We are still in Menton. As
expected the weather forecast is rubbish for Wednesday. They wind is still in the east and
blowing a 5-6. The waves are
forecast at about 2 meters. So we
decide certainly to stay Wednesday night.
We see my colleague Julia for breakfast on board the boat. The weather is nice in that it is
sunny, but it is very breezy. We
then go to her flat. She has a
small one bedroom flat in a lovely late 19th century villa up the
hill and overlooking the sea. The
villa is in a spectacular large garden and the flat has a lovely terrace
overlooking the sea and the old town.
As we aren’t going anywhere we stay for lunch. We tried to get reservations for lunch at the 2 Michelin
rosettes restaurant, but not surprisingly they are full. So we have the day to ourselves.
After we leave Julia’s we walk along the top boulevard to the old town
and walk around. Richard
particularly wanted to come here because his paternal grandparents moved here
to live for a couple of years just after the war. Richard does not know the address where they lived, but he
has seen a photo and is looking for the street. We find one street that has similarities to the photo he
remembers, but the chances of it being the right street are very slim.
I like the town. It is not
overdeveloped or shi shi like most of this coast. There are a number of modern blocks of flats, but the town
is dominated by old villas all in lovely colours of pink, orange, and
beige. It has a pleasant beach
which appears to have imported sand and the town has a good market, supermarket
and all the standard shops. Not a
bad place to be weather bound.
As the day goes on the wind grows and it is quite lively even in the
harbour. All the boats and mooring
lines are making strange noises.
Richard puts on another couple of lines, but we are still rocking and
snatching quite a lot.
We have not been able to connect to the electricity on this
pontoon. We try to get an adaptor,
but the harbour office can only rewire our connection and R is not keen. In the
end we have to buy yet another adaptor.
How many different connections can there be! We have also got the marina to print out the Italian translation
of our insurance policy, so that is sorted out.
Another reason for staying put is that neither of us is well. When we got to Oslo we found that Colin
and Eva had just come down with really awful feverish colds. It was inevitable that we would catch
them and so we have. Mine started
on Monday. Richard has been in
denial, but now admits his is bad too.
So we have a simple supper on the boat and go to bed early.
Thursday morning brings no improvement in the weather. If anything it is worse. The boat is still rocking around. So we are here for at least another
day. We have a leisurely morning
and then make our way into town to do a few errands. The most important thing is to sort out our euro credit card
which is maxed out because we paid for our winter storage and repairs on
it. We have little success because
apparently we cannot pay it off early.
In the end all the bank does is let us take out 2000 euros in cash to
use over the next two weeks.
We are just on the boat for the day. The weather gets worse and worse. We have a huge hailstorm followed by torrential rain.
The weather looks better for tomorrow so we hope to make it to
Italy. But to make sure we see
something of Italy soon, we book dinner in a smart restaurant just over the
boarder. It is supposed to be only
a 15 walk from here, but we have a disaster getting there. Richard uses Apple maps which takes us
up a steep hill only to find that the restaurant is 200 feet below us! So we have a strenuous one hour walk to
get to dinner. This is the second
time Apple maps have let us down.
I will ask R not to use them in future. After we settle in we do have a lovely, all fish, tasting
dinner. When we leave a persistent
drizzle has set in. We hope it
will improve.
Keep telling you to go Android.
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