Delights of the Shore

A little more information than can be provided in text messages is called for. We are now in our first week 'off' and it is a great pleasure to be on land amongst trees, grass, bicycles and good food. Moondance is in the care of Peter, Francoise and family, who arrived yesterday at a windy Downings where we put the boat alongside the quay for transferring stuff. Whilst we were there, another, startlingly Moondance-like yacht came in and calmly picked up the mooring on which we had been lying, and on which we had left one of our best warps. Peter's first job was therefore to recover the warp without a diplomatic incident – something he will doubtlessly accomplish more easily than would I.

The passage up from Galway, you may have gathered, was not comfortable. At least three of MD's crew resolved to give up sailing during the passage. It should be said that it is not an unusual occurrence for sailors to vow never to set foot on a boat again. I had been a little optimistic in planning the distances covered by each trip, and this one needed to cover 240 miles in five days to keep us on schedule. Given that in ideal conditions we can only make about 50 miles to windward in 24 hours' sailing, it doesn't take much to turn an easy week into a very hard week. I have resolved that wherever possible in future we will sacrifice mile-eating for an easy life. This may make some of the Northern Isles less likely, but this voyage is supposed to be about seeing things and having time to appreciate the places we are visiting, so it should be worth it.

Although it's slightly disappointing to have rushed past the Irish coast, it has been breathtaking sailing past the awesome cliffs, particularly around Dingle and the Blasket Islands, where the land just reaches straight out of the sea to 3000 ft. On numerous occasions the gloom of slow or uncomfortable progress has been wiped out by displays from bottle-nosed dolphins who really do seem to be deliberately visiting and not just playing in a frothy bow-wave. And little compares with the sight of a squadron of gannets diving into the sea right next to the boat from a hundred feet up, before surfacing looking slightly dazed.

This week we hope to visit Newgrange, a major archaeological site near Dublin which is one of the few big sights that Lucy has yet to visit in the British Isles. We are fortunate to have Francoise's car this week, so mile-eating won't be such a problem. Seems strange to travel at 70 mph again. The rest of the week we hope to spend sight-seeing, walking and cycling around the north coast. Catherine and Julian join us next weekend (so kind of people to sail with us a second time) and hopefully we'll meander up the firth of Clyde, through the Crinan Canal and up to Oban.

Thanks for reading, do drop us a text if you get the chance, it's great to keep in touch with people.

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