37 12.1 N 009 07.5 E Cagliari, Sardinia Sunday, 24th April

Start of the 2011 trek - or the non-glamourous side of "yachting"

Offexploring has upgraded its website - I have yet to personalise it, will do so soon!

Easter Sunday - we left Britain in glorious sunshine and arrived in the afternoon to cloud, showers and cool temps. Not right! And nothing open. The Sardinians take Easter very seriously. The re-acquaintance with our boat was both good and bad. The good is that inside was dry, mould-free and in pretty good shape. The bad was that the decks are green (need to get the Boracol out) and dirty, there is a film of red Saharan dust everywhere, the battery charger has decided it no longer wants to charge (burnt out capacitor?) and Antonio has not got our anchor chain re-galvanised as requested (and already paid for). We do not yet know why. At least we still have 60m of anchor chain - it is sitting in a rusty heap underneath the bow of the boat and no one has walked off with it. And after a call to CW, Clive is doing some research in the UK re solving our battery charger problem - thank you!

So next few days, when we can dodge the appalling downpours, we shall be sorting out the above problems and doing all those lovely little maintenance jobs like antifouling, polishing, changing anodes and the like. The sooner we can get her back into the water the better - it's horrid being out on the hard.

With nothing to eat on board and no shops open, we went in search of a bite. Up a little side street off the Via Roma, we found what looked like a cellar cavern, filled with diners and landed on our feet. It was stone built with ancient arches and wooden beams, one room leading through an arch into another, and then again into yet another. A bit catacombe-like. A set menu, an Easter special, it consisted of about 5 courses plus Grappa and coffee - we managed only two! A jug of Sardinian wine and bottle of water was already on the table. The first course consisted of Sardinian special flatbread called Pane Carasau - a cross between a tortilla wrap and a chapatti that can be eaten dry and crispy or damp-heated with olive oil and salt, with various dry cured meats and sausages. There was also an enormous platter of vegetables, warm wild mushrooms steeped in garlicky oil, roasted aubergine, carrots, bits of cauliflower just barely cooked and in a vinaigrette, olives, etc. Also a dish of spicy little meatballs. Also chunks of pungent Sarda cheeses. And some dish in a tomato sauce that tasted delicious but we were uncertain and a little concerned about what part of animal the meat in it consisted of. And this was just the first course. A second course of a pasta, potato balls and pecorino cheese and we had had it. It was very late, we had been up early, travelling a good bit of the day, and spent the afternoon unpacking a boat. We admitted defeat. The atmosphere there was terrific, the clientele mostly local, and we wished we could do it more justice. But our helpful waiter was still cheerful and not too censorious, although the neighbouring table looked askance at our wimping out.

And so to bed, climbing a ladder, hoping not to have to climb down in the middle of the night (fellow sailors will know what I mean). Debating whether to take a picture of the rain to the glee of our friends in UK basking in sunshine.

Easter Monday, also Independence Day, also non-stop rainy day. A few indoor jobs done, a quick trip to a little local supermarket for a few basics, and testing a few of the other boat's systems, including the HEATER. Not as productive as could have been - hope for dry tomorrow to get moving on things!

Thursday, 28th. We have had a couple of days of sunshine and the boat is now polished, we get our antifouling today (ordered from the mono-syllabic Max at a fraction of the chandlery's price) and a promise of our chain being sorted out. We are booked to be lifted back into the water on Monday, 2nd May. Not as soon as I would have liked but in this country where the Spanish manana really means the day after manana, not bad.

Friday, 29th. Royal Wedding day and we shall not be bombarded with all the commentary. We have no wifi here. Heading into town to buy a local sim card to supplement our wifi aerials, buy a log book (forgot in UK), maybe a Tunisian courtesy flag and upload this. Otherwise they get too long! Hope all well on the home front. We'll soon get going and start enjoying the glam side of what we are doing!