Durres – Saturday 30 June 2018

It rained all night long. Between the rain, being first cold and then hot, and be pursued by a host of mosquitoes, I didn’t sleep at all well.  So when the alarm went at 7 it wasn’t a surprise.  But at least when we did get up it had finally stopped raining and the sun was trying to peek through.

We found Frrok at the club and collected the last bit of paper we need for the next port.  He wouldn’t accept payment for all he did yesterday but did take 25 euros towards the petrol. He really has been very sweet.

So we left port just before 9am. The sky was blue out at sea and the winds light.  However, there was a bit of a swell.  For a time I managed it, but after 3 hours I decided to take a pill.  I also had a little nap below to make up for my disturbed night.  When I got up and went on deck I was surprised to find the wind instrument saying we had a force four on the beam and yet Richard had not put up any sail.  At first I didn’t like to query the situation, but when I asked Richard pointed out that the wind instrument had gone wrong.  The wind was on the nose and it was not a force 4 because there were no white horses on the sea.  So there is something else that needs fixing.

So the trip was 7 hours motoring into the wind.  At least it wasn’t raining!
We also had real trouble getting in touch with an agent to check us into the port.  We kept e-mailing the agent we had used before and got no reply.  When we were only 2 hours away from port I finally persuaded Richard to telephone and he got through to someone who said they would act as our agent.  It turns out that our old agent has given up working with boats, but he sent a known agent (whose details are in the pilot book) to sort us out.

We are tied onto a huge quay for commercial boats.  There are bit black rubber bumper things all along and which would keep the boat so far from the wall that I would never get on or off.  However our boat is short enough to sit between these fender things.

Having tied up we showered (we were turning in to the great unwashed) and went in to town.  There we found the archeological site, a roman amphitheater and had a good look around it.  We then went along the sea front and to the restaurant we ate in last time.  We didn’t find the food as good as it was then, but it was fine.

Back on the boat I am having kittens because Richard has decided that we are badly tied up so at 10pm he is changing all the ropes.  I think he is making it worse and I am unsure if he will have to sleep on shore because he can’t get back on the boat! Even if he does get back on board I doubt I can do so!

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