Out on the Blue returned to the UK yesterday the 3rd of August, four years and eleven month after she left in 2007.

We spent a week with our friends Garry and Jan in Portugal at Povoa de Varzin where the boat has been kept for the past year. There were a few technical problems that needed ironing out and these took a bit longer than expected but otherwise the boat looked very smart with her newly painted hull. During this time we visited the lovely old city of Porto only an hour away by metro and visited the Sandeman port warehouse and did a few port tastings, not a bad way to spend a couple of days. Unfortunately the delay meant that Garry and Jan didn't have enough time to sail back to the UK with us.

We sailed or rather motored up the coast of Portugal and Spain, calling at a few of the Spanish rias on route (Bayona, Portosin and Muxia) The marina at Muxia is free, it seems most people don't know about this and go to Camarinas instead.

We waited in Muxia for the wind to shift out of the north and finally set off in the afternoon of Tuesday 31st July. It was very calm and we motored the first few miles until the wind started to pick up and become more westerly. After that we sailed the whole way across Biscay with very good wind (25 to 30 kts from the south west). Unfortunately there was a big 4 metre swell and the sea state was rough. The Bay of Biscay claimed me as its victim for the second time, I was sick on the way out as well as the way back. At least I'm consistent! We arrived in Fowey, Cornwall and picked up a mooring buoy in the river on Friday, 72 hours after leaving Muxia, a distance of 480 nm and one of our fastest crossings of the whole trip.