We are now back in Corfu after an extended Christmas and New Year trip to the UK to catch up with family and friends, as well as allowing me to get two new front teeth which after 20 years had finally given up the ghost. It was great to catch up with the families despite the dreadful weather in Blighty! Perhaps some new waterproofs for the next trip back....speaking of which, we fly to the UK on the 28th March to begin work on QUASAR IV ready for, hopefully, a June departure across Biscay again. Having checked the boat in December, I can confirm it is in an exceptionally shabby state indeed. The attached photo shows it in a better light than it appears in reality. Some of the more major tasks are being done by the boatyard and are now well underway. This only leaves us with the remaining list of about 300 jobs to do, some small, some large. This is going to be a major challenge to put it mildly. We will be living on the boat in the boatyard whilst it is out of the water on stilts, so no mains electricity, running water or toilets on board, and constantly up and down the ladder to get on to the deck - great exercise! With no operational fridge, we will also be doing a supermarket run, or rather walk (no car!), every two days for fresh food at the local Co-Op, about one mile away, so not too far to walk luckily. We hope to get the boat back in the water about two weeks after we arrive once the hull-type jobs are completed. We will still be at the boatyard, but with the boat actually in the water, many jobs then become much easier, not the least getting on and off. I will also be able to climb the mast to check all the instruments and aerials, fit our replacement radar and put the sails back on. None of this can be done safely with the boat on stilts on the hard standing - it's a balance and gravity thing! One of the first jobs is to fit a new Eberspacher diesel heater so we can keep warm in the evenings once the sun has gone down. It's certainly going to be a busy few months before we actually depart but we need to keep the pressure on as we really want to get the boat to Gouvia Marina, Corfu, this year rather than next. Still, we'll see; we can always leave it halfway somewhere if absolutely necessary, albeit unlikely unless we have some sort of catastrophic dilemma during the year. I somehow suspect that some of the jobs may actually be done on route to the Med, even completed in Corfu. It least it is hot and sunny here! Anyway, off to cook dinner now - chicken cordon bleu with cheese sauce - yum yum :-)