Hello readers everywhere

In the past few days I've spoken to three or four people who all tell me they regularly read the blog. When I'm writing, the audience I have in mind is probably my parents (which may be why this blog is a bit different from many others out there). But it's lovely to know that other people look at it too - thank you!

I wish I could delight you all with pictures or descriptions of warm blue seas. Sadly not. It was 22deg in Barcelona yesterday but here in Suffolk it is cold, wet and rather windy.

I've been reading one of my acquisitions from the Southampton boat show, Nick Ward's Left for Dead. (Putting in the Amazon link shows me it already has an astonishing eight reviews). Nick was the last person to be rescued from the 1979 Fastnet disaster in which 15 people died. Only now has he felt able to write about it. He describes a Force 8 as a "bit of a headache" and a Force 10 as a "full-blown migraine". He's quite cool about 20ft waves but gets nervous when they increase from 35 to 40ft in the space of 15 minutes. Hmmm. I think I have forgotten what real sailing is like. I met Nick at the show and he told me he went straight back to sailing, and racing, as soon as he could - I guess it would either be that or never sailing again.

At some point next year we have to get Kalessin from Barcelona to Sete, where we can get into the canals. I need to work out if we can get away without a pilot book for Mediterranean France - it may only be a couple of stops, hardly worth a £35 investment. [Slightly later] I have just found the Waterways maps buried under a pile of post. Barcelona to Sete along the coast is about 150km, of which about half is in Spain. So maybe we can get away without. We met people sailing in Mallorca without a pilot book who seemed to get on fine...

Boat show special

At the weekend we went to the Southampton Boat Show with, rather surprisingly, both boys. It takes almost four hours to drive there which is a pain, but it really is a much better show than the London Boat Show, now at Excel.

Sam was in heaven, as he managed to have lengthy and technical conversations about diamond files (the sort that file through bottles), batteries and solar panels, bilge pumps and much more. I went to Kelvin Hughes and spent a fortune on books, including the Imray guide to the French Canals - does this mean we're really going? Ben visited his favourite, the modern Folkboat. Guy was feeling very grotty with a horrible cold but managed to buy a lighter which produces flames in three different colours.

Then we went down to take a look at Gipsy Moth IV, Francis Chichester's round-the-world boat, now heavily restored for the second time after hitting a reef somewhere in the Pacific. Ben was deeply impressed with their Lavac toilet (just like ours) although I think Chichester used the original Baby Blake. We opened a lid which looked like a fridge and found a locker entirely full of packets of Walker's crisps. If you're thinking of doing some corporate hospitality on board (which is the plan for next season) that's obviously what they feed you on!

The view from the end of the pontoon was magnificent. We were very lucky with the weather on Saturday which was warm and sunny with light winds, and you could look up and down Southampton Water and see two huge new cruise liners, the QE2, cargo and container ships, racing yachts with amazing Kevlar sails, patrols to make sure no-one from the boat show fell in the water, and even the Isle of Wight ferry. The pontoon was bobbing up and down so much you really felt that you were out there.

We were delighted to meet Chris, Sally and Maddy from Moondance, one of our constant companions from last year - I think we first met in La Coruña. While we pootled around Portugal and Spain they did an Atlantic crossing and spent the winter in the West Indies. Moondance is now back in the UK and in 2009 they will probably take her down through the canals to the Med - easy to do as she's a Southerly with lifting keel, and draws almost nothing with the keel up.

Then home, in almost total silence except for the constant clicking of boys' thumbs on the PlayStation controllers, and Guy sniffing every 15 second for four hours...

Pictures from Barcelona

Chillis in Barcelona's main market

Sam in Port Vell, Barcelona skyline behind

Stained glass in the Sagrada Familia

Cable car in Montserrat

Montserrat view

The extraordinary mercury fountain in the Miro museum

Guy makes friends with a sculpture

Guy & Ben make friends with a big gun


Barcelona and home

From Bonaire we had an astonishingly smooth and fairly quick 110-mile crossing to Barcelona - and we even managed to sail for about five hours out of the 20. After that the wind dropped as forecast and it was motoring all the way, but warm and clear with a marvellous full moon. Guy and Beth stood part of a night watch with Sam, and Ben did one with me - I sent him to bed about 4am when his yawns became continuous. The only downside was the dew, which dripped off the mainsail so hard I thought it was raining!

Sitting on the foredeck at sunset - the sea seemed to merge with the land


Marina Badalona was a bit of a disappointment when we got in at 7.30am. It's about four miles north of Barcelona, absolutely brand new with construction still going on. The neighbourhood used to be very industrial and still has a whopping great power station, but most of the warehouses are being replaced with enormous residential blocks. All in all a bit grim and very concretey. Sam phoned Port Vell, the central Barcelona marina, but they couldn't even do us a single night (and in case we were thinking of overwintering there have had a waiting list since April). Port Olimpico is said to be surrounded by discos and noisy at night, Port Forum is for superyachts and hadn't responded to any of our calls or emails, so we were stuck with Badalona.

As ever, a day's rest cheered us up a bit. The marina is secure and well protected (in fact you can't see the sea because of the enormous concrete walls - a bit like Brighton marina). There is an immense sandy beach five minutes' walk away, with lots of nudists and some gay people at our end to make it more interesting. (Nudists all seem to be over 60, or do they just look mature because of all that exposure to the sun?) It's about 10 minutes' walk to the Metro and then another 20 minutes or so to get into the city - and if you get bored with the Metro there are two RENFE rail stations and a tram terminus also each within 10 minutes' walk, and a bus which runs right through the marina. And we did eventually find a big supermarket close to the Metro station, which cheered me up - Guy thinks we're obsessed with supermarkets, but possibly he doesn't appreciate the challenge of carrying all food by arm from several miles away...

Anyway Barcelona is a great city. Sam knows it a bit, but this was my first visit since losing my luggage in Barcelona airport en route to Alicante when I was 16. We spent Wednesday in Las Ramblas and in the Barri Gotic, the old town with the cathedral and medieval buildings, then strolled down to see Port Vell (which does look very full) and the Parc Ciutadella. On the Thursday Sam, Ben and I did the proper tourist thing and went to see the Sagrada Familia - the world's most astonishing building site. I see they are now talking about completion in 2026 (by which time I will be 70!)

Sadly Sam had to head home on a late flight on the 30th to sort out some work, so I was alone with three teenagers. On Friday I succeeded in dragging them out of bed before 9am for a trip to Montserrat, on the recommendation of my friend Emma. Thanks Em, a brilliant choice - train journey, then cable car up to the astonishing monastery site 1000m above sea level. We had a picnic and a gentle walk, and some of the party queued to touch the feet of the Virgin before we headed home again. (OK, Guy and Beth joined the queue by mistake...)

Saturday was a rest and beach day (also a day for taking down and cleaning the foresail) and on Sunday we went to Montjuic, the hill to the south of the city, for a trip to the Joan Miro museum and the castle. Sadly the teenagers were more impressed by the cable car and the castle's military museum than the works of Miro, although I'm sure a bit of culture was very good for them. We spent the afternoon in one of Barcelona's extremely beautiful parks, and then the youngsters went straight home while I strolled up to the Olympic stadium and admired the Catalunya art gallery from the outside. With Kalessin likely to be in Barcelona for the winter I hope to spend a few days on a cultural visit to see all the museums I missed!

Monday was a day for packing up and cleaning the boat - it feels very strange to be leaving it for the winter when August is only just over. And on Tuesday easyJet whisked us back to Stansted where Sam met us. The good side of his going ahead is that he cleaned the house, shopped for food, and met us at the airport which has made the whole return very painless. The sun shone too, which I gather is unusual for the UK...

Merry Christmas from just me

Video of photos made for Sam's funeral    Dear friends and family As I hope you all know, this year has been a difficult one for me. On ...