50:42.6N

1:32.9W

At Anchor - Hurst Castle, Keyhaven Hants 26 July 2010

Off on the travels again!  All a bit of a hurry- the original was to catch the NW on Wednesday down channel.  But after a leisurely start Roger decided that it would be a good idea to benefit from a period of fair wind down the Solent, catching the tide at midday.

This all put pressure on the morning.  A key action was to get the HSBC bank account for Auntie Dorothy’s direct payments from Cumbria Social Services sorted – all very straightforward in Gosport compared with the failure in Leamington on Saturday (I Loooove Gosport…) and then an expensive provisioning trip to Tesco North Harbour.  I had a list, and there was no alcohol: but still ended up £150 lighter, and not back to the boat until 1.30pm.  We won’t starve!  In the meantime Roger got the boat ready: jackstays back on, inflatable dinghy inflated, water tank filled etc. 

Back at the boat, we just cast off and went, and I put away en route.  And guess what, the wind was (a) light and (b) from the SW…  so against us all the way.  We motored to gurnard (off Cowes) and then beat down the W Solent.  Anchored off Hurst Castle at the bottom of the tide at about 4.30pm, the wind swung back round to NW.  Typical!