We have said goodbye to Graham and Mike. It will have taken them just over an hour to retrace their steps to London. It is quiet with just the two of us. We had lunch in the square and then did the laundry in the marina and festooned Lyra. Considering that we had worn much the same stuff for three days there was a surprising amount. We had all been infected with cleanliness fever after the crossing though.

When we arrived at midnight Mike had set out on a recci to find the showers to no avail. Graham had showered on the boat. Next day John and I set out in daylight and sorted out the pass cards for the marina. All four of us them had showers. We split up and went into town to explore. John and I saw nothing of Graham and Mike, but when we compared notes we had visited much the same places.

John and In wandered up to the old town stopped, looked out over the sea and then wandered back down the hill. We found a huge square with an impressive building with copper coloured domes at its head and stopped  for a drink. The bar we sat in had tables overlooking the square and a reassuringly unglamorous waitress of our own age.

We had beer and became mellow and John could see a lunchtime special menu on a poster by the door. He called the waitress over, pointed and said ‘menu’. She disappeared inside and brought us out two menu booklets. Undeterred John pointed at the menu on the wall. Off she went again back inside, and came out with a second lady of a similar vintage, who spoke no more English but was advanced at pointing. This one showed us on the paper menu which items were on the billboard. We readily agreed with all her suggestions and had soon ordered mixed salad followed by chicken and chips, washed down wit a glass of red wine. Everyone was happy, we finished with coffee and then carried on exploring and found a Mango shop the girls would love.

Back at the marina we met Graham heading off for another shower. We decide to all go out for a final meal together that night.

Knowing that the Spanish eat late we went for a drink in the square all clean and shiny in our best fleeces. On the voyage across Mike had made a clutch bag for me by folding a chart of the Isle of Wight. It is a real treasure, with all our pencilled in waypoints and the folds altering the text. I should have taken it out with me, but am out of the habit of taking bags out at night, so did not. After our drink Graham suggested we look for somewhere to eat in a side street and, after resisting Burgerking, we found an up market  restaurant with lobster and crab waving at us from a fish tank. None of us could face causing the demise of such creatures, especially having heard from Emma how sentient lobster were. In the end Graham and John had fish and Mike and I shared a seafood risotto. The amazing part of the meal were the starters. John and Graham had octopus and were served an entire creature between the two of them, I had soup, which tasted good, but did not look much and the star of the occasion was Mikes crostini topped with ham and fried quails eggs. I should have taken a picture. Anyway it was a lovely evening and a fitting end to a very happy collaboration.