Daniela and I were married a couple of days ago down in Gibraltar; we decided to go there as it was just so much simpler and cheaper than being married here in Portugal, where the paperwork alone would have cost us somewhere in the region of 2,000 euros, (as a contrast, in Gibraltar it cost us a tenth of that).

We drove down and spent an afternoon exploring the battlefield of Barrosa, (where the first Peninsula War French Eagle was taken on the afternoon of 5th March 1811). Sadly it’s all built over by one of those ghastly holiday complexes now complete with golf course, but at least the latter has preserved some of the view and one can easily see why the hill was of such tactical importance. Daniela did me proud by appearing to be interested …

Of course we got the time change the wrong way around and nearly didn’t make it to our own wedding – especially when Tom Tom took us on the most direct route, a 40 km dirt track through the mountains; thank goodness we took the Tank with us and had decided not to bike it! On the + side we came across some Nightjars and deer, so every cloud has a silver lining!

Did some birding on the way home too and grabbed a Lifer, a Night Heron. For those of you interested in birds, there’s a couple of pictures on my birding site; for those of you who aren’t here’s a picture of the happy couple signing the book!

We had no witnesses and neither did the next couple in line, so we were theirs and they were ours. Congratulations Ken & Sam!

Marriage-document-9255