It seems amazing to think we set out from Whitby one month ago today, in some ways it seems like yesterday but in others we seem to have been doing this for ever.  Every morning we go through the ‘what’s the weather forecast, should we sail?’ saga.  Today was a nice exception as we knew the wind was going to be high and we hadn’t planned the next passage, so it was lovely to lie in bed and know there was no pressure to get up.  It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to plan a day’s sail; firstly we read the Reeds almanac which gives the factual information about the harbours and also the tide times, then the pilot book which gives an insider’s view on the area with hints about approaches and places to berth or anchor.  Then we plan the route on the laptop, making sure we put in waypoints every hour – that gives an approximate journey time so we can look at the tidal streams and work out the best times to leave and confirm we can get in at the other end if it’s a harbour that dries.  Finally we plot the route on paper charts as a back-up before transferring the route to the boat’s chart plotter.  All we need to do then is sail it!!

Yesterday we had an enjoyable day reminiscing, as we lived in Brighton and Hove for 6 years back in the 70s, so it was lovely to walk around the area where we used to work and play, and wander past our first flat and the hospital where David was born.  We called in to the world peace cafe at the Bodhisattva meditation centre and got chatting about our round GB trip, and were delighted to receive a donation for the RNLI.  We seem to be gathering blog fans as we travel, so now is a good time to broadcast a reminder about the just giving page for the RNLI – please do go and have a look at www.justgiving.com/Catherine-Gledson.  I now have even more respect for the volunteers of this wonderful organisation and we have already raised £155 plus gift aid.