... try and find us

Our first overnight passage aboard Chinook and we set off from Cherbourg, bound for Gosport in England.  The lines have officially been cast off!  We had to do a bit of planning as this meant leaving France (and the EU/Schengen) and checking into the UK.  We had to manage the strong tidal streams in the Channel and enter Gosport on the right tide.  The route required us to traverse the busiest shipping lane in the world!  And just to make things interesting, we were slipping across in a weather window between two storms.  Too easy! (yes, Lynda, my brain is definitely going to mush!!) Tidal Streams in The Channel The first number is the speed for Neap Tide and the second is for Spring Tide - in tenths of a knot. Spring Tides occur about 36 hours after Full and New Moons. Gosport is approximately 80nm NNE of Cherbourg.  We anticipated it would take us somewhere from 12 to 14 hours.  With the moon in a waning crescent phase (the new moon is on Monday 8 April), the currents would

Still missing you Dad... Here is the eulogy my sisters and I gave at Dad's memorial service in April 2021. Susan With a father like Dad, our childhood was run on adrenalin. The adrenalin of both pleasure and angst from adventures, misadventures and mad-capped antics with Dad.  Dad did and we followed with the thrilling discomfort that dominates our memories. And our childhood came with a soundtrack - Neil Diamond, Carley Simon, Cat Stephens, Barbara Streisand... We sent to sleep with the likes of ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘Peace Train’ being played loudly. Very loudly. There was no ‘sshh, you’ll wake the kids’ in our world. As little people, a highlight was accompanying Dad to the sales at the Dandy Market to sell the vealers. It was a mass of noise, colour and smell and he humoured us with a walk around the many pens of various animals. Though he would not buy me a goat, Kate a pig or randomly and quite irrelevantly, Wendy a monkey, we loved the adventure of the trip. But th