ROCK NATION
After a few days in London, it was time to rendezvous with the boat in Gibraltar, located on the southern most tip of Spain, however it is run under the British Commonwealth. Arriving into Gibraltar, particularly by plane, is an experience in itself with the runway strip crossing the main arterial road between mainland Spain and Gibraltar which therefore requires pedestrians and traffic alike to be stopped in order for planes to take off and land. We eventually got to the marina where the boat was waiting for our arrival in a balmy 35 degrees. A few days spent in this quirky island had us take the cable car to the top of the famous Gibraltar rock, walk through the historic gunners barracks and weave through the cobble stone streets – all heaving with squillions of day-visitors from the cruise ships that would arrive daily. There were some mechanical parts that had to be flown in from Germany prior to our Atlantic voyage so this made way for a few days acclimatising ourselves with the steamy weather and seasoning ourselves with the local tax-free beer. And wine. And spirits. By the third day, we were all ready to set sail for north Africa so a big shop was the main task of the day, stocking up on a boat load of booze ($12 for a bottle of Bombay Sapphire, anyone?) plus a handful of food items. Oh, and several cartons of cigarettes – but more on that later. Day four saw us head back to the shops for another car load of alcohol because it appeared some poorly disciplined squirrels had broken into our stash and polished off half of our supply. ‘Twas nice of the squirrels to wash up their glasses and take out the empty bottles to the recycling bins though.
theflightclub 