Norse from Caledonia

 A few conclusions about this year's sailing odyssey 😀 The Scottish coastline is huge and mountainous - I never got used to just how big it is! Island people are welcoming to us travellers and it's great to talk to them and find out about their lives. We met some interesting and wonderful people on other yachts, especially where there were fewer boats around and this brought us closer together. The Orkneys are great and we especially loved meeting the ever-so-friendly people of Long Hope. The new Scapa Flow museum is magnificent and it was lovely to see that such important history is now safely gathered into this wonderful building. Stromness was as lovely as we had previously found it to be. Travelling through Scottish waters later in the year than when we were here in 2018 meant that we saw more seabirds on the water than before (when they had mostly been at their nesting sites). We were mesmerised by the way they flew seamlessly between the water and the air. Taking the Cal...

On Monday 29th August, a sailing wind had returned and we set off from Port Erin on the Isle of Man to catch a ride on a series of favourable winds that were forecast for the following few days.   Our hope was that these would get us home before the arrival of nasty weather - about a week away! Our Route Home from the Isle of Man Port Erin to Holyhead 52 miles, 8 hours Passing the island "Calf of Man" at the start of our rush to get south We had a sparkling sail E F4/5 wind that took us to the commercial port of Holyhead. Dodging a very large Irish Ferry, we found our way into this huge harbour.  We were not sure where we should go and started by tying to the one remaining (and very ropey) pontoon.  The rest of the marina had been swept away when Storm Emma had brought 80 mph winds to Holyhead in 2018.  Since then, there have been plans to rebuild but these have not yet got off the ground. Storm Emma lashing Holyhead Marina in 2018 The marina office was deserted...