We are now back in Cartagena having spent three months back home, most of which was spent decorating Kevin’s house top to bottom in preparation for the rental market. We also helped David, Kevin’s son find his first house and decorate that ready for him to move in, so if I don’t see another paintbrush as long as I live it will be a day too soon.
Although it was full on decorating both houses we did manage to get away for a week in the lakes with Kevin’s brother and his family for the New Year. We stayed in a converted barn which had views across to Blencathera, and although it rained a lot we did manage to get out and about.
We also managed to catch up with our friends and family which was great especially seeing the kids and the grandchildren.
It seems we left England at the right time as we have heard about all the bad weather conditions, especially the snow that has hit Britain. The weather here is quite changeable some days are fairly warm with other days being very windy and chilly, still it’s better than being back home.
When we left England on the 12th March it was snowing and our plane was delayed whilst they de-iced the wings before take-off. After arriving in Alicante I suggested catching the bus from the airport to Torrevieja and then a connection from there to Cartagena instead of catching a bus to the train station and then trying to get a train to Cartagena. As usual I made the wrong choice, the journey from Alicante to Torrevieja was straight forward, however as we unloaded our bags from the bus our connection pulled out of the station, so we had a two hour and thirty minute wait for the next bus. The journey from Torrevieja was a nightmare it took us along all the backstreets from there to Cartagena so a journey that should have taken approximately forty five minutes took over two hours, so never again, I have learnt my lesson and will listen to Kevin next time.
We have been back here for just over two weeks now and we are preparing the boat ready to sail up the coast to Torrevieja to have her lifted out of the water in order to do the antifouling. All our sailing friends are also back and making similar preparations before they head of to their various destinations. Jana and James have already set off in Scrabbler, they are heading south back to the Algarve, whereas the majority of us are either heading to the Balearics or the Greek islands.
It hasn’t taken us long to get back into the live-aboard way of life, the pace is easy going, the men are all using their respective skills to help each other with various tasks for example repairing generators, electrical faults and helping Marcel up the mast in order for him to clean it.
The women are also hard at work doing the shopping and going to yoga.
Holy week started here on the 22nd March, the Easter processions here are great spectacles of light and colour that wind their way around the streets of Cartagena over a ten day period. There are a total of eleven processions which are organised by one of the four brotherhoods here, two of which date back to the 17th century.
The first procession commenced at 3am on the Friday morning of the 22nd and was started with three blasts of gunfire, followed by another procession at 7am again commencing with three blasts of gunfire, so not much sleep was had that night.
On the evening of the 22nd there was another procession which we went to watch, all the participants wore long robes with pointed hoods which cover their faces, (I was told they covered their faces in shame at what they had done to Christ, not sure if this is accurate though), the music was quite sombre and a bit spooky, it resembled something like the Klu Klux clan. There were also huge statues being carried which required large numbers of men to carry them along the streets and into the church.
On Palm Sunday it was the turn of the children who were all dressed as Hebrew children and gave away sweets to the people watching, there was obviously something sinister about Kevin as I kept getting handfuls of sweets and Kevin didn’t get any. Accompanying the children marching there were several bands these were mixed with both adults and children many of which looked bored with the whole proceedings and were gaily walking along not in time to the music at all, it was quite comical to watch.
The only other procession we went to see was the one on Easter Sunday, although we were kept awake through the early hours of Good Friday, by the sound of cannon fire which marked the start of each of the four processions.
On Monday this week Kevin took receipt of his new gadget (a water maker, which turns sea water to drinking water) at 4pm by 4:30 he had more or less dismantled the inside of the boat as he wanted to see if it would fit into area of the hold he had earmarked. He then decided that as he had everything apart he may as well start to fit it, I left him to it and went for a walk into the town, when I arrived back he was still hard at, he eventually called it a day at 8:30 in order for me to make dinner.
Today he was up early to continue fitting the water maker it looks as if this may take a few days, the idea once installed is that we should be able to anchor for more days without having to go into a marina to fill up with water thus in the long run saving us some money but also enabling us to have drinking water at all times.
The social life since we have been back has also been good, there was an event called Rue de la Tapas, which involved over seventy Tapas bars in the town each one doing its own signature dish and glass of wine or beer for 2.50 euros, which was a good cheap night out. We then had a night out which we called our farewell night as it was the last night all the live aboard’s would be together before we each set off for the summer. Another night was spent with Marcel and Helen which involved copious amounts of wine, and I have also taken my turn at playing hostess when Marcel, Helen, Charlie and Alison joined us for a night together. The weekly barbeques are also still going but the day often has to be changed due to the weather.
Once we have carried out all necessary jobs we will just be waiting for the right weather opportunity to say our goodbyes to all the new friends we have made and head of to Torrevieja. We hope to bump into (not literally) several of them on our travels over the summer.
As our time here in Cartagena draws to a close I have to say we have had a great time here, there is always something going on in the town and there is plenty to do, all in all it has been a great place to stay over the winter.
Distance travelled this year: 0 Natical Miles
