Dream Over - I think.

The plan is and always was that at the end of August we would take Haku to Port Napoleon near Marseille and sell her. On the 24th we dutifully sailed in with a very sad crew and in particular skipper. A series of rather contemplative songs over the last hour through the bimini speakers ending with Disney's Hakuna Matata brought our long journey to an end.

Over the next few days we emptied and cleaned the boat ready for removal from the water and listed her for sale with Ancasta. We took all our belongings to Karen's in the Dordoigne and the came back to Port Napoleon for our haul out - only to find tht they couldn't lift the boat as she needs to be lifted. Nowhere else nearby can lift and store her so we now need a different solution and possibly a different place from which to sell.

So, is it back to Spain, off to Greece or Turkey? Or is the best place to sell her Fort Lauderdale via the ARC and the Caribbean?

Don't know yet, possibly Port Napoleon can solve the lifting problem perhaps we will move. In any case we can't stay here in the water as there is no space.

In the mean time we are in England gearing up for the new school term and wondering what the near future holds. Is the saga over?

Barcelona by Go Car

The first time we left the Marina in Barcelona my eagle eyed son spotted what he thought was a two person go Cart and immediately wanted a go. The helmeted occupants of these New York Taxi coloured vehicles whizzed past from time to time and when one came close enough we were able to read that it was "Go Car Tours - the talking tour car" which sounded like fun. The next day we booked one of these for two hours and started exploring the streets of Barcelona. Built into the car is a GPS and speakers so it can give you relevant directions and commentary while you drive as well as cracking jokes and embarassing you by whistling at passers by.

We had a great fun afternoon and I added on an extra hour or so in order to go and get my daughter so she could try it too. We saw down-town Barcelona, the Olympic area, Guadi's Sagrada Familia - stopped to do some shopping and then took the Go-Car's rather too exciting secret short cut back to their offices through pedestrian streets, impossibly small gaps, a game of soccer and diners at a pavement cafe.

The only complaint was that the GPS lost signal in the built up streets a couple of times but it did let you know that you had gone wrong and redirected you.

As a first generation these things are great and you can imagine that with a few more features like a "take me straight home" button for when your time is running out it will be even better.