Friday 7th May 2021
Following a convivial full English at our local Panaderia with Jim and Hazel, plus Frank and Sue we headed towards Martin and Marian’s Villa situated in the hills behind Denia for a few days prior to being taken to a “posh” hotel in Old Valencia for my birthday treat. After being cooped up for so long due to the Covid restrictions, we felt “free” at last, well that is within the restriction of staying in Valencia’s region!!! We also felt safe having had our second moderna jab the day before but unfortunately “this second jab” was affecting Christine.
After a pleasant couple of hours we arrived and soon settled in for 5-days. ChristIne had progressively got worse through the day so we had a quiet evening and went to bed early.
Saturday 8th May
We weren’t in too much of a hurry to rush about, especially as Christine was far worse today than yesterday, the second jab has really blunted her enthusiasm for action. Today we had the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying to look forward to later and also I had everything crossed for Northampton Saints, they had to win their game against Gloucester to have any chance of making the top four championship playoffs, therefore we decided to head for Xaló to visit the pharmacy, take a stroll around the flee market held in the big car park and have a mid morning coffee etc!!! When we eventually arrived for our coffee it also turned into a light lunch, but that was not all!!!
Whilst we were enjoying our coffee etc., ChristIne made an admission. Apparently yesterday I had asked her a direct question about Andrew’s boat which is currently in Valencia having a minor re-fit but her admission was that she had told a lie yesterday and felt guilty for doing so. The truth came out, she had actually arranged with Andrew and behind my back, a surprise a trip on “Elton” (the name of the boat) to Ibiza and back and instead of being in Denia for five days, we were spending 4-nights aboard, wow!!! Was I excited or was I excited, I was over the moon by the thought of leaving the mainland for the first time for 14-months. I must say I had no idea whatsoever about this surprise and apparently friends and family were in on it too, but no one let any “cats out of the bag”, well done them!!
The upshot of all this was our planned trips from the villa had to be severely curtailed; anyway they can be done another time, an opportunity to go sailing is far more appealing.
Having done the things we had planned, we returned mid afternoon whereby I looked at the disastrous result, Saints lost heavily (7 – 31), and therefore scuppered their chances of reaching the playoffs, a bitter disappointment as they have been doing so well of late. ChristIne stood up well to the rigours of the day but was wilting after dinner, it was as if she had flu, coughing, aches and pains etc., so after a few games of crib, (honours even!!!!), another early night was called for.
Sunday 9th May
ChristIne was feeling a little better this morning so after watching the Andrew Marr program and catching up with the last of the election results etc., we headed out to Llíber, a small village nearby where there is a pretty little square that we knew was busy and frequented on a Sunday by cyclists. Here we naturally had the customary bottle of “vino” and a number of Tapas which constituted lunch. It was lovely to sit in the warm sun enjoying the vibrant atmosphere, watching everybody.
Arriving back at the Hacienda just before the rain started, and boy did it rain, not what we expected, anyway after dinner we settled back and watch Hamilton drive brilliantly to win the Spanish Grand Prix, a bit more crib then bed.
Monday 10th May
Exciting day today, but first we had chores to do, after all we couldn’t leave Marian and Martin with used linen etc., so got “stuck-in”. ChristIne had arranged a late afternoon arrival and also agreed we would have eaten before, so around 1330hrs we headed for a restaurant, but unfortunately, according to Google most seemed closed locally so headed into Xaló and eventually found one that did a menu del Dia, a little more expensive than normal and didn’t include a drink, “what”I hear you say!!!!, but looked very nice inside.
This restaurant turned out to be a little gem, their menu del dia was excellent, the house wine was surprisingly good, attentive service and a young chef who really knew his stuff. The shame of it was we were the only ones in there but looking at the full menu when we left, we guess it’s more of an evening destination. (Note to self: return).
We returned to Complete our chores, but was hampered by the rain though did manage to sort the outside furniture. Again it came down in stair rods and we got soaked as we packed the car before heading to the Marina in the port of Valencia just over an hour away.
Arriving at the marina gates met up with our skipper “Ollie”, and our hostess “Anneca” who walked us to Elton and welcomed us aboard