Last time we sailed to Plymouth it took 10 days. It’s easy to see how with the prevailing south westerlies you could be held up for days. But when we left Kip Marina on Friday 19 May the forecast was for light and variable winds going NW with a big high extending from the Azores. We stopped overnight at anchor at Brodick, Lady Bay Loch Ryan, and a bay right under the Mull of Galloway. The NW wind increased and practically blew us away from the Isle of Man, it must have been blowing F7 when we anchored in Port St Mary. Next stage (once it had calmed down a little) was overnight to Milford Haven, in fact the wind died right away about an hour after we set off – maybe Isle of Man is an acceleration zone? Milford Haven is a place of strange contrasts – huge ships and the oil refinery juxtaposed with ancient ivy covered forts and beautiful coast. A brief stay there – one night at Dale anchorage and one night in the marina and then we were heading south for Lands End. By this time our NW wind had gone to NE even tending to E so we didn’t get the expected downhill ride along the SW coast, instead we were motorsailing into a huge sea. Forecast was for increasing E-NE winds in the next days so we pressed on and things improved, it got calmer and warmer and late afternoon we passed Plymouth breakwater to anchor for the night at Jennycliff Bay. Next day, Sunday 28 May, we moved to the Mayflower marina. The rally office opens on Thursday so we have a few days to get organised. All in all a pleasant trip, pretty freezing cold at sea to start with in the NW wind (a bit warmer now it’s NE) and we are here in good time. Saw various wildlife – Gannets, Eider ducks, Puffins, Guillemots and dolphins.