"You can turn if you want to, this lady is not for turning." were once said by Margret Thatcher at a Tory conference when she refused to make a u-turn policy. On Ruffian today we u-turned like there was no tomorrow.

The plan was that we would say goodbye to all the lovely people at Granny Boat Club in Waterford, catch the ebb down river and finish the day at Kilmore Quay ready for a 'hop' across to Wales tomorrow. As we were coming out of the river we passed deserted sandy beach after deserted sandy beach and we thought that we couldn't miss the opportunity to sit at anchor, in the sun and then run ashore to walk in the sand. What followed was a most triumphant day.

After the anchor had been set it really felt like the Caribbean with the sun shining and waves lapping against the hull. So the question is what do you do in the Caribbean? You dive off the bow and swim around the boat. This is exactly what Iain decided to do. Within about a nano second of diving in he realised that we are not yet in the Caribbean. Still the jumping was fun and as soon as he was out he warmed up, so in he went again and again and again. We think that this is Iain's form of canine circle work.

The run ashore was nothing short of a voyage of discovery. The beach we are anchored off is very much in 2 halves, separated by a volcanic spit. We pumped up Thug and motored across to the closest point. As we walked onto the second half we were greeted by the ruins of a castle on a hill. This needed exploring. Up the hill we went and were greeted not by a ruined castle but a church with some really serious history from both ancient and modern times. It was built in 12th century by, and was the HQ of, the Knights Templar who came into the limelight in 'The Da Vinci Code.' Remarkably, although the church was clearly ruined the graveyard was still very much in operation. We wondered what you had to do to qualify for burial here as the graves dated from as far ago as 1600 and the latest one was 2011. We found no pots of gold or even the holy grail but did have a sense of wonder at this discovery.

So tomorrow we'll be putting to sea again and hope that the next blog will be posted from another country, the alarm clocks are set for 4.45 and we will be making for Holyhead or Pwllheli in North Wales. There are heaps of tidal gates we need to get through so we may end up either just down the coast or even in Dublin.

Iain thinks it time for a swim around the boat.


and quickly climbing back onboard.


The beaches were deserted.


Caves galore.


Iain, Fiona, Thug and Ruffian.


The Knights Templar.




Ruffian at anchor.


Yet another sunset.