It seems like a long time ago that we left the boat in Carickfergus and flew from Belfast back to Amsterdam. A lot has happened in the course of July:

We discovered again how large a house is compared to an 11 meter sailing boat.

We found it hard to get used to the quality of the air living next to a motorway compared to the west coast of Scotland.

We also found it hard to get used to the amount of noise everywhere we go.

We got used to flushing a toilet by pushing a button rather than using a hand pump.

We also got used to not being together 24/7 as we had been for the past two months.

It was great to see both our sons again and Leontine visited Lissabon for a week with Tim. Whilst she was away Roland spent long evenings editing all the video footage made in the course of the last three month into in short films. We have now added an extra menu option called Videos where a selection of these videos can be viewed, alternatively you can watch all the films on Youtube on our YouTube channel. Besides adding videos to our site we have updated the Photos page with two new sections (more to follow):

Adieu : in which we have given nearly every harbour a farewell wave on departure

Horizons : a selection of some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises

We are now back on the boat in Carrickfergus where we will stay for another day completing some odd jobs and provisioning before we continue south. The temperature here on arrival was 14C a substantial change from the tropical heat in Holland yesterday of 37C.

What a joy to continue our adventure!