Rock 'n' no Roll

Melanie left to get the plane home for our Godson Paul's 21st birthday and I turned the boat south to head for Naples. It was a 2 day passage. I anchored the first night in the lee of this small rather ominous looking island - an old penal colony nick named Devils Island 3 miles off the mainland coast. I was woken at 5am the next day by a cracking wind in the rigging and was soon up and on my way wanting to make the most of the wind. I was in Naples for lunchtime to meet Mark. I had a very pleasant 3 days R and R with Mark doing very little other than eating and drinking with a little swimming thrown in. We did however have a very fine barbecue on the rocks cooked by England's finest barbecue chef! I picked Melanie up in Naples and spent a couple of days at anchor tucked behind this rather fine old fort with Vesuvius in the background. We did the sights of Naples and had a day in Pompeii. Pompeii was disappointing with nothing to bring it back to life, not ev...

We bid farewell to Corsica  for the time being at Ajaccio after another 3 days of fine walking in the mountains and headed south for the short sail to Sardinia. We made landfall in Castelsardo on the north coast, the ancient village clinging to the hillside surrounded by the walls of its fortifications. We headed ashore to explore the old town and it rained, and it rained and it rained – for 2 days! Well, the drinking water’s got to come from somewhere! The sun did come out again and we headed up to the northern tip of Sardinia for a day at anchor then over the 6 mile wide straight back to Corsica to drop anchor in a pretty bay on the opposite side of the island from the town of Bonifacio. At last the bikes came out for the short but still pretty hilly ride into town. A better fortified town I have seldom seen! Time to head to Rome! Melanie was heading home in a few days to go to our Godsons 21 st  birthday party; I would be staying with the boat to look after Wo...