My little adventure probably started on 11th August. That’s the date I was relaunched from Baltic Wharf Boatyard, Totnes. I was in good shape with lots of time, expertise and effort spent in smartening me up. (I noticed M had had a haircut too!) There was a cheery group of well-wishers for the River Dart trip down to Dartmouth.

And once in Dartmouth, friends from Exeter came aboard for a meal, while fine bright evening sunshine highlighted the pretty Kingswear shore. M and Nigel then sailed me east to the familiar waters of the Solent, IT expertise from Nigel enabling my AIS gadgetry to recognise me as Henrietta (this won’t mean much if you are not a boaty person, but matters to me).

In Lymington Andrew A. came aboard. We then went west again to Weymouth and collected Bob H. Then on to Alderney, where I was anchored and the men were encouraged by Andrew to visit a gannet colony (A. seems very keen on gannets.) I think there’s a photo somewhere…

…then on to Cherbourg and back to Lymington, my waterline even higher with a load of bottles and French food on board. (Since a boat’s waterline is somewhat akin to your waistline, you can see why I am sometimes bothered!)

In Lymington, eleven humans (M’s friends and family) came aboard – a happy lively squash in the saloon. There was a special cake – thank you Lizz – with decoration that looked like me. It’s even got my name on it. (You can eat it, heaven forbid!)