- Finished work on 3 November
- Spent a few days with friends Mike, Ree and Georgina before flying to Madrid.
- Spent a few days in Madrid with my friend Paul, where a stomach bug laid me low for 24 hours.
- Spent 12 hours travelling from Madrid to the south of Portugal to meet the skipper of the yacht I was to sail on.
- Sailed from Vila Real de Santo Antonio in Portugal to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
- Flew back to Blighty.
Three weeks in total from leaving the UK to setting foot back in Edinburgh. It's been a roller coaster and I've met some great people, more of which I'll fill you in on in coming days.
So why am I back, I hear you ask? Well a number of reasons really. By the time I got to Las Palmas I found I had a number of loose ends that needed tidying up back in the UK and I'd had a lot of time to think.
During an ocean going passage with only two people on board you have to keep watch 24 hours a day, that meant we did three hour shifts at a time. When the weather was good and we could let Chuck steer (Chuck was the aries steering device) I could lie back and watch the Atlantic go past and think. It was the first time I'd had to slow down in months and I found myself reassessing life. Two days in (before the really bad weather his us) I'd found I was missing my family and just wanted to be home for Christmas.
A day or so later the bad weather really hit us and my decision seemed really sensible. We had waves coming at us from all directions and it became very unpleasant. Combined with the fact that I hadn't showered in almost two weeks and if I'd seen land, I would have got off and swam.
So now I'm heading home to Australia to spend some time with my family. I've booked some time in Asia to keeep me from going mad and will just see how things pan out.
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