Leaving Ayamonte

Back in Ayamonte we prepared to leave for Gibraltar/La linea in order to have Dark Tarn Surveyed (full out of the water survey) for insurance purposes, Dark Tarn being 30 years old when her insurance renewal was due next year. During outr last days in ayamonte we decided to visit a slightly obscure tourist attraction, the tidal water mill out on the salt marshes.

Turned out to be a nice walk, however we were slightly dismayed when arriving to find the building locked up, Lynne had done her due diligence and pronounced it should be open. Just then the curator arrived having popped out for a sandwich for her lunch.

She was very helpful and it seemed once again we were the only visitors.

The water mill has recently been restored and the exhibition explains really well how a tidal mill works, free energy, how eco-friendly is that?

In its hey day it ground a lot of cereal for the surrounding area and now makes an interesting diversion from a walk around the salt marshes.

Our last few days in Ayamonte coincided with a festival of sorts (not to mention the World Cup)

We enjoyed the town immensely and I for one was sad to say goodbye, or was it the Guadiana I was missing?

No time to dwell as we set off south, the winds were great putting us on a beam reach once we had cleared the banks and bar at the mouth of the river, soon we were sailing strongly at 6 knots.

We had planned to split the 135 mile passage into three days but as it turned out the wind was consistent and I decided to just sail on into the night and most of the following morning in order to reach Gibraltar. We had an interesting time off Cape Trafalgar with a fishing fleet who were invisible on AIS but were circling around us constantly in the blackness, we then decided to cut in through the treacherous banks off Trafalgar and emerged beyond them into a very grey and cold dawn with visibility down to a half mile or so. The weather gradually improved however and we were soon going full tilt into the straights of Gibraltar with a strong westerly known locally as the Poniente, we had planned to anchor in Tarifa but Lynne discovered from the amendments to the pilot that this wasn't allowed anymore so we continued on the 15 miles or so to Gibraltar bay, we sailed in company with a Moody 38 (British) and having failed to catch us passed us under full sail as we rolled away our genoa, something at the back of my mind was saying this is a notoriously windy spot and I wasn't surprised when the Moody came back towards us heeled over alarmingly tryin to reduce sail. We ourselves having a full main were seriously overpowered, the wind speed rising quickly to over 40 knts but we were still able to enter the bay and find a quiet spot to lower the main in control. We never saw the Moody again.

Soon we were preoccupied with negotiating the huge volume of traffic coming in and out of the port.

ferries, container, bulk cargo , tanker , Cruise ship, you name it we could see it, we also had no idea where exactly La Linea marina was but careful pilotage produced results and we found our way to the small bay anchorage, anchoring behind the breakwater is now actively discouraged (presumably to encourage you to berth in th marina) so we found a spot off the beach.

Great views of the rock and crystal clear if somewhat chilly water. There was another OCC boat in the anchorage an Oyster owned by Peter who we had last seen up the Guardiana river. He soon dinghied over and informed us about where to not leave our dinghy ( everywhere, apart from the yacht club which charged 5 euro ) and a tale of smuggling, gunfire, and a body found on the beach that morning. We were after all in La Linea the drugs smuggling capital of Europe.

Ho hum. we resolved to stay at least overnight and were woken at four in the morning by high speed RIBs (inflatable boats) dropping something off on the beach which was being picked up by motorcycle riders and spirited away. We decided that the marina would be a better and quieter option.

The marina is very new ( opened 2010 ) and is very efficient, we booked in and arranged our lift out for survey purposes, there is nowhere with lift out fascilities in Gibraltar.
Armed with our passports we went to see the hard border between the EU and another country. Of course we realise that Gibraltar is a pretty unique place, thats evident the minute you cross the border and then proceed to walk across the main airport runway , assuming no planes are due of course!

Its a kind of British stubbornness meets Spanish health and safety, bizarre but utterly workable cludge. Pointers to Brexit anyone?

Of course its de riguer to have your photo taken, possibly the only chance you will ever get.

Weirdly just about the only place you don't get a good view of the Rock of Gibraltar is in fact Gibraltar. It quickly becomes apparent that, space is at a premium on the rock, building is an obsession, and those new buildings are constrained by 18th and 19th century fortifications. One of the first squares encountered is the Casements, above....

This leads onto Main Street and a short detour leads to Irish town, important for us as we were trying to locate a dentist for Lynne to have a wisdom tooth extracted.

We found it eventually and unlike the UK we were seen pretty much immediately and Lynne was given an appointment a few days hence after a course of antibiotics to clear an infection that had been bothering her for an extraction.

we had a few days to kill before both Lynnes tooth, and Dark Tarns survey could reach satisfactory conclusions so we busied ourselves with small jobs and exploring this strange borderland.

More Castles

Lynne decided she would like to try the river walk South from from Sanlucar.

It is a pleasant and interesting excusion on a very well maintained path.

There are many fincas ( some temporary, some temporary/permanent) established in the trees along the riverbank. There is very little road access so everything goes via the river.

It was seriously hot and there was a distinct lack of fruit trees overhanging the path offering a free orange or two. One of the fincas however had a help yourself backet of lemons on offer!

There were extensive cane areas, these are the things that constantly flow up and down the river on the tide.

We had been told that there was a swimming hole where the tributary coming in forces the path away from the river and back inland, it eas in fact just by the main road back into Sanlucar but provided a very welcome cool down swim. As we were sweltering in Spain the U.K.was also experiencing a heatwave and the moors on Winter Hill in front of our house in Horwich were burning. The peat had caught fire and the fire service and volunteers were battling for weeks to control the situation. Alex spoke to us of having to keep all the windows of the house closed and they would still choke on the smoke that descended into the village .

This is a picture taken from Belmont, Horwich is on the other side of the hill. The devastation would take years to recover from.

We had decided it was time to leave the Guardiana, we had started to look seriously at property, always a warning sign! We dropped back down the river on the ebb tide to Ayamonte, we had missed a religious festival but saw it recreated in a local shopping centre, in miniature of course.

On our way down river we had been intigued by the village of Castro Marim which was notable for having not one castle but two. After catching the ferry from Ayamonte to Villa Real we caught the bus to Castro Marim and walked up to the older looking cstle on the hill above the town.

The above photo is the ticket office and the chapel behind was hosting an exhibition of torture through the ages,,,,,

Of course decapitation is a bit more serious.

Unfortunately this being Portugal/Spain the Inquisition featured large, the Spanish inquisition should probably be referred to as the Iberian Inquisition.

This is a photo of the wheel as in being broken on...….

There was also an Iron Maiden.

And a delightful scolds bridle, not sure what the moustache represents..

The History of this particular fortress proved interesting. at one point it was the headquarters of the knights Templar who would later relocate to Tomar and reinvent themselves as the Order of Christ with the tacit agreement of King Dinas after they were effectively annihilated throughout Europe at the behest of the then Pope Clement V on charges of heresy. In actual fact it was largely a political move if not an outright langrab by the Catholic church.

However the fact remains that certainly in Portugal the Templars thrived, We had visited Tomar and been very impressed by the wealth and power of the order.

Of course all that was lost in the distant past and now only faint echoes remained. The Castle was obviously used for serious archeology and as a tourist attraction and performance venue, we believe medieval enactments occur throughout the summer.

The views across the salt pans towards the suspension bridge over the Guadiana were extensive, (salt is still commercially extracted here)

The photo above shows the present archeological digs below the keep walls which are out of bounds to visitors.

I do seem to make a habit of making Lynne walk around high walls even though I know she doesn't like heights, a selfie soon sorts that out, but in actual fact I believe she is getting more used to it!

These walls at least were closed on either side.

The walls enclosed a small village the keep is visible just in front of Lynne on the horizon and the chapel is to the right of the picture.

Above Lynnes head is the other castle, this one is of Moorish origin.

As we needed to go through the town to reach the other castle it seemed a good chance to explore the town. The church is a lovely building but unfortunately not open on the day of our visit, it has an unusual domed tower and separate bell tower.

The town is well worth a visit and has an enormous amount of history bound up in its architecture.

It takes a little detective work to find the path to the Moorish Castle, it is only possible to walk around the outer walls so possibly there is not the monetary incentive to make it more user friendly.

It is certainly an impressive structure in an equally impressive location.

Looking back the older Templar fortress is different in aspect and design.

Later we walked to the other important religious/historical site, the chapel of St Anthony which used to be a site of defence in roman times. It also being on a hill became a good site for windmills.

The Chapel and surroundings have been extensively restored and extended, with a water park which echoes the Moorish influences from the past.

Apart from the restaurant complex on the hill the main gardens are below.

They consist of a quite extraordinary set of structures, considering the size of the village.

They are obviously designed to have water flowing unfortunately this wasn't the case on our visit but you could imagine the effect. Regardless it had that Moorish peace, with green plants tiles and water that made you want to stay in the cool environs for a while.

So having glimpsed the town from the river weeks ago we had finally satisfied our curiousity.
job done, mischief managed. Its worth the trip.....

Oh nearly forgot, it also has the smallest lending library we have ever come across!

We went back over the river to Spain tired but happy, as we watched the sun set over Portugal we realised that we wouldn't see the country again for a while.

which was a bit sad...……….