Arrival

Scot Free III
Frank & Anne
Sun 18 May 2025 21:00
Arrived on Sunday afternoon after 2 days of travel. Had a very fancy 2025 Renault Austral” full hybrid ETech” to Gatwick. All singing, all dancing, every gadget imaginable made us want to change cars. F very happy, particularly when annoying, A by taking his hands off the wheel and letting it drive itself.
Finally arrived on Santa Maria to pick up our manual Fiat Panda Hybrid- what a difference!! Damage to all 4 wheels noted ( The roads haven’t improved!) Managed to squeeze in our 4 large bags, plus hand luggage- just.
First stop, of course, was to check out the boat. All good, although we noticed the boatyard had put extra stands tied together under her as additional protection to stop her falling over. It turns out that this was in preparation for a bad storm in December. which totally destroyed one pontoon. Berths are now very limited.
Satisfied, set off back up the hill to our hotel. A struggle for the fully loaded little Panda, barely making it out of first gear.
The hotel, a concrete monstrosity has seen better days, although many improvements are underway.

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Booked an apartment, turned out to be at the far end of the hotel so a long walk to breakfast, the car, anywhere! It is larger than an average 1 bed UK flat. Unpacked, switched on the air con and the unit in the bedroom immediately started leaking water onto the floor. Man with a ladder arrived, scratched his head, couldn’t fix it, had to wait til Monday.