Where we are

This Spotwalla software drives me crazy.. it is not very easy to get a clear view of what's going on from the first glimpse and I can't seem to understand how to change the pre-setting. Anyhow, if you want to know where exactly we are located, you can change the history from 1 day to let's say the last 7 days, so that you can view the total progress of this journey. There are not much progress at the moment though, as we've been hanging around here in this very same harbor of Ginesta since day 2 (day 1 is gone as we forgot to restart the tracker before we left Bcn).

When this is done, you can also zoom into the specific place where the track-point is, and get so close that you will see exactly which berth we're tied up to, as shown on picture above.

If anyone know how to change the settings so more than the last day is shown on the first page, I would be very happy. I would love it to be easier for our followers to catch up on the progress without having to click around too much. Thanks. /T

Overweight

We're still in Ginesta. The weather has been perfect for the last couple of days, but we have had sooo much to do that we've decided to stay here until tonight to get back on track. Doesn't matter much for the progress though as we'll need to await the new sails in Gibraltar anyway. At the moment we're changing the cap shrouds, which we just received the parts for (yes, we're still in Spain, remember, everything takes time here) and later on we'll start the serious cleaning number two - which means that everything that is not mega ultra necessary to bring with us around the world, will get dumped off. The waterline stripe is in a critical situation as is the ability to maneuver the boat -  so we'll need to get off at least 500 kilos weight (1.100 pounds) before heading anywhere further. This means my wine is in major danger!!! /T

Japanese provisions

Now we're ready for those big tunas again! Tons of sesame seeds, wasabi, rice vinegar, soya and nori sheets are purchased for a part of this tour. Is there anything more fulfilling than being able to catch your own fish and preparing fantastic sushi straight off the boat, under the sun, in the middle of an ocean? No! Will try making sushi with some other fish than only the tuna, next time. /Taru

Our new family member

This is our new dinghy. With the new Suzuki outboard motor. Working really well compared to the other disaster we had, with heavy wooden planks in the floor making it super heavy. This one is so light you can lift it up one person from the water onboard to the boat. And it's fast too with the v-shaped keel. We're loving it! 

The Scottish Town of Crieff

It seems strange to me that a couple of months have passed since I visited Scotland.  But it is true!  It has been a crazy and busy time but my memories of the most lovely and idyllic holiday remain.  After our first day in which I took a walk around Lock Monzievaird, we drove on down to the nearby town of Crieff to see what there was to do. 

Crieff has a Tourist Information Centre which appears to be housed in an old church.  The ladies at the Centre are incredibly helpful and they really take the time to help each visitor plan their time in the area.  We left with loads of pamphlets and ideas and also a map showing us the way to the Crieff Visitor Centre back on the road to Loch Monzievaird.

Crieff is a market town and is famous for being a major cattle droving hub for hundreds of years.  I really loved the creepy architectural style of the town (and I mean ‘creepy’ in the best, most admiring kind of way!)

In the week that we were in Scotland, we spent most of our time in the council area of Perth and Kinross.  A ‘council area’ is similar to a county in England and it is a local government administrative area.  Perth and Kinross crosses the southern boundary of the Scottish Highlands so while we didn’t get to see huge mountains or majestic waterfalls, we did get to see breathtaking views wherever we went.   We visited Crieff, Aberfeldy and Pitlochry and you just had to look down the side streets to see incredible views like the one above.

We were rather amused to discover a dedicated Christmas store in Crieff.  The store is open all year round and we were amazed that they manage to stay in business!  I imagine the tourist trade helps somewhat as we certainly couldn’t resist buying personalised gifts for all of the grandchildren, nieces and godchildren in the family.

Their prices were really good too so perhaps that accounts for them staying in business!

If you follow the Scotland Here and Now blog, you will know that one of the biggest attractions to Scotland is their food and drink.  I didn’t sample nearly enough of those in my time in Scotland and that is one of the biggest reasons why I intend to return there!

We did visit this divine Whiskies and Cheese shop which was a lovely little shop full of… you guessed it, whisky and cheese.  I bought a lovely little orange and port pâté and I wished that I drank more whisky as they had a really impressive selection. 

And so with map in hand, the five intrepid travellers set off for Crieff Visitor Centre.

Day 2 - Relaxing times

We're still in a bit of a dizzy mode from all the work, sleepless nights and countless dinners and parties we've attended lately. So tonight we're having the most quiet and calm night in months. Alex is slowly  organizing inside of the engine room while I'm laying in the saloon like a half dead, unable (and uninterested in) to move anywhere. Reading an old classic and eating the Swedish candy that my dear friends brought on Saturday. Let's call it a day with the smooth voice of Marvin Gaye. /T

Catching up on some sleep in Port Ginesta

Hey there,

We've been totally exhausted lately, therefore the lack of updates. I haven't even opened up my laptop for the last one and a half days and that is something extremely unusual. We had our good bye meeting in the harbor on Saturday night. The farewells lasted until around 11 pm and when we have said our good byes and had some drinks, we decided to leave the boat where it was and go to sleep... We just couldn't imagine ourselves going out there with that tiredness we felt, so we slept and slept and 14 hours later we left, towards Port Ginesta - where we still are and most probably will be staying until tomorrow. We really needed to catch up on that sleep for sure.

Photo from Saturday's farewell evening. Taken by Adam Hansson. More photos from that night of farewells can be found on Adam and Camillas blog. 

We've just found our SPOT tracker in this messy little boat, so now you'll be able to follow our journey on our tracker online, again. (I just don't understand why the START-thing has moved to Port Ginesta, and not staying on Barcelona?? Probably cause we haven't used the machine for quite some time? Too tired to figure that out now.)

Thank you all for your good luck wishes and greetings here on the blog, on our facebook and by email, we appreciate it so very much!! We'll be back with updates soon again.

/Taru