Hi Katie-Ellen and KTLN readers.

Thursday 10th June.  Currently holed up in De Benalmadena on the Spanish coast until a major low passes through.  Torrential rain overnight, but luckily we were out of it, warm in our bunks. 

We woke this morning to find that the weather has improved.  We hope to leave on Friday 11th June.

We sailed from La Coruna on June 2nd for a planned sail to Cascais in Portugal - a nonstop three day sail along the Spanish and Portuguese North Atlantic coast lines.

The wind for once was in our favour and we sailed 'gull wing', (when the boats main sail and head sail are at right angles to the boat, just like a birds wings to its body), for most of the way.  We had moderate to force 7 winds, which gave us at times a speed of 11.8 nautical miles per hour (nmph).  

To put this into perspective, our maximum speed using the boats engine is only 6 nmph.  We literally surfed down the waves hour after hour, with the wind strong and consistent on our stern, driving us south and hopefully towards some much needed warmth from the Spanish sun.

A very good omen now appeared, in the form of dolphins, who joined us for an hour at a time, darting alongside the boat, but only appearing for fleeting moments above the surface of the waves - infuriatingly for me, as they proved impossible to photograph.

On the morning of the 4th of June, we sailed past Cabo da Roco lighthouse, (see photo below), which was called ‘’Moon Cliff’’ in ancient times and has looked after ships for centuries on the Portuguese coast - Latitude N38° 46’ 49” Longitude W 09° 29’ 56’’.  This is the furthest west Andrew's yacht 'Intention' will sail on our journey home to Kalkan.

We berthed at the Marina De Cascais at 4pm that afternoon, (see photo below).  Cascais is a lovely old Portuguese port.  That night we dined on fresh sardines, washed down with a bottle of Portuguese Vinho Tinto. But unfortunately, we did not have the time to explore the nearby Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

With a good force 4 wind on our stern, forecast for the next day, we set sail early the next morning, Saturday the 5th June, on a heading for Cap St Vincent.  We reached our destination at 5 am the next morning and then turned into the Gulf of Cadiz, on a heading of 115° for Gibraltar.

From now on we will always sail at less than 180° as we make our way east to Kalkan.  

With the wind once again directly on our stern we are able to gull wing and make good time, reaching Gibraltar at 10.30 am Monday 7th June.

Below: Gull winging our way to Gibraltar.

Once again the weather dictates our timetable.  With a major low expected to come in late on Tuesday night and force 8/9 wind and heavy rain forecast, we sail from Gibraltar at 2 am the next morning to out run the storm and get into a safe harbour before it closes in on us.

Our destination is to be as close to Malaga airport as possible, as Tony, our Yacht Master, is leaving us to get on a flight to the UK.  

We end up making a dash for the marina at the Spanish holiday resort of De Benalmadena, close to the well known Spanish resorts of Marbella and Torremolinos, just as the storm clouds appeared to be catching up with us.

The very short stay in Gibraltar for us was no real hardship.  Andrew and I agree it’s not somewhere we would want to return; it seemed to us to be more like Croydon with sunshine than our entrance to the Mediterranean, and our route home to Kalkan.

[Editor: Apologies to any KTLN members from Croydon.]

The trip down the Portuguese and Spanish coast was, by contrast, some of the most beautiful we have seen on this trip, especially in the area of the lighthouse Cabo da Roco in Portugal, and the Tarifa lighthouse in Spain.

Below: Portuguese coast, with whitewashed farmhouses.

Coastal skipper Andrew takes the helm for our journey onward, from De Benalmadena, which we hope to sail from on Friday morning the 11th of June, as hopefully the forecast is correct and the storm will have passed through.

The onward journey we plan to be, two or three short day sails up the Spanish, Costa Blanca passing Cartagena, La Manga and Alicante, before crossing to the Balearic islands of Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca - our stepping stones, before starting a full three day sail taking us on to the even bigger stepping stone - the island of Sardinia.

With love to all our friends in Kalkan

Andrew & Barry xxx