V:  I call an Uber Pet and bundle me, OB the dog and the absolutely enormous pet airline crate in to the back of a Toyota Prius and head out of Heathrow’s cargo depot for Twickenham.  

“What’s Gibraltar like?” asks the cabbie. “It’s interesting” I reply … “Well that’s what people say then they don’t like something!”

retorts the cabbie.  

Well I do like Gibraltar, but after two and a bit months in the European Mediterranean, being back in the offshore British territory of Gibraltar, with its pounds & pence and fish & chips, is a shock to the system. And now London is a total shock.  

I was only on the ground in the UK for 36hrs and it was sadly my last with OB, our boat dog, as he is spending the winter in the UK.  Thanks to my sister for being a home from home for me and OB and while I could have stayed and played with my very cute niece and hugged OB forever, I’m strangely relieved to be back on the boat, even if it is Gibraltar! 

Ok so Gibraltar, let’s level this one.  I do like it but it is a curious place.  A British overseas territory occupying less than 8square kms, it packed 30,000 people in to this peninsular, half of which is a massive rock!  As a result the usable land is all heavily urbanised with tall apartment blocks after tall apartment blocks.  What precious grass space there is, is marked as off limits for dogs (who need to be kept on a lead at all times in the territory).

This rocky peninsular has a thin, low-lying neck of land which separates it from Spain to the north.  Across this neck they built Gibraltar’s airport runway.  So small is this territory, the runway stretches from coast to coast and road or foot traffic has to cross the runway to get to/from Spain!  

I have never walked across a runway like this before!  Leaving with the dog to fly home, we had to walk across the runway, which is huge, at around 6am, in the pitch dark and with the commuters on their e-scooters heading in to Gib for a day of work.

Surreal.  As is the rest of Gib.  One day we were in Malaga eating tapas in the old town, the next we arrived in Ocean Village where there is an Irish bar, a Wagamamas and prices in pounds.  It’s lost some of the magic.  Yet they have monkeys, a fascinating history, caves and a massive rock.  Maybe it will warm on me. 

Our taxi driver Joseph who took us to the rock for the day was a typical Gibraltarian. He spoke both the local language, which sounds very Spanish, and English with a cockney/Spanish twang.  He loves his country but clearly has an undiagnosed case of cabin fever.  I don’t blame him!  Taxi drivers in Gibraltar are also skilled ape tamers.  Stopping at the view point at the top of the rock, several climbed on me and L , one taking a nip at L who accidentally grabbed the monkeys paw!  Reflex of a dad use to handling small children on their shoulders. 

But what a view from the top. You can see clearly across the straits to Africa and I could see the route we had sailed in.  We arrived in at 5 am having followed the coast of Spain.  My final watch had me passing right around the back of the rock, navigating Europa Point with its overalls, gusts and currents, before heading up in to the bay and the large harbour.  In hindsight’s it’s a shame we didn’t do with with the kids awake but it’s kinder on OB to do the longer legs at night.

It’s sometimes hard to gauge scale from harbour plans and the final approach to the marina was tighter than I expected.  In the still darkness, I nearly ran in to a low breakwater, which turned out to be the end of the runway!   A police car was quickly dispatched and it sat and watched me in its full beam headlights as we tried to navigate the last stretch of channel to the marina.  Very helpful! 

We tied up on the welcome pontoon, took OB for a wee and went back to sleep…for an hour before the kids awoke!  When I checked in at the marina and explained we arrived in at 5am, they said they were surprised to see us so soon, I explained we had kids onboard and the nice manager replied “ah, I understand!”

One happy conicidence was that a hundred yards from our marina, Gibraltar was hosting the Netball Youth World Cup!  And after stopping the Scotland team coaches and getting the links, we had tickets that very afternoon to watch the matches!  Scotland vs Malawi was excellent.  We sat in the Scottish stand the the kids were treated to all the songs you get at a Scottish match.  Watching live sport is so good for the kids, S was counting the score and with a goal every 30 seconds or so was a good for her numbers practice.  J got harder maths questions on the score!  We were also sat next to the injured Scottish goal shooter who gave us the lowdown on the team!  So good an experience we went back the next day to watch more. Finishing with an exciting match between Tonga and Singapore.  Two very different yet effective styles of netball resulted in only a couple of points between them at the final whistle.  At the end of this match both teams had a mixed huddle on the court.  Singapore linking arms with the Tongan’s.  Words were said and a cheer went up and the two teams clapped.  I asked J if that’s how his sports matches ended.  And if not, should they?  What an amazing display of sportswomanship.  

One little luxury we treated ourselves to in Gibraltar was a land base for 6 days.  I booked this a while ago as a bit of Schengen proofing and also to enable us to rip apart the boat for repairs.  Our apartment was right between the marina and the runway and had fantastic views of the planes landing.  It kept us all amused for hours!  L did a host of jobs including replacing the broken hot water tank and changing the leaking deck hatches.  I spend a frantic afternoon sorting the steering.  We did manage a lot of homeschooling catch-up in the apartment too which was good. 

Grannie also came for a few days, bringing essential supplies and providing the kids with another adult to throw their questions and attention at.  L and I also had a day onboard to do some jobs together without interruptions which was amazing.  The kids loved hanging out with Grannie and it was more than lovely to see a familiar face.  

We stayed a total of 10 days in Gibraltar.

Saw the rock, the caves and the monkeys, got out of the habit of speaking Spanish, had at least one Wagamamas and rediscovers some British brand foods we had missed. 

But the weather has changed, it is now decidedly autumnal.  Storms are tracking further south now so we need to make a break through the Gibraltar straits at the next weather window.  We can’t wait for the perfect opportunity, ok will have to do now, but we’ll soon be on our way in to the Atlantic for the ‘big’ adventure.  It’s been a huge adventure so far!