Sunday 10 June (Bangor)A spare day really, awaiting the Raymarine man tomorrow morning. After a walk right round the town, we had a leisurely Sunday lunch in the small sunny beer garden of Jenny's Bar (the oldest pub in Bangor, according to the sign), where there was a jazz band, and rather incongruously a bagpiper practising hymns in the next garden during their break! I updated the Clyde Cruising Club Sailing Direction books for a couple of hours, and wpent...

Saturday 9 June (Ardglass to Bangor) I decided to play at being a single-hander today, and slipped all our lines and left the marina at 0600 while Cath slumbered on quietly. (I thought I had done really well until we berthed at Bangor later and Cath found I had left a line on the pontoon at Ardglass: a flogging offence that!) I left in dense mist, with visibility down to under a mile, so pot-watching became quite a strain, staring without break into the white cu...

Friday 8 June (Dun Laoghaire to Ardglass) Left at 1900 and crossed the Traffic Separation Scheme of Dublin Bay, with several FBSs around, and hoisted the mainsail off the Ben of Howth, and continued to motorsail north. By 1400 we were out of sight of land, ans spent our day identifying Shearwaters (both Manx and Great), gannets and shags. Lobster pot markers were fairly frequent, and we alternated pot watches and reading/snoozing through the long 12 hour passage...

Tuesday 22 May ( Lands End) At last we are under way and making way, with Bernard and Craig aboard.  We left at 0825 to make the best of the daylight at both ends, though initially against the tide.  From about 1000 we worked the west-going tide beautifully around the Lizard and across Mounts Bay (with distant views of St Michael's Mount) to Land's End by 1600. We reached Cape Cornwall (the only cape in England), where we turned to port and headed out int...

Sun 20 May (Falmouth) Back to the Boathouse for Sunday lunch, and then the Star and Garter in the evening, for an excellent blues band, The Devil and Me. Met interesting local sailors and fishermen, and sampled the last of my Cornish ales tour (Lizard Point and Sharp's Cornish Coaster). Tomorrow is preparation day for the Great Departure.