Sunday 13th February 2005
I'm Going Home! I've got to close my company down in order to sort out taxes etc. As usual, I booked the flight on Friday for Sunday, phoned a couple of people to let them know then thought about what I needed to do as I was travelling!! Planning has definitely gone out of the window these days!!!
Jason and Vic picked me up at the airport (thanks guys) and we stopped off for a Sunday lunch on the way home. I had a feeling we'd have curry for tea later, but the Sunday lunch was shouting as we passed each pub!
The house was in perfect state, much better than when I live there! (Thanks Phil!)
A big surprise was the lack of post! To my relief, only a small pile and most of it was junk mail and quickly disposed of!
Monday 14th - Saturday 19th February 2005
Did as much as I could in the week! I sorted out the accountant (except for writing the cheques as I'd left the company cheque book on the boat!).
Got the Buell MOT'd and insured as I was considering riding it back to Palma!
Visited some friends from Bristol to catch upon old times and some from the Christmas crew!
Visited some contractor friends I'd worked with at Orange. I received a phone call from one whilst I was home and it just happened to fit in to visit them!
Bought a Navtex (Weather and navigation warning receiver) for the boat as it was much cheaper in UK than Palma!
Washed and waxed the Lexus again as it is now officially for sale! see the lexus page for info, but will let it go cheaper to friends!
Went to Westbury on the Buell to visit Mick and Deb who'd been out at Christmas.
Sunday 20th February 2005
Went off roading with Mick and Deb on Salisbury plain! We got their 4wd a bit stuck in a rut and had to be towed out, just as the farmer turned up and explained that the ruts we were following weren't quite on the public right of way! We immediately returned to the correct route and made our way across the plains!
I left Westbury after a Deb Special Sunday roast (Thanks Deb!) and headed off to Portsmouth for the ferry. It was cold on the bike, but I had the right gear on, so not too bad!
The ferry left Portsmouth for St. Malo at 23:00 so time for a quick pint or 4 with a fellow biker on the ferry, before crashing out on the floor and sleeping the journey out!
Monday 21st February 2005
Woke up about 6am, with the ferry approaching St Malo. Time for a freshen up, then back on with the waterproofs and layers as it's looking grey outside!
As we land and get off the ferry, it's cleary been snowing here overnight. We get less than 5 miles out of town and it starts falling from the sky! For the next 50 miles, there's a couple of inches of snow at the side of the road and it's falling constantly on me as I ride out with a couple on a Honda ST1100 who are heading the same way (but only the first 80 miles). It's about now that I realise that maybe February isn't the best time to ride a motorbike from England 750 miles across France and into Spain! Oh Well, it can only get warmer!!!!!
I'd printed off a detailed map from Autoroute, but I had it in my head:- St Malo to Rennes to Nantes, to Bordeaux, to Toulouse, to Barcelona! As it turned out, these were the only towns you needed to remember to complete the journey! The roads were so good and well signposted, I just followed the signs and paid my money at the toll booths!
I was managing about 150 miles between fuel stops and made it about 400 miles before stopping on the Bordeaux to Toulouse road for a quick sandwich! Other stops were fuel and toilet with maybe a vending machine coffee at most.
I had planned on taking 2 days to complete the trip, but the Buell was going well and the riding wasn't too bad, so I pressed on to see if I could make it to Barcelona for the Monday ferry.
All was going well until just before the French Spanish border, where my exhaust cracked and fell down! The sound of a tuned Harley engine with no exhaust was enough to be noticed, so I pulled over, performed the standard repair with a bungee cord hooked into the holes where rivets should've been and carried on for the last 150 miles to Barcelona, checking it occasionaly!
I made Barcelona with plenty of time to spare, but not plenty of fuel! I'd had the light on for 5 miles when I hit the ring road and thought I'd make it, but hadn't allowed for Barcelona taking half an hout to ride around and try to find the ferry terminal! I made it with fumes to spare and had about an hour till the ferry left, time for another beer and sandwich combo!
Tuesday 22nd February 2005
The ferry to Palma is another overnight job, so slept all the way after the ride and woke at about 6am to do the last 1/2 mile from the ferry terminal to Club de Mar. Parked the bike near the boat and unloaded the luggage, then straight to bed!
Wednesday 23rd to Saturday 25th February 2005
Back to normal! Relax, collect stuff from Chandleries (my solar panels have arrived, just have to make a frame to fit them in next!) potter about the boat, mneet up with Paul, James, Jim etc. Oh and remember that friends are visiting this weekend, so finish off a few jobs I'd planned on the boat!
Saturday 26th February 2005
Claire, Carl and PJ arrive tonight!!!!! Better start tidying the boat, washing the decks, making the beds, shopping for food etc!!!! I finished at about 8pm and had to head out to the airport by taxi to make sure I got there before they arrived, cutting things a bit close there!
We met up, taxi'd back to the boat, dumped bags and headed off into town at about 11pm. They're hungry and fancy a curry, so we walked off along the Paseo Maritimo in the rain.
When we got to the Indian, it was quite full, so a drink at the bar, then to our tables. Carl put his fleece on a hook near the door and commented that someone would probably nick it. 1 hour later, we noticed it gone!
A good curry was had by all, then off to "Made in Brasil" where they play some very lively music which you just have to dance to and also had some very pleasant views to be enjoyed! One more music pub on the way back, then we headed back to the boat about 2.30am or so (I Think) a few drinks on the boat and time for bed!
Sunday 27th February 2005
For some reason we didn't get up quite as early as planned! I was up at 9.30 to meet with Paul as he had borrowed some DVD's from me and other bodies emerged over the next hour or so!
We did fairly well to get away from Palma about 11am which was better than I'd expected after the night before! The wind was quite good, with a Northerly force 3-4 and maybe gusting 5 at times. We reached Cala Figuera on the tip of the island in about an hour and then had to beat up the West coast to get to Santa Ponca for the night. We made it easily, arriving at about 3pm and dropping anchor just in time have a swim (Carl) before going ashore for a bite of Sunday Lunch. We boarded the tender and headed for the beach, tied it up to a nice stainless steel shower and strolled into town.
We found the "Duke of York" pub, where they were showing the end of the Liverpool Chelsea cup final game. Liverpool had scored after about 40 seconds and clung on until Chelsea got an equaliser after about 80 minutes! We managed to catch the extra time, which was dominated by Chelsea to make the final score 3-2 to Chelsea. Back to the beach and a local restaurant for their Menu Del Dia (menu of the day) which included a Lasagne starter, then main course, desert and red wine for 9 Euros! Back in the tender to find the boat in the darkness, then a few more drinks and a film on board before bed!
Monday 28th February 2005
We'd bought some bacon yesterday, so it's up early for a fry up, before heading off to enjoy the winds, which have picked up significantly overnight!
We headed out of Santa Ponca with the intention of going back towards Palma, but as we headed out under full sail, it became clear that the winds were up to 30 knots and it would be wise to put in at least one reef. We reefed the mainsail fairly easily, but had managed to get the jib cought when reefing it and now had a balloon flapping from half way up the forestay and couldn't free it in the wind! We tried several times, then decided to leave it there flapping and sort it out when we got out of the wind!
We were flying along quite nicely until we rounded the tip at Cala Figuera, when we were suddenly hit by huge waves, at least 4 metres but with the crests being blown off the top by the 35 - 40 knot winds. We took less than a minute to agree that we should head back and stay in the shelter of the island! Even sheltered, we still had the winds, but the waves weren't anything to worry about now, which made everything safer.
We flew past Santa Ponca and headed for Andratx, with no jib and a mainsail with 1 reef taken in, but still pulling 7 - 9 knots. We were able to sail into the bay, before dropping the main and motoring right into the harbour and anchoring right inside the shelter of the harbour.
We took the tender ashore and tested some local bars, where PJ managed to drop a very nice glass on the floor! Off to a Chinese for tea and Claire needed a little assistance getting back into the tender and onboard the boat???