Blink and there went the winter and as the days started to get longer our thoughts went back to LJ and where to go this year.
Having bounced up and down the Atlantic coast of France, the neighbouring north coast of Spain would be the obvious choice and we looked at this as a warmup to next year when we hoped to head further south and to find a new home marina.
Two problems faced us. The first is the old Brexit pickle (the gift that never stops giving) and our restrictive allowance of only 90 days in 180 days to be in Europe. The second is that the normal track from France to Spain is a 40 hour passage which would be the longest one we have done together and a degree of apprehension was starting to creep in with my second mate !
Taking the problems in order. Two years ago, we started the process of Nina obtaining a German passport, due to her heritage and thus return her to European status. After three visits to the German embassy, goodness knows how many translated forms, countless visits to Buhl by Gunther (Nina’s Father), hours of conversation with Jens (Nina’s Brother) the application was eventually approved. Nina Davis (nee Wöhler) is now the proud owner of a Passport and ID card and at the strike of a pen she was once again European and being married, when we travel together, the 90 day rule disappears.
As to problem number 2 and the long passage – we invited the faithful rocks of Richard and Amanda Cracknell to join us to share the load. So with bags packed we all headed to the boat for the customary annual maintenance and the dash for Spain.
April 2024