Absolutely terrified

Jan here just back from my few days short trip with friends in Corfu. I stayed in a hotel in Corfu Town with a bath in my ensuite. I had 10 baths in 3 days; it was bliss even if the water smelled of TCP. 

So,.... Greg met me at the train station in La Rochelle having flown back to Bordeaux and said 'As soon as we get back to the boat we need to leave for a 30 hour trip across the bottom of Biscay to get to northern Spain.' We are on a mission to meet up with our daughter in Porto in Portugal on 19th June which entails some serous mileage. 'No problem' I chirped even though I had just travelled overnight and slept at Bordeaux airport on a row of metal chairs. You can take the girl out of Hebden Bridge but you can't take the hippy out of the girl! 

 Anyway I arrived at La Rochelle at 12.15 and by 13.00 we were casting off! Greg had provisioned the boat (he had been to the supermarket to buy me strawberries and the Offie to buy red wine!....) and had checked the weather...winds not too strong for the next few days. No problem...it was a sunny start and all was well with the world. I engaged in a bit of pre-election chat and coaching with my children on my phone, then we went out of range of social media!

It was all going swimmingly well until night fell and we were about 60 miles offshore with not another vessel in sight. As it darkened and became obvious that the full moon was struggling to peep through the dense clouds, I spotted the first flash. 'Could that possibly have been lightning Greg?!' Of course it was bloody lightning..... the whole sky became like a firework display! I have never ever been so terrified in my life. I was screaming at Greg to turn the boat away from the storm, the clouds were looming thunderously! He was trying to explain how pointless that was given the speed of travel of the storm. I was a gibbering wreck. Greg kept saying that the worst that could happen would be the instruments would be cindered! OMG. I can't believe you could be next to a mast struck by lightning (and lets face it we were the only idiots out there with a tall metal mast waving like a prong saying hit me, hit me!) Surely the least would be our eyeballs would be melted! Look at this picture and tell me that no damage other than a bit of electronic disturbance would be the result of a direct hit!!! 

I'm not religious but in times like this I pray to anything, make ridiculous promises and pacts, try to be grown up and thankful for everything I have.... but at the end of the day I do not want to die, especially on election night..what if Corbyn won...how would I know what happens next? Look on the bright side I told myself.... I was feeling so sick with anxiety I couldn't eat anything... if I survive the night I might weigh less tomorrow. Shamefully superficial I admit but these are the rubbish and random thoughts of a woman convinced that the end is nigh! 

Well obviously we made it - otherwise I wouldn't be writing the blog. Once the lightning died away ..about 2am, the moon reassuringly made a lovely appearance and I felt much calmer, albeit absolutely shattered. I know my new retirement lifestyle is supposed to be relaxing but to be honest I can't recall a moment of impending doom like that in any of my last few jobs! I've decided I'm not that keen on night sailing so unless someone can convince me otherwise I'm staying a bit more in my comfort zone for the foreseeable future. 

The rest of our 30 hour sail consisted of Greg and I taking it in turns to have a nap! I felt very privileged because every time I was on watch (OMG that means in charge of the boat on my own) I saw pods of dolphins. I became quite adept at recognising where they were and after loads of attempts to take photos I made a video. Now you have to be patient. I started filming where I noticed a bit of underwater agitation like a bag of ferrets and my spot paid off but you will have to keep watching to get to the exciting bit. Don't stop..watch to the end. David Attenborough has a team with great editing equipment which I don't know how to do but if any of you know how to edit iPhone videos please let me know and I will reduce the anticipatory time. Its not just a video of the sea honestly!

We were so pleased to spot land as we approached the towering cliffs of Laredo in northern Spain this evening after our 30 plus hours epic journey. We are anchored safely but doubt we will be partying tonight. An early night in safe harbour is just what we need.

Land-ho! Approaching Spain.....