Sunday morning, end of October and we were both skinny dipping at dawn! (Too much detail? Tough!) The Indian Summer came late to this part of the world but was all the more welcome for that and we didn’t intend to waste a minute of it. We spent a luxurious and lazy day topping up our tans for one last time, lying on Zaffina’s bow cushions reading our books and then we zipped across to Beaulieu sur Mer in the dinghy for dinner on the quayside and a lovely trip back in the dark with the lights from the hillside reflected all around us in the water. All in all, it was a special day and one we’ll remember through the long cool winter months.
Yesterday started with another early swim before we popped back into Beaulieu to pick up some bread, still warm from the bakery, before we upped anchor and sadly said our goodbyes to the South of France. We passed below Eze and the lovely Chevre d’Or hotel, passed Monaco with its high rise madness, passed across the border and without ceremony found ourselves in Italian waters, the final country on this year’s itinerary.
It was an emotional trip; we spent a lot of time thinking about and talking about the last five months and the amazing experiences we have enjoyed on Zaffina, and then suddenly Varazze was in sight and we were fast approaching our winter port.
There should have been a guard of honour, a band or fireworks, but in fact it was all a bit of an anticlimax! We slipped into port, moored up effortlessly and then we weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves, so we opened a bottle of champagne.
And here we are at the end of a journey which started in Chichester on a grey morning back in May. We’ve covered around 3,500 miles and we’ve loved every day of it. We’re agreed that this has been the adventure of a lifetime and we wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and while we’re sad that this part is over, at least we’ve got next year to look forward to….and the year after that…and the year after…just watch this space!
Thank you for sharing the adventure with us, we'll be back in Jersey within the next few days.
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