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| Dog sledding, Boxing Day |
Monday 31 December 2007
Christmas in Whitler, Canada
Our daughter Jessica has been living in Canada with her friend Kate so we spent a couple of weeks skiing with them over Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Thursday 13 December 2007
Winter in Seville - A Poem by Roger
The summer’s long gone, but the sun drips on
A river the colour of coffee slides by.
And there are oranges on the trees
And girls with bare shoulders and bare knees.
And there is music everywhere.
A man who is half crazy plays bagpipes for pennies
And the beggar dances with a cardboard woman dressed in rags.
And when you sit in a street café on a chair
A thin gypsy thief sells you a lock of her hair.
And in a second floor apartment in a building on the corner by the square
Behind a balcony and a blind
Two lovers touch and find
They cannot reach other’s mind.
And the poor sleep on the tiled floor
Of the banks of the rich.
And you who have travelled so far
and for so long
See ghosts of lost loves leaning against the bar.
Yeah, winter is coming on
And before long
The sun will be gone.
A river the colour of coffee slides by.
And there are oranges on the trees
And girls with bare shoulders and bare knees.
And there is music everywhere.
A man who is half crazy plays bagpipes for pennies
And the beggar dances with a cardboard woman dressed in rags.
And when you sit in a street café on a chair
A thin gypsy thief sells you a lock of her hair.
And in a second floor apartment in a building on the corner by the square
Behind a balcony and a blind
Two lovers touch and find
They cannot reach other’s mind.
And the poor sleep on the tiled floor
Of the banks of the rich.
And you who have travelled so far
and for so long
See ghosts of lost loves leaning against the bar.
Yeah, winter is coming on
And before long
The sun will be gone.
Gelves Marina, Sevilla
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| Our new home until April 2008 |
Susannah on the River at Gelves
Originally uploaded by Yacht Susannah
3 - 10 December 2007
On Saturday, a boat came out which left a space on the pontoon on the river, which we grabbed as soon as possible. It is lovely to be getting some sun on the boat!
Roger and I started our Spanish classes on Monday. It was a bit of a shock to the system as we had to catch the 8.00 a.m. bus! We get to Seville just in time to throw a croissant and coffee down us before starting class at 9.15 a.m.
The school is superb. The classes are completely in Spanish, including the grammar. There are students of all nationalities - in my class there are students from Sweden, Holland, Germany and France. We have classes until 1.00 p.m. and then there are optional visits/classes. Roger and I went to the extra Phonetic class and a class about Spanish cinema on Tuesday.
Wednesday evening the Christmas lights were turned on in Seville. This year thousands of blue LED lights have been used, which looks beautiful but also uses less electricity. It took three days to build a crib scene in the Plaza Nuevo, using real rocks and cement. Miniature oranges were used as part of the decoration instead of holy. We met up with people from the school in a small Flamenco club, La Casa de la Memoria, which was superb. I recognised the club from the same one Roger and I had gone to a few years ago when we were in Seville.
Thursday was a fiesta day, so there were no classes, but the school had arranged a visit to Ronda. Roger and I both felt we got more from this trip than when we went on our own a few years ago, as we had two Spanish speaking guides from the school. Many of the houses are built on the edge of a precipice and the view is spectacular. Apparently, quite a few people come to Ronda to commit suicide by jumping off the edge!
We crossed over the New Bridge, which was built in the 18th century and spans the gorge between the new and old towns. We then visited the fantastic Arab baths which were built in the 8th century, and are amongst the best preserved in Spain. We had lunch outside in the main square as it was lovely and warm in about 23 degrees, before visiting the famous Bullring. Ronda’s bullring was built in 1784 and is the oldest preserved one in Spain. Inside the corridors there is a permanent exhibition about bullfighting, including the usual photographs of Ernest Hemingway.
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| Flamenco at Casa de la Memoria |
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| Ronda with the Spanish Class |
Chipiona to Gelves, Seville - 54 Miles; Total trip from Swansea 1970 Miles
We set off about 7.00 a.m. in the dark after a sleepless night with the warps and fenders squeaking with the swell that found its way into the marina. We motored across the bay to the mouth of the Rio Gaudalquivir. The river forms the eastern boundary of the Parque National de Donana, an area of 196 square miles, which has some of the most important natural ecosystems in Europe. There is a further 102 square mile buffer zone of beach, sand dunes, marshland, river bank, heather, thickets of gorse and cork and pine forests.
After the heavy rains on Tuesday, the river was like a brown stew and we had to be careful not to hit any of the floating debris. We saw herons, cormorants, storks and an eagle. We also saw horses and bulls by the river banks. There was a nasty moment when a lot of weed wraped itself round the prop. We put the engine into reverse and then forward a few times which luckily seemed to free it.
There was so much debris and silt in the river that our echo-sounder started giving a false return. Later a Swiss boat, coming upriver behind us, radioed and asked us to pilot them up river as their echo-sounder had packed up. We explained that we were in the same boat so to speak and they overtook us and pressed on.
As we were nearing Gelves the Swiss boat passed us heading back downriver somewhat unnerved by low power lines just before the marina – the clearance height given on the chart was 16.5 meters above mean high water springs (note: since January 2007 charted heights are above HATS; the highest astronomical tide). We were at this time about two hours before high water and one day away from springs! In addition, the previous days flooding in Sevilla would have raised the water level by an unknown extent. We didn’t know the height of our mast, but the Swiss boat was 20 meters and he had decided not to risk it. The lines sagged in the middle of the river so we tried to pass as close to one bank as we dared – the non-functioning echo-sounder made this a rather risky undertaking. As we went under it looked very much like we were going to hit the lines and in a last minute loss of confidence we put the engine in reverse however this change of heart proved to be too late; the tide took us through – luckily we made it!
The man in the marina was surprised when we said we had booked and indicated there wasn’t any room as everyone who had been anchored in the river had come in because of the bad weather on Tuesday. We said we had rang several times to confirm and in the end he found us a place tucked in the corner of the marina. It turns out this was the berth where Gwyneth Lewis, the Welsh Poet Lauriat had when she was in Gelves. There was a submerged boat we had to squeeze past which made it very tight getting in. When the tide went out, there was a lot more of the submerged boat than we had first thought! Apparently it sank in the summer but there are arguments over who pays to remove it – the insurance company or the marina.
We met Stuart and Sue, who have been living on their boat in Gelves for about 5 years. They had been at anchor for the past four months but their anchor dragged on Thursday when there was an 8 knot tide running because of the heavy rain on Tuesday, so they had to come into the marina. Stuart teaches English and Sue looks after a Spanish family’s children. We then chatted to Linda and John who are staying for the winter, and Diana who is 76 and lives on her boat in the yard. Roger and I had something to eat and met up with everyone in the evening at the bar.
Diesel: 79.59 euros, 1.05 per litre;
Marina: 1960 euros for 5 months
After the heavy rains on Tuesday, the river was like a brown stew and we had to be careful not to hit any of the floating debris. We saw herons, cormorants, storks and an eagle. We also saw horses and bulls by the river banks. There was a nasty moment when a lot of weed wraped itself round the prop. We put the engine into reverse and then forward a few times which luckily seemed to free it.
There was so much debris and silt in the river that our echo-sounder started giving a false return. Later a Swiss boat, coming upriver behind us, radioed and asked us to pilot them up river as their echo-sounder had packed up. We explained that we were in the same boat so to speak and they overtook us and pressed on.
As we were nearing Gelves the Swiss boat passed us heading back downriver somewhat unnerved by low power lines just before the marina – the clearance height given on the chart was 16.5 meters above mean high water springs (note: since January 2007 charted heights are above HATS; the highest astronomical tide). We were at this time about two hours before high water and one day away from springs! In addition, the previous days flooding in Sevilla would have raised the water level by an unknown extent. We didn’t know the height of our mast, but the Swiss boat was 20 meters and he had decided not to risk it. The lines sagged in the middle of the river so we tried to pass as close to one bank as we dared – the non-functioning echo-sounder made this a rather risky undertaking. As we went under it looked very much like we were going to hit the lines and in a last minute loss of confidence we put the engine in reverse however this change of heart proved to be too late; the tide took us through – luckily we made it!
The man in the marina was surprised when we said we had booked and indicated there wasn’t any room as everyone who had been anchored in the river had come in because of the bad weather on Tuesday. We said we had rang several times to confirm and in the end he found us a place tucked in the corner of the marina. It turns out this was the berth where Gwyneth Lewis, the Welsh Poet Lauriat had when she was in Gelves. There was a submerged boat we had to squeeze past which made it very tight getting in. When the tide went out, there was a lot more of the submerged boat than we had first thought! Apparently it sank in the summer but there are arguments over who pays to remove it – the insurance company or the marina.
We met Stuart and Sue, who have been living on their boat in Gelves for about 5 years. They had been at anchor for the past four months but their anchor dragged on Thursday when there was an 8 knot tide running because of the heavy rain on Tuesday, so they had to come into the marina. Stuart teaches English and Sue looks after a Spanish family’s children. We then chatted to Linda and John who are staying for the winter, and Diana who is 76 and lives on her boat in the yard. Roger and I had something to eat and met up with everyone in the evening at the bar.
Diesel: 79.59 euros, 1.05 per litre;
Marina: 1960 euros for 5 months
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| Fishing vessel on the Guadalquivir |
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