Equinox 2023

As we still had the rented car until about 9.30, getting fresh food supplies was the order of the morning. There’s a greengrocer and a fish shop close to our recent rental apartment, so they had some good custom from us. Buying two large bags of nuts, as well as a lot of fruit and vegetables, meant it was a hefty bill, but we will enjoy the hazelnuts and almonds, while we are on our travels. The boat is now in such good shape we got down to little jobs, well down the priority list, such as changing lightbulbs for LED’s.  The French couple on the boat next to us are putting their boat to bed for the winter. It seems such a shame to be ending the season so soon, but I’m sure they must have commitments at home. They were delighted to hear how happy we are with the boatyard, as they are in Bari for the first time, and were not impressed with the last place they left their boat. We were already to go and the wind was looking good for us to leave Bari in the morning. A relaxed dinn...

Having made very good progress on preparing the boat, we took a day off for sightseeing, and hired a car to drive to Matera, about 45 miles away.   This is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on earth. There are relics dating back to about 10,000 BC. The History (thanks to Wikipedia) Matera lies on the right bank of the  Gravina  river, whose  canyon  forms a geological boundary between the hill country of Basilicata (historic  Lucania ) to the south-west and the  Murgia  plateau of  Apulia  to the north-east. The city began as a complex of cave habitations excavated in the softer  limestone  on the gorge's western, Lucanian face. It took advantage of two streams which flow into the ravine from a spot near the Castello Tramontano, reducing the cliff's angle of drop and leaving a defensible narrow promontory in between. The central high ground, or  acropolis , sup...

We were just lucky in seeing our bus arriving as we turned the corner onto the main road, having cleared out of the apartment. It meant sprinting along the road to the stop, but the driver waited for us. The bus was full of morning commuters. Our arrival at the boatyard was in time to see guys moving the boat. Walking a boat round a 90 degree corner, without touching it on the corner, is not easy, so we were pleased to have got there in time, so that they didn’t have to make the turn. In five minutes we were ready to depart the lifting dock and motor a few metres to a berth on the pontoon.   The boat cover that we had made in Spain does a wonderful job of keeping dust from getting inside the boat, so only minimal cleaning inside has been needed. Tommaso is getting used to us calling into his office at regular intervals to ask about jobs that remain on the to-do list or something new that we have thought of.    Getting to know shops and services in the suburb that we h...

The next chapter; our autumn sojourn. We made our way to a very busy Stansted airport, and managed to negotiate security. We were carrying our Epirb (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) which had caused some questions on our journey to England in June. Now with a new battery, which should last for another 5 years, there was no issue at all, just a curious question of "what is that" from one of the guys supervising the x-ray machine.  We arrived in Bari mid afternoon to a gale blowing and rough seas, but with that fabulous blue sky of this part of the world. Our apartment for the next two nights was very spacious and in a residential suburb of Bari. It was a 40 minute walk to the boatyard, along the seafront, with a very nice promenade for part of the way. We watched the kite surfers making the most of the wind, on the flat water inside the breakwaters. We were able to go to our favourite little restaurant, after calling into the boatyard. Equinox is looking good. Th...

 And so our journey comes to a close for the time being.  We stayed overnight in an apartment close to Bari airport, before having a fairly leisurely start. It was just as well that we had plenty of time, because the security folks at the airport were a bit thrown by the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) that we were carrying. We needed to bring it home to have its battery replaced, and having read the airlines guidelines, we had it in our hand baggage.  The security team had obviously never seen anything quite like it. Multiple phone calls to ask what to do, and eventually a trip for me through the back offices to someone who had the ultimate responsibility. He took one look and then explained to the officer accompanying me what the device was, and said that it was ok to take it, so long as I made sure it did not go off.  I resisted the temptation to say that it would go off automatically if it was submerged in water, but I realised that if this was...

The buses in Bari are excellent. They mainly run to time. They are clean, and there’s a flat fee of 1.5 euros per journey, no matter how far, within the city.   There are coffee shops about every 100 metres in the centre, so it’s not difficult to get some delicious coffee, while the laundry is doing. Everything is reasonably priced.   With perfect timing, Tomasso came to tell us the yard was ready for the boat lift, after we had put everything away. There was little wind and a flat calm sea, so getting into the lifting dock was one of the easiest we’ve had.   We like the boat to come out of the water while we are away, as it gives a chance for the hull to dry out, it gets a good wash, we can check all is well, and it’s cheaper than leaving it in the water, especially in high season. It is always very reassuring when you see how careful the guys in the yards are, in their care. It seems quite a slow process, but that is because they are making sure everything is ...

Tricia was feeling a bit better today, but still not 100%. However, the preparations for our departure have to continue, and so we set too with more of the chores. By mid afternoon we had done all that we could, the remaining tasks, like emptying the water tanks, can only be done on the last day, when we know that we will not be living on the boat any more. We headed into Bari, to allow a retracing of our steps last year, and then to meet our Australian friends for a meal in the evening. The food was fabulous and the price very reasonable for the quality of what we had.  The starters were so large that neither of us managed to finish the main course.  Our plans for gelato on the way back to the boat were dropped, as we were too full. Typical back street. Flowers on some balconies, washing on others (in the shadow) They know how to park well here, we wish that some folks at home could learn to use the space this well. Sunday, the wind dropped, the sky was blue and a light breez...