Oldies On Tour

Monday Evening 10th May

“Elton”, Andrew’s magnificent 110ft yacht takes your breath away. Having been kitted out for the charter market, everything was catered for and we felt very privileged to be “allowed” aboard.  

Our hosts made us very welcome and settled us in to the “owner’s suite”, very sumptuous, before enjoying a couple of drinks and a “get-to-know-you”chat.   

We also met up with the skipper of Andrew’s other yacht, who gave us the grand tour of this beautiful Italian classic boat that he rescued from a breakers yard last year, and it is now going through restoration by a local ship-writes.  Once complete this one will also impress!!!

Tomorrow we’ll head off to Ibiza, should take around 8-hours but due to weather and sea state we’re not leaving till 0900hrs.

We spent our first night in untold luxury; we’ve both slept on many different boats over the years but never had such a big, comfortable bed with a luxurious en-suite including a bath!!!!

Tuesday 11th May

Following a very comfortable night moored in the marina, we were ready for the off.  As planned we slipped our mooring at 0900hrs and took a course to Ibiza and after we left the protection of the harbour moles, we hoisted the sails.    It was fascinating to watch Ollie unfurl the jib from the cockpit by just pushing buttons, everything is hydraulic and we were now underway.

Though the wind was cold and causing a certain amount of disruption to the sea, we had blue skies and the sun was shining, but we appreciated why we held off leaving ‘till later!!!!

Making good progress, we sailed along the coast towards the headland near Gandia when we then then kicked off towards Ibiza at which point Ollie put a reefed main out.  Again the main was hoisted hydraulically, the only manual import was pressing the button and securing the reef, we were fascinated especially after the hours we have physically pulled on sheets to raise mains, and pull jibs in and out etc, etc.,  mind you when you see the size of the sheets on Elton, there would be no-way one could do this manually.

Travelling along nicely at around 10-knots we were making good progress though the sea-state  was a little on the choppy side.   Then gradually the wind died, Ollie took the reef out and played with the hydraulic buttons coaxing the sails to gather as much wind as was available until the inevitable happened, the wind vanished.   The jib was furled, the main dropped into the boom box and on went the engine; Shock Horror but it is what it is, we just got on with it but our timings were now well and truly comprised.

Running on engine with the main stowed, our rapid progress slipped and the boat rocked for the rest of the journey much to ChristIne’s stomach disgust though I have to say this brave girl contained everything!!!!!!!  

Earlier in the day ChristIne, tongue in cheek, asked the skipper what time will we see the Dolphins to which he replied, midday: Guess what, midday came and went, no dolphins.   Around about four o’clock the skipper said, the dolphins have arrived, albeit a bit late, ChristIne asked if he was joking, no he said so we both headed to the pulpit and hey presto, there they were, having a wale of a time playing around the bows.    We watched for ages before they left, it reminded us of the time we sailed across the bay at Soufriere (St Lucia) in Anam Cara, amazing sight.

Though there was minimal wind, what there was was cold and we now wished we could get there. One reason ChristIne wanted to sail is to see how she would be if we both join “Elton” and do the Atlantic crossing in November, as you can imagine the answer flowed both ways and I’m still none the wiser to the answer, yet!!!!

Land ahoy, great but unfortunately it seemed to take ages to get there.    Due to the size of Elton, entering a marina is rather expensive (€450) and as we are totally self contained we headed for a bay that was out of the path of what little wind there was and also out of the swell.  Due to the slow speed on engine our original ETA of around 1700hrs was well and truly blown out of the window, as by the time we had dropped the anchor it was more like 2000hrs, oh well the joys of sailing.

Now it was the turn of Annica to head to the galley. Being so late we would have been more than happy with a simple snack but no, she had the necessary ingredients for her Pork dish, we just had to wait!   Well it was certainly well worth waiting for we thoroughly enjoyed everything, if this is her regular standard we are in for a treat.

Coffee followed by bed after a thoroughly enjoyable day, out in the sun and out on the sea.

Friday 7th May 2021

Following a convivial full English at our local Panaderia with Jim and Hazel, plus Frank and Sue we headed towards Martin and Marian’s Villa situated in the hills behind Denia for a few days prior to being taken to a “posh” hotel in Old Valencia for my birthday treat.   After being cooped up for so long due to the Covid restrictions, we felt “free” at last, well that is within the restriction of staying in Valencia’s region!!!  We also felt safe having had our second moderna jab the day before but unfortunately “this second jab” was affecting Christine.

After a pleasant couple of hours we arrived and soon settled in for 5-days. ChristIne had progressively got worse through the day so we had a quiet evening and went to bed early.

Saturday 8th May

We weren’t in too much of a hurry to rush about, especially as Christine was far worse today than yesterday, the second jab has really blunted her enthusiasm for action.  Today we had the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying to look forward to later and also I had everything crossed for Northampton Saints, they had to win their game against Gloucester to have any chance of making the top four championship playoffs, therefore we decided to head for Xaló to visit the pharmacy, take a stroll around the flee market held in the big car park and have a mid morning coffee etc!!!  When we eventually arrived for our coffee it also turned into a light lunch, but that was not all!!!

Whilst we were enjoying our coffee etc., ChristIne made an admission.  Apparently yesterday I had asked her a direct question about Andrew’s boat which is currently in Valencia having a minor re-fit but her admission was that she had told a lie yesterday and felt guilty for doing so.  The truth came out, she had actually arranged with Andrew and behind my back, a surprise a trip on “Elton” (the name of the boat) to Ibiza and back and instead of being in Denia for five days, we were spending 4-nights aboard, wow!!! Was I excited or was I excited, I was over the moon by the thought of leaving the mainland for the first time for 14-months.  I must say I had no idea whatsoever about this surprise and apparently friends and family were in on it too, but no one let any “cats out of the bag”, well done them!!

The upshot of all this was our planned trips from the villa had to be severely curtailed; anyway they can be done another time, an opportunity to go sailing is far more appealing.

Having done the things we had planned, we returned mid afternoon whereby I looked at the disastrous result, Saints lost heavily (7 – 31), and therefore scuppered their chances of reaching the playoffs, a bitter disappointment as they have been doing so well of late.  ChristIne stood up well to the rigours of the day but was wilting after dinner, it was as if she had flu, coughing, aches and pains etc., so after a few games of crib, (honours even!!!!), another early night was called for.

Sunday 9th May

ChristIne was feeling a little better this morning so after watching the Andrew Marr program and catching up with the last of the election results etc., we headed out to Llíber, a small village nearby where there is a pretty little square that we knew was busy and frequented on a Sunday by cyclists.  Here we naturally had the customary bottle of “vino” and a number of Tapas which constituted lunch.  It was lovely to sit in the warm sun enjoying the vibrant atmosphere, watching everybody.  

Arriving back at the Hacienda just before the rain started, and boy did it rain, not what we expected, anyway after dinner we settled back and watch Hamilton drive brilliantly to win the Spanish Grand Prix, a bit more crib then bed.

Monday 10th May

Exciting day today, but first we had chores to do, after all we couldn’t leave Marian and Martin with used linen etc., so got “stuck-in”.   ChristIne had arranged a late afternoon arrival and also agreed we would have eaten before, so around 1330hrs we headed for a restaurant, but unfortunately, according to Google most seemed closed locally so headed into Xaló and eventually found one that did a menu del Dia, a little more expensive than normal and didn’t include a drink, “what”I hear you say!!!!, but looked very nice inside.

This restaurant turned out to be a little gem, their menu del dia was excellent, the house wine was surprisingly good, attentive service and a young chef who really knew his stuff.  The shame of it was we were the only ones in there but looking at the full menu when we left, we guess it’s more of an evening destination.  (Note to self: return).    

We returned to Complete our chores, but was hampered by the rain though did manage to sort the outside furniture.  Again it came down in stair rods and we got soaked as we packed the car before heading to the Marina in the port of Valencia just over an hour away.    

Arriving at the marina gates met up with our skipper “Ollie”, and our hostess “Anneca” who walked us to Elton and welcomed us aboard

Sunday 18th October

No rush today as our only plan is “Sunday. Coffee Morning”; got to keep the tradition going!!!! And a trip into Javia, but first breakfast and “Marr on Sunday”.

We hit the road about 1100am and stopped at the in “Casa Aleluya” in Xaló, (Jalón) in the next village for coffee but to my horror they’d run out of Soberano; catastrophe, and their

substitute didn’t hit the spot, so we left fairly quickly and headed to Xàbia (Javia).  Not too sure how, but Tom Tom took us, (probably the most direct), along another of the very twisty and narrow roads across the mountains, again littered with cyclists; poor ChristIne!!

On arrival we didn’t mess about when we arrived, we headed to the old historical town, far more interesting with the special atmosphere narrow streets, passages create and naturally bars spilling

out.  Parking was a bit of an issue as all signs pointed to an underground “pay” car parking; hmmm, not for us!!! But we found a free slot and walked into the maze of of passageways.   Where the sun shone through it was nice and warm, but where there was a lack of sun it was quite chilly, still we persevered climbing up and down

the hilly terrain.

Xàbia has quite a history stretching for centuries and had been fought over several times and in the 16th century they built a wall around the place as the town was regularly raided by pirates from North Africa.  As we drove, we could see Remains of the wall but once we started to read

about the place, we find we have been cheated, the remains are not remains, they are replicas!!!! 

As we have decided today is our last day in this region, we went out to lunch, again!!!! And found a rather nice bar/restaurant in the old town where we had some excellent food and beverages, far to much but hey, we can diet from tomorrow!!!  

After a couple of hours and fully replete we headed down to the port as ChristIne wanted to reminisce by to seeing where she had sailed into sometime in her past. Job done!

We were a little more careful when we loaded Alcalali into Tom Tom this time and returned on “proper roads”, around the mountain.

We were back in good time for our Sunday-night family quiz after which we settled down for a night around the television.   Tomorrow we head back home???

Saturday 17th October

After a leisurely breakfast we decided to stay local and visit Pego and Parcent, both recommended by our sailing friend, Rob.

Pego being so close we had assumed it was in the same valley as Alcalali is but we were wrong. To get there we had to cross into

another valley along what was at times quite a twisty but fortunately not to long a mountain road, though being Saturday all the cyclists were out and about which again caused white knuckles to be had on the passenger’s side of the car.

As usual, upon arrival we drove around to get an appreciation of the town, quite quaint in places but fairly busy and many narrow streets, so finding somewhere to park was difficult. We finally found a lovely tree lined open square surrounded by buildings with cars parked everywhere and being Saturday, families strolling and enjoying the midday warmth. After driving around for quiet some time we eventually managed to squeeze the car into a back street space and headed back to the tree lined square where we sat at a table in one of the many bars to watch the world go by and enjoy a coffee etc. It struck us just how much social life was getting back to normal, though all the people were doing the right thing; wearing their masks and social distancing, even the young were behaving, which was very reassuring to witness.

Pego’s history can be traced back to the Bronze Age though more recently it was populated by the Arabs until around 1244 when it was conquered by the James1 of Aragon who re-populated it with peasants from Catalonia. Today there is a population of around 11,000 People. One interesting fact; in the Middle Ages it was wetland area and rice was the main crop grown, but no sign of that now, it is oranges etc., that one sees.

Sitting in the sun watching the world go by enjoying our morning coffee break got so extended that lunchtime was upon us, so decided to stay where we were and have another tapas lunch out, naturally with another bottle of the delicious local wine; At this rate when we get back we will have to go a starvation diet!!!!

After several hours of chewing everything over and putting the world to rights and getting nowhere, we left, found the car and headed towards Parcent, stopping at a supermarket on the way.

Parcent is only a few Kilometres from Alcalali so back along the twisty roads. The road actually by-passes this village, just as well as the streets are so narrow. Driving around the place look deserted and the streets being so narrow, at one point we had to manoeuvre back and forth to get round the corner!!! At this point we decided there was nothing doing, we didn’t see any square, bars, restaurants etc., it looked to be a “dead-and-alive” place, not too surprising as it only has a population of 1,000, so back home we headed.

This afternoon was the Heineken European rugby Cup final and fortunately we arrived back in plenty of time to watch on Channel 4: good planning or what!!!!! It was the most nail biting, enthralling, edge-of-the-seat match I think I have watched but in the end Exeter Chiefs finally put the French side Racing 92 to bed. Exeter is not my side but this occasion they had my support to keep the cup with an English team.

For dinner tonight we chucked a couple of trout on the Bar-bee, very nice and followed this by a night in front of the TV.

Friday 16/10/2020

We started the day with a cooked breakfast, as we didn’t know when our next meal was going to come, in fact we didn’t really know what to expect at all.  Hazel had seen an advert for crew, so Geoff wrote off, with Jim and Vince saying they would come as well.  When we had a reply the boat was in Denia, so nowhere we could reach in a hurry. We arranged the day when we were at Marian’s, so off we went.

We arrived at the Marina, which was incredibly posh, with expensive

restaurants and shops, very sad to see it almost empty of people, but packed with boats, so much money tied up, unbelievable!  We met Rob who was an ex policeman and ex pilot from Scotland we had a coffee and a chat then we were off.

”Vegabond” Is a 27’ boat built in Sweden 1971, which has been updated several times, with new engine, and instruments but no lazy jacks or bag, furling Jib etc., it was like going back to sailing in the 70’s.

I was nervous as still not got my confidence back, but it was like going back to the 90’s where I had my own boat as it was identical to my westerly called “drifter”, after engine checks etc., we were off.

Out of the marina into the channel and I took over the tiller, well having been used to a wheel for years, it was very strange, we put the sails up and headed for Javea, with no wind we kept the engine on, by this time “George” (automatic pilot) was on the helm, and we sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Sadly not enough wind for a sail, but we enjoyed the day, when we returned we packed the sails away, and headed for restaurant, where we had tapas and wine, we parted saying see you soon.

Back home we had a relaxing night.

 

 

 

 

 

The tourist town of Guadalest.

Thursday 15th October 

Today we headed out to El Castell de Guadalest, better known as just “Guadalest”,a Valencian village high up in the mountains located near

the 1500-metre Serra d’Aitana. Guadalest has an area of 16 km² and, according to the 2002 census, a total population of 189 inhabitants.

This morning the sun was shining with clear blue skies so back into shorts today and after  some discussion agreed we shouldn’t go the conventional route; duel carriages and motorway, but straight across the mountains, half the distance but twice as much time.  Not long after leaving Alcalali we hit the mountain pass, narrow road, extremely twisty, big drops but beautiful scenery and fortunately not too much traffic other than cyclists to bother us.   This was just as well as Christine was hanging onto the

door handle and safety belt so hard her knuckles were quite white, add traffic into the mix, well we would probably have to turnaround!!!!  

At the top of the pass we stopped for a few minutes at the viewing place to take in the panoramic vista, mountains with the Mediterranean Sea in the distance but we didn’t stay too long as it was rather cold, we should have thought about that when we put our shorts on!!!!!  

Heading back down the other side we passed orange, lemon, olive and almond trees, different from Alcalali where wine grapes are grown.

We eventually arrived in Guadalest, parked and again the first thing was to find the loos but due to Covid the public ones were locked up so, oh dear, we’ll have to go to a bar which means we had to have the usual.

The village is split into two.  The lower part with its attractive narrow, pedestrian, cobbled streets with tourist shops selling their wares and a few ally’s connecting the two main streets.   The higher part accessed up a lot of steps and through an arch naturally formed by rocks with buildings on top.  Once through this arch we still were walking up the hilly cobbled street to the top where there was a nice square and a path running round the mountain for people to take in the magnificent views, including the lake below which turned out to be a reservoir, filled by the Guadalest River.  

Tourists to Guadalest probably outnumber the inhabitants several times over and apart from this village being small and high up in the mountains there are 9-museums to be visited, but we only went into one.   The house was laid out as it was in the 18th century including an olive oil and a flour press; interesting but small, in fact all the museums seem very small but they are very varied.  On fact is is definite, there in no way it is a wheelchair friendly place.

Returning down into the lower part of the village we stopped for a light lunch; tapas with a drink overlooking the Guadalest valley with the Mediterranean in the background and the sun shining.    Once through this arch we still were walking up the hilly cobbled street to the top where there was a nice square and a path running round the mountain for people to take in the magnificent views, including the lake below which turned out to be a reservoir, filled by the Guadalest River.  

Tourists to Guadalest probably outnumber the inhabitants several times over and apart from this village being small and high up in the mountains there are 9-museums to be visited, but we only went into one.   The house was laid out as it was in the 18th century including an olive oil and a flour press; interesting but small, in fact all the

museums seem very small but they are very varied.  On fact is is definite, there in no way it is a wheelchair friendly place.

Returning down into the lower part of the village we stopped for a light lunch; tapas with a drink overlooking the Guadalest

valley with the Mediterranean in the background and the sun shining.   It was even warm enough to take our fleeces off!!!!   

Early afternoon and we headed back but this time decided to return on “normal” roads, and to ensure I didn’t take a “wrong turning!!!!”  Christine suggested we went via the seaside town of El Albir to ensure I didn’t.   El Aldir ran into Altea and together they looked to us as your typical seaside resort, though no doubt suffering this year with few guests.   The other thing, Christine didn’t have any good thoughts about living here, to quote her “I only like Moraira“, who knows where we go from here!!!!!

Arriving back, we had a cuppa before sorting dinner and a quiet night in, tomorrow we’re off to Denia.