We have finally crossed the meridian and are travelling east; I keep having to remind myself when writing bearings in the log.

We had a lazy weekend wining and dining in Marina Greenwich. We had a couple of attempts at swimming. The first was off the shingle beach outside the harbour mouth. It was open to the swell and the rollers, which churned up the muck. Once out past the breaking waves it was refreshing to swim up into the waves, but afterwards I had to scrub a tide line of grit from around my middle. On the other side of the marina the beach was more secluded, but we felt out of place amongst the nudists, so headed back to the boat without so much as dipping a toe in the water. After that we gave up and read, lounging on the deck or outside one of the bars. We watched the football. Time passed very slowly, especially as we were eager to reach Valencia in time to pick up Emma and Katie on Wednesday. There was the concern that more faults would emerge, or the starter motor was not at the root of the problem. Thankfully the engineer had diagnosed our problem correctly. When the shiny, new starter motor finally arrived, at around two thirty Monday afternoon, he took just over half an hour to fix it in place and test it out. This morning we kept our fingers crossed till we had passed our previous point of return and then it was full steam ahead to Denia, where we are now tied up.

It was a very pleasant journey and a spectacular stretch of coastline. The early morning sun illuminated the high, white mountains. Towards lunchtime we managed a sail, but had to furl the sails away after turning the point towards Denia. At this point the wind grew much stronger and our ride into harbour was a bumpy one. There was a mix up over numbers and the first berth we tried was much too small. We tied up, but the lazy line was too short to really hold us and the office was not open for the marinera to check with. He was very unhappy and most apologetic, finally helping us into a spot amongst bigger boats. I had a few anxious moments maneuvering out of the smaller space, but John had it all under control. Again it was good we had Lara to help. They were very kind though and offered us a generous discount for our trouble. We had a late lunch on the quayside and now the wind has dropped and all is calm.

We are up early to be in Valencia at around the same time as Emma and Katie. We are very excited at the prospect of all being together.