Round Britain for the RNLI Blog

I have spent just 2 days here and already I love it. Absolutely everyone I met has been friendly and welcoming and not only the people that knew I was coming.

I want to say a public and huge thank you to Gary Matthews for making sure people knew I was coming and "encouraging" them to support the event. Also thank you to Neil Cotton and to the rest of his staff and to the members of Pwllheli Sailing Club which has become my surragate home for the past 2 days. They have made me wish I had my boat here in Pwllheli and I will return to see them all after this trip that is certain.

Thank you too to Asda who permitted me to stand outside, again in foulies and lifejacket, for 3 hours. I started to get backache so I had to cut the time short but during those 3 hours I collected over £100! Along with other donations throughout the weekend I collected over £200 for the RNLI. Many thanks to those who gave and to those who just took a card and had a chat.

So now on to Conwy. This next leg is one of the ones I have been looking forward to right from the beginning of planning because it takes me through the Menai Strait. Navigation of the strait is quite challenging and the tides can be up to 8kts so I will need to be on my toes. Weather looks good but the past two days the wind has got up in the afternoon so I am hoping they will not kick up the sea at all. At the moment the sea looks almost flat.

I will post again before departure which is scheduled for 11am.

What an eventful race. Who’d have predicted that. Good stuff.

Meanwhile I rigged up a sling for the bike in the garage to lift the back wheel off the ground and make careful set-up MUCH easier! With the bike back on the ground it left a noose hanging from the rafters! But things are definitely not that bad, in fact they are all rather good,  and I’d have to be about 2ft 6 tall to use it effectively anyway.

Paul should be on his way again tomorrow, to tackle the Menai straits - a bit of water I’d love to see so I’m hoping for some pictures and no dramas. I rarely worry when Paul goes to sea because I know how careful he is and he makes good decisions. It’s an interesting bit of water though and I look forward to hearing about it once he’s safely in Conwy.

So far I have collected well over £100 at the sailing club and around the marina but today I am at Asda all day in my foulies and lifejacket so I am hoping to boost the coffers a fair bit. More info later on how I did.

With the main jetstream well to the north and high pressure dominating the prospects for tomorrow are good. There may be a bit of fog around and the wind might get  up a bit later in the day once the sun gets going but I would expect a good trip.

As usual, final decision will be made tomorrow but with a 11am departure necessary to get the tides right for passage of Bardsey Sound I will report later than normal… probably after 9am.