Girvan to Portpatrick to Port St Mary to Holyhear to Aberystwyth

I'm under orders from head office (Sally) to get a new entry on here as apparently loads of people have been eagerly anticipating the next installment. I'll have to be brief as the crew are waiting for me to get this done so we can go to the pub.
A special note for my mum - Bizarre! There I can spell it properly. I got a "nine out of ten, see me" from her the other day for poor spelling!
After what seemed like an age waiting in Girvan for the weather to improve and the wind to blow in the right direction, we finally left, a day behind schedule, in pouring rain, and I mean absolutely throwing it down in stair rods, on Sunday afternoon on the high tide bound for Port St Mary on the Isle of Man where Jon was due to get a flight the next day. I was feeling particularly rough, having picked up a bug of some sort in Girvan, which had made me sick the previous night and I think I was probably running a temperature and really not wanting to sail overnight for 80 miles. As luck would have it the weather forcast and conditions meant that we had to stop for the night in a place called Portpatrick
on the Mull of Galloway. A lovely pub there but I had to bail out as I was still feeling pants.
Next morning the wind was blowing in the right direction and it was only raining a little bit so off to the Isle of Man some 50 miles away. Jon had thankfully re-arranged his plans and with the help of a lift from the harbourmaster to Stranrar managed to get home by bus and train. He was very philosophical about this and said "Well, you shouldn't make appointments when at sea" Very true.
A really good sail to IoM. Gentle sea, beam reach and sun. And it didn't rain on us. To date (day 40) we have had 37 days when it's rained.
We had to use a swinging mooring at Port St Mary so the rubber dinghy and outboard had to be put into use once again, the last time being in Essex all those weeks ago. Seagulls - what fantastic outboards they are. A bit agricultural perhaps but it started fourth pull! Not bad for an engine that has been out in more than we have, strapped to the back of the yacht. And a little pat on the back to the bloke who services it (me).
Then another fab day from IoM to Holyhead. Feeling a lot better today. At last we're out of Scotland and feeling like we're heading home. A relaxed day in Holyhead before a night sail 80 miles to Aberystwyth. We left at exactly 1730, having been advised by Brian, the coxwain of the Holyhead lifeboat, to be off the "Stacks" 40 minutes before high water when the tide races there run at their slackest. Duly negotiated in very little wind we motored south over a very calm sea. I noticed something about a cable (0.1 mile) off to port on the surface of the sea. Was it a dolphin or perhaps a whale or, as Pete later admitted thinking, a leatherback turtle. It didn't seem to be moving and curiosity got the better of me and I turned the boat round and went to investigate. It turned out to be an upturned dinghy, about 9ft long and a bit smashed up but none the less still floating. A quick recce of the area proved there were no people associated with it but a call to the coastguard seemed appropriate. They wanted to know everything about the dinghy so Pete and I managed to get it aboard onto the foredeck. There was no identification on it and, judging by the damage to the hull, it looked like it had escaped from its' mooring and had had a fight with some rocks before drifting out to sea. However the coastguard wanted to see for themselves and asked me if I would take it to Porth Dinllaen (or something like that with not enough vowels in it). I said I would have to look and see if I could get into the harbour with my big draught and they said not to worry a they would send the lifeboat out! We motored towards the harbour some 11 miles away, saw the maroons go off and 30 minutes later the big all weather lifeboat loomed out of the dark and came alongside. Poor Yeti was left on the helm as this huge thing came in. What do I do? he said."Nothing" said I. Let the man-who-can do everything. They came expertly alongside Gamaldansk and the dinghy was duly handed over and off they went into the dark wishing us bon vayage. Quite exciting really.
At present in Aberystwyth and off to Milford Haven tomorrow.
Must finish as they've all gone without me.
Love to all. Home soon. xxx