping back to the marina - an offer we could not
refuse! I walked back with the children and the wife of the English
couple, and Rod and husband went with the shopping in the car. (It was a
small car!) Emily had one of her blue-in-the-face, frothing at the mouth,
back arched and thrashing about kind of tantrums. I don't think the poor
woman felt safe. Anyway, their boat had air-con, so after we thought
we had put the kids to bed, we went over and had a coffee with these people
to say thank you. (We got back 2 hours later and our boat was rocking to
Queen and 3 lively children playing happily with Tanya.) Husband is
one of those guys that finds what he is telling you so funny, that he is creased
up with laughter, spluttering and contorting and you don't have a clue what
he is saying, nor can you hear what he is saying, so you just laugh hysterically
too and hope for the best. At one point the evening began to take on a
surreal twist when his tackle slipped out of his very tiny and loose shorts!
Do you know, Rod never noticed!!! Anyway, after what seemed
like eternity, he adjusted his shorts and popped the boys back in the
bunker! It was desperately funny. It
has been so hot and the children were battling in the heat, so we bought a
paddling pool which is now permanently on deck and they cool off in that.
Emily bathes her babies all day or throws all the farm animals and zoo animals
and "My little ponies" and is in it all day. Harry is allowed to
use his water pistol (more like water machine gun!) because now nobody yells at
him if they get zapped! It is really quite refreshing. We
are all getting very excited because in about 2 weeks time my sister, Vicki and
her girls are arriving to spend "more than 2 weeks" (Pippa's words!)
with us. It has been about 2 and a half years since we were last together
and such a lot has happened in that time. I think we will need about that
much time just to catch up and talk. Pippa and Harry are so excited about
seeing Sassy and Francesca. I wonder how Emily and Francesca will get
along - two very strong and definite characters! It will be interesting.
We will sail along the Cote d'Azur and then down to Corsica with them. Today
we are heading for Avignon for lunch and then on to Tarascon, which is close
to people we know in Provence. We are having supper with them tonight
and I will hopefully have a chance to send this off and get some in return.
After Tarascon it is St.Louis du Rhone, where we will have our mast restepped.
I must quote our carte guide here because it says it much better than I could,
"We are now on the last lap. The Rhone slows it pace even more and
pushes it banks wide apart. The Camargue hides behind the right bank.
Then, at the end of the voyage, under the open sky, a white town rises above the
water: Port St Louis du Rhone. The masts and the superstructures of
the merchant ships tied up in the basin can be seen above the roofs of the town.
The sea is there waiting for us. Another world begins. Another
voyage." Love
to everyone Sue Read on or Go to top of Page
=================================
This
is the Life! 28 Jun 2002
Le
Lavandou, Cote d'Azur 28
June 2002 Now
this is the life! This is definitely the life. Picture this:
beautiful balmy evening, slight breeze, sun setting - sky all pinks and blues,
sea hazy, a yacht anchored alone in a beautiful bay, lights of the villa's
around the bay twinkling, glass of wine by my side, sun and sea drenched
children collapsed in exhausted heaps in their berths, skipper reading his
charts, seagulls, waves lapping, peace............ This is magic. But
.............. it has taken alot to get here!! This time last week I
was in the depths of depression and complete and utter misery. Life had
become too hard and the depravations that I was prepared to accept to live this
life were becoming overbearing. We left the river Rhone and arrived
in Port St. Louis du Rhone at a marina called Port Napoleon. Contrary to
the romantic description in the carte guide which I quoted from in my last
letter, Port St Louis is probably the most awful place I have been forced to
visit in my life. It was so desperately, unspeakably hot that moving my
limbs became a huge effort - the boat was like a sauna inside. I was
dripping with sweat - I just hate to drip with sweat, very unattractive just for
starters and I need all the help I can get! More miserable and hot
and unhappy children you just couldn't find. Even Tanya was losing
her composure. Rod the skipper still rushed around doing what had to be
done and trying to keep the show on the road! Port Napoleon itself is in
amongst salt pans (it is in the Camargue), oil refineries, estuaries
................ and that's it basically. No play area's, shops, swimming pools,
cool supermarche's. It was too hot for school and there was nothing else
to do except - now here comes the stick that broke the camels back -
fight off the giant mosquito's! We spent one terrible, hot, sleepless night
in the marina waking in the morning to find my children looking like they all
had chicken pox from all the bites from the killer mozzies. I said
"Right, I'm off" - but where to? I thought about my friend Abi's
caravan in Frejus (near Nice) and although I have a thing about caravan
parks, I was desperate and prepared to compromise my standards at this
time! It was her birthday that day and so I was phoning her anyway.
She said "Of course, just go" and so after hiring a car and throwing a
few things into the boot I waved good-bye to poor Rod who was bent over
the mast, now set out on trestles on the jetty in the blazing, blazing
hot sun, getting it all ready to go back up the next day. I
stayed with Tanya and the children at the caravan park for 3 days - it was
everything I expected it to be and I kept thinking to myself, "What
the hell am I doing here? I am cheek by jowl with a factory worker
from every European nation, I have his washing flapping to my left, I
can hear him burp on his beer for goodness sake, his neighbours baby screams all
the time, the people on the other side stare at us all the
time, and all those retired Dutch people.......... they are so
neat and tidy and always remember to leave their shoes by the door."
It wasn't my cup of tea - but hey, it wasn't Port Napoleon either!
The campsite had a pool with slides so my children were in heaven. Anyway,
I got a call from the skipper to say that the mast was on, the sails ready to
roll and he wanted to get the hell out of Port Napoleon. So I threw
everything back into the boot and off we went. On
the way back I was going to first, drop Tanya in Aix-en-Provence (she was going
to stay with Jannick - don't understand it, last week he was too young and she
wanted nothing to do with him) and then I was going to go on to St.Etienne du
Gres to drop Pippa off with our friends there for the week-end. It seemed
simple enough but then again, this is me we are talking about. On our way
out of Frejus we popped into a water park - Tanya's treat for the children.
We left there, and headed for Aix. Tanya assured me that Jannick
lived just off the motorway and it would be so easy to get back on to it.
Anyway, after a very tearful farewell - ("she was like a sister to me"
wailed Pippa, sobbing and waving mournfully out of the window) we went back
to get on the motorway. Suffice it to say that we missed it and
took the scenic route to St. Etienne. I had spent all my money
at the water park and then used most of what was left buying drinks (it was
still extremely hot) and some sandwiches for the children. Got to St.
Etienne, dropped off Pippa and set off for Port St Louis.
Suddenly noticed that we were almost out of petrol, it was after 8 on a Friday
night in France and everyone has gone home - I began to get desperate after we
had found (with difficulty) about 8 petrol stations that we couldn't get petrol
from because I had the wrong kind of credit card. I was just saying
to Harry "Time for plan B" (still had to think what it was!) when
we saw a supermarket petrol station that took my card and we were
saved. Poor little Harry was totally traumatised by now. Got
very, very lost in the Camargue and finally ended at a ferry crossing
to Port St Louis - "Yahooo Harry, we are nearly there! Your
mother isn't as stupid as she looks!!" But oh
dear............... the ferry cost 4 euro, and once Harry and I had
counted out our money we found that I only had 66 centimes. Got
chatting to two men in the car in front and they offered to pay for me to cross
on the ferry and then guided me all the way to the port. I think that my
poor, wide eyed, worried, little boy sitting in the front seat and the naked
little toddler jumping up and down in the back worried them and they felt I
needed help! I got back to the port and went straight to bed - barking at
the skipper on the way past that I had had a terrible journey as was going to
bed. Next morning tidied up the boat, secured everything and set off for
Port Frioul - an island off Marseilles. Got
to Port Frioul in the early evening to find the marina full and skipper was
doing a particularly neat little turn around in amongst lots of other moored
up yachts in order to exit, when the gear cable connection to the gear
box broke and we found ourselves unable to steer or drive our
yacht. Skipper, very calmly says that we must just raft up to
the French boat that we were almost alongside and then try and fix the
cable. The revolting pig of a Frenchman owner of said boat, starts
shouting "non" and all sorts of other French stuff that we couldn't
understand. As we were trying to raft up, he and his wife were
pushing us off. I was running up and down trying to hold on to their
boat at the same time trying to reason with them. Finally, I screamed
"REGARDE!! LE MOTEUR EST KAPUT" (I think I added something like
"you stupid bitch" on the end but she didn't pick up on that) right in
this woman's face and the message sank in. They helped us moor
up to the boat in front of them which had a vast sign on it saying "Amarraige
interdit" - meaning don't moor up to me either, but no one was on
it and I didn't actually care. In all this running up and down I had kicked
my toe and it was unbelievably sore, already turning blue and purple and swollen
like a little cocktail sausage. It was too hot to function. I felt
totally miserable and upset and homesick and lonely, not to mention the pain of
my toe. I went and found the mobile phone and rang my brother in Seattle -
I knew he would phone me back and I had to hear a familiar voice. By the
end of the phone call I felt human again and he managed to re-ignite my
enthusiasm and will to continue with it. Thanks Monk! Rod fixed the
gear cable in no time but our French was so bad that although we were trying
to tell the Capitainerie that the problem was now fixed, he continued to
commiserate and tell us we could stay (at a price, of course!) for the one night
rafted up to this boat that we were really not supposed to be rafted up to
whilst we tried to fix our problem. The disgusting French couple (now our
new best friends) were hanging off their boat putting in their 5 cents into the
conversation and so we just stood back and nodded our heads. Next morning
we had a little altercation with the payment of our bill and so we left never
wanting to see the place again in our lives!! On our way to Cassis,
we got a sail bag - which must have been blown overboard some other boat - wrapped
around our propeller. It sounded like the engine had fallen out. Rod
had to dive down under the boat to have a look and found the bag - what a
relief!! No damage done! But it almost caused me heart failure at
the time! Since
then the Cote d'Azur has lived up to its reputation. We anchored up
in a bay on the island of Les Porquerolles and swam and watched the sunset and
felt that it had all been worthwhile because this was so perfect. Had
a couple of really perfect days - it has been wonderful. The Med is
amazing - clear blue and 25 degrees, so it is just beautiful to swim in.
This coast is incredibly beautiful - all the hype is true. 29
June. Word from "the skipper": Amazing sail today; Le Lavendou
to St. Tropez in a westerly that rose all day from a serene force 4 to gale 8.
Roller coaster down wind sailing made for an exhilerating fast passage in
warm "kodak" conditions. When we arrived in St. Trop. we were directed
to a berth right next to a "stupid money, 40 foot black bullet" motor
boat whose gleaming plastic surface shone brightly in the sun. Manouvering
16 tons of aluminium Tintin with no bow thruster and a vicious prop kick to port
in a near gale was a little nerve wracking. For extra room there are no pontoons
and one has to haul tons of chain covered in thick black glutinous mud on board
as part of ones mooring procedures in St Trop. It was all worth it St. Trop;
although passé, is full of serious money big yachts (in a separate part of the
port where all the tourists are given an opportunity to gawp at the occupants),
fantastically attired beautiful women and quaint and expensive little alleyways.
Numerous beggars, including small children, little older than toddlers, provided
a surreal contrast to the massive wealth so conspicuously displayed. As I
write this from the saloon table a gale is raging outside. I am glad I came here,
but now that I have seen it I want to leave as soon as possible, so I hope the
forecast is right, and the gale subsides. Well,
after that word from "Our man on the helm", I will just add that he
brought me to St.Tropez and made me eat a kebab from a road side vendor sitting
a wall in a gale force wind. Not the evening I had in mind. But he
did take us to the Haagen Dass ice-cream shop for pud, so I can't complain! Love
to all, Sue Read on or Go to top of Page
=================================Reluctant
Mariner 23 July 2002
Dear
Everyone Here
we are in Portofino in Italy. Surely this is paradise? I have
decided I want to stop here and Rod must buy me a villa. I even know
exactly which one I want! Could I do that to a man living his dream?
In a word - yes! But unless we belong to the "silly money"
society I won't be able to even buy a garage in this part of the world, so I
might as well let the poor old man do what he wants to do and stick with the
good boat Tintin. So
- lived a lot of life since I last wrote. My sister and her two girls have
come and gone. They joy of having them with us always tempered by the
dread that they will eventually have to go home! We met them in Nice and
took them back to Juan-les-Pins where we were moored. Poor, wretched, old
galley slave had spent two hot and sweaty days scrubbing the boat from heads to
bow, visiting the Laundromat, making beds, visiting supermarkets and
keeping a beady eye on offspring! I think everyone was relieved when
the Bells arrived and the cleaning stopped! (No one more than me!)
The sardine tin Tintin then made her way along the Cote d'Azur. We had to
rush into Antibes Port one night from our anchorage, when the weather turned
suddenly rather nasty. It was an action packed manoevre! I love
Antibes - it is such a vibrant place. (Plus it has an English
supermarket!) We made our way to Cap Ferrat and anchored up in the bay
where King Leopold of Belgium has his little cottage. I know Elton John
has his beach house at Cap Ferrat so there was alot of speculation as to which
one it was. We finally decided that it had to be the big pink one.
Although I wasted much of the day looking at it with my binoculars, I was never
able to identify anyone famous. However, discovered that you can have
quite an education just observing life being lived on the other boats.
Set an English couple loose on a boat with no children and I can't tell you what
they get up to. I know you are all shaking your heads and thinking
"That woman was spying on her neighbours". Don't. Let
me put it this way: whilst I am anchored in a bay, I see it as my
back yard and if others in my backyard are visible (albeit with binoculars!)
then they must expect some natural curiosity and inspection. Next
on the route was Monte Carlo. We were unable to moor up in the harbour so we went on to Menton and moored up there. As the last rope was
tied, we were already in the showers and cabins getting ourselves looking
as posh (or acceptable) as possible!
We spent a superb evening in Monte Carlo ending up with us all having supper at
the Cafe de Paris next to the Casino. What a night, what a place,
what a meal, what good company ............... happiness, happiness, happiness!
So we went merrily on our way along the Cote d'Azur....... Until a little
reality came and hit us in the face! We
had decided to go to Corsica and sail down the coast with Vicki and the girls,
so we left Menton late afternoon and began our journey overnight to
Corsica. We had a good, steady wind and all seemed to be going well, so I
went to get some sleep so that I could relieve Rod during the night. At
about midnight he called me up to the cockpit. I could hardly get out of
my bed - we were rolling and heaving all over the place. Our autohelm had
stopped working and Rod needed to reef in the sail because the wind had risen to
28 knots. I lurched over to the wheel and then suddenly became
aware of the blackness, the cold, the roaring wind, the huge black mountains
rising and falling all around us. I was totally terrified and overwhelmed.
Rod was trying to bring in the sails, swinging around holding onto the mast
(he was harnessed on but it still looked possible that he would be thrown off
and I would be running up and down the sides of the boat calling him to
bloody get back on this stupid piece of tin and get me out of here .....this minute!)
- and then because of the big seas and my sense of desperation, I moved us
out of wind which meant we would now have to tack backwards and forwards to
correct ourselves. In our pilot (the sailing guidebook) it says if you are
on your way to Corsica and the wind comes up and the seas are big, you must turn
back to France. I think Rod realised my terror and realised that I was not
able to be of much help to him - and the thought of trying to tack in these
waves and in this wind on his own, with a hysterical woman hanging on the wheel,
was more than even our amazing skipper could manage! So we turned on the
engine and turned back to France. It was a bumpy ride! Meanwhile,
during the course of this journey Vicki had been sick and Sassy was lying in her
bed thinking that we are surely going to have to abandon ship! It took us
another 6 hours to get back into Menton and it wasn't only the sea that was
challenging us, there were unlit fishing boats, strange moving lights, cruise
liners - you name it, we were challenged by it! It wasn't until 6.30
am that we reached land and we dropped into Harry's empty cabin and slept.
The journey was just a little bit more than this reluctant mariner was capable
of. I kept shouting above the howling, "This is what my
nightmares are made of"!! When we woke I informed the skipper
that I wasn't going to do another night sail with only the 2 of us as crew.
I also informed him that I wasn't going to go to Corsica by that route and if
he wanted to go there then we had to go all along the Italian coast to
Elba and then hop across to Corsica. So now we are on the Italian coast on
our way to Elba!! (Rod
has just read this section and has berated me for not mentioning how he kept
the whole situation calm and had control at all times and in fact, got us back
safely with no misfortune to anyone. I have apologised profusely to our
poor overworked, under appreciated, salty old seadog and told him that I knew my
readers had all accepted that that was the situation without having to be told,
but I would like it to be set out and on the record! The skipper kept the
situation calm and under control through out the night - in fact, he went
without sleep and did a very admirable job and we all love him all the more for
it - if that is possible.) We
went back to Monaco with Vicki because we had enjoyed it there so
much. This time we moored up in Cap d'Ail, just on the French border
and walked all over Monaco. We spent an afternoon swimming in the pool in
Monaco harbour - we found play areas all over the Principality which were
enjoyed to the fullest. I think I am going to write 2
"specialist" books once this journey is over. One is going
to be on the play areas of the French Canal and River system, including the Cote d'Azur
and actually, now Italy too. Although the Italian section is going to be
very short! My other book is going to be on "How to be a gourmet
cook with only one working plate on your stove" - it is going to be full of
helpful hints and recipes for those with this particular misfortune.
Although, now I can also write a sub section to that book - "How to be a
gourmet cook with no plates working because the gas ran out" because that
is my current position in the galley. No gas. Anyway, we
were just leaving Monaco to head towards Italy when our phone rang. It was
our friend Marian who asked if we were anywhere near Nice as she and Jeremy were
just about to fly in. We said we were actually just leaving Monaco for
Italy, but plans could change and so we turned right around and headed back to
Nice. We spent Bastille Day in Villefranche and after a wonderful supper
with Marian and Jeremy, watched an amazing fireworks display from our boat.
We
finally did get to Italy - just in time for Vicki and girls to leave. We
were the saddest boat in Italy for a day or two, but one very special day
brought us out of our misery. We were sailing to Portofino - well,
actually motoring because there was no wind - the sea was still and shimmering
and a deep, indigo blue with long shafts of sunlight diving deep into the depths
of the sea. As we went along we saw swordfish jumping out of the water.
We came across a big group of dolphins, we were in the middle of them.
Four particularly curious dolphins came and swam at our bow, twisting and
turning and jumping. They would swim along sideways, having a very good
look at us. We were hysterical - screaming, laughing, crying. What a
joyful thing it is to watch - a dolphin swimming along with your boat. We
turned the engine off and tore off our clothes and jumped in - but the boat
had stopped and the dolphins kept swimming so we were left behind. We all
had a jolly good swim though! We caught up to them later and the same 4
came back and swam with us again. Well, we presumed it was the same four!
It was a wonderful experience for all of us. From
here we head towards Elba................. so long for now! Lots
of love Sue Read on or Go to top of Page
=================================
Crash
Course 1 Sep 2002
French Coast Dear
everybody It
is an amazingly beautiful day today. We are anchored in a bay near Bandol,
Rod has rowed into the beach with the children and I have spent the last half an
hour in wasteful observance of the beautiful woman on the boats around us.
We have a particularly stunning creature in nothing but a thong right next to us -
she looks magnificent. Rod had to wrench himself away to take the children
to the beach. Although, just to make me feel better as I sat spilling out
of my bikini, he said her body was great but she was ugly. Not
like me of course, known locally (like in this boat) as quite a beauty.
Anyhow, she pushes her pert, sun-tanned, bottom up into the air, totters
pathetically around the deck and is generally making a disgusting spectacle
of herself. Although in the boat on the other side is another
goddess. French woman do keep themselves in shape! We had
sailed over to here from Toulon, where we spent last night. As we
arrived in Toulon, we saw an American boat - yippee, they speak English and then joy of all
joys, a little girl appears on deck. The joy is also obviously
being felt on the other boat and in a few minutes dad is rowing her over in
their tender to our boat. We invite him in for a drink and little girl,
called Kate, and Pippa disappear into her cabin and compare notes! Kate
left with a pile of "Famous Fives" and Pippi Longstockings, and popped
in this morning with a pile of books for Pippa. Consequently, we haven't
seen or heard from her most of the day. She has got a Raold Dahl that she
has never read before! Anyway, it turns out that this little
family have been sailing around the world for 4 years - left Portland, Oregon, and did the Pacific, Australia, Far East and came up through the
Red Sea just after September 11th, escorted by a British destroyer. No
pirate is going to mess with a destroyer! Anyway, it was so inspiring to
speak to them and to hear what they have seen and done. We are all full of
enthusiasm and rearing to get on............... But
we can't. Had an accident. We arrived in Calvi after
battling in awful conditions on the other side of Corsica, and only in the nick
of time, because then what ensued was a week of howling wind. We couldn't
go anywhere. One afternoon as Rod had popped out to the internet cafe in
town and the children and I were sitting below doing abit of sticking and
cutting, a Frenchman lifted our anchor chain as he lifted his anchor and
then, instead of alerting me to the situation, i.e. that my boat is now not
anchored but instead is in the hands of a moron being towed around
the bay. To complicate matters even further, the wind is gale force 7
and the anchorage is full of other boats all trying to shelter from the
wind as well. We are packed in like sardines. And
yes, I rammed one of them. Of course, I didn't just hit any old
yacht, it had to be a super-yacht. Mega-panic stations! It took all
I was capable of to start the engine and keep us from colliding with any
other boats whilst these incompetents tried to undo my chain from their
anchor. Finally some helpful Italians went over and did it for him,
which then left him free to go and re-anchor in the exact spot I had been in.
Now I was in the uncomfortable position of having 80 metres of chain
out, huge winds, 3 children, no Rod, lots of expensive boats around me and no
way of regaining control. I summoned those 3 gorgeous Italians with
only a hint of wild, desperate hysteria in my voice, and they helped me to
get the chain up and re-anchor. So the result of all of this was that
our pulpit (the metal bit on the front of a boat) was crushed.
It does not mean that we can't sail the boat but it is not safe. It needs
replacing. But all of this was overshadowed by bad news
from London. Rod's
only sister, Fiona, who has MS, was very unwell and had been admitted to
hospital. We felt helpless and far away and very, very concerned.
With great difficulty and irritation, we finally managed to find charter flights
from Calvi to London and so went back to England for 2 weeks. We were so glad
that we went. Apart from the fact that we were able to see and support Fiona,
who under difficult circumstances is still that graceful and elegant woman
that ever she was, and so brave with it - plus Hugh and the children too, we
also managed to see so many of you people who we miss, especially my mum, who
just happened to be passing through London whilst I was there. A week-end
in Ilkley was pure joy - I sat in Betty's chatting with "my pals"
feeling utterly and completely at home and happy! I'm blessed! Back
in Calvi, we looked at all our options and decided that the best thing to do
would be to come back to mainland France and have the pulpit replaced - and
since that was being done, have the deck repainted too. We arrived in le
Lavandou and spoke to an English yacht agent who said that the best place to go
was a marina called Port Napoleon!! Am I being punished for being so rude
about it in the first place? I think someone up there knew that I said it
was the worst place in the world and so decided to have a little sport with
me....................... So now we are making our way back down the coast
to gratefully accept their help and skill in sorting out our boat. I am
humbled and contrite; and have my "eau du mozzie" ready to wage war! En
route we stopped at our favourite place - the Porquerolles; beautiful islands
off the coast of Provence. As we came into the anchorage, a super-yacht
flying the red duster (English flag!) was just ahead of us. As always, the
children get very excited when we see another English boat and as always, Harry
was looking at the boat and saying "Mummy, you would love one of those
boats, wouldn't you?", when two little girls came prancing out onto the
deck. "Mummy, they have children"!!!! Right, I said, you
find those children on the beach and you make friends with them and I want to be
sitting on those luxury teak chairs having a gin and tonic by tonight - have I
made myself perfectly clear?!!! They all boarded their "family
jet-ski" (as they are known as - and coveted - on Tintin) and were
driven to the beach by one of their crew. We all piled into our grey,
slightly scruffy, ex-US army dinghy and belted off to the beach too.
During the course of the afternoon, Pippa and Harry and the two little girls
from the boat began to play - they were, of course, the only English speaking
children on the beach so it was a natural progression. By the end of the
afternoon I went over to where they were and said hello to mother, who turned
out to be very down to earth, friendly and a good laugh - I, of course, had to
laugh on the way back to the boat when I said to Rod "By the way, we are
going over to Midnight Rose for a drink in a minute"!!!! We staggered
off Midnight Rose after midnight, completely plastered having experienced the
full super-yacht service - canapé's with our G&T's, three course meal
prepared and served by the staff, etc etc. During the course of the
evening, Rod had to return to Tintin for another 3 bottles of wine as we had
drunk them dry. We might have a scruffy, old sailing boat but we have a
few bottles of excellent wine stashed away and can drink the best of them under
the table! The children were staggered by the choice of soft drinks, the
choice of crisps, the choice of DVD's and videos, the jet ski, the boat, the
space, the flushing loo, the life! They did not want to return to Tintin
and their appreciation of the life we are trying to give them will forever be
tainted. Ho hum. So
now it is onwards and upwards to my friend Port Napoleon. Hopefully, we
will leave in 3 weeks having given this old girl, Tintin I mean, a face lift and
be ready to head for the Atlantic. Will keep you posted! Much,
much love to everyone and thanks to all my dear friends in England who
drove miles or had us to stay or had my children to stay or dropped
in or went with me to Betty's - I could go on and on. I will say it
again, I am blessed. All
my love Sue Read on or Go to top of Page
=================================Soller,
Majorca Dear
Everybody We
are finally in Majorca. We sailed here on a silvery path laid for us by
the moon. It was amazingly special. I felt special. Actually,
it took us 44 hours to get here so a day was included in the trip.
However, it all went very well - we started out with fantastic wind and were
belting along at a wondrous 8 knots (I can hear the motor boat owners out there
chuckling to themselves............. but for us that it is extremely
speedy!), but then it suddenly disappeared and we had flat, glassy seas and the
motor on. I must admit that after 5 hours of everything being at an
angle of 45 degrees, I personally, perhaps selfishly, was feeling a sense of
relief. Poor Skipper, who had had the look of really happy little boy
whose go-kart is working extremely well, felt differently and he missed the
wind. The weather here in Majorca is stupendous and Soller bay is
beautiful and we are settling in nicely. Spent a day on the beach
today - even hired a pedalo that had a slide built in! I sat in my fold
down chair and did my usual "people watching" whilst my
children chortled with joy in the sand and sea. I saw another
first - a pair of shoes that obviously could never be made
twice, must have been a one off. They were very high, perspex
and see-through plastic slip-ons with a miniature bowl of fruit bobbing on
the toe where one would normally find a little pom-pom or a bow. The
"cherry on the top" for Rod was that in the heel of the shoe, encased
in perspex was another even more miniature bowl of fruit. They old
girl who wore them, wore them with pride and that is the main thing. I
find the old girls on the beach, topless or in their bikini's, morbidly
fascinating. When I am old and saggy (well, older and saggier),
please remind me to stick to a one piece. Now
on Tintin, we are a family of 6. Tanya has decided that she
would like to sail to Australia with us! She has gone and done a sailing
course and has prepared herself and here she is. She seems to
just slot into our lives and into our chaos - it feels like she
has always been here. She and Rod shared all the night watches over from
France to here and she coped with it all in her usual calm and quiet way. (For
those who are new to these letters - Tanya is the daughter of our friend, Kenny,
who lives in Paris and she joined us on and off through the French canals and
rivers.) When
I last wrote, we were hotfooting it to Port Napoleon to have our smashed up
pulpit replaced. It lived up to its reputation of being a completely awful
place to exist................. but to be fair to the place, it was cooler
this time and the mozzies, although awful, weren't as bad as the last time.
Our pulpit was taken off, our stove was carted away by the gasman, Rod sanded
down the interior wood work (dust, dust and more dust ............), tools were
all over the boat, we were up on land which meant no using of the loo or the
basin................. When our Skipper mentioned that the
insurance claim included any hotel bills, we packed a bag and headed off to the
best hotel that Port St Louis had to offer. It was called Le Tamaris and
was basically a whole bunch of portacabins bolted together and placed on a piece
of land which had been scraped bare, graveled and fenced in. It was
not the kind of luxury I like in a hotel. Not the kind of luxury that
means Rod's stay at that hotel will be a happy one. On the Saturday night,
we came back late to find that a wedding party was in full swing and the MC was
clearly pissed and clearly loving his moment of glory on the mike and as he
introduced a song, felt the need to sing it in and make very loud noises like
"hi-yaaay-yaaay-hooka-hoooka". Our paper thin walls in
portacabin number 5 could not cope with it and we were going to rock in our
beds, so we piled everyone back into the van and went and slept in the
peace and quiet of Tintin and the lonely boatyard. Whilst we were staying
at Le Tamaris, we had first Harry's, then Emily's birthday to celebrate.
At 5.15 am on 7 September, Harry and Pippa came bursting into our room ready
to begin opening presents and start celebrating. They were sent back
to their room "to wait for the sun to come up". By 7 am they had
been back 2 or 3 times and we felt we could hold them back no longer.
After breakfast, we went over to Tintin where Rod was working hard putting right
all the little niggly things on Tintin that have been driving me crazy!
(He didn't manage to complete them all ........ there were alot to begin with!!)
We had a raucous birthday lunch and all the while I was preparing a
birthday supper to take over to our friends, Carolyn and Charles Wood. I
had said "I will make some South African food", which is not a stupid
thing to say when you have a stove and oven, but when all you have is little
camping gas burner, it is a challenge to produce hot water. Anyhow, we did
what we could and packed it all in and went up to the Woods. It was such a
joy to be able to go and share the birthday with them and we had a fabulous
evening. Harry felt content and happy and seriously thrilled to be 7.
Poor Emily, coming along 2 days after Harry was a disadvantage. All my
energy and momentum is taken in celebrating Harry's birthday and there is not
much left for her! We spent most of her birthday in a van on our way to
Montpelier to collect the modem for our SSB radio - once installed we
will be able to collect our emails daily on Tintin. No more hunting
down of internet cafes ................. daily collection of mail. Oh
joy!! The reason we spent most of the day in the van was because this
area of France had 6 months rain in a matter of a few hours. We could not
even drive through the rain - the wipers made no difference, the rain was that
heavy. Then we sat in traffic jams because the motorway was
flooded. It was incredible - the worst flooding that this area has
experienced for many, many years. 14 people died. Unbelievable!
Anyway, the next day we went over to the good boat "Tiger Moth" to eat
the cake I had tried to cook the day before in their stove. Emily had
already decided that Jane on "Tiger Moth" was really worth knowing and
so we couldn't have picked a better place to have her "snow white and the 7
dwarfs" decorated cake and candle blowing out ceremony. A night or
two later Jane and Bruce needed to clear out their fridge and freezer before
they left, so they cooked up an amazing spread. We had a memorable
evening having supper on the pontoon, eating off a piece of plank balanced
on two buckets, with every mozzie killing coil, candle or spray known to man to
ward off the evil mosquitoes ............... finally we could take it no
more and had to run for cover, not before we had eaten our full, drunk alot of
rose and laughed. Once
the pulpit was back on again we got ourselves all set to leave for Majorca.
Everything was ready - all Rod had to do was to fix the navigation lights
which were broken in the crash.............. By lunchtime, he still didn't
have them working and so we decided to leave the next day. Whilst standing
contemplating our options, we noticed a huge crack in a joint on our brand new
shiny pulpit!! Oh, I can't believe it! Quick run up to the boatyard,
they can't fix it for 2 or 3 days, so we took a discount on the price and will
have to have it fixed in the Canaries. Next morning we are all set to go
(again), Rod just had to make sure the bilges were clear. As he did
so, the bilge pump broke............... Bilge pumps are a vital part of a
boat and if you are flooding and your pump doesn't work, then you have big
problems. Fitting a new pump will take another day. Finally, after
much umming and aahing, we decided to make up a mobile bilge pump on a plank of
wood and then fix the old one as we go along. This all said and done, we
finally set sail .......................... Yahoo! Bye bye
mosquitoes! So
now we have so much to look forward to. There is Majorca to explore,
although saying that, we don't have much time as we need to get off towards
Gibraltar soon. My brother, George, will be joining us on Friday night for
a few days. We will sail to Ibiza with him, then onto the Spanish
mainland. Once we arrive in Gib, we will do abit of sight seeing, go to
Marks and Spencers (oh, oh, oh, heaven!), reprovision in English shops
(i.e. loads of spaghetti hoops!), have a water maker fitted and then head off to
Madeira (a daunting 5 day sail...........) and then from there onto the Canary
Islands. I
have just heard a very Germanic, "los mit ankor", so people are
pulling in around us with no friendly wave or welcome from Tintin.
Normally, I could depend on Harry to provide this, (with a "do you
speak English and have you got any children?") but he is on the beach
with his sisters and Tanya. So I will end off and allow the Skipper to set
off on the little tram up to Soller town to the internet cafe, whilst I go and
see what or who is anchoring around me. Who knows - could be someone
nice? Lots
and lots and lots of love to everybody, Sue Read on or Go to top of Page=================================No Espanol, 29th Sep 2002Spain Dear
everyone Words
fail me. Can you believe that? Today we visited the Alhambra
in Granada, Spain. It was the most breathtaking, sensual, calming, completely beautiful
place we have ever seen. Beauty almost too much to take in. I
can't even begin to describe it. Just go there. Earlier in the day
we went to The Generalife gardens, which were incredible and awe-inspiring too -
symmetry, cypress trees, water. It is a garden of fountains, flowing
water and water features ........... well, you can take children to a
fantastic garden and palace, but you can't stop them making leaves into boats
and setting them off in the current and seeing where it takes them!
Running along next to the leaf boat, batting fellow tourists out of the way as
they keep up with their vessels. As Rod and I wandered around enraptured
by what we were looking at, they found frogs and upside down water boatman and
insects, snails and fish. The chestnut trees are all dropping their
chestnuts now and so they frantically collected an entire shopping bag of nuts.
They floated the nuts down the water courses, cleared areas of gravel and dust
and had battles - the nuts being the "army men" or
"peasants", depending on their size!! We saw a little squirrel
sitting in a tree chomping on a nut of his own (one obviously had been missed in
the swoop!). It was like a red squirrel, only black. It was very,
very sweet and the children watched him for ages. In fact, by the
time we left him he had a name - "Inky"! Emily absolutely adored
that squirrel and would not leave him. She said to me "I want to be a
mummy squirrel and just go and give Inky a big cuddle". We had to
drag her away kicking and screaming and yelling "I want to take
Inky home to my house". It took quite a while for her to recover! Granada
reinforces your belief in the human race - to see what humans are capable
of building is wonderful. So
now we are in mainland Spain. We sailed along the coast of Majorca
for only a few days. We had one day anchored in a bay (Deya) that was one
of the days that make this trip worth doing. It was achingly beautiful.
We made our way to Palma to meet up with my brother, George, who was coming to
join us for a few days. We madly got the boat ready for him, restocked,
hired a car to go to the airport to fetch him in the early hours and then just
sat and waited........ but it was not to be, because of an error in his visa he
was not allowed to board the flight to Majorca and had to cancel. I was
terribly disappointed as we were all looking forward to seeing him so much.
We decided to leave Palma straight away for Ibiza. We spent a couple of
days in Ibiza but had lost our momentum and just needed to get somewhere and
regroup. You can't believe how something as seemingly unimportant as a
cancelled visit unsettles us. For me, one of the hardest things to adapt
to is not having friends and family around - I find the isolation from a social
life very, very hard at times. (Do you remember how I would drop everything for
a coffee and a chat?!!!) We had to sail a way off our course to
avoid a very nasty thunderstorm during the night crossing from Ibiza to the
mainland. It was such an incredible thing to watch............ but I
will add that I was grateful to be skirting around it! We sailed to a town
called Cartegena. Cartegena was a Roman port and the ruins and remains of
her Roman past were everywhere. I took the children and we stamped around
town finding so many interesting things. Later on Rod, with the help of
Harry and his new birthday toolbox, made some shelves and other things needed
badly on Tintin, whilst I did loads of washing in my new hand operated washing
machine. Whenever I do any washing in my "Sputnik" as it is
called, it always creates alot of interest and I generally have one or two
people looking on in fascination as I turn filth into something wearable again.
So all around Tintin was a hive of activity and productivity!! We
are now moored in a town called Almeria. At a glance it lacks charm,
but on closer inspection it does improve. It is also a very ancient
place. It was part of the Moorish kingdom of Spain. On the hill
above the town there is an extraordinary Alcazaba (fortress/castle) which
we walked up to and investigated fully. Tanya loves cats - particularly
the discarded, mangy, skin and bone variety of which there are many in the
Alcazaba. After sharing their crisps with the cats, Tanya and Pippa had a
line of cats following them all over the place! Whilst waiting for a bus a
horse and cart man came and parked up next to the bus stop. Before anyone
opened their mouths Rod began to say, "No"! But we girls are
clever manipulators and very soon we were all on the cart. In his
non-existent English, the driver told us that he would take us to all the sights
of the town and we could "looky, looky". As we clip-clopped
past, fully expecting to stop and be able to look, he would shout "looky,
looky" and point. No time even to take a photo! All over
Granada today, Emily was shouting "looky, looky" every time we saw a
church. I think she thinks it is Spanish for Church! Job
satisfaction is clearly not high in horse and carting - he mumbled
under his breath all the way around, grumbled to his horse and got very angry
with the cars also wanting to use the road and wanted to get us
back to the bus stop as quickly as possible! Although, we did pass one or
two bars where he sounded his horn very loudly and all his cronies inside would
shout drunkenly from within. He chuckled momentarily at that, so it can't
be all bad. In
an area adjacent to the marina in Almeria there was a big fiesta/gala happening.
There were stands represented by hotels and town tourist boards and local craft
makers and restaurants. On a huge stage at one end there was continuous
entertainment. Whilst you stood at a bar having a drink and eating tapas,
you could watch the show. I saw proper flamenco dancing for the first
time. I wanted to cry. The woman danced with such desperate emotion,
such strength and power, so sultry and passionate. With her on the
stage was a band who supported her with that rhythmic, haunting Spanish singing
and then carried on after the dancing was over. They were all dressed in
black, the Spanish guitarist had a pony-tail, the woman with a red shawl over
her shoulders, the other two men, strong and gorgeous. They sang as
if they were telling you how their mother had been murdered in front of their
eyes. I couldn't get enough of it. When she was on stage the
flamenco dancer wore a fluid, clinging red dress. I was entranced.
Rushed out and bought a tape of Spanish guitar music which is great but I need
to close my eyes and remember that incredible scene to make it come alive for
me. We also watched Spanish dancing which is obviously taught to the
children here. I loved watching the children all doing it in the local
dress - they enjoyed doing it so much. As the music played and these kids
danced, you would notice other children in the audience unable to stop
themselves and their hands moving to the rhythm. They just heard the music
and their body's followed suit. Also a part of this festival was a huge
structure put up by a group who work with children throughout Spain. It
included a couple of climbing walls, one very challenging, walking over nets,
rope ladders and finally sliding down a hanging slide. (which we call
foofi slides) This huge structure was manned by Spain's most gorgeous and
sweet young men. Pippa and Tanya went on it and found it terribly
exciting, so they went again and again and.................... So you can
imagine that after a day or two we were very familiar with the guys on the frame
and Tanya had been asked out by them. When the time came to go to Granada
there was no way Tanya was going to leave! She was having too much fun!
And I don't blame her. I was tempted to stay behind with her!! Pippa
was on her knees begging to be left with Tanya too! But go to Granada we
did, minus Tanya, and we were all the richer for it. We
went by bus over the Sierra Nevada. It is incredible to see how dry, bleak
and desert like this part of Spain is. It makes the Karoo (in South
Africa) look lush! We saw houses built into the sides of the mountains and
into the rocks. It was bizarre seeing a big boulder with a chimney
sticking out the top and a wooden door at the side. The children were most
amused by it! 1
October 2002: Today we sailed over from Almeria to Almerimar. We
actually sailed - no motoring at all. The wind was strong, the sea quite
big and we went fast! Almerimar marina seems to be very convenient
and efficient, but more importantly, cheap!! Tomorrow the engine is being
serviced by a South African who works here fixing boats, and then we will hire a
car and head off to Cordoba and/or Ronda. This place has a launderette, an
internet cafe, supermarket .... everything a girl should want
right here in the marina! In a weeks time our friends the Chakraverty's
join us for a bit of a sail down to Gib. It will be interesting to see how
we fit another 3 little boys and 2 more adults into this boat............ Sue Read on or Go to top of Page
=================================Gibraltar Dear Everyone I'm suffering from a hangover and my disposition is tempered by a huge lack of sleep. It is not an accident that I am all alone on this boat - no one wants to hang around me too long for fear of the tongue-lashing that will surely come their way. I'm abit of a dragon today. The reason for this is not my fault (of course!), it is because yesterday was Rod's birthday and so we had a little gathering of nations here on Tintin and drank to his health .................. alot. So I blame Rod. (Of course!) We are here in this lovely place, Gibraltar, waiting for a weather window so that we can head off for the Canary Islands and the start of the ARC race. There are many other ARC participants all doing the same thing and all the kind of people you would like to spend an evening with and most with children! The pontoons are all alive with the clatter of scooters as they all dash from one boat to another. There is even a little two year old called Austin dashing around like a demon on a scooter which is at least the same size as him. Emily is in there somewhere too on her little wooden scooter! So everyone is happy. I have plenty of "girls" to spend the days chatting to, Tania has met a French guy and is partying like a woman possessed, Rod spends his days talking to other skippers about the weather and the possibility of the wind turning to East, whilst stocking the boat with rose (which we seem to consume so quickly that he has to go back to the supermarket and get another few boxes - keeps him busy.) We are also now a family of 7 on Tintin. We decided we needed another "experienced" crew member, in addition to our crew member who can't sail, to help us over to Gran Canaria. There are lots of young people walking up and down the pontoons looking for a boat to crew on and a lift in the direction of the Caribbean. Hitchhiking on the sea. I gave Rod very stern instructions that we were to interview them all and then once that was done, make an objective choice. I really pressed the point. We talked to 2 youngsters who didn't impress me much and then whilst chatting to the lady in the boat next to us, (she has lost her cat and distraught doesn't even come close to her present emotional state - she needs big time comforting, I am tempted to say "get a life" but then I am not a cat owner and I don't understand the pain she is suffering!) anyway, there I am comforting her when I look around and standing there is this big, brown eyed gentle giant. He was looking for a crewing position too. With Rod standing behind me gesticulating wildly about interviewing everyone and then making a decision, I asked Moosh when he would be ready to leave. It was instant like. So Rod and Moosh (as we call him) have been working all day doing all the necessary jobs on this old heap. Moosh quietly gets on with his jobs, he knows his way around a boat and can fix almost anything. He and Rod quietly get on with things in this pleasant, co-operative way, understanding each other completely. As I write this he is fishing with my children off the pontoon. Am I lucky or what? Now, where have we been since the last email. Just checked - it was that fabulous place, Granada. Well, we sailed onto Almerimar, about 10 minutes in a car from Almeria, but several hours in a boat in horrendous weather. Our plan was to have the engine serviced and then head off and see Ronda and Cordoba. As is usual with us, things don't go to plan! We met another kid boat - a Kiwi mum and SA dad with 2 kids the same age as Harry and Pippa. Heaven, joy, bliss and paradise all rolled into one! There was absolutely no way we could take the children away from this. I also found that I felt like I had known the mum, Mary, all my life. Dad was away so we never got to meet him, but by the time we left about 4 days later we didn't know how we would manage without them. Also in Almerimar was a South African catamaran, African Affair, that we had met and drank with in Majorca, but that was just our practice round. Here in Almerimar we perfected our Sangria drinking technique to perfection. We had alot of laughs. After one delightful evening at "Oscar's bar", we all tottered down the pontoon at 2 am to African Affair for a coffee and found a man lying in a heap on the pontoon. Thinking he had had a heart attack, we rushed to help him but once close we realised he was simply, completely and utterly plastered. We helped him up and in every language we could collectively speak, asked him where his boat was. After relieving himself in his trousers, he began to say "Merde!". He's a Frog - Oui est votre bateaux? I was sent to fetch Tania and then learnt that we were in front of is boat. He had got to his boat and realised he was too drunk to cross his passarelle and so just lay down next to it. As we held him up, the men winched his boat right up to the pontoon so that we could he could be lifted over easily. All was ready for him - we began to lead him up his boat when his trousers fell down to his ankles. It was beyond me - I was unable to contain myself! The men carefully pulled up his trousers and helped him onto the floor of his cabin. The next morning we walked past him, all of us who had been involved in his rescue, and there was not even a glimmer of recognition from him as we knowingly nodded and said "Bonjour monsieur"! We left Almerimar very reluctantly, but we needed to make our way to Malaga to meet up with the Chakraverty boys. We went to Benaldamena nearby Malaga - near to the airport. They arrived on the kind of day that makes Rod loose his sense of humour totally. The night before our water pump, which has always been temperamental, decided not to work. Rod tried to encourage it along with a bang on the top with a hammer. Needless to say, it was never going to work again after its bang. So Rod jumped into the tender and dashed off to the chandlery to buy another one. After about an hour and a half he returned, exhausted. The tender engine had died and he had had to row back to Tintin. Now I needed to wash an industrial amount of washing and this was seriously inconvenient. So he had to quickly row me and Tanya and the girls back to town to the launderette. Then row back to fix the water pump and then row to collect the Chakraverty's when they arrived, and then rowed back to the launderette to fetch me and the girls! Whilst we all had lunch, poor old Skipper took the tender engine apart and changed a spark plug .................. hey presto, a working engine again! All is well again. All that was left then was just to enjoy our company and have a good time, which is what we did. We had a fabulous time. We slowly made our way to Gibraltar to meet Nicola who was flying in on Friday morning. Sam took a bus so that he would be at the airport to meet her and we sailed over in Tintin. We set out on a glassy sea, watching dolphins. That was a momentary blip in the weather - it then turned wild and wild is a very good word to describe our journey to Gib. It was eventful too. The latch on Harry's cabin hatch broke and water flooded in as each wave broke on our foredeck. As Rod tried to fix it water poured all over his face and he couldn't see a thing! The waves were so ferocious that water seem to seep in all over the place and I was rushing around with towels trying to reduce the damage! Thing were flying around the cabin. Daniel, the oldest Chakraverty, was hanging on in the cockpit saying "This is really exciting"!! We bashed and crashed most of the day until near Gibraltar when things settled and we motored into the bay. Skipper has decided that he is not going to beat into the wind any more, fair winds only from now on please. It is an amazing sight to sail around the Rock of Gibraltar - very beautiful. We spent a day or two sight seeing and enjoying the sun and relaxed atmosphere of Gibraltar with our friends. They left and once again sadness descended on Tintin for a day or two. Fortunately, Gib is such a fabulous place and pretty soon we found other kid boats and life settled back into its usual muddle and chaos. The boat is like Grand Central Station - children coming and going, Tanya and her friends coming and going, Moosh coming and going - just how I like it!! And then of course, when I am tired of socialising I can just pop up to Marks and Spencers in Main Street! Gibraltar is wonderful - it is England in the sun. Rod has returned from Safeways, YES, the very same one as you will find on any English high street!! He has emptied the store of tins - we have got Gibraltar's quota of spaghetti hoops and baked beans on our boat. He has got quite adventurous with the tins actually and I am looking at tins of "Sweet and Sour Chicken"............................ hmmn, I think I will open those when my options are either boiling my shoes or eating a tin of chicken. We have filled the bottom of fridge with tinned butter, (it lasts until next August!) lots of Cadbury's chocolate (for me!) and all the usual delights that we love and miss. We are hoping to head out of the Straits and into the Atlantic in the next few days. It is amazing to me that the Mediterranean part of our journey is over. It has been wonderful, very tough at times, but a great introduction to the world of cruising and sailing. I wish we could have had longer, but then I said that about the canals too, so as always, it is ever onwards and upwards - or in our case, downwards to the Canaries. Lots and lots and lots of love to all from all of us, Sue
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