Barbate

The pilots and yachting guides available are less than complementary about Barbate, its true that the marina is a soulless refugee from the cold war architectural school of concrete blocks. reminiscent in some respects of Worsley Mesnes in Wigan. However the town itself, while never going to win an award for most lovely village has its own charms and is refreshingly honest. Lynn and I had explored along the rather nice town beach but had never walked to the far end, when we did we were rewarded by a glimpse of one of those moments, to a sailor anyway of, not quite a revelation but certainly an opening of possibilities. Could I get Dark Tarn up this obviously tidal river not mentioned anywhere as even a remote possibility? We could probably anchor, with upstream and downstream anchors in the deep centre of the river or raft up against the barge like vessels that laid the huge nets every year.

Towards the town end of the river was a art nouveau building that was being turned into an exhibition space. We think the art would reflect the tradition of Tuna fishing in the town which probably predates the romans. Seriously you wont believe how big Tuna is in the psyche of Barbarte.

I believe the pilot book writers et al have done Barbate a disservice, Lynne and I found it to be a very pleasant place to stay and worth looking beyond the superficial and try to find the bones of it. We were charmed by the rough and ready nature of some aspects and the obvious pride in the rather odd history based largely on the migratory habits of a particularly tasty fish!

One of the more irritating aspects of Marinas in Andalucia and the Algarve is that they are all owned and run by the Junta. So theoretically linked and therefore have a standard charging system. This may seem a good idea until you realise that regardless of standard of facilities or even length of stay charges are standardized, read expensive, and criminally , no wi-fi! Hence my retarded posts. I was far too busy trying to wrestle the 3 network into submission over the frankly ridiculous charges in Morocco, and unlocking our previously unlocked iPhone`s ( don't get me started!)

The weather was beginning to hint at the end of summer and we saw rain for the first time in a great while. The cooling temperature tempted us out to walk along the clifftops towards Cape Trafalgar .

Starting at the rather lovely beach adjacent to the marina a rather indistinct path leads through sandy dunes to the sandstone and then limestone cliff path.

The weather was threatening but dry, at least for the first few hours and the views back towards Barbarte and the straights of Gibraltar beyond were worth the effort. The path continues through Eucalyptus forests and leads to several lookout towers and pleasant picnic areas.

The path was a bit of a surprise, in that it wasn't obvious from the beach level just how developed the path was . Of course we shouldn't really have been surprised, its probably the reason its so difficult to buy a map in Spain, they don't need them. Everyone walks the same way, along a well established route that is well signposted and it has to be said very well used especially at weekends and evenings.

The further west we walked the higher the cliffs became and their contorted and dizzying heights became ever more spectacular. Regardless I still found myself looking out towards the horizon and imagining Nelsons fleet action that changed the world forever...…...Of course the Spanish see it differently.

It became apparent that the rain had not completely gone away and showers could be seen towards Tarifa, before gaining Cabo Trafalgar we decided to turn back. It had been a very surprising and pleasant walk and our legs were feeling it after so long on the boat. We returned tired and a bit soggy but were again surprised with one of Barbarte`s hidden gems.

The weather in the straights was looking favorable for a run to Gibraltar so early one morning we departed for the run down to Tarifa. Everything started O.K. with relatively light winds and even blue sky but as we turned into the long 15 mile run to Gibraltar bay from Tarifa the winds became a little stronger with each increasing mile.

Lynne was happy to helm and as we were running downwind with the "Poniente", the westerly wind in the straights, the only other wind direction is the " Levanter" or easterly, however it was still t-shirt and shorts weather, The westerly was blowing us nicely towards Gibraltar, its always easier but can be deceptive on a downwind run as the apparent wind always seems less than it actually is. This can also surprise you when you turn onto the wind and it increases suddenly and dramatically. as for example turning into Gibraltar Bay.

The late summer, parched landscape of Andalucia sped past as we hurried along the cliff bound coastline, we dropped the mainsail in good time and continued under the genoa. We noticed what seemed to be a wildfire developing.

As we got closer it turned out to be the case and we saw flames leaping hundreds of feet into the air. As we passed we saw helicopters dropping water on the blaze.

We were again enchanted with views of mysterious Africa in the haze, along with a scary amount of commercial traffic constantly transiting the narrow Gibraltar straights.

On entering Gibratar Bay the wind did its usual trick of seeming to increase a couple of beufort scales, however we had been here before and had reefed down in good time so we had a fairly relaxed time puzzling over the fact that seemingly a paddle steamer was being piggy backed on a transporter ship, an unusual mating! The amount of commercial traffic in Gibraltar Bay is just silly but it is a major "bunkering" port for big ships and along with cruise ships, container ships, tankers  and ferries, it makes for a busy spot and an interesting challenge sometimes crossing the shipping lanes.

We anchored in the Bay at La Linea de la Conception, just outside the marina entrance. We had booked into the Marina from the 1st of November as that was when the cheaper Winter rates kicked in. Until then we had the prospect of a month at anchor in the bay, that evening as the sun set it seemed a very pleasant prospect.....