Start of our big adventure

Sat 12 July
Got down to Talia with the Mitsi stuffed to the roof with gear. There wasn’t room for food so we had to unload before we could then go to Sainsburys to spend a small fortune on two trolleys of food and wine! We decided to have a quiet night on the boat but it was so late by the time we’d finished food shopping, we ended up grabbing fish and chips on the way back. It took quite a while to find places to stow all the food – I’m sure we’ll be finding things we hid too well in several years time!

Sun13 July
We stocked up on fuel (77p a litre – shame we can’t put it in the car!) and motored down Southampton Water. There wasn’t enough wind to even motor sail so 3 hours later, we anchored in Newtown Creek having motored all the way.
Our good deed of the day was when Mark ‘rescued’ two guys in a dinghy – their outboard had given up the ghost and they had forgotten their oars so were trying to paddle right back round Newtown Creek to their boat. They weren’t having a good weekend as they’d tried to go to the air show but it had been cancelled, then tried to go sailing but had no wind, then tried to go for a relaxing walk ashore and ended up stranded in their dinghy! Needless to say, they were very grateful for a tow for the half mile or so back to their boat.
We took Pippin ashore and she had a wild run, chasing rabbits and seagulls and bouncing around all over the place. Unfortunately, she has no instincts for self-preservation whatsoever and from the squeal and resultant thorns, we assume she ran full-tilt into a briar rose bush. She ripped her ear and I had to pull several hooked thorns out of her face and chest – it didn’t seem to slow her down at all but I was worried about splinters festering so despite all her protestations, she was firmly held down until I had dug out all the ones I could find.