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With Tony and Lynn on board, and victualled-up, we continued eastwards for our next adventure. Over the Turkish mainland, and to our right on Rhodes, we could see cumulus clouds building into tall, fluffy towers. We kept any eye on these in case they flattened-out into the tell-tale, anvil shape, a sure-sign of a potential thunderstorm. Fortunately, they all collapsed before the anvil formed. Our first anchorage We agreed we would push on further east, and finally anchored-up

In his book, ‘ A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages’, Anthony Bale describes the trials and tribulations of pilgrims heading from northern Europe, including Britain, to the Holy Lands. It does cover, albeit rather briefly, the rather challenging and grubby conditions onboard ship, ‘sailing’ from ports such as Genoa, Venice, Rome, and even Constantinople. Bad food, dirty water, seasickness, smelly neighbours, and piracy were just some of the downsides. This got me thinking about

We had been away from England now for seven weeks, and I was starting to looked a bit like a raggedy, wind-swept sailor. My longer, shaggy hair always shows up greyer, like my un-shaved chin. That was the first thing Mum said to me, on the last FaceTime call. “You’re going grey!” So, to the Berber in the Fish Market, I must go, on Monday! And seeing as there is also a Hammam along the covered street, I decided to treat myself to a Turkish bath, and a full body massage as well

South Western Anatolia Missy Bear's journey (so far) this season We have now spent a month sailing east and now westwards along this south-western corner of Asia Minor. Anatolia is a very rugged place, with the mountains of the western Taurus Mountains still snow-capped in May, and rising up almost at the shore line, as the African tectonic plate pushes northwards into its Eurasian neighbour. Snow covered peaks of the Western Taurus range There are several broad and flat vall

By Wednesday (30 April), we were on Mehmet’s restaurant pontoon in Ciftlik, just south-west of the bay of Marmaris. Our weather app, Windy, said today was the start of the great rains round 14:00. Apparently, it had been exceedingly wet there the previous week as well. With only two hours required to get to our marina, we had a lazy start, casting off just before 10:00.  Marmaris Bay felt a bit like entering Chichester harbour. You feel like you’ve entered, but actually you h