Rock 'n' no Roll rides again
The boat has spent the winter in the water in a small place called Preveza on the west coast of Greece, just south of Corfu. I came out a week early to get everything ready for the season then sailed up the 50 miles to Corfu where it was easier for Melanie to get to with Woody.
All went well with preparations and the Greek sun shone - I didn't realise at the time that I should have made the most of it!
I had a nice 2 day sail up to Corfu; we spend the next couple of days provisioning and enjoying Kirkyra, the main town of Corfu waiting for a good wind to take us to Montenegro, 150 miles north and our first stop for this year.
We had a fast sail north and as the sun set on the first day I heard the exciting 'whizz' of the fishing rod reel - we had a bite!
We slowed the boat down and scooped a nice fat tuna from the water.
We made good time and early the following day with 20 knots of wind behind us we sailed into the Bay of Kotor at the north end of Montenegro's short coastline.
Montenegro is very mountainous. Sadly we didn't get to see much because the rain was close behind us. That was to set the scene for, well, I'm not sure yet because 5 days later it is still raining!
We did get a break in the weather on Saturday. We motored across the glassy calm lake to take in a little church built on a little island with a nice story. Back in middle ages the island was no more than a shallow reef. It became the custom on certain days of the year to drop stones on the reef to bring good luck to the fishermen. As a result, as time passed the reef started to rise out of the water and in 1650 they built a little church on the new island - land reclamation had begun!
Anchoring off Kotor we took our new electric bikes ashore. We didn't use the bikes at all last year because the terrain at this end of the Med is so mountainous; a great pity because we have found that the bikes give us a great freedom to explore much more of a country than what you would just see from the boat. The bikes were getting tired anyway so I bit the bullet and splashed out on new ones with small electric motors. This was a great chance to see just what the bikes would do. From Kotor at the far end of the bay it was a 3000' climb out of the valley and with us putting in about half of the effort and the motor the other half the bikes got all the way to the top with even a little to spare! Great, we should get some good bike rides this year with a little electric assistance to handle the mountains.
Kotor itself is a very pretty and well preserved medieval town. A lovely place for a wander with a nice market to top up supplies.
After 3 days in the Bay of Kotor, yesterday we hopped on a lovely southerly wind to take us 20 miles north into Croatia - but not away from the rain. By lunchtime it was bucketing and as I sit here writing this 24 hours later it is still raining!
Still, my old nemesis is back to haunt me and there is no better time than when its raining to tackle it - yes, we have toilet problems!
We have 2 electric (and 1 manual) toilets on board - luxury - right up to the minute they fail, which of course they do because electrics and boats don't really go together; in fact, just about nothing that's clever goes together very well with boating. Simple is beautiful!
Not only had one toilet conked out but we also had the pipe furring problem in one of the other toilets - the pipes are down to about a third of their proper diameter. There would come a day soon when we would put something in the toilet that wouldn't go down the pipe!
The trouble with everything on boats is that it is both inaccessible and seized - a very difficult combination.
After getting into too many weird and wonderful positions and putting much too much strain on most parts of my body, 6 hours later the toilet was out , the problem diagnosed and the pipes changed. A new part would was needed for the toilet; ordered on line I could pick that up in Dubrovnik in a few days.
This photo shows a diverter valve nearly completely blocked.
The forecast for the foreseeable future is , yes, more rain. Perhaps we should go home for a few days sunshine?!
The Mediterranean sun surely will come out in the end. We are going to have a few days around the Dubrovnik area in the meantime.
All went well with preparations and the Greek sun shone - I didn't realise at the time that I should have made the most of it!
I had a nice 2 day sail up to Corfu; we spend the next couple of days provisioning and enjoying Kirkyra, the main town of Corfu waiting for a good wind to take us to Montenegro, 150 miles north and our first stop for this year.
We had a fast sail north and as the sun set on the first day I heard the exciting 'whizz' of the fishing rod reel - we had a bite! We slowed the boat down and scooped a nice fat tuna from the water.
We made good time and early the following day with 20 knots of wind behind us we sailed into the Bay of Kotor at the north end of Montenegro's short coastline.
Montenegro is very mountainous. Sadly we didn't get to see much because the rain was close behind us. That was to set the scene for, well, I'm not sure yet because 5 days later it is still raining!
We did get a break in the weather on Saturday. We motored across the glassy calm lake to take in a little church built on a little island with a nice story. Back in middle ages the island was no more than a shallow reef. It became the custom on certain days of the year to drop stones on the reef to bring good luck to the fishermen. As a result, as time passed the reef started to rise out of the water and in 1650 they built a little church on the new island - land reclamation had begun!Anchoring off Kotor we took our new electric bikes ashore. We didn't use the bikes at all last year because the terrain at this end of the Med is so mountainous; a great pity because we have found that the bikes give us a great freedom to explore much more of a country than what you would just see from the boat. The bikes were getting tired anyway so I bit the bullet and splashed out on new ones with small electric motors. This was a great chance to see just what the bikes would do. From Kotor at the far end of the bay it was a 3000' climb out of the valley and with us putting in about half of the effort and the motor the other half the bikes got all the way to the top with even a little to spare! Great, we should get some good bike rides this year with a little electric assistance to handle the mountains.
Kotor itself is a very pretty and well preserved medieval town. A lovely place for a wander with a nice market to top up supplies.
After 3 days in the Bay of Kotor, yesterday we hopped on a lovely southerly wind to take us 20 miles north into Croatia - but not away from the rain. By lunchtime it was bucketing and as I sit here writing this 24 hours later it is still raining!
Still, my old nemesis is back to haunt me and there is no better time than when its raining to tackle it - yes, we have toilet problems!
We have 2 electric (and 1 manual) toilets on board - luxury - right up to the minute they fail, which of course they do because electrics and boats don't really go together; in fact, just about nothing that's clever goes together very well with boating. Simple is beautiful!
Not only had one toilet conked out but we also had the pipe furring problem in one of the other toilets - the pipes are down to about a third of their proper diameter. There would come a day soon when we would put something in the toilet that wouldn't go down the pipe!
The trouble with everything on boats is that it is both inaccessible and seized - a very difficult combination.
After getting into too many weird and wonderful positions and putting much too much strain on most parts of my body, 6 hours later the toilet was out , the problem diagnosed and the pipes changed. A new part would was needed for the toilet; ordered on line I could pick that up in Dubrovnik in a few days.
This photo shows a diverter valve nearly completely blocked.
The forecast for the foreseeable future is , yes, more rain. Perhaps we should go home for a few days sunshine?!
The Mediterranean sun surely will come out in the end. We are going to have a few days around the Dubrovnik area in the meantime.
Waddy says it's really nice in the sun here in the Borders.
ReplyDeleteHe hasn't taken his hat off for 5 days 😂
Mind you floating must be easier than Border Bromptoning
ReplyDelete