20th to 25th August.

We took the ferry overnight from Portsmouth to Bilbao. It was a mini cruise. I watched 2 movies, had a mediocre meal and a good night in our outside cabin. We drive down to visit Max in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The have restored a wonderful stone cottage into a comfortable home. The views were stunning. We stayed overnight and after a walk with the dogs headed South to Sant Carles. The boat was fine but shortly after we arrived a big storm blew through with string winds and torrential rain. At least it scoured the red dust off the boat. We spent a couple of days doing jobs and exploring the area. Paul arrived by train in the evening of the 24th. This morning I had to speak to someone in the boat yard and strange for work to be done when we returned. At 11;30 we were ready to leave. We slipped the lines, cleared the pontoons and them I pushed forward on the throttles. The boat juddered and we barely moved forward. This was serious trouble. It was a problem with both engines. In neutral the engines were fine. It must be a problem with the propellers. I called my new best friend in the boatyard. Tomasz was really helpful and agreed to lift Imagine out if the water. As anticipated both props were heavily encrusted with marine life. We had to wait until after lunch and siesta but a thorough pressure wash cleaned the underside of the boat. By now it was nearly 5pm so we went for a sail, practiced man overboard, came back to the marina for supper, had a beer in town and went to bed.