We left the marina in Tropea on the 1st of July and headed for Stromoli but some very insistent fishermen made us change course to avoid their fish traps and we ended up in Vulcano. From there we motored to Sicily and a very rolly anchorage at Capo d'Orlando. We continued along the coast to the northeast corner at San Vito Lo Capo and went ashore to buy bread and vegetables.

When the wind picked up in the afternoon we set sail across the Tyrrhenian Sea for Sardinia. After a short magic carpet ride of about 2 hours (whizzing along at 7 kts in a flat sea) we had lightening all night all round us with the wind all over the place. After that the wind dropped and we motored until it picked up to 35kts on the nose with the usual accompaniment of a big lumpy sea. We anchored on the south coast at Porto Di Teulada.

We left Sardinia and Italy behind and made our way to the Balearics calling first at Menorca. We stopped at a very pretty anchorage in a long cala (Cala De Addaya) with a lovely small yacht harbour and yacht club. We dinghied to the yacht club and had lunch by the waterside and I fed the ducks, something I haven't done for a long time.

A few days later and we were in Mallorca anchored at Pollenca, a huge anchorage that even has enough room to allow a seaplane to operate. We sailed along the beautiful rugged north coast of the island to Puerto Soller a much smaller, crowed anchorage. Puerto Soller is a lovely little place with a tram running at regular intervals up the hill to Soller itself. It was here that we witnessed a strange event. A large area of the port is reserved for the Spanish navy. All of a sudden at about 10pm two rockets fired and a flotilla of boats came out, led by what looked like a carnival float with a man waving. It did a tour of the anchorage and the waterfront then went back in. Two rockets fired and all the boats sounded their horns. I have no idea who was the star of the show or what the procession signified.

We sailed to Ibiza and anchored yet again, (marinas here are very expensive, 258 euros/night for us at Puerto de Ibiza and it was full!) After this we headed for mainland Spain sailing overnight to Puerto De Thomas Maestro on the Costa Blanca. The sea front was lined with high-rise apartments as I had expected. What I hadn't expected was that a little further along the coast the scenery improved. The Costa Blanca is more than just high-rise hotels and packed beaches, there is a beautiful unspoiled rocky coastline as well and our next anchorage near Aguilas was a pretty little cove tucked in behind an island. The water temperature was 27.2ºC warm enough for me to go for a swim.

We worked our way along to the Costa del Sol, again a very lovely coastline. The wind was from the south-east and we couldn't find good shelter. After two very uncomfortable nights at anchor we went into the marina at Caleta De Velez near the town of Torre del Mar, our first marina since Tropea. The price was much more affordable now.

With the wind forecast easterly we decided to go the rest of the way to Gibraltar in one hop. The sea was calm but we encountered thick fog about 5 miles out of Gibraltar. The first time fog has been a problem. We could hear the eerie sound of ships fog horns and pick up their positions on radar but we could not see them until they were very close. It was a bit un-nerving.

We have completed our circumnavigation today. We left Europa point in Gibraltar on the 28th October 2007 and we arrived back on 26th July 2011. It has taken us nearly four years during which time we have clocked up 34,000 nm and visited more than 40 countries. It has been quite an experience and definitely well worth the seasickness. If I had a pound for every time I vowed never to set foot on that boat again I would be a rich woman. But I don't so I'm poor. All that remains is to sail back to England, so any volunteers for Biscay (end August/ beginning September) would be appreciated. We are now safely tied up in the new marina at La Linea and to celebrate we walked across to Gibraltar where William had a pint of British beer and I had fish and chips. Delicious!