Back in Newcastle after a fun-filled few days, we settle for takeaway pizzas for dinner, since no one could be bothered to cook, but not before we unpacked and Elaine repacked our suitcases as well as got some laundry done in preparation for our imminent departure. Fortunately we’d come prepared with an extra duffle bag to accommodate all the parts and spares we were retuning with. At this point, though, we were still trying to sort out the fiasco with our Yellowbrick, eventually arranging a rental in lieu of our own one that had gone walkabout. The trick then, however, was actually receiving the rental before our departure, without it too getting lost. Thankfully we received it on Friday morning. Of course, we still have no resolution on who is going to reimburse us for a rather expensive piece of equipment that has disappeared off the face of the earth without actually leaving England. Unfortunately the second pair of Elaine’s glasses also never arrived, so someone is enjoying her prescription lenses or binned them when they realised they couldn’t actually use them. That means Elaine continues to walk around half blind. Grrrr! The good news, though, is that the rest of our spares arrived.
On Friday morning, Roy was up early to enjoy a walk past the Slieve Donard Hotel to Murlough Beach, a round trip of about 6 Km, but not before he struggled to find somewhere to charge the car, after the only working charging station left was vandalised overnight too.
Our only remaining tasks for the day was to re-register Paw Paw, given that we were now within the three months of her registration expiring and to take a walk, in the rain, to the Post Office to post our Navionics electronic charts that we had sold, then stopped for a coffee.
Having prearranged a dinner outing at the Buurendale Hotel some months ago to celebrate our Ruby Wedding Anniversary with the family, we received a number of lovely surprises at the dinner, arranged by Dianne and Elaine’s folks; beautiful gifts, champagne, a cake and decorations for the table. It was a very special celebration, especially having both Elaine’s parents and our Maid of Honour to celebrate with us, all these years later. Live music wrapped up a memorable night.
Yesterday we were all tired from our outing and grateful for a relaxing morning. The surprise of the day, however, was Luke popping in for a visit on his off day with his daughter, Layla, who is such a character for a toddler; she definitely kept us all entertained and loved seeing her granny, Dianne.
By the time we said our goodbyes to them, it was time for our next treat from Elaine’s folks; afternoon tea at Olive’s Bazaar on the waterfront and what a great afternoon and evening ensued. Besides the delicious treats, when we returned to Elaine’s folks to enjoy the rest of our visit, stories of old were interspersed with reminiscences of family history, most we’d never heard before.
After a light dinner, it was, once again, time to say our goodbyes, a much easier undertaking this time, since it won’t be too long before we’re back for good. Back at Dianne’s apartment, another chinwag ensued, mostly related to the fascinating stories that we had just heard, before heading to bed, no one able to keep their eyes open by this stage.
This morning, after breakfast and a last chinwag, we said our goodbyes to Dianne, then set off to Dublin. It was around 1300 by the time we reached our hotel in Malahide, the Grand Hotel. Since we were a little early for our check in we enjoyed a walk along the waterfront, stopped at the MYCafé of the Malahide Yacht Club for coffee and a baked delight, then strolled through the town centre.
When we returned to our hotel, our room still wasn’t ready, but there were numerous comfy lounges to wait in. By 1600 our room was ready, Roy had positioned himself on the nearest barstool and Elaine enjoyed a long chat to Justine; our Atlantic Ocean crossing was now looming, so we had plenty to talk about.
Dinner was enjoyed in the hotel, since both of us were tired and neither of us felt like dealing with the inclement weather.
A shower and bed sealed the day.
Since we had nothing particularly planned for the day, after breakfast we walked into town, enjoyed a morning coffee, then walked along the waterfront for Elaine to stretch her legs.
Once back at the apartment, we decided that a drive out to the countryside, specifically to look at two “new build” properties Roy has been keeping an eye on for the last year or so, delighted us when to found the houses were in a lovely area, located at the foothills of the Mourne Mountains, with stunning views of the countryside, the only area in Northern Ireland we would consider living.
From there we made our way to a favourite restaurant, Percy French, part of the iconic Slieve Donard Hotel & Spa, where we enjoyed afternoon tea and the tastiest sticky toffee pudding we’ve ever tasted.
Afterwards, instead of returning to the apartment, we stopped in to visit the ol’ folks and had a really fun visit, with lots of laughter, especially since dad was his witty self again and able to participate in the conversation. It was lovely to see.
It was early evening by the time we returned to the apartment for dinner and a relatively early night.
On Monday morning we were up early to get ready and set off on our road trip. This was our last area of Ireland to explore and hopefully find somewhere we like. However, before we could think of those logistics, we had other logistical issues to resolve; first the delivery of Elaine’s new glasses indicated they had been delivered and signed by someone impersonating Roy; we know this because on the delivery date we weren’t even in the country. Secondly, our Yellowbrick tracker was nowhere to be found after paying for expedited delivery with UPS. After ten days of excuses, including: “it has been mis-sorted”, “we have to wait for a full truck before we can deliver your parcel”, “the label is illegible”, “you changed the delivery address because you gave UPS the wrong address” and “it will be delivered tomorrow”, the latter received as an explanation for five consecutive days. Thirdly, our FedEx package from the US was sitting somewhere in Gibraltar and couldn’t be delivered because: “the address didn’t have a post code”, although Gibraltar only has one post code and two yacht marinas, where the address clearly stipulated Queensway Marina. Right now we have “1 for 3” in that the FedEx parcel is listed to be collected when we return to Gibraltar, but our Yellowbrick and Elaine’s glasses are both lost in the bowels of UPS and FedEx, respectively.
Our route took us through the hidden heartlands and counties Monghan, northern Leitrim and Fermanagh, where we stopped for lunch at the Bilberry Café in Garrison, before stopping for a refreshment and to charge the car just before reaching our Bed and Breakfast, the Avondale Farmhouse, set in the countryside outside the quaint village of Pettigo.
After receiving a very warm welcome from Mary, we decided to show Dianne the Ballyshannon areas of County Donegal we’d found and loved on our drive from Athlone, before stopping in for dinner at Mani’s Bar & Bistro in Pettigo.
Yesterday was another early start to set off into County Donegal, a day of exploring we were all looking forward, but not before we’d enjoyed a full Irish breakfast to start our day off on the right foot.
This turned into a day that provided so many fabulous options and possibilities, to the extent that each area was nicer than the last. By the time we reached the Ardara and Port Noo area, we were left breathless with the views. En route we stopped for a morning coffee at the Ahoy Café in Killybegs and for lunch at the Gateway Lodge Hotel, the latter after exploring Donegal town. Dinner was a delicious meal in a beautiful setting on Lough Erne at Ross Harbour, but not before we’d snooped around Lough Eske and stopped in at Eske Castle. Our trip to Lough Derg was wild and beautiful too, but far too isolated as an area to live in.
That concluded our reconnaissance of the island of Ireland, other than to return to Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrim to revisit the town and snoop around the neighbouring villages and countryside. It was now up to us to choose an area and start the process of finding a new home. To celebrate we booked into the Hillgrove Hotel & Spa in Monaghan and treated ourselves to a nice dinner, with a few spa treatments scheduled for tomorrow.
Delighted with ourselves at “mastering” this first step, we still felt like first graders on their first day of school, but we set off anyway under sunny skies, heading north, then northwest to explore the interior counties of Roscommon and Leitrim and the various loughs (aka lakes) along the way, before heading to the Wild Atlantic Way.
By days end, we’d reached our hotel for the night, the Mill Park Hotel & Spa and what a fabulous hotel this was compared to the Radisson Blu in Athlone.
Over sundowners on the patio, we reflected on our day and what we’d seen. Thankfully, although there were areas we were very disappointed with, there were three areas we loved; one with stunning country views, one with views over Lough Lee and then Elaine’s favourite, with an ocean view, including an area with a fabulous beach, surprised to see cars actually parked on it, reminding us of Fraser Island in Australia. At least we now had options. We did, however, spend some time chatting to a number of American tourists staying at the hotel and, once again, Roy couldn’t resist bringing up American politics and, in particular, the state of the US, much to their disgust.
A shower and a very tasty dinner; champ and sausage with vegetables for Elaine, a Thai roasted duck dish for Roy, sealed our day, although some hand washing was required in order to have clean clothes to wear today. Fortunately, though, our luggage had been located and was successfully delivered to Elaine’s sister’s address, where we were heading today, albeit a rather late night delivery at 2200.
This morning, although we woke to a drizzly overcast day, we woke up naturally, enjoyed another cooked breakfast and set off to Newcastle, but not before we took a drive through the nearby little town. Our tour took us through counties Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh and into County Down. Fortunately the weather cleared the further north and east we drove, reaching Newcastle around 1300. As always, it was lovely to see our loved ones and spent the rest of the day chatting and catching up.
After our travel fiasco and touring for two days, though, we were definitely grateful for a relatively early night.
Fortunately, once all that was done, we didn’t have far to walk to the bus stop and didn’t have long to wait for a bus either. By 1030 we were checked in and waiting to board our flight to London Heathrow. There was just one small problem; there wasn’t a British Airways plane anywhere to be seen and thus started another fiasco.
When the plane eventually arrived, a quick turnaround got everyone and everything loaded, but, by then we’d missed the Air Traffic Control slot, something we were informed about as we all sat ready for takeoff. Not usually an issue, but in this instance, we were informed that the next slot required a wait of one and half hours. Thankfully, as luck would have it, while the First Officer was relaying this bad news to the passengers, the Captain received confirmation that another slot had opened up and we could takeoff immediately. As you can imagine, there was a collective and audible sigh of relief in the cabin and, as it turns out, the new slot was a “short cut” and got us into London Heathrow five minutes ahead of schedule, but then the wheels fell off.
Having landed safely, we were informed that another aircraft was at our gate and we had to wait for it to be pushed back. Fair enough, no problem, or so we thought!
The next announcement informed us that the plane at our gate was being pushed back and we would be able to disembark shortly. This was swiftly followed by yet another announcement informing us that the plane at our gate had developed technical problems and could no longer be moved, but, wait, there was another gate! At this point we’d been sitting on the ground for half an hour, only to be told the jetway at the new gate had developed a fault and we essentially now had no gate assigned!
Eventually, after an hour of taxiing around Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport, a gate was secured and we disembarked. However, by this time, we only had half an hour to change terminals and get to our connecting flight before its departure.
Of course, nothing is simple these days and the walkway from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 was no longer in operation. Instead, we had to catch a bus, go through passport control, again, and clear security, again, getting us to the gate with minutes to spare.
By now, though, we both had a headache from listening to screaming kids and having endured a sick child, poor little mite, who coughed the entire flight from Gibraltar, we were both bursting to go to the loo, we were starving and dying of thirst! Thank goodness Roy had the good sense to make us bacon butties last night for the journey and he managed to find somewhere to buy us some water, all of which went down like a treat before we boarded the flight; by a sheer miracle we actually made it to Dublin. To crown matters, though, Roy had an enormous man sitting next to him on the first flight and an even larger woman sitting next to him on the second one, leaving him with precious little space, but he wasn’t giving up that middle armrest under any circumstances!
What we hoped would be our final calamity, was our luggage that didn’t make it to Dublin with us and, with us touring, we wondered how exactly the airline was going to get our bags to us. Guess we’ll be doing some shopping soon, but fortunately Elaine always packs a set of clothing in our hand luggage, to be sure, to be sure.
Our next challenge was finding our hired car, after a mix up with the support staff member, who erroneously informed us that are car had to be collected in the city centre. After Roy told the individual to have another look at our reservation, miraculously, our car appeared in the multi-storey carpark we were standing in. However, before the car was unlocked remotely for us and before we signed the contract, we had to give the car a looking over and take photographs of any existing damage; straight forward enough, right! Nope! We had one more tiny insignificant detail to deal with; it was a black car, parked in a bay that didn’t have any lighting. So, here’s us, with iPhone torches switched on, scanning the car and all we could see is our own reflections on any photographs we took.
By the time the car was unlocked, it was getting dark and we still had about an hour and a half’s drive ahead of us to get to our hotel in Athlone, but we had absolutely no idea how, other than how to switch the car on and change the “gear lever” to forward or reverse to get us to our intended destination. We had no idea how to switch the air on, we barely figured out how to open the windows, we didn’t know how to adjust the driver’s seat properly or the steering wheel so Roy could drive the car, but we both decided it was probably a very good idea not to fiddling with anything on the control panel and just get to the hotel before we loose our daylight and until we had the time to figure out how to operate this damn car; talk about two country bumpkins in town! That’ll teach us for hiring a Tesla.
Needless to say, we were relieved to reach the hotel without incident, but when we got to our hotel room and found it infested with spiders, all we could do was laugh, while Roy spent the next fifteen minutes swiping spiders with a pillow.
Fortunately our day ended on a much better note; a call from Keenan, who had been trying to give us instructions via text on how to operate the car as we flew down the motorway at 120 Km/hr. What a carry-on, but we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, nonetheless.
With all this malarkey, our hope was that we’d paid the piper in advance and a great holiday on the island of Ireland awaited us!
First thing on Monday morning, however, although we’d had rain overnight, making for a cooler morning, was to put our coils on the stern docklines to reduce the amount of jerking Paw Paw was doing. With a swaying dock and swell coming into the marina, we also added another dockline to the bow in an effort to stop her yawing as well, and then made a few more modifications / additions, which we’d thought about overnight, to the website and advertisements we’re using to sell Paw Paw. To take a break from the mayhem, we enjoyed lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant and Bar.
Elaine also continued her packing efforts and we started the preparations needed to leave Paw Paw unattended, including stowing all the cockpit cushions and spare docklines, leaving a spare key at the marina office, rinsing the deck, taking delivery of our liferaft, after it was re-certified, etc, before taking a walk to Morrison’s to start the bulk provisioning for our Atlantic Ocean crossing.
Yesterday morning Roy decided to take a long early morning walk to Europa Point, an 8 Km round trip, while Elaine slept so soundly, she didn’t hear him leave. As soon as she surfaced, though, she spent the best part of her day servicing all the enquires and sales we had for the miscellaneous items. This turned into an impromptu afternoon of socialising on Paw Paw when one of the cruising couples, who were anchored in La Linea de la Concepción on the Spanish side of the Iberian Peninsula, popped over the frontier to collect the cruising guides and flags they had purchased from us. Before long, we had two more cruising couples onboard, friends of the first couple, who also decided to purchase some flags, but not before an afternoon of exchanging stories had ensued in the usual cruising fashion; one couple had already completed their circumnavigation and the other two were in the process, after sailing from Australia. All were crossing the Atlantic Ocean this year, but going via Cape Verde. After a lot of “chin-wagging”, they bid us farewell, with the hopes of seeing everyone again in the Caribbean.
With that we returned to our efforts of folding paper charts, checking these against the inventory Elaine had provided to the purchaser to ensure we had all the charts and getting them ready for shipping today. Since we were on a roll of ridding Paw Paw of all these charts, Elaine then decided to take the opportunity to clear out all the other excess paperwork we had onboard, but no longer needed, including a stack of the completed Deck Logs from all our passages. It was a great trip down memory lane looking at them again, but it was a little sad too, knowing it was all coming to an end soon and, indeed, disposing of them was difficult. All in all, though, it was a very productive and lucrative day.
Today, Roy was up early again to get through the rest of his preparation tasks, including backwashing the watermaker and washing the saloon floor in preparation for another coat of varnish, but not before he walked into town to purchase the right size boxes we needed to post the paper charts, all 157 of them.
Once the boxes were filled, sealed and addressed, we walked to the post office. Being very familiar with the process now, it didn’t take long to get those posted, appreciative of the help we received in combining the two boxes into one parcel, achieved by strapping them together with tape, and saving us a double shipping cost. Afterwards we stopped for lunch in a quieter neck of the woods, then paid another visit to Morrison’s to continue our bulk provisioning exercise.
Excitement at seeing our loved ones again, though, had definitely started to mount as Elaine finished the packing and our final preparation tasks were completed.
Our day ended with a Fund Raising event called “Model for a Day”, which took place along the waterfront of the marina, right alongside Paw Paw. We didn’t exactly have a bird’s eye view, but we could see the “models” as they paraded up and down the Red Carpet.
Fortunately it didn’t go on too late, since we both wanted and needed our beauty sleep.
On Friday morning we decided that a full English breakfast at the Rendezvous Grill was the perfect way to start our day; we were surprised at having held out for so long actually!
The rest of Elaine’s day was spent responding to interest on our miscellaneous for sale items and collating packages for collection; it turned out to be a very time-consuming exercise and a bit frustrating having to deal with people who weren’t serious buyers, but rather looking for something for nothing and wasting her time.
While Elaine was busy with that, Roy took another walk to Morrison’s to purchase the ingredients for our dinner onboard, since we had eaten our supplies, in order to clear out the freezer, before leaving Paw Paw unattended, then enjoyed a beer at the Waterfront Restaurant and Bar while chatting to Keenan.
To clear our heads and for Elaine to stretch her legs, we enjoyed a walk to see the sunset and to watch the fog rolling in, wrapping up our day with a few more requests for information on our miscellaneous items for sale.
After a terrible night’s sleep and waking up to a very blustery day, after rain overnight, all of which made for a very sluggish morning yesterday, we eventually got our act together and spent the day building our website to sell Paw Paw. Fortunately Roy had completed the design over the winter, while we were in Türkiye, so all it needed was the content added. While Elaine continued with those efforts, Roy took his daily walk to Morrison’s.
When he returned, Elaine had completed the website and was in desperate need of a drink, which we enjoyed on the patio of the Rendezvous Grill.
Today was rather bittersweet, since Paw Paw was officially put up for sale. To take our minds off this particular happening, we enjoyed a Sunday Roast at Monique’s Bistro and Café, another waterfront establishment. Although neither of us could finish the enormous serving of food, Elaine left room to enjoy a delicious sticky toffee pudding with custard. Yummy!
Back onboard, she answered a few more queries regarding our miscellaneous items for sale and continued her packing efforts, while Roy switched out the generator lift pump, which decided to misbehave yesterday and placed orders for the final items we need to bring back with us from Ireland, as well as checked all our electronics charts, specifically to verify that they were all in working order for the buyer we had secured. However, in doing so, he discovered that the one we need for our return to the Caribbean, wasn’t functioning, resulting in us having to purchase yet another chart. Here we are with charts up the ying-yang, covering the world, but the one we need develops a fault! So frustrating, especially at this late stage of our sailing chapter.
By then it was time to relax and enjoy our Zoom Family Get-Together, which, as usual, went on later than expected, but it was lovely to catch up with everyone.
Afterwards a few last minute additions were made to the website, before calling it a day. For those interested, visit https://leopard46.appsforboats.com. If you view this from a Smartphone, scroll down to see the links.
Since we were both awake at this point, once the liferaft had been collected, rather promptly at 0900 as pre-arranged, bacon butties were enjoyed for breakfast, following which we decided that a nice stroll through the Gibraltar Botanical Gardens would take the edge off our day and clear Elaine’s head.
What we weren’t expecting was a report back from the safety equipment provider servicing the liferaft, indicating that we didn’t have any water or food packed in the liferaft; the Malaysian service provider had decided, in their infinite wisdom, to leave out the most important items, rendering it essentially useless, for the most part, had we needed to abandon ship. Disgraceful actually!
Setting that thought aside, we enjoyed a wander around the gardens, but, with the change of season, there weren’t many flowers in bloom. There were, however, little bridges, streams, fountains and ponds to enjoy instead, together with a beautiful hanging plant which we’ve never seen before; no idea what it was called, though, since none of the plants were identified with a plague in the usual manner for a botanical garden.
On our return, we stopped in at the Piccadilly Garden Bar for a coffee and apple pie, hoping that we had actually received the decaffeinated option we asked for. Fortunately, it seemed we did, because we were both able to nap for the first time in days on our return to Paw Paw, but we’re not altogether sure we felt any better for it. Clearly our bodies were still fatigued, but somewhat anxious as well, about our upcoming ocean crossing, more so because of the orca threat than anything else.
With time to spare before our dinner outing, Elaine started packing and printed off our approved Customs Declaration for entry into Gibraltar, needed for our return flight, along with a few other documents, while Roy walked to Morrison’s to get a few odds and ends.
A quick chat to Keenan was followed by a stroll to the Stagioni Italian Restaurant, arriving in time for our dinner reservation. Warm goat cheese coquettes in honey and tuna, swordfish and salmon carpaccio was shared as a starter, followed by a vegetarian ravioli in a cheese sauce for Elaine and a seafood pasta for Roy. A stroll to the waterfront to watch the sunset was definitely needed after that. We were surprised, however, to see the number of fish as we peered over the wall into the water below, as the sun dropped behind the hillside in the distance.
A rare blue supermoon brought our day to a close, a phenomenon that last occurred in 2009 and happens when two full moons occur in one calendar month, but, in this instance, this blue moon coincided with a super moon, when the moon appears larger and brighter than usual because the moon is at its closest point in its orbit around earth.
Today was all about getting errands completed; first up was a walk to the town centre for Elaine’s extended eye appointment and to collect the last of her prescription medications. She was definitely very impressed with the consultation and examination conducted to confirm her retina on both eyes had remained unaffected by her medications. However, the corticosteroids had caused a rectifiable issue in her one eye; a known side effect requiring surgery that will have to wait until we return to land permanently. Her prescription has been strengthened slightly, though, as an interim measure and to tide her over until she can have the surgery.
From there we walked to Morrison’s to collect the ingredients for our dinner. With the slightly cooler weather, we’d opted for Roy’s famous homemade vegetable soup; something for which our bodies were very grateful, but not enjoyed until we’d both had another afternoon nap, washed the decks again, which were filthy from the traffic pollution, repositioned some of the fenders and tidied up all the docklines, in preparation for leaving Paw Paw in the marina for a week or two.
