This book records the adventures of a mostly retired sailing couple who decide to take their sailing boat down the Canals of the Garonne and the Midi in Southern France. We follow them through their adventures, trials and tribulations as they travel slowly through a beautiful part of France. Almost entirely on their own. The book is written in an amusing and entertaining style with many photographs and some philosophical points and diversions from the main text. There is a glossary of terms – so that ALL should be able to get the most out of this book.

This is the third book to be published featuring our adventures with our Southerly 42RST sailing yacht. Previous books have described taking Dofesaba II down the Canals du Midi to the port of Leucate where it was wintered. The second book tells you about our adventures down the East coast of Spain, passing many places where British holiday makers often go for their summer holidays. Then continues in part II towards the final destination of Lagos in Portugal, via Gibraltar. This, the third book completes the circumnavigation of Iberia, and includes details of the massive crash we had offshore Portugal and what happened after that. If you are a fellow cruising sailor I hope you take away from this tale that even when things are at their darkest and Death is knocking on the door, there is always light at the end of the tunnel and nearly everything can be fixed, it just takes time and a very good insurance policy. I wrote these books mainly for my own purposes, but book one and two went down very well, and so I had to continue with book three. It was also very cathartic to write about our unpleasant accident, it was also very difficult to do so, as I had to stop many times trying to get through the narrative. I hope you will agree that I just about managed it. Sailors who read this will be disappointed that we only sailed for 10% of the time, but that is the harsh reality of going the wrong way round Iberia, particularly trying to head North up the Portuguese coast in the summer, believe me I tried to sail, as it is cheaper. The wind gods did not allow it. Intrigued, I hope so; read on and enjoy.

This book is actually two books. Our adventures in 2019, where we came down the East coast of Spain, (The Punic Coast) followed by the next book based on our adventures the following year in 2020, which was as we all know was “The Covid year”. I decided to join them together after I found out that the 2020 book was a little light on content. While there were some exciting adventures, and “things” did happen, we only had eight weeks in which for them to happen, as opposed to the nearly sixteen weeks from the previous year. I did not feel that you the reader was getting a very good deal, and I did not want to spend effort padding the book out which a decent editor would have spotted and removed. So I didn’t. This is actually the second book of our adventures, there are several more to come, but to catch the spirit of Covid I thought that it would be wise to get this into the marketplace before everyone gets Vaccinated and forgets how disruptive to life and normalcy the virus was. Also, currently there is a lot in the media about the Orcas around Tarifa, as you will see we were slightly involved in that, if only as bystanders. The East coast of Spain is not as well visited as the Algarve by yacht based folk and I feel they are missing a lot. If this book inspires anyone to try the luck up that coast, well then job done.

Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage—a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions. This unusual perspective distinguishes Strange Stones, which showcases Hessler’s unmatched range as a storyteller. “Wild Flavor” invites readers along on a taste test between two rat restaurants in South China. One story profiles Yao Ming, basketball star and China’s most beloved export, another David Spindler, an obsessive and passionate historian of the Great Wall. In “Dr. Don,” Hessler writes movingly about a small-town pharmacist and his relationship with the people he serves. While Hessler’s subjects and locations vary, subtle but deeply important thematic links bind these pieces—the strength of local traditions, the surprising overlap between apparently opposing cultures, and the powerful lessons drawn from individuals who straddle different worlds.

“Hessler has a marvelous sense of the intonations and gestures that give life to the moment.” —The New York Times Book Review From Peter Hessler, the New York Times bestselling author of Oracle Bones and River Town, comes Country Driving, the third and final book in his award-winning China trilogy. Country Driving addresses the human side of the economic revolution in China, focusing on economics and development, and shows how the auto boom helps China shift from rural to urban, from farming to business.

Following a mighty clash, Kirito and Eugeo find themselves separated for the last leg of their journey to the top of Central Cathedral. Kirito, forced into an unlikely alliance with Alice the Integrity Knight, continues his climb from the outside, while trying not to fall to his death. At the same time, Eugeo must face off against the Integrity Knight Commander himself, Bercouli Synthesis One! Although the journey is nearing its end, they'll soon learn that the cathedral is still full of surprises...