Home is the Sailor home from the Sea...

... sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea while the washing machine munches its way though loads of smelly kit.

The last leg from Milford Haven home was hard work but enjoyable. The run down across the Bristol Channel was lumpy and the autopilot couldn't cope so Peter and I hand steered it most of the 140 miles. We went so fast that we arrived at Lands End two hours early with adverse tide and a black night. With Graham's excellent waypoints and some bravado I took Beeline through the inside passage close to the Shark's Fin and the Armed Knight. (Don't you just love rocks names by the way?)
A dawn we had hot porridge and sheltered from the rain which was heavy and cold. As we were on the start of a good tidal run we decided to carry on round the Lizard to Falmouth, and arrived late morning at the Yacht Haven. The best thing to do that day was sleep, given the rain.

On Thursday we had a glorious spinnaker run across the whole of the bay from Falmouth to Dartmouth bar a few miles without wind. We were very chuffed to pass a Hallberg Rassy 38 at Bolt Head wallowing in the overfalls.
We reached Dartmouth in time for supper and a catch up with friends over a drink.



This picture is taken with Start Point light visible behind Peter and the Exeter City Spinnaker

The last day's run was quite mundane in familiar waters after the excitement of the unknown
passages, but we were pleased to reach the Exe an hour before high water and whisk up river to be greeted by Liz and Kelly with flowers and champagne. And now I need some sleep!

Kate and Harry's boat trip

Harry had been very keen to come sailing again so after the race and his GCSEs were over we travelled up to Oban to fetch Beeline. Like most teenagers he sleeps many hours but is excellent company and loves being on the boat. We stocked up on essentials (Frosted Shreddies for Harry, coffee filters for Kate) and left on Saturday afternoon for a tour of Mull.
This set the pace. Long motor sail to cover the miles, late arrival in new place and sleep. Early morning Kate gets up and explores while Harry sleeps then we leave...Long motor sail etc.
So Harry this was what you missed in Tobermory
on Sunday. But we did see puffins on our venture through the Treshnish Islands, and we saw Fingal's Cave and Staffa and passed the cathedral on Iona before enjoying a hearty ration pack supper on the way to Colonsay.
Here we anchored at sunset and Kate left at dawn while Harry slept all the way to the Mull of Kintyre.
The tide was against us so we sneaked close in to the rocks and found an eddy 80m off the cliffs. This allowed us to watch the seals basking and chasing fishing boats. But it was a long and tiring sail to Stranraer across the Firth of Clyde and we were glad to get to sleep. The next day Kate went to explore while Harry slept. You didn't miss much there Harry, just some rather lewd cakes and unusual biscuits in the bakery.
On to Galloway and we enjoyed a visit from a pod of dolphins off Portpatrick and even flew the spinnaker for a while before the relentless motoring began again to reach the Isle of Man
Peel harbour was extremely rolly and not much sleep was had, so early next day Kate set off again.
Holyhead marina was very welcome and we enjoyed our hot showers and a welcome from Holyhead Sailing Club. Why did they call us hard core sailors and nutters I wonder?
We left in the morning and were thrilled to see lots more puffins. Suddenly we are seeing them everywhere we go. South Stack off Anglesey was busy, so was Ramsay Island and Skomer and Skokholm. This leg was a tough overnight one so Kate dozed in the cockpit in Kelly's old sleeping bag and we managed to reach Milford Haven before the bad weather set in. The boat and equipment has been reliable and Beeline is better shape than when we left Topsham. We have a day or two to regroup before we head south again. The Belgian team from 3PYR are here too and we look forward to chatting with them.

The journey home

So Kelly and Ian took the Volvo and drank far too many coffees and sang all the way to Topsham. Lucy and Andy dropped Steve off at the airport and drove home with the bikes.
Kate Chris and David had a very gentle and pleasant trip down the loch.
For lunch we dropped anchor at Eilean Balnagowan and were amazed when we realised there were fifteen seals on the rocks watching us (yes Kelly I counted them!).

For the evening we tied up at Dunstaffnage Marina and had a pleasant day fixing all the broken bits. Kate went up the mast again and attached the new masthead light, and we borrowed a rivet gun to make good the excellent temporary kicking strap repair Kelly had improvised in the night. Then we celebrated with a meal in the Wide Mouthed Frog and on Sunday took the bus to Glasgow and flew home. Most satisfactory!