We are busy getting ready for what should be Gap Year 4 onboard Verano Azul. How exciting 😃. \240Last year was a bit of a write off because of Covid & moving house so this year we aim to get back on track with our plan to go around the Med. If you remember we left our boat in Sanremo, Italy in 2020 & that is where she still is.

We are now only limited by the 90 days in every 180 days time that we are permitted as visitors to the Schengen area \240imposed by Brexit - grrrrr! So this summer we will be spending May, June & most of July (approx 80 days) exploring the north Italy coast to just below Livorno, then we will cross over to the Isle of Elba & other small islands before heading back into a bit of France we haven’t ever been to - The Island of Corsica. We will travel southwards down Corsica’s East Coast \240& then cross over to Sardinia which we will circumnavigate before heading north up the Corsican West coast. \240We will then do a final long leg across the Ligurian Sea back into Sanremo where we will leave VA for a \240third winter (we like it there).

We did pop over to Sanremo for a week in early March to observe her lift & clean so here are a few pics of our time there.

We have arrived safely back on board Verano Azul in Portosole. The sun is shining & it’s really lovely to be back here.

Rather than the helicopter that I might have liked to have taken from Sandown airport to Sanremo in Italy we decided to test the bounds of the public transport system of 3 countries whilst carrying more than 50kg of luggage 🤣.

In emojis here was our day getting from the Isle of Wight to Sanremo.

🚖🚉⛴🚆🚆🚆🚆🚈✈️🚋🚶🏼‍♀️🚶‍♂️🚆🚆🚶🏼‍♀️🚶‍♂️🛥

We took a taxi to Shanklin station from home, Island train to Ryde Pier, Fastjet to Portsmouth harbour (all good so far) and then we had the debacle of the mainland train services. One stop to Portsmouth & Southsea, then another train 2 stops to Cosham to catch what was supposed to be a train to Gatwick Airport however due to its late running they decided to send it to Bognor instead!! So we were turfed off & told to wait for another train going to Gatwick. Once at Gatwick we took the shuttle to the north terminal & boarded our late to depart Easyjet flight to Nice. Luckily French & Italian trams & trains are far more efficient (and cheaper) so our tram, walk, train from Nice to Ventimiglia & final train to Sanremo all ran to time. We left home at 6.45am and arrived here at 8.30pm knackered but happy. We travelled on 12 different types of transport, stopped at at least 50 stops but we made it.

On arrival VA was all clean & shiny with cleaned teak which was a real treat. Today Andrew has done the engine service & oil change whilst I have cleaned & prepped for departure. We aim to head out on Friday.

We survived our first journey up the Ligurian coast to Loano. It was blowing a gale & became a little bit choppy on the way so not the most lovely of journeys but we got it under our belt & even managed to berth in a gale without disgracing ourselves or more importantly hitting any other boats. The first few trips are always a bit stressful as we remember how to do everything on board but it will soon come back to us 🤪.

Loano is a nice little town mostly a beach resort so not much to see or do but nice enough for the 2 nights we are here. The Marina is large, clean & very lovely & not too expensive. It’s clearly still very early in the boating season because we are pretty much the only people on board & the passing boat traffic is very light, \240no doubt this will change dramatically later in June & July.

Whilst we are here we have managed to do a few more jobs, we have done a big supermarket shop using the ever useful pliable trolley & have wondered into & around town a couple of times and now we are happy to head off for more exciting pastures tomorrow.

Tomorrow we head across the bay of Genoa to one of Italys most prestigious resorts Portofino ( so up market it’s where Wayne & Colleen Rooney got married, so I read somewhere 😂😂😂). From there down the coast is supposed to be spectacularly stunning & should be amazing.

Anyway here are a few pictures of our trip so far.

We are in the stunning location of Santa Margherita Ligure sandwiched between the stunning Portofino peninsular & Rapallo. We are still in Liguria and actually at the most northerly point of this years travels. The sun is shining the sky is blue & it is just beautiful here.

We arrived from Loano on Monday after a reasonable passage across the bay of Genova. We saw our first two dolphins 🐬🐬 playing around our boat, we saw a big fish leap out ahead of us and a couple of super yachts but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful 5 hour journey.

Coming towards the Portofino peninsular was pretty impressive, it really looks like a dragon or Loch Ness monster 🐉 lying in the sea. Santa Margherita is tucked around into the bay, is very pretty & much cheaper than berthing in Portofino itself.

Yesterday we took the ferry to Portofino, a short boat ride away. It is really pretty with green hills, pastel coloured buildings & crystal clear waters, picture perfect . It is of course very touristy & has daily cruise ship arrivals but it is still very much worth visiting. We lunched on the waterside, we walked the narrow streets & along the peninsula to the lighthouse, all beautiful. Next we took the ferry around to San Fruttuoso Monastry, built in 954 to house the remains of San Fruttuoso (a third century saint) \240unsurprisingly 😂. Anyway it was all lovely.

Today we took our first Italian bus to Rapallo the other way around the coast. Another lovely coastal town with pretty streets but lots of building works. We took the 1934 cable car 600m up the mountain behind Rapallo to the Sanctuario Montallegro, a shrine to some miracle that occurred in 1557. Sadly we couldn’t go in because the church was holding a huge funeral so it might have been a bit rude to walk in & take photos. The views were amazing & the cable car a lovely experience.

We are staying another day here because Andrew has a board meeting tomorrow & I want to swim in the sea!

A few pics from the last few days ……..

A lovely hop from Santa Margherita Ligure 30 odd miles south has bought us to this enchanting little place - Portovenere. Located at the southern end of the Cinque Terre region of 5 pretty villages that cling onto the cliffs in ways that just does not seem possible.

The marina is small and right on the quay of the lovely town that climbs up the hillside. Coming in via a small gap between a promontory & the Isola di Palmeria, you can hardly see the entrance until you are really close. This has been a lovely place to stay for the last 3 days although is incredibly busy with tourists (unsurprisingly).

Portovenere itself has tall coloured houses all along the quayside and a big fort on the top of a hill plus the Chiesa di San Pietro perched above the entrance to the bay. Regular large tourist ferries take hoards of visitors hourly along the coast to each of the \2405 villages in the Cinque Terre.

We joined the throngs yesterday & visited Vernazza (the village highlighted in This Saturdays Times as number 20 of Italys top 25 best hill top villages). It is indeed very pretty but sadly over run with tourists from all over the world so somewhat spoiled. We still enjoyed a wander round the pretty streets and climbed up to the fort overlooking the village. We found a lovely restaurant clinging to the sides of the cliff & enjoyed delicious seafood & Cinque Terre local wine. We had a crazy waiter who took great pleasure in showing us his John Lewis hat & entertained us throughout our meal. We decided not to stop at any of the other villages because of all the tourists but took advantage of being on the ferry to photograph them on our way past.

On our return to the boat we experienced a first. The first English owned and skippered motor yacht came into port & berthed right next door to us. L’Amitie a Princess 54 owned by Robert & Sarah from London who keep their boat in Italy & spend summers doing different cruises, a bit like us. We boarded for G&Ts & to share experiences which was lovely. They left today for Pisa where we go tomorrow so it’s possible we will meet up again.

Today we have done chores - washing, ironing, shopping etc. we also climbed the huge hill & visited the medieval fort on top of the hill above Portovenere & have chilled onboard.

Here are a few photos from the last couple of days.

To continue to the next segment…

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