Csárdás

Well our anchorage turned out to be perfect. After a refreshing sleep and waking up in daylight we could see that we had anchored a perfect distance away from the other yachts right on a pleasant tree-lined bend of the river half way between the upper ferry and Ditisham.

On Friday evening we met Angela’s parents at Greenway Quay and ferried them back to the boat in the dinghy for dinner. We decided to leave for the Solent Saturday evening to get the 3am tide round Portland Bill and into the Needles. This gave us time to go ashore in Dartmouth and check out the regatta festivities. Later on Saturday we were treated to a display of red arrows and other fighter jets flying loud and low over the river.

We arranged to meet for lunch with some Rally Portugal friends in Lymington on Sunday. So we left around 7pm on Saturday evening and motored out into a flat calm English Channel and almost no wind. We motored on into the night. While I was trying to get some sleep below the wind picked up a little from the West and Angie unfurled the genoa and dropped engine revs. Having left early we had an hour or two of the last of the foul tide at Portland Bill but as the sea was so flat it was quite benign and we just plowed through. This meant we had lots of tide taking us right into the Solent through the Needles channel. We motor sailed into the Solent at 9-10 knots over the ground and entered the river at Lymington around 8.30.

We only realised it was a bank holiday the day before and on phoning the two marinas in Lymington discovered that they were fully booked. We had decided to try the Town Quay on the off chance that we could get a berth there. Since we were arriving early we figured there would be people leaving for the day and we might be lucky. We were and ended up on the pontoon with 4 boats rafted outside us by the end of the day.

We had an enjoyable lunch with Derek, Terry and Charlie from Baracuda 3, and John and Sue from Swagman at the Lymington Town Sailing Club. Baracuda is now berthed in Spain and Swagman is in Lagos for the winter. It was great to see them and a really nice welcome home.

On Sunday morning we had a brisk and enjoyable sail round to Hamble. A decent breeze and flat water reminded us how much fun sailing in the Solent can be. We were moored up in our home berth in Hamble by lunch time and met up with some friends in the pub.

After some fun and games getting my car started we were invited for curry at Peter and Blue’s.

We’re now back at home in Shaftesbury with lots of business to catch up with!

24th pm.

It was early afternoon when we were pottering on the boat whiling away the hours of boredom We were surprised to see a familiar boat arrive into Loctudy. Megawat pulled into the birth next to us looking like they had just had a wild few hours sailing from Concarneau. It was just the two of them and I dont think they were surprised to see us. It was cool to see the two Hanse 371s next to each other and there were a lot of comparisons being made. Philip’s boat is obviosuly set up for his hardcore racing lifestyle, mast raked back and big kevlar mainsail. [he claims he has stopped racing, but as a sailmaker it isn't surprising to see his exotic sails and race tuning, Ed.] But Csardas still looked young bright and gorgeous, in her prime.

25th

Weather forecast was more promising and the gale warnings had ceased. It was forecast 5-6 but with less rain expected. The wind direction wasnt particularly favourable for the first part of the journey so it looked like we may have to motor for 7 hours to get out around the raz & Ushant but we thought it would be worth it as then we could sail with the west north west winds straight across the channel in a northeasterly direction. We decided to get ready and go before midday. Sue and Philip offered us some coffee aboard Megawat and we enjoyed a slice of Sue’s home made fruit cake which was delicious and certainly fuelled the fires before setting off. Philip helped us change the genoa (free of charge!) to the smaller sail on the self tacker. As we were expecting force 6 and some up wind work to begin with Marcus thought it would make for a more comfortable sail and be less hassle for us.

It was a long hard slog to Ushant, we motor tacked and were slamming into the oncoming swell, it was either that or tack in the wrong direction to get more west in, sometimes its hard to accept this in order to make progress, although the boat would have been more comfortable, it would have taken hours longer. I was feeling queasy before nightfall and couldnt shift it. I had been sat on deck freezing cold and not being able to face going down below to sleep as I would have thrown up. I forced myself to in the end as Marcus was getting worried about me getting hypothermia!. Marcus ended up working like a trouper until about 3am to get us around the raz and past Ushant. By the time we were on course for Dartmouth, now on a better angle to the wind, he was tired out and desperately needed to rest by the time I was back in the land of the living.

Amazingly and luckily for my watch, the wind dropped considerably throughout the early morning. We had loads of dolphins with us in the dark. You could just about see them if you concentrated really hard. I’ve got used to the sound their splashes make now and when I hear it I know its not just another wave and it helps you forget about the tiredness and crappyness when you can watch them playing and loving it so much.

We had a great sail for a lengthy period after this although at this point Marcus was cursing the fact we only had the self tacker up now the wind had dropped. It had meant our progress was much slower and made the journey more arduos. As the sun warmed our tired bodies we could see the end in sight. We started to get excited about being homeward bound and started planning all the things we were going to do. We couldn’t believe Marcus had been on the boat for three months! We also couldn’t believe how flipping cold it was compared to the beautiful sunshine we’d had in Portugal and Spain. The sun was shining the wind was slight and we motor sailed for a while. Later the wind began to increase and we were again thankful for the small jib. When we were nearer England we had radio 1 at top volume and spirits were high.

It seemed to take ages from the moment be saw Start Point lighthouse as dusk crept up on us to when we were heading into Dartmouth Harbour. We saw fireworks far off in the distance and joked about how our welcoming party were celebrating before we had even got there! The wind strength picked up dramatically as we headed around the point. We were both so tired mentally and physically after having to helm to keep the boat from spinning round in the swell which we were surfing down.

What utter dissapointment was awaiting our arrival into Dartmouth Harbour in pitch dark at midnight. The annual Dartmouth regatta had started! Hundreds of boats filled the place. There was an enormous Naval ship in the middle of the harbour and boats were rafted four or five abreast everywhere. The anchorage in the middle of the harbour was dangerously packed and we saw two boats bumping together. There was nowhere for us to go. It was 1am and we couldnt find a mooring, there was nobody around and we started to fret. It was also very hard to find our way about what with the darkness and glare from street lights, ships’ flood lights and so on. Only anchored boats are lit. The many boats on mooring buoys are all unlit. How stupid were we to come here! We should have known. We thought about heading back out and around to Torquay but the prospect of turning around and back into the building force six and encroaching rain clouds was too much to bear. We persisted to motor further up river and persisted to pannic. Finally we found somewhere to anchor but it was so hard to see anything, it was darker further up the river, Marcus was finding it hard to see through his glasses in the spitting rain, and couldnt see how far we were from the other boats to anchor. I was getting more and more stressed out by the second, not being experienced enough to know what I was doing on the helm to aid Marcus letting the anchor out. We dragged the first time and ended up too close to the boat behind so we had to try again. We were both at the end of our tether by the time the anchor was finally bedded in but still we couldnt rest for long. Marcus had to check we hadn’t moved continously. Its so hard not to worry when you’re at anchor. The tide turned at about 5am but luckily we stuck firm. This morning it was harder to see what all the fuss was about now we’re happily anchored here half way up towards Dittisham. It’s raining but is supposed to clear later. My parents are coming down from Eggesford to see us tonight. We’ll meet them up at Dittisham and dinghy back to the boat. The plan is to leave for the Solent tomorrow evening.

For the moment we are happy to be back in England even though it wasnt much of a welcome for us. We’ve learnt alot on this trip. We will never plan to turn up somewhere in the dark again without finding out if we can berth there first!

21st August

Well after two days in Ile d’Yeu waiting for a gap between the storms, we decided to make a run for La Trinite. Woke up to wind from the NNW. It was forecast to back to the west later. On the whole the conditions had improved so we decided we would leave, and although we’d have to motor into the wind for a while we could sail when the wind came round. We bashed into a NNW3-4 for a couple of hours until it dropped to a less hindering force 1-2. The wind went west a little around 1300 and picked up slightly so that we were able to close reach comfortably. The nearer the bay of Quiberon we got the calmer the water and it turned into a lovely sail all the way into La Trinite. As we motored down the visitors’ pontoon looking for a berth I spotted Megawat, another Hanse 371, from Ireland, belonging to Philip Watson. I knew they were cruising the area this summer and we were hoping we might meet up with them. We had drinks aboard Megawat later that evening. Beforehand Ange and I had gone in search for a restaurant. Being Saturday evening everywhere was packed and without a reservation it looked like it was going to be impossible to get a table. Luckily, however, we found an amazing pizza place up a backstreet and had the most amazing, most enormous pizzas but not before ordering mussles and chips for a starter!

22nd August

First thing in the morning we moved the boat to a finger berth. We were rafted alongside a catamaran on the end of the pontoon as when we had arrived all the visitors berths were full. In the morning a few boats had left so we quickly claimed one. We then caught Le Petit Train, one of those tourist trains that drives along the road, to Carnac to see the Megalithic Allignments. These are rows and rows of stones covering several miles that are apparantly 1000 years older than the oldest pyramid (4000BC). Amongst these were tombs called Dolmen’s made of horizontal stones laid upon verticle ones.

23rd August

Forecast for today still promising strong winds from the west. Our course to Benodet in a northwesterly direction. A couple of options on route should we decide it is all too much so we left anyway. We motored south out of La Trinite and then west for the short few miles round the bottom of the Quiberon peninsular. Once heading NW we were able to sail on a close reach with one reef in the main and 5 or 6 rolls in the genoa. We flew along at 7-8 knots and it wasn’t long before we were half way towards our destination. Luckily we escaped any rain. We decided to head into Loctudy rather than Benodet as it looked quieter and less spoilt.

24th August

From here it is less than 200 miles to Salcombe. Originally we were going to do the 60 miles from here, through the notoriously rough Raz de Sein to Camaret. From Camaret it is then 120 miles to the west country via the Chenal du Four, between the mainland and Ushant Island, another notorious tidal race. Both the Raz and the Chenal du Four require fair weather (or wind and tide together) and passage at appropriate times of the tide. However, a course from here out west around the outside of the Raz and Ushant and then NE to Salcombe is less than 200 miles and is not dependent on tides. This is therefore the simplest route home. We worked all this out last night. We could be in the UK in a couple of days and be home by next weekend we thought! Then we looked at the weather forecast! For the next FIVE days the Met office is currently forecasting near gales, heavy seas, rain and thunder on our route home. The only good part is that the wind is from the W/SW. But even so, we don’t like the look of it, and I feel it would be foolhardy for the two of us to venture out into that. The problem is after this 5 days of horrendous weather the wind, while it will drop to a more suitable level, is forecast to go northerly. Marvellous. We could be stuck here for at least 7 days. And at present there’s no way of knowing what will happen after that.

It is so frustrating to be 30 hours from home yet unable to leave. I can’t help wishing that we’d just got some extra crew and sailed straight across Biscay from Spain a month ago when the weather was decent. Instead, because we wanted to see France, we’ve slogged our way north, constantly waiting for gaps in the wather to make progress. And now, after all that, we could be stuck in Northern France for more than a week! Well, let’s hope it improves quickly.

11:00

No news from Madrid, the agent or anyone. In desperation emailed Yanmar European HQ in Holland using email address listed on their website. Guess what? That doesn’t work either. Got this bounce:

Your message

Diagnostic-Code: X-Notes; Maximum forwarding loop count exceeded. Message probably in a forwarding loop. Examine Forwarding Address of intended recipient in Domino Directory.

Useless. The company can’t even set an email address up properly. They seem to me to be making it very hard for anyone to get any kind of service.

They have a fax number. So I have faxed a copy of the email to that. Whether or not that will actually arrive anywhere or get read I don’t know.

Well we still can’t switch the engine off properly. By 5pm on Tuesday there was still no news from the engineer. The marina office said they would chase up but by 7pm nada.

8pm. Man in marina office now tells me he knows engineer still waiting for authorisation from main agents in Sada. Seems marine and engineer have been in contact after all as they know more than I. Appears engineer is actually a 3rd party to Yanmar agent!

First thing this morning I phoned UK distributor for advice. He was very helpful and said that even if this engineer is not Yanmar agent it would not effect future warrenty claims if he did the work. He also said that when I get back to the UK I could send them invoice and they would sette it.

So, went to marina office and asked them to phone the engineer and get him down to do the work. But they wouldn’t. Said but he is not official .. bla bla .. warrenty void .. etc. SO I said don’t worry about thast I have it sorted. Then they tell me that the thing is the main agent at Sada is waiting for a call from the distributors in Madrid for authorisation to go ahead! The marina people seem to know more than me - why didn’t they tell me this yesterday? Anyway, they refused to call engineer.

I then phoned distributor in Madrid. Explained problem (they spoke good English) and they said they would call Sada to sort out and call me back.

11:30 - Phone call from Madrid. Asked me to fax warrenty card to them.

12:00 - Faxed warrenty details to Madrid.

18:00 - No news! Ange went to marina office to ask if they had heard anything. Spoke to a new guy who spoke good english. He explained everything we already knew. Angie told him we no longer cared about the warrenty and had the OK from UK distributor anyway. We had fulfilled our side of the warrenty deal by calling the registered agent yesterday. Not our problem the guy they sent was not authorised. So chap at marina said he would call an engineer out now. Why couldn’t they do this this morning? Ange told them we were thinging of taking boat to Sada to be nearer engineers. This worried him - he’d prefer we stayed here and paid them for berthing!

19:00 - Engineer turns up. Same chap that came yesterday. Made it clear he would void the warrenty. We explained this was no longer a problem. He started poking around, much drawing of breath. Decided job was too big to fix afterall. Then he noticed some oil beneath engine. Much sucking of air again. Oh dear, he said, big problem. Would have to go to main agent afterall. Here we go again. Suggested engine would come out and it would take 7 days to fix. This assuming Yanmar agent ever decided they would actually bother to help us. Or, he said, since we were heading back to the UK, we could head off, keep an eye on oil, keep topping up, stop the engine via the decompression levers and on arrival in the UK make claim to Yanmar in the UK and get them to replace engine. He said not to expect any help from engineers in Sada and that Madrid unlikely to care.

20:30 - After engineer had gone I looked closely at bottom of engine. Some bolts on tray could be easily tightened and these loose ones had more oil on than others. I think bolts just need tightening and oil just seeping out. Wasn’t as much there as he had made out. Wouldn’t be surprised if tightening the bolts cures it. Filled up oil. Still no go with stop lever but we can use decompression levers as long as we are sensible. So decide we shall get the hell out of this place and carry on to Gijon and then La Rochelle as planned. Maybe we will have more luck with French Yanmar agents.

Extremely dissatisfied with Yanmar in general. UK distributor was very helpful but otherwise feel very let down. Yanmar book claims all worldwide agents speak English. I phoned two agents here and neither spoke any English. I do not expect Spanish to speak English but take issue with Yanmar making false claims. Furthermore no one I spoke to at Madrid or Sada ever made any effort to contact me. I am ready to accept that the agent may be busy but expect, in the least, a call to indicate when they might be able to fit me in. Instead it is clear they are unwilling to help and sent someone unable to do any of the work. As I am not able to get any work done here I am being forced into heading off on a long passage without a properly functioning engine and am forced into putting strain on the engine by having to stop it abnormally.

I will of course be writing to Yanmar and expect a complete replacement engine on my return to the UK. Yanmar make false claims in their warrenty book regarding the languages spoken by their official agents and have been uncommunicative. I have had to pay for three days expensive marina fees while we waited for a response. Had there not been a problem, or had someone bothered to help us, we would have likely been anchored for free in the ria. I will be claiming this expense from Yanmar. What’s more the engine is only nine months old and has done less than 200 hours motoring. This problem should not have occured in the first place. My last boat had a Volvo which gave me no problems. I am not at all impressed with Yanmar.

25th July

My sister, Jane, arrived via Porto airport and the daily bus to Vigo late this evening.

26th July

A day in Bayona. A chance to do some laundry and for Jane to see the sights of Bayona.

27th July

Rather foggy morning, we left the marina when it cleared just enough to see about half a mile and motored carefully the short distance to Isla Del Faro. Lovely anchorage and amazingly clear water. We anchored in around 7 metres of water and could see the bottom. Nice beach but busy with day trippers and ferries. A couple of campsites on the island meant it was buzzing with people.

28th July

Woke up to see dozens of divers all around us diving for scallops. Had a swim and rowed ashore to check the place out. Looks like some nice walks in the woods and up to the top of the mountainous island but decided too many people.

29th July

Still very little wind. Weighed anchor and motored north to Isla Ons outside the Ria de Pontevdra. Anchored here for lunch. Nice anchorage but not sheltered enough for a longer stay. After lunch wind had picked up a little so we sailed into the Ria de Pontevedra to Sanxenxo. Ria very lovely. Saxenxo beachside touristy place. Not that enamoured but sheltered marina.

30th July

Left Saxenxo marina around lunch time. Wind on the nose out of the ria so took opportunity to tack up and down and tighten loose leward shroads - each side in turn. Cap shroud ok but lower ones too loose. Just tightened them enough to take excessive slack out of them. Sailed further north to next ria - Ria de Arousa. Were hoping to anchor off the island in the middle but wind had picked up and area with best sheltered much busier with local moorings and fishing boats than pilot book had suggested and just not enough room. So decided Puebla del Caraminial best place for shelter and motored across expecting to anchor off beach nr the two yacht club pontoons that pilot book said busy with local yachts. However, where two pontoons supposed to be is now a bigger new marina with shiny new finger berths and plenty of space, so moored up in there instead. Marinero met us and guided us to a berth. Nice little town, not too spoiled, many cafes.

1st August

Foggy mooring. Slipped lines midday when it had cleared sufficiently and motored out of ria. At entrance to ria was able to hoist sail and fog had lifted and we sailed south back to Ria Pontevedra. Big yacht race going on in the ria. Spectacular scenary made race look all the more impressive. Lovely place to sail. Had decided to check out Combarro, a small place at head of Ria which pilot book says has sheltered anchorage and interesting historic unspoilt town. Certainly is. Lovely old granite buildings right by the shore with narrow twisting lanes. All have granaries outside on pillars to stop the rats. Houses with steps down to the shore traditional dwellings for the fishermen. Very pretty and nice cafes with great Tapas.

2nd August

Sailed to Isla De San Martin - just south of the island we stayed at a few days ago. This island is a bird sanctuary and no ferry landings or inhabitants so much quieter and a beautiful anchorage. Definitely much nicer than Isla Del Faro.

3rd August

Back to Bayona. Fuelled up and found a berth in new marina.

4th August

Jane up early to get taxi to Vigo and thence bus to Porto for flight home. Angie arrived in the evening having flown from UK via Madrid and Santiago (then short train journey to Vigo).

5th August

Need to head north as have 4 weeks to get home. But silly for Ange to miss the lovely rias. So selected favourite bits from previous week to visit on passgage north. So did the very short motor across to Isla de San Martin to the lovely beach. Swam to beach in lovely warm clear water.

6th August

To Combarro to show Ange the pretty little town. More Tapas!

7th - 8th August

Missed out Ria de Arousa - wasn’t too fussed with it. Was rather busy and more industrial. Instead sailed up to the next ria - Ria do Muros - and anchored off the town of Muros. Around a dozen yachts anchored here. Prettier ria but wasn’t so impressed with the town itself.

Warnings regarding Hurrican Alex heading East across Atlantic. Front would pass us over early morning. Wind got up but anchor held well over night. Woke to heavy rain. While lying in bed heard some commotion outside and a fog horn. Looked out to see mayhem. Wind had veered and half a dozen yachts had dragged anchor and several were entwined and much jostling going on to avoid damage and disentangle in strong wind and heavy rain. We were drifting and fog horn was to alert us. Luckily weren’t about to hit another boat. So quickly, donning annoraks, started engine. Ange played throttle and helm to keep boat as steady as possible while avoiding being fetched up on seawall and with me shouting instructions from bow to keep chain in right place while I struggled to get anchor up. As it was a deep anchorage I had put all 30m of chain out and around 10m of rope. Rope part had to be hauled up by hand. Hard work, and had to untie backup rope while holding anchor rode in other hand and then coax rope/chain splicing down hause pipe (rope is too thick and splicing I made not the best so doesn’t go down hole easy). Once rope rode up could use windlass on chain. Carefully, so as not to blow fuse and by shouting instructions to Ange on helm to help take strain off rode, managed to get anchor to water level where it emerged with a tangle of around three large warps, pieces of steel cable, a fishing net and what looked like a railway sleeper with large nails poking out. Had to rush below to get a hacksaw and using boat hook to pull pieces away and hacksaw to hack them off while trying not to bash side of boat managed to free the anchor. By this time we were both very wet. After getting anchor stowed a kind gesture was made to us by the chap on the big German catamaran which was moored to a sturdy mooring buoy that we could go alongside him. So kind. He was kindly standing in the rain watching over us and took lines for us to help us alongside.

About two hours later calm descended as front passed away. Rain stopped and sun came out and wind fell to nothing. So decided on shortish trip around Finisterre to Ria de Camarinas. Motored all the way in no wind at all (it’s either all or nothing it seems at the moment!). Anchored in harbour. Many other yachts, mostly French and English here. I suppose it’s an ideal staging post for a trip north or south being right on the corner at Finnisterre. Pumped dinghy up and rowed ashore to get some water. No diesel as it was a Sunday. So poured spare 35lts from jerry cans into fuel tank to give us almost a full tank. Forecast looked good for a long trip to Gijon (180 miles - ~35hrs) tomorrow with wind from the SW. Perfect. No mention of storms and figured now front has passed should be ok.

9th August

Up early at first light to light SW wind and weighed anchor. As we left ria could see huge cumulous clouds on horizon. Could we have rain? Forecast didn’t mention it. A small open fishing boat passed us heading back into the ria after a night of fishing. The fisherman waved, touched his eye and pointed to the clouds, beckoned with both hands towards the land. Was he warning us? We motor-sailed West to clear the hazards off the coast and then gybed to head N along the coast. Not a great deal of wind and the genoa flapped uselessly in the shadow of the main. Altering course later to NE following the coastline round the corner put the wind dead aft. So we adjusted the course by a few degrees for safety and set up a preventor. At one stage we tried the spinnaker. But the three metre swell just kept knocking us around causing the spinnaker to collapse. We then had more luck with the genoa poled out the wrong side. Later the wind went round a bit and we had to gybe both main and genoa. The main kept trying to gybe when the waves knocked the wind out of it. This was getting annoying. By about 1pm the clouds had darkened and started to look threatening. They weren’t moving fast either. At first it looked like where we were going was clearer and we could see the rain over the land. Perhaps we’d be alright out here. But then it got darker and closed in ahead too. In fact dark clouds were all around us. Then at 3pm we saw forked lightening ahead. How long would it last. Should we stick it? I looked at the chart and saw that we were 15 miles off La Coruna - a big place with a good marina. Bugger this, we thought, and turned to head for La Coruna. Dead into the wind so we put the engine on and with the swell heading in we surfed those 15 miles in a little over 2 hours.

Moored up in our allocated berth in La Coruna Ange pulled the engine stop lever to switch the engine off and nothing happened! I looked at the stop lever on the engine to see that it was still connected to the wire from the stop lever in the cockpit. Yes, and it was moving it. But the engine didn’t stop. Oh hell. Ended up shutting the fuel off at the tank to kill the engine. Found a number for a local Yanmar agent and called them. Amusing conversation in half Spanish half English. Not sure if they understood the problem but said they’d come and take a look the next day.

Saw Jezebel - the only other Rally Portugal yacht we know of heading back to the UK - moored in the marina. No one aboard but later on John noticed us and came to say hello and invited us aboard Jezebel for drinks. They were planning to leave that morning and head further East but weren’t impressed with the weather. After a few too many drinks catching up with John and Maggie, Ange and I headed into town. They say things come in threes. Well the third thing (after the weather and the engine) was when I attempted to use a cash machine to get some cash. Just as the machine was about to dispense the money the power went off and the damn thing rebooted. I notice during the reboot that it’s just a PC running OS/2 Warp. Well, at least it’s not Windows I suppose! Of course, the machine retained my card as a momento. Oh dear. Now what. Ange got some cash out at another cash machine. I’d have to see if I could get card back the next day. Hope they’re not like some places in England where they say they have to send card back to issuing bank for security reasons and absolve themselves of all responsibility regarding the cash machine in their wall.

10th August

Couldn’t sleep a wink last night. Using Altavista.com’s babelfish translator early this morning constructed a paragraph for the engineer regarding what was wrong with the engine and what I had done to stop it. Also constructed one for the bank about how their stupid cash machine had taken my card and that they absolutely had to give it back to me - just in case they didn’t speak English. They didn’t but I needn’t have worried. They were expecting me - you could tell from her smile as she read the first line of of my script. She had the card on the desk next to her and after a quick look at my passport handed it over. Phew.

Engineer arrived just after lunch. Nice chap. He read my note and took a look at the engine. Reckons it could just be a case of reconnecting something inside the casing but as the engine under warrenty he needed authorisation from the official agent (he was a freelance chap they had sent as they were busy) before cracking it open. He will phone back after siesta. Fingers crossed he can do it and we don’t have to wait for someone else to come, or order a new unit. Until this is fixed we can’t really carry on and I am anxious now to get to France soon as we really need to be back by 5th September for my cousin’s wedding.

However, it could be a blessing in disguise as it has rained on and off all day and the wind is howling. It might be in the right direction but it still doesn’t look too inviting out there. Jezebel left this morning and wondering if they will get as far as they hope.

La Coruna isn’t a bad place to be holed up anyway. Big city. Many facilities here. Could have happened somewhere remote.

.. will let you know how it turns out in the next installment ….