We have had a wonderful six months in Estepona and on reflection packed a lot in to that time, including 3 visits back to the UK, family and friends visit us in Estepona, trips to Malaga, Ronda, Gibraltar, Marbella, Bolonia, Jerez, Seville, Medina-Sidonia, Ceuta in Northern Africa and my father's village Tolox in the Sierra de las Nieves. (Watch out for updates on the places we visited.)
Our Visitors
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| Jo and Dave |
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| Bev and Sefa |
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| Christine |
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| Christmas Lights |
We also celebrated the lead up to Christmas with the switching on of the Christmas lights in November, Kings night on the 5th January, which involved 20+ floats and 15 tons of sweets.
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| King's Night |
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| Psalm Sunday |
We were also in Estepona to celebrate Easter, which was, at times, very moving. The processions through the streets of Estepona were spectacular and Good Friday in particular was very sombre and quite emotional, compared to Easter Sunday which was very joyous. Each procession was accompanied by Nazarenos (brotherhood) from their church and the local church band.
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| Good Friday |
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| Easter Sunday |
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Elizabeth and Tim
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I joined a gym and turned into a gym bunny for a few months and met some great people. In particular Elizabeth and Tim who are great company and who led us astray on more than one occasion! We spent some great times with them and look forward to seeing them again in the Autumn.
We also made friends with Edita and Richard who are avid sailors like us and we had some great times with them too. They really took us under their wing and helped to make our stay in Estepona so memorable.
They came with us when we went on our shakedown cruise to Ceuta and showed us some wonderful sights whilst we were there. So determined are they for us to return to Estepona next Autumn, they have stored a load of our belongings!
Mark became great friends with a local sailor Isaac, who had a boat moored opposite us. They spent many an hour talking sailing and when the weather started to improve, went off for afternoon sails.
For me, the highlight of my stay in Estepona was when we took a trip to Tolox and I made contact with my long lost family in Tolox.
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| Beautiful Tolox and the Sierra de Las Nieves |
As people who know me know, my Dad died when he was quite young and he never got to return to his village and make contact with his relatives. I always knew that we had family in the village, but never really believed that I would one day be sitting in the house he lived in having lunch with his cousin who remembered him as a boy. Words cannot express the emotions I felt that day and I can't wait to go back and see them all again.
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| Jose, Ana, Juana Mark and me |
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| Juana and me |
For all our boating friends, I can reassure you it wasn't all play. There was serious boat fixing to do as well and during the last 6 months we have sanded and varnished all the floors; rebuilt the exhaust system, replaced the fridge and toilet (don't ask!); replaced the battery charger (following a powersurge from a thunderstorm that lasted 2 days); hauled out, hulls scrubbed and anti fouled; swim ladder made and fitted (all by my clever husband) and all the usual servicing of engine, gear box, sails etc.
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| Rebuilding the fridge |
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| Refreshing the hull |
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| Our new swim ladder |
With all of this taking place over the last few months, we feel ready to head off for this year's adventure and have a well earned rest!
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