Monday May 28 CrosshavenCath's birthday dawned to strong winds and blue skies with showers. Cards and presents were duly opened aboard, and we set off into Cork for the promised SHOPPING! Did all that (Cath says Cork is Shoe Heaven), and had a meal at Luigi Malone's (the well-known Irish mafioso - remember? They made him an offer he couln't understand?). Super meal, rounded off with candles on the chocolate dessert and a round of Happy Birthday, then ...

Saturday 16 May (Cork/Crosshaven)Finally Cath arrived to join Vega. Met from Cork airport at 1810, with the redoubtable Kevin, everybody's local taxi driver, and reyruned to Crosshaven for a lovely meal in the RCYC restaurant - oysters at last!Sunday 17A quiet domestic Sunday: brilliant sun, strong winds, and irregular sharp showers. We made it into the village and after a look around (doesn't take long) we sat in a quaint Irish bar, nibbled, drank the lo...

Thursday 24 May (Cork) Mary, the "lady wot does" at the RCYC, kindly made us sausages and egg with toast and coffee, which we consumed on the terrace outside the club. We had a walk down into the pretty village of Crosshaven, a few small shops, a decent supermarket, and a disproportionately large number of pubs, and caught the 1230 bus to 'The City', as Cork is termed locally. A nice 45 minute ride, which goes the whole length of the river, passing man...

Wednesday 23 May (Crosshaven)Still motoring into an uncomfortably bumpy sea and headwind I began to worry about our fuel situation.? We had done the UK coastal passage on 50litres of diesel for 30 hours' motoring, so I had assumed that our 100L tank would give us a comfortable 60 hrs.? However, it was becoming worryingly clear that motoring hard into headwind and heavy sea was taking much more, and I was anxious that would risk entering Cork harbour with no e...