Perhaps my biggest lesson in sailing to date is that you should never plan, as if you do that plan is ultimately the one thing guaranteed not to work out. We had had great aspirations of returning to the UK and then heading South for warmer weather pretty quickly after we arrived back. Several factors have unhinged that plan. Despite our best efforts, sorting out our belongings to go into storage took a lot longer. Though we’ve now done this, it amazing how much stuff you build up and how long it takes to get rid of stuff, particularly if you’re agonising over wether or not to keep stuff. We applied the ‘does this bring me joy’ mantra to storing things, so we’ve probably halved our worldly possessions, but it took a long time to get there.

There have also been the inevitably breakages. We spent quite a while without a generator. In sunny climes, this wouldn’t be an issue, but in a rainy UK, we’ve been running the generator for about an hour a day to keep the batteries topped up. If anyone is looking for a career change, I can fully recommend marine mechanic, they’re like hen’s teeth, so you’d not be short of work. At about the same time, a bearing on our prop shaft gave up. We’re too big for any of the marina lifts in Milford Haven, so have had to reach out to a commercial yard for help. Fortunately they’ve agreed to lift us, but not for a couple of weeks yet.

All this has delayed our departure and with a washer/dryer still to fit on board and frankly shocking winter weather now stuck over UK, we’ve decided we’re not going anywhere for a month or two. Not that we’re staying in Milford Haven as the marinas here are still full, so it will be a trip North up the Irish Sea for us in a couple of weeks, probably for a marina near Blackpool that seems to have space. We’ll be doing this with a washer/dryer still in its wrapping in the cockpit, so it’s sure to be an eventful trip…