We finally managed to enter the marina around midight after a slow slog against the tides. We proceeded to our allocated berth until the marina guy went there to take our lines and radiod to say there was someone in it. So back to the visitors pontoon. My friend Paul had arrived to greet us with some bubbly and our slow progress over the last 10 miles had caused him to wait for a couple of hours. It was nice to hear a friendly voice to welcome LA back to the UK. I had rung the customs yachtline on the way over Lyme Bay and we were all cleared with them.
Penelope (Elp) collected us today and we will pick up our car and return tomorrow to get our berth sorted and start to take some of the clutter home, you do accumulate a lot over 13 years especially as I dont like to throw anything away.
So thanks to all for their indulgence in reading and watching over us, and for the comments and e-mails.

After some fast sailing, albeit uncomfortable, last night the wind dropped and in the early hours turned into the dreaded North easterly. At 6am we were bashing into the wind and swell making less than 2 knots. So we closed the shore to get shelter from both wind and sea and motored
towards Start Point. By the time we got there at Midday, the wind was easing and during the afternoon had either dropped off or was behind us at less than 10knots.
So now we have the Bill in sight and hope to be in by midnight, assuming nothing untoward happens.

After a bumpy night with winds 20-25knots we heard this morning the UK coastguard weather forecast. We have made good progress and hope the forecast NE winds are not too bad as we near the passage end.
We were on a beam/close reach do were on our ear with a large NW swell to make moving around a real challenge. Once in the lee of the mainland seas should smooth out.
Position at 1045 49 42.50N 006 30.40W

Well on Mon/Tues we managed to sail for over 24 hours before the wind died off and it was motor sailing again. Its still motor sailing but we have altered our course slightly in view of the weather forecasts, and we are now aiming at a point 100 miles west of Lands End.
Then hopefully we can sail in on the 50 degree latitude line and take advantage of Northerly winds, which unfortunately turn North easterly as we pass the tip of the UK. It all depends on when the winds change as the forecasts cannot be too specific on timing.
We have sufficient fuel for this and hope to arrive at the 50 N and 10E waypoint about Midday tomorrow.
We have had one sunny day but its mainly been overcast and yesterday quite misty. We had one ship on a direct course coming towards us yesterday, we called him up on the radio and he moved over a few degrees, but he passed just over a mile away and we could just make out his
shadow through the murk. Thank goodness for AIS and radar. When I started this lark we had neither, nor GPS and low visibility in areas with shipping was frightening. You could hear engines and had to wait and see who appeared out of the mist.
However its sunny today and still nothing much around. I f we can keep going through the NE winds at the end of the week we should be in Sat/Sunday, we shall see.

Monday morning, we have about 12 knots of wind from just to starboard of dead behind us. We were goosewinging for a short period but I put the Genoa pole away and went onto a broad reach ( genoa out he other side) We still have the engine on at 1200 rpm so we can maintain our
5 knots. Now debating whether to pole out again and start goosewinging, isnt the wind always not quite in the right place! Other than that, apart from the drizzly weather, all is OK. We turned for the UK earlier than suggested to avoid some stronger winds so we cant really complain if
there is not enough. Still looking like a weekend arrival but that will become clearer as the week progresses. Absolutely no dolphin or whale sightings, a couple of sheerwaters wheeling around, the usual men of war an d a few baby squid on the deck a few days ago..
We have had the engine on now since we left for all but about 12 hours, yesterday afternnon I calculated we had 190 lits in the tank and 160 on deck. We are OK for fuel at present and I hope to be able to turn the engine off today, we shall see !!

Half way through day 4 and still motor sailing, at present there is no wind and the seas are flat and calm. We hope to pick up some SW wind later today or tomorrow, but even then they will be light so we will probably still be using the engine.
Yesterday I drained the spilt fuel from around the tank, I reckon I have removed about 30 litres and can probably reuse 18. We have only seen four little yachts over the last few days and nothing for the last 24 hours. They showed on the AIS as single sailors
and looked like they were headed for Horta, good luck to them there! They were 6 metre super dinghies with no show on the radar. Had 3 dolphins come over to see us for a short time yesterday and have picked up a few mini squids off the deck but otherwise no marine life other than
the ubiquitous Portuguese men o war.