After a welcome couple of days back on land in Plymouth, it was time to complete our final leg of our amazing two year adventure - going back to the start and Haslar Marina in Portsmouth.
We clearly brought the good weather back with us. The stunning back to back sunshine and blue skies were complemented with no wind and flat calm, glassy seas. This meant our final "sail" actually became a "motor" and the good visibility meant we were treated to the views of the beautiful English coastline - Cornwall rolled into Devon, which in turn rolled into Dorset and the stunning Jurassic coastline, followed by Poole Harbour, then the Needles (at the South of the Isle of Wight), which funnelled through into The Solent and back to Portsmouth.
Our last night at sea coincided with the longest day of the year and one of the clearest nights. Consequently, it wasn't dark for long at all, and before we knew it our voyage was complete.
Our "two year sabbatical" has given us the most amazing adventures and memories to treasure. We've experienced the good, bad and ugly at times and we're thankful to have returned safely to our awaiting family and friends.
It's only appropriate to close with a few "thank you's"..firstly to Broadblue and Mitchell BoatWorks ( Anton and team) for building us the perfect blue water cruising cat. We always felt safe in Serenity's hands. To our family and friends for providing us with support and encouragement from afar and finally all our followers of the blog for being with us all along the way. We never felt alone, which is a comfort, particularly when you're thousands of miles from land!
As Mark Twain once said " 20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the things you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails and Explore, Dream, Discover".
That's all folks!

Our last night's sail from the Isles of Scilly could not have been more perfect...the light of the silvery moon illuminating the English Channel for us and an infinity of stars twinkling like diamonds. But the best sight of all, was the outline of land, which we could see continuously from Lands End all the way to Plymouth.

It's so much relaxing when you're back sailing inshore as support and facilities are close to hand if needed. And listening to the regular coastguards communications reminded us that we have the best professionals also on hand if required.
With this in mind, we set out to enjoy our final night's sail. In fact, we probably had to pay more attention than normal, as the English Channel is one of the busiest stretches of water in the World. There are hundreds of boats transiting this body of water day and night; huge cargo vessels and tankers, fishing fleets and other fellow yachtsmen. We had 25 boats on our AIS ( automatic identification system) at every stage. The 'big' boys move at a fair rate (up to 20 knots) and can be up to 1000 feet in length, so you don't want to mess with them.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the night, with daybreak giving us an even clearer look at the Cornish coast..the rolling green hills and coastline was magnificent. And the weather - well, we wondered if we'd made a wrong turn...blue skies and back to back sunshine?
We made our way into Plymouth past Drake's Island and Mount Batten Peninsular, a fitting first landfall as it's steeped in a rich maritime heritage, the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines. We were welcomed into the QAB ( Queen Anne's Battery) marina and (other than a very annoying "fisherman's discarded net" getting wrapped around one of our props inside the marina) tied up at 11am.
Tony promptly went to the marina office to complete the customs paperwork then we were able to mark our safe return with a well-deserved drink followed by showers..and when I say showers..this marina has the best showers we've come across, with music piped into the blocks and huge, spotless shower cubicles..and of course, an endless stream of hot water. No quick "ship showers" required now...just lengthy luxuriatings! ( if that's a word?!)
Our afternoon was spent organising some work with our riggers and for a new helm seat cover to be made and of course, the proverbial trip to the chandlers for cleaning materials and bits and pieces, as well as the local University divers clearing the prop for us.
Then our final evening with Tony McK was spent at the Blues Bar and Grill where we enjoyed a celebratory meal and live music (whilst England went down to Uruguay in the World Cup).
Now we're back on land we can honestly say we enjoyed the crossing. It's amazing what your mind can do; its ability to put those "bad and ugly" moments behind and just remember the "good".

It's great to be home!

We've got one last sail, from here to Portsmouth, where I'll make the final blog post of our adventures.

Safe and sound at 11 am....blog post to follow...just off for some proper English grub!! Xxx