On Thursday afternoon we sadly said goodbye to Ange and Deborah. They were all set for the rigger to come and fix the topping lift, as well as put up the radar reflector and a couple of other jobs.

It has been fantastic few days, with lots of learning for us about sailing cats, making the most of Navionics on iPhone and iPad, and how great a queen size berth can be. The food and hospitality on Murihiku is amazing: fair winds to all who sail in her.

We got the ferry to Piombino, train to Pisa, plane to Stanstead and coach to Ipswich. It all went pretty smoothly save for two elements. Finding the bus-stop at Piombino ferry is interesting. On leaving the ferry, do not leave the port. The stop is directly inshore of the area where vehicles queue for the ferries, right by the taxi rank. At Stanstead, the immigration queues were stunning too; it took us about an hour to get through, which is the worst we've ever known there. (Mind you, Sarah's arrival into Aukland on New Year's Eve 2007 involved 3.5 hours to get through passport control, so we can't really complain.)

We've been very lucky. The start of summer in Malta, then in Greece, and now in italy. Such a shame it's really cold and blowing a hooley in Suffolk.