All things must come to pass

Home again and a nice surprise to land at Glasgow with the sun shining
and 20 C in the shade. We had a wonderful two weeks in Sardinia and
would recommend it. I will organise my photos and put a link on line
in due course. Look forward to meeting up with everyone again and
boring them with my stories.

Local Tesco

Half way point

One of the main attractions here in Alghero is to make the trip out to
Grotta di Nettuno a local cave complex about 10 miles to the west of
the town. We opted for the full day tour and headed off on a wooden
launch along the coast to view the beaches and cliffs close up. The
last couple of days there has been a strong west wind which has died
away but unfortunately there was still a high swell running when we
got to the point and entering the caves would have been too dangerous.
Cal Mac style the skipper took us out there for a chance to see how
big the seas and swell were before turning back to anchor in a
sheltered bay for a few hours. While the cook knocked us up a mussels
and pasta dish we all went snorkelling in what turned out to be
jellyfish infested waters, luckily enough they seemed to prefer one of
our party a young man from the UK and left us alone. There was as
much of local vino to drink as we wished, and water, but being British
we opted for the alcohol and the evening was spent recovering.

Healthy eating

We are consciously trying to eat healthily. Pasta features quite a lot and there are loads of ugly looking vegetables that wouldn't get shelf space in Tesco. The two glasses contain the local recommended liqueur, Mirito. It tastes similar to Benolyin Expectorant, foul. 

Dull weather

This is the forecast for next week here in Sardinia. No variation from one day to the next, just sunshine with no cloud and gentle winds. 

It's all right for some.

Waking to the sun shining through the open doors onto the balcony and looking out onto a blue sky and a warm breeze does have its charms.  We are now here in Alghero in the North West corner of Sardinia for our two weeks of sunshine and pasta. 

We flew in on a busy Easyjet flight to Olbia on the other side of the island and then after a fraught hour or so waiting for the ladies to carry out their bureaucratic manoeuvres on my credit card, licence and passport we headed off west in our Fiat Panda.  I think I have declined to take out the many extra insurances, along with pet and breakdown cover but who knows, it was all in Italian? I did however have to sign a form 7 times to show my willing resistance to her offers, and we complain about paperwork in the UK.

Italian driving has a reputation but once you get the hang of the minimum speed required on the roads then you'll be fine.  Generally the other drivers help by getting close enough to signal with hand and eye gestures that 30 km/h over the speed indicated on the roadside signs is not sufficient for safe passage. The locals are quite loyal as Fiat and Alpha Romeo are the cars of choice everywhere, little evidence of German engineering and not a sign of a Skoda. 

Our flat is a little out of the town centre about 10 minutes walk from the old port buildings and the main thoroughfares.  On our first night we just went round the corner to a neighbourhood bar (café) and sat outside having a beer with chicken, chips and mozzarella balls watching the local ladies fuss and bother about their little dogs in between cigarette breaks.  They do keep thin here, I can only imagine that the meals we see the girls eating on an evening is the single food for that day.

I couldn't finish without mentioning that it is too warm to be out during the afternoon, fortunately we can have a little snooze in the shade of the flat before it cools again later in the day.  Thank goodness.

Amadea off Oban

Home tomorrow then off to Sardinia for two weeks on Saturday. 

Calm day on Mull

The weather has taken a turn to being cooler this morning, but
pleasant. Approaching Craignure I thought there was oil on the water
but then noticed it was actually a rainbow reflected on the surface.
Apologies for the windscreen wiper to the left of photo.

A quiet time

Apologies to my readers that I haven't been blogging for a while. No
excuse possible, other than idleness which is not an excuse but a
failing on my part. When I was home on leave we kept busy with a
visit to Edinburgh and a four day trip on the boat with my cousin
Judith, three visits to Helensburgh to visit my Mum, a day on
administration and it's time to re-join the ship.

Today we had an exotic visitor outside the Bay with its wavy hair, eye
and red lips logo on the bow, the Aidacara was visiting Scotland.
Pity that we didn't have the good weather being enjoyed elsewhere in
the country, but as they say it keeps the dust down. Should Calmac
adopt this kind of ship side painting? What would be an appropriate
logo?