Where have I been? I can’t believe it is so long since my last post, not that I’m too regular with my posts at the best of times.

Thought I should do an update, particularly as Neil has mentioned my site in his book.  An unsubtle link to Neil’s second book in what will be the “Foolish” Trilogy.  ‘A Foolish Odyssey‘ kicks off where the last, ‘A Foolish Voyage‘, ended. His dream lost and the adventure over Neil returns to dry land. 20 years of conformity ensues. It’s a roller coaster ride. 

Then at the age of fifty, he loses everything .. again.

Alone, depressed and on the verge of giving up, he stumbles across a forgotten book.

It rekindles a dream.

He must build a boat.

He must return to the sea.

He must escape.

It’s time for more foolishness.

An Inspirational Story Of Conformity, Awakening and Escape

… and I’m in this one.  Both stories are available from Amazon for Kindle and in paperback.  ‘A Foolish Voyage‘ is also available from Audible as an audiobook.

You can click here to see both books.  Plug over; for now.

Since my last post I’ve been back to the UK twice.  First in December which is  becoming a regular visit back for Christmas and then again for what was originally planned to be only a week in January to attend my Nan’s funeral.  Nan died while I was home in December.  In her mid 90’s she had been suffering from dementia for many years and was living happily in care home that she had chosen while she was still, more or less  ‘herself’.  We know Nan felt safe at Fourways and felt it was her home.  She was happy and chatty and the staff were lovely with her.

My January trip was extended as on 30th December Neil received a call from his Dad,  his Mom had died that morning.   It was later found to be from a stroke.  Neils immediate thoughts were to get to his Dad to support him.  Ray and Betty had been married 66 years last December and Neil was very worried about how losing Betty would affect his Dad.  We managed to get Neil a flight out of Murcia that day and within about 12 hours he was with his Dad in Cornwall.  Betty’s funeral was on 21st January so I extended my planned stay to attend and then Neil and I cam back to Gleda on 27th January.  The first time Neil had been away from Gleda since May 2014 and the longest time we had spent apart.

Already not a good start to 2018.  Since then an Uncle of mine has passed and just this week, a best friends husband.  This is when I miss being back in the UK.  When I want to be there for my friends and family.

Neil and I had a sit down to decide what we would like to do this year and beyond.  We’ve agreed to stay in the marina at Yacht Port Cartagena at least until the end of April.  The boat goes into the yard to be lifted out and her bottom scrubbed and new anti-foul applied in a couple of weeks.  From May, we will likely head up to the Balearics and cruise those till it gets silly busy and possibly include Corsica and Sardinia.  For the winter – not sure.

In 2019 we’d like to cruise the Greek Islands so it would make sense to winter across this bit of the Med on the Italian side.  However, as we live aboard all winter being in the right marina, in the right town and somewhere where the climate is not too wet needs consideration.  We have not ruled out another winter in Cartagena if the price is right.  We have some cruising buddies who went straight from Cartagena to Greece last year.  It is a passage but with our new auto-helm (still to be fitted fully and tested) makes long passages a possibility.

We have a list of boat jobs to do before we leave.   Better to get as much as we can done here as we have shore power for tools and hardware shops to hand.  Typically we have left a lot of these till the last minute.  We have been sat here for 18months and this week I decided I’d like to make some new shading covers for the port lights and hatches.  I have my material and have made some.  Waiting on bits from the UK to do the hatches.

Despite the start to the year, we are looking forward positively to our spring/summer of cruising.  It will be such a culture shock after sitting still and Gleda being a houseboat for so long.

Next post I’ll fill you in on what I’ve been doing with my time sat sitting here.