Falmouth felt very familiar as we have visited on numerous occasions on our various boats over the years and it felt good to be there preparing to leave UK waters.  We anchored in the harbour between the shipyard and the town, using the dinghy when we wanted to go ashore, and enjoyed being back in one of our favourite places.  Tiff, Nic and Eleanor Whillis were on holiday nearby and came for afternoon tea on board Casamara.  Copious amounts of clotted cream, scones and jam were consumed alongside much chatter and catching up.  

The following day was filled with final preparations for leaving for our next passage which would be across the Bay of Biscay to the Atlantic coast of Spain.  We would need to be self-sufficient for 4-5 days.  We went ashore for fresh provisions to top up the food on board, did some laundry and prepared bunks for the two extra crew members who would be joining us later in the day.  John and Ian carried out some maintenance, winching John up the mast to replace a wind indicator that had blown off in the high winds a couple of days before and securing the wheel which had begun to work loose.  I cooked some meals to heat up on passage in case the weather and sea conditions were too unpleasant for anyone to feel up to cooking and made sure all loose objects were firmly stowed so they couldn’t break free and cause damage.  The day passed in a blur and we pronounced ourselves ready just as Mike and Felix pulled into the train station at Falmouth Docks.  John first met Mike and Felix when they were all on a similar journey 10 years before.  Felix had owned a boat called the Pinta and Mike had owned another called Halo.  Together with John on our then boat Chiscos, they had all sailed across the Atlantic, spent a season in the Caribbean in 2011/12 where they met up numerous times, and then sailed back to Europe together, finishing in Falmouth.  We spent a very jovial evening together as they recounted stories from that time.