Hazey Days: Movin’ On

We went for a last walk along the beach at Barcelona and ended up hiring a pair of Segways for an hour - always wanted to but they always seemed a lot of money but a few minutes of negotiation with a Russian mafia type guy and we got a cheapish late afternoon ride - great fun. We wanted to buy a pair until we realised that they are £7k each!

Had great fun on these - only us 2 with our Russian guide

We set off from Barcelona early-ish on 7th January and wandered along the coast, getting back into the routine of sailing each day. Stops at Sitges, Port Salou and L’Amtella got us hooked on travelling again.

Leaving Barcelona harbour

Good wind - up to 30 knots and a flat sea - gave us a great sail

Skipper needs to be kept fed.

Sitges was great, we came here 17years ago, boat hunting ,with Jen and her friend Sarah, it was bigger than we remembered but just as pretty.

Nice place, Sitges

This is what a beer and a bouncy sail does to Carole!

Some fantastic stone carving on house door surrounds in the old section of town.

Interesting carvings - fun trying to guess their story, just why is one man grabbing the ear of the other?

We moored stern to the Capitainarie, not realising that it’s lit up each night with lurid colours - pretty though; it was like a disco in our aft cabin.

Our own personal light show - changed colours constantly - all night!

Port Salou turn out to be a bit of a slog, the final headland, just past Tarragona, stored up some bouncy seas and the usual head wind, but only for an hour or so until we could bear away round the point to the harbour. They were full due to rebuilding their pontoons so we stopped on the fuel pontoon overnight. Bit of a dead town at this time of year - only place open was a fab cake shop.

Great sail the next day to L’Ametlla, strong winds, 20-30knts, but a flat sea so the boat simply powered away. It was good to arrive in a proper fishing harbour too, not just a leisure marina. The fishing boats came in and unloaded their catch a few hundred yards from us.

The forecast for tomorrow, the 10th, is no wind in the morning and then a mini storm coming through in the afternoon, just about when we would be off the exposed Ebro delta so we’re stopping here for two nights and plan to leave on 11th.

L'Ametlla has proved to be a little gem - unpolished but still a gem.

A walk along the coast from the harbour let us watch the stormy winds roll in, the fishing boats came in too and we got to watch the fish market auction action. really good stuff.