The Rings of Poseidon

by Mike Crowson

  * * *

  The four of them left the Landrover parked on the hard and went back with the ferry to Stromness. The business at the bank and the travel agent was done, though it took time. There were no flights available on the Stanstead to Jerez route the professor had used, but the agent found them three seats from Heathrow to Jerez, changing at Madrid.

  "That's better really," Gill observed. "The plane from Aberdeen is to Heathrow, so we'll only have to change terminals not airports."

  Gill, Manjy and Alan caught the bus to Kirkwall while Steve looked and asked around for some way back to Hoy without having to wait for the ferry next morning. He persuaded a fishing boat to drop him off for a 'consideration', picked up the Landrover and arrived back at the dig in time to make supper.

  When Gill, Manjy and Alan walked out of the plane and onto the steps at Jerez, walking into the heat was almost like walking into something solid.

  "God it's hot," said Gill, as they walked across the Tarmac "I'm going to get a hat and some sun screen p.d.q."

  "P.d.q?" asked Manjy.

  "Pretty damn quick!"

  "Oh."

  Kirkwall had been pleasant though rather overcast when they left. Aberdeen had been windier but sunny. London had been mild but overcast with drizzly rain. It had all been a whirl of impressions. The sheer size of Heathrow had been hidden by them only having used terminal 5, but the people! The overwhelming impression was of how busy it was. By contrast, Madrid, when they changed planes there, didn't seem much different in size but lacked the rush.

  The passengers had to walk down steps to a bus which drove them to the terminal, and the terminal itself seemed as large as terminal three at Heathrow. It probably was. There just wasn't the capacity of the other terminals, just another smaller one for internal flights.

  Because they'd flown Iberia, the three of them already had boarding passes for the internal flight, so they didn't need to hurry or find a check-in. They had an hour and a half to follow the green line on the floor to the national flights terminal.

  From Madrid to Jerez was under fifty minutes from take-off to landing. The crew were friendly and the plane full but the hostesses didn't seem to speak much English.

  The second thing that Manjy, Gill and Alan noticed was the relative smallness of the terminal building at Jerez. They collected their bags from the conveyor belt, wandered through an empty customs check and went out into the main hall to see a man holding a piece of card with 'LA SENORITA MEADOWS' on it.

  They went over to him and Alan introduced them. His Spanish proved its worth as the man spoke almost no English. Gill and Manjy produced their driving licences and passports and Gill signed the papers.

  "It's due back by 9.00 am a week tomorrow," Alan translated.

  "Ask him where we could stay the night," suggested Manjy, "It's already turned five."

  "I saw a tourist information desk in the main hall," said Alan. "I'll ask there."

  Gill paid the man for the petrol, tipped him and said 'Gracias' which was nearly half her Spanish vocabulary. He left all smiles and indecipherable good wishes as Alan returned with an array of maps and a list of hotels.

  "Right," he said, "We could go into the city and stay at a hotel there. I've got a list. Jerez sounds an interesting place but I think we ought to put business first and look round later if there's time."

  "So what do you suggest?" asked Gill.

  "The girl at the information desk suggested driving to Medina Sidonia and spending the night there. She said there's a roadside restaurant just outside the town with a reputation for good, cheap food.."

  "Sounds okay to me," said Gill, "What do you think, Manjy?" Without waiting for a reply, she went on. "We need to buy a knife to use in the ritual, if we do one. A straight bladed one, like a stiletto or a Medieval dagger. Perhaps we could get that in Medina as well."

  By this time their belongings were loaded into the car.

  "Are you driving first or shall I?" Gill asked Alan and Manjy.

  "I'd rather navigate," said Alan.

  "I think I'd rather start on a quiet road where there's no traffic," answered Manjy.

  "So would I," said Gill, somewhat ruefully, "although they say it's easier to start off in traffic, because you've less of a tendency to drive on the wrong side of the road with other vehicles around. Let's see if it's true!"

  "At the main road turn left." said Alan. "Go about four kilometres and turn left again. Signpost for Algeciras." The little car slipped smoothly into the right hand lane and Gill suddenly realised how easy it was going to be, and relaxed a little.

  Where she needed to turn left, Gill was almost caught out by the lane pattern. She had to slip off to the right and make a short loop to cross the road at right angles.

  "Neat, but unexpected," she muttered, waiting for a gap in the traffic.

  "Two kilometres and left again," said Alan. "What you're doing is taking a short cut from the Seville-Jerez road to the Jerez-Algeciras road without having to go into Jerez."

  Gill duly turned left again. The road crossed a motorway and went through attractive, undulating country for somewhat less than twenty miles. It was a quiet, well surfaced road.

  When Gill commented on the lack of traffic, Alan said, "You've got to remember that Spain has a much smaller population than Britain but more than twice as much space. Outside the big cities it's an under populated country."

  The countryside was starting to get hillier and straddling the top of a higher hill were the white buildings with red roofs of a small town, dominated by a striking church and the ruins of a castle.

  "Medina Sidonia," said Alan. "If we turn off to the right somewhere here we can get up into the town."

  "Look out for the turning," said Gill.

  Lower down the hillside it was a fairly modern town, small - more like a very big village - with some building going on, but higher up the hill it was very old with streets narrower than you would have thought possible in the age of the car. There was just about room to squeeze the car into a space between two others in a street off the main square. Gill was sweating profusely by the time she'd finished.

  "Well done," said Alan, "I didn't think there was room to squeeze in."

  "Well I'll tell you one thing for nothing," remarked Manjy. "She can squeeze out again before I take over."

  Gill, on the other hand, was feeling very satisfied with her first attempt at driving on the continent.

  "Right," she said, "Let's go to that hotel we saw round the corner. We can worry about food when we've got rooms."