We left Holyhead at dusk. It was blowing hard, but the weather forecast was for it to moderate over the course of the night. Instead, the wind increased, the powerful Irish Sea tides came around against the wind, and we had one of the most challenging nights of our entire voyage! Fish draggers were working, navigational lights didn't match the chart, and Margalo was pounded all night by the short, sharp, seas, dousing us with cold seawater.
We passed the Isle of Man, and continued to the north. In the early hours of the morning our big anchor broke free of its lashings and went overboard with about 15 feet of chain, necessitating that Owen go forward, haul it aboard and tie it down with more substantial lashings!
In the early morning we reached the Mull of Galloway, on the east side of the North Channel, and our first view of Scotland from the sea. For the rest of the day we crawled along the Scottish Coast, up the length of the peninsula, and around the corner into Loch Ryan. We roared down Loch Ryan on the strong breeze and found a marina at a far corner of the Loch in a tiny town named Stranraer. With the wind shrieking around us we managed to tie up to their dock. We commiserated briefly with the other boats on the dock, and repaired to the local pub, named The Grapes, to lick our wounds.
A few words about sailing in Scotland. The Scottish Coast is one of the most exquisitely beautiful spots I have ever seen from the sea. Vast fields, separated by hedgerows, with patch works of mowed land and pasture. Handsome, lonely looking manor houses every mile or two. Rugged, rocky, hills, with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. The coast is deeply indented with innumerable lochs and coves and harbors. Clear, blue, skies alternate with dark, threatening clouds, yielding a constantly changing land and skyscape. The people are delightful, and the place has a wonderfully civilized feeling.
But the weather is simply awful! We thought that we were pretty tough, veterans of sailing the New England and Canadian Maritimes late into the fall. Our weather looks positively tropical compared to this place! Cold, 40 knot breezes in early August! Like Maine in December! We hauled out gear that we hadn't needed anytime on our trip. Thermal underwear, fleece, down, watch caps, sea boots, full foul weather outfits, and we were still cold. And the spray and wet managed to find its way down our necks and inside our warm clothes. The Norwegians say that there is no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate clothing, but I am not sure that they are right......
Yesterday morning we headed out early and had an easy, short, sail to the town of Troon, 35 miles northeast of Loch Ryan.
After a champagne celebration of our trip, the boys packed up their stuff and we walked into town for a hearty dinner. At 958PM, they boarded the ScotRail train to Glasgow to begin their trip home. It was a bittersweet moment. We have had a wonderful trip together and I was sad as the train headed out of the station.
Margalo has a few more miles to go. We will head out in an hour or so for a boat yard on the River Clyde, not far from here, where she'll be tucked into a shed for the winter. They're expecting us on Friday, so we can poke along, enjoying the lovely Scottish scenery and weather, for the next couple of days.

We got started early today for our sail to Scotland. Breakfast, marina checkout and fuel.Then we ran down the river to the ocean. Beautiful green fields with cattle grazing right down to the water, smooth,calm, water. Old stone farmhouses and barns. Since then we've been running steadily to the northeast, up the Irish Sea, with a building, following, wind and sea. To our left, we can see the gray, misty, hills of Ireland, although they are gradually fading in the distance. To our right, no land, but a cloud bank the promontory that is South Wales, only 30 miles away. We enjoyed a lovely lasagna dinner with a bottle of red wine, and are now planning to sail through the night to assure that we reach Scotland in time to get Owen and Ian on the plane to Boston on Wednesday. It is a 300 mile trip, and when traveling by sailboat we know to take advantage of a fair wind. We've got a challenging night ahead. St. George's Channel, between Wales and Ireland, is the narrowest place in the Irish Sea, so tidal currents build to 2.5+ knots, with tidal overfalls, essentially horizontal waterfalls. When they oppose the wind, it can get bumpy. And there is a lot of ship traffic, so collision avoidance will require a diligent watch. I think it is safer and easier to be out at sea, 1000 miles from land! We will be sailing up the Irish Sea, past the Isle of Man, and through the North Channel, another "pinch point" with concentrated traffic and tidal flows. Tomorrow evening, we will find a spot to anchor, eat a good dinner, and get a full night's rest. We are doing well, happy, healthy, and enjoying extraordinary scenery, sailing, and weather.

There aren't very many days when I have said "not too much to say about today", but this is one of them. It has been a day of mundane tasks. I got up early and took a walk to the corner breakfast spot while the bays slept. There I had coffee(excellent), berries (local, fresh, with clotted cream and honey), and a scone (came out of the oven as I arrived). The sun was bright, so the proprietor rolled out the canopy so I could look out over the harbor. A nice gent entered with his 3 year old golden retriever, Woody, who needed a bit of scratch behind the ears. Then, another friend entered with his new 2 month old mutt puppy......lots of local chatter......humor, and a rolling cast of local characters. The boys took on the task of cleaning Margalo. She was damp and grubby, but they did a good job of getting her livable. They brought up one of our big anchors, lashed below for our passage, and got it ready for a trip up the coast. We walked to town, dropped off our laundry, and bought a load of groceries. As we were leaving, one of the store staff asked if they could deliver them to our boat. Deliver the groceries? Are you serious? In fifteen minutes? You bet! We packed the groceries in the fridge and pantry, filled our water tanks, took off for a gift buying spree, and went out to dinner at the White House Inn, recommended by friends at home. It was great. We made reservations for the boys to fly home. Ugh! Hate to to see them go. In the morning we are going to fuel up and head to the north. We'll be leaving the boat in a yard along the river Clyde in Scotland. it is about 275 or 300 miles, so we'll be sailing a lot. And we hope, seeing some wonderful seascapes and landscapes.....time will tell

Last evening, at 730PM, we arrived in Kinsale, Ireland. It was foggy and gray and then, out of the mist, we saw a lovely green land, with large farm fields down to the sea. After rounding the Old Head of Kinsale, we rounded up and had a lovely sail up the bay and into the mouth of the River Lee. We had called ahead and they had a slip open for us at the Kinsale Yacht Club Marina. After we tied up, we were all a little surprised that the trip was over. We walked up to the club, signed in, had a beer and went out to dinner. Returning to the boat, I was struck by the fact that it was so quiet and still. I slept like a stone, awakening late this morning. Tired, I guess. Today has been occupied with attempting to catch up with Customs and Immigration, buying towels and washcloths (forgot to bring enough), showers, and cleaning up. The yacht club showers have a 1 minute button. I think I pushed it 10 times. It feels wonderful to be clean. We are impressed with this country. They are lovely people, helpful and friendly, and very proud of their country. I love their brogue, and ask a lot of questions just to hear them talk. There is a lot of history here, with two large, very old, fortresses, and many historical sites, so we'll take some time to have a look over the next few days. Beyond that, we haven't any firm plans at this point. We need to get Margalo into storage in a week or so, and are now working with a number of yards to find the best place for her, but we don't have that figured out yet. Then, home and to work! Too bad, it has been a wonderful adventure, perhaps the biggest ever!

Night watches are a drag. Four hours of awakeness when we would ordinarily be asleep with very little taking happening, feeling very sleepy and, often, cold, quickly gets old. But there are compensating pleasures. Stargazing without ambient light is an awe-inspiring experience. And sitting in the cockpit on a windy night while surfing down big breaking swells is unimaginably exciting. We each just stood our last night oceanic night watches for this trip, and we agree that we feel a bit of sadness. I don't think that the guys will miss the end of salt water dish washing, though. We instituted salt water dishes when we got becalmed and decided it was time to conserve water. So we have been doing dishes in a black rubber farm bucket in the cockpit. Not bad on nice days. Not too much fun when it is windy and raining! Owen threw out all but three of our forks with the rinse water on our way to Flores. He was warned that he would be expected to make us all sporks out of our surplus spoons if he repeated himself. We're sailing up the Celtic Sea today, with little wind, and not far to go. A formal welcoming party of dolphins met us this morning, and several later groups, some with dozens of dolphins, have come to cavort around our boat and play in our bow wave. We saw our first skua, the dreaded tough guy of seabirds. Gannets, with their pure white plumage and dressy black wing tips have been around all morning. It is cool and damp, with heavy fog, so we haven't seen land yet, although it is only about 8 miles away. The Old Head of Kinsale is 15 miles ahead, about 3-4 hours at this speed. Then a couple more hours up to the marina where we will meet Irish Customs and Immigration. As is required, we will be flying the Q flag (for quarantine) on one flag halyard and the Irish flag on the other. (The American flag flies aft on the back stay.) We have been told if they don't come in an hour, we can go ashore for beers and dinner. We have checked and restaurants take orders until 10 or 11! We are read to celebrate! In the meantime, Grateful Dead,( American Beauty) playing, spirits are high, tummies are full, and we are close to the parking lot....

The wind arrived with a vengeance last night, and the night watches were treated to 25-30 knots of wind, breaking waves, spray, and rain. That said, it was magnificent, running before the wind and waves under reduced sail, and we made a lot of headway to the northeast. Today we have been running all day under just our reefed mainsail and have averaged over 6 knots, pushed by 5-10 foot swells and 20-25 knots of wind. If this continues we should reach Kinsale by late day tomorrow, but the forecast looks for this wind to moderate as we approach the land. We'll just have to wait and see.... There are lots of other signs that we are approaching civilization. Ship traffic is increasingly heavy, and Irish fishing boats are working the waters out here. Earlier today we heard an Irish Coast Guard call to a vessel. He had a wonderful brogue and was answered in French! We have finished most of the fresh food that we bought in the Azores, all of our wine, and all of our books. Definitely time to reach port.