Back to America 2014 and update.
Swiftwing
Mon 17 Mar 2014 15:13
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Back to America 2014 and Update since 2010.
Hi loyal readers, the blog is being resumed after a lengthy
absence due to various circumstances. We returned to the UK for our annual break
in 2010 and when we were due to return to Swiftwing in Spring 2011, Beverley’s
mum was too ill for us to head off and leave Bev’s dad, Stanley, to look after
her on his own. However, we have packed quite a lot into those three years. We
have lived and worked on the Isle of Raasay for a few months, the Isle of Coll,
on and off, for a full year and in Killin, for a couple of years. Bev worked as
a District Nurse and I as lobster/velvet crab fisherman. We have made a
couple of trips back to America, firstly to check on ‘Swiftwing’ as we hadn’t
seen her for two and a half years, a road trip to Canada and last year to
re-launch Swiftwing and do some cruising in the Chesapeake Bay. In Europe
we had a road trip to the Island of Paxos, Greece, towing a Red Bay
Rib with our trusty/rusty Land Rover and a couple of trips to Spain to stay with
my friend Ronnie Wilson, and to play with motorbikes for a couple of
weeks.
 Camping in Colonsay
In Spain with Ronnie and the Harley Davidson Fat Boy.
 Not too old
for the Ducati
yet!
 Breakfast at Sandaig, home of Gavin Maxwell and inspiration for the
Ring of Bright Water.
 A new edition to the fleet, Michael the Mini Tonner sailing on Loch
Earn
 Red Bay rib we drove to Paxos, just about on our weight limit of three and
a half tons.
 Climbing Stac Polly with Hamish.
 Struan came to visit while we stayed on the Island of Gigha
 Douglas works as a fisherman while we stay on the Island of Coll.
 Sarah and Will come to visit us on Coll with new mode of transport for
Hamish and Amber.
 On the top of the Buchle Etive Mor, Glencoe.
 Douglas adds to his car collection, a must-have 1968 tangerine coloured
Reliant Scimitar. The oldest known one still in existence and one of
the first built and ordered from the car show, as favoured by Princes Anne and
many other royals
 Sarah and Will got married on the 16th August 2013 and our old
Triumph Stag was used as the wedding car.
We are now back in the USA, having arrived back Stateside, courtesy of The Queen Elizabeth, a
couple of months ago. Since then we have managed a week and a half of work
on Swiftwing before the latest freeze came in from the North, one of the reasons
we want to get Swiftwing back to Florida. We are currently in our hotel room in
Tappahannock, Virginia with five inches of snow all around but it is -12 C
outside! The water around the local marina is frozen and it is far too cold to
be working on Swiftwing.
 The Queen Elisabeth...964.5 feet long, 90,400 tons, from seventh deck up in
storm force 11, North Atlantic.
This blog should have been posted in January but it is now mid-march and
since the time of writing we have had many Polar Expresses with minus eighteen
temperatures and lots of snow. We heard on the radio the other day that this is
now confirmed as the worst winter in twenty years here.
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