It was a steep downhill to get to the natural pools of “Termas da Ferrari”. I was told, these are the nicest ones on the island. Well, I was not that impressed. Getting back up again was a challenge at 15% slope and I had to walk the bike up for a while. No chance – I will never become a mountain goat rider.
This tour got heavily impacted by hay fever. The grass is blooming at its peak. Not good.
It was a delight to attend the Santa Maria Blues Festival 2022 over the last three nights together with Petra and Jan from SY Sutje.
Without any doubt, a perfectly organised festival from soup to nuts, which made it together with highly professional musicians, technicians and staff a memorable event for the crowd.
Seven bands from six different countries speaks for itself. They were all great feasts to the ears but my favourites came at the end: Gisele Jackson and Rick Estrin with their associated bands. Perhaps not a surprise due to the origin of the blues itself as a genre.
…it feels like the Epilog becomes the Prolog now…
It was today, lucky 13 month ago, on the 14th June 2021, when we did throw the lines in Kappeln to start this journey – or better our boating & biking adventures.
Since then, we clocked 
3636nm on the log, over ground, as tracked in NFL and shown on the picture below. We also recorded 
3467km in total on the bike, see snapshot from Polar.
Despite some hardship now and then there is no doubt that fond memories are taking over and we had not only deep impressions at sea but also at land while sitting in the saddle. This all on top of the great people we interacted with, some became good friends, advisers, coaches and mindful listeners.
No doubt, there are these very short moments arising, where you are irritated to believe that someone else should better take care of the lady and its destiny but it’s all washed away in the next instance independent what you are just up to.
All this is encouraging and we are in the process of making some plans for the next 13 month. But as you know, sailors’ plans are drawn into the sand at low tide and wiped out at next high water level…approximately six hours later.
Therefore the Prolog better stops right here but there shall be exciting times ahead of us.
Thanks for your interest.
Fair winds…
PS: Wishing the French associated society a happy national day – Bastille Day.
It is not very common that an official bike track goes through a desert. This red desert on Santa Maria is part of a unique protected landscape area of the Azores.
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