A very quick shower and change for our next surprise. We meet at 6.30 in reception. I’m amazed the others have beaten me all looking very glam and ready for action! I have persuaded Mr C to wear shorts and shirt as we are told it’s casual this evening and it is hot and balmy at 29c still. We catch the coaches and set off across the city. Unexpectedly we leave the city for the countryside. On route the guide tells us not to be alarmed at smell of burning, this turns out to be the rice fields either side of the road on fire. This is done after the rice is harvested. We pass through what seems like miles of countryside and smoky roads. Eventually 25 mins later we stop at the side of a field. Only one small uninhabited cottage and a few trees line the road. We are led along a short unmade muddy path (I marvel at Mrs Urry able to walk in her beautiful Jimmy Choo’s)…. Most of us are in trainers or in my case flip flops. We arrive at a little river quay heading with small wooden boats tied up alongside which we board. We are all puzzled… all aboard these boats 60 of us and we are taken along what looks a bit like the norfolk broads. The sun is setting , I’m worrried about mozzies as this is very marshy looking. Poor Mr C with his bare legs is an invite for all creatures that bite. We wonder where ever are we going. Then the narrow river opens up onto a lake and I realise we are on the Albufera…meaning lagoon in Valencian. All the boats travel across the lake. We watch the amazing sunset. We see cormorants and flamingos, jumping fish and various other creatures. Dusk approaches and I can see twinkling lights in the far distance but it seems a long way off. Not a life jacket in sight. Then we take a turn and one boat by one we enter another little stream. It’s very narrow & bullrushes whisk past us clipping the side of the boat and brushing in our faces. By now it’s dark and the lead boat stops abruptly leaving the other boats to catch up. When we are all in earshot. The guy steering our boat, we later discover is our host ElTancat de L’Albufera does a little explanation on how the Albufera occurred…… he then tells us his family own most of the land and he wants to welcome us to his modest little home to meet his children and dog. It’s pitch black now. We travel on slowly what seems to be ages and arrive at a small quay heading with pretty lights. As we alight we are greeted by smart young servers with trays of wine. Hurray!!! Across the grass path is the most wonderful sight. A garden full of twinkling lights, a large wooden table full of tapas, meats cheese, olives, almonds, bread & olive oils . Musicians are playing accompanied by a very attractive flamingo dancer. Our host also runs a cookery school for paella and tells us we can help cook this traditional style in his ‘humble house’ which turns out to be huge and quite a famous farmhouse. As we walk from the garden to the house “Ashwellthorpe” George notices two chickens roosting up above us in the trees. We then watch the owner prepare the paella in a giant paella pan assisted by Peter Johns who is chosen to be the chef of the night while we are given a history lesson on the area and cookery styles. Our glasses are refilled generously and the evening is going really well. When the paella is ready we take our seats in the magnificent dining room which has been set our for supper. Paella is served followed by a delicious orange dessert. The musicians move inside and the tempo is livened up. “Gypsy Kings Style”. After dinner Craig our CEO thanks our host and his staff, along with the Molson Coors team who sponsored the yacht race and the wine growers who have travelled to present their wines for us to try. Craig announces the winners of the yacht race. First is Tim’s team & our team captained by Nick De’Ath is second to our amazement . Tim does a little speech and thanks Craig for all his amazing work for the group along with our two trustees Anton and Nick. Now a little merry I embarrass myself with a little jig on the dance floor with the lovely Jason from Peter Graham wines and the whole thing gets very cheerful indeed. Ian Scot wins the Pratt of The Week trophy for the second time. We all dance the night away and before long it’s sadly time to catch the coach back to the hotel. The coach has travelled round the Albufera to meet us along dirt tracks. Thankfully we don’t have to return by boat. The return journey isn’t plain sailing as our coach which is the lead coach gets stuck in mud at the side of a dyke. On my side of the coach I can feel it sinking! Very worrying. But of course we had all had far too much to drink to worry and the chaps start the singing off with “Hit The Road Jack”, “Long and Winding Road” and carry on with Elvis numbers and other popular songs. Eventually the driver gets out of trouble and we get to the main road. Back at the hotel we are sad to see the Doggystyle bar is closed up along with the hotel bar. No other bars are open along the front so we give up and return to our room to hit the hay. Macca and Lynn host a drunken soirée in their room which rumour has it went on all night with Craig asleep in bed,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albufera_Natural_Park
Liquid Tales 