Almerimar, Spain.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since I last updated the web-site. We were held up by bad weather in Mallorca, but eventually that passed, and just before we began to make preparations to leave, we received the sad and totally unexpected news that Mie´s brother had died, in particularly tragic circumstances. Mie flew off the next morning to the UK, where she was met by the three children, and then went straight off to Norway the next day.

As it seemed likely that she might need to do a bit of organising, we decided that I should stay on Hygeia for the time being, and if possible make some progress to the west. Both Harry and Dag kindly offered to help me crew the boat, and in the end poor Dag drew the short straw, and very nobly came out to join me in Mallorca - nobly, because the last time he went offshore with me he was dreadfully sick the whole way.

We left Mallorca the next morning in fine conditions, but unfortunately the wind got up a bit and poor Dag, as was probably inevitable, was horribly seasick all the way to Ibiza. Our intention was to rest there, but as we got protection from the island, the conditions improved, and we had a good forecast for the next 24hrs, to cover the trip on to mainland Spain, another 140 miles. So we decided to continue on, though needless to say conditions soon deteriorated and we had between 20 and 30 knots from the west, almost precisely the direction we were headed. So it wasn´t a fun trip for Dag. Nevertheless, we had gained many miles of westing, and I was really grateful to him for his kindness and fortitude.

We eventually docked the boat in Altea, (having been turned away by the miserable marina people in Alicante); Dag went back to England the next day,and I went up to Norway the day after that.

Our time in Norway was of course very sad, but it was good to be up with the family, and Harry, Dag and Turid joined us for 48 hours for the funeral, which was lovely as well.

We flew down to Oslo on the 19th, and spent the nght at an airport hotel, which gave us the opportunity to have dinner with Jofrik and Mia. We flew down to join Hygeia again the following day, and set off the next morning.

Since then we have made good progress, and summer at last seems to have come to Spain. The first day to Cartagena, a lovely city (although not as nice as the other Cartagena we visited, in Columbia) then on to Garrucha, and finally to Almerimar, which is where we are now. The countryside here is unusual, and somewhat unattractive - what must be the biggest greenhouse in the world fills the hinterland; every foot of cultivatable land is covered with plastic, and behind Almerimar is a stretch about 20 miles long and 10 miles wide. Still, the fruit and veg here are good!

We will leave here later today, heading for Motril, and from there it is only 95 miles to Gibralter, so we could be finally leaving the Med at the end of the week.

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