56 responses so far ↓

• 1 Ernesto Ryce Welder // Apr 12, 2012 at 9:53 pm

  Hi David & Mary, hope you’re in the best of health when you receive this letter. I saw that you received a comment from my younger brother mario,nevertheless my concern was on how are you enjoying the performance of your new rudder?i hope you’re satisfied. David i want tou to know that i received a call some time ago from someone that you recommended me to but i never did that job,seem like the guys in the shelter bay convinced the client and they did it. I’m not the only one who can but having you know this would clear me if it should fail. thank again and be good.

• 2 Mario Francis // Apr 7, 2012 at 4:05 pm

  I was moved to know that you had some professional/precision work done in my home Panama by Mr.Ernesto Ryce.His work and craftsmanship speaks for itself. I am pretty sure you will not have a reoccurrence of what you had in Shelter bay.This mans dedicated years of his apprenticeship on welding and metallurgy has put him where he stands today.Proudly speaking for my brother.Ship ahoy.

• 3 Peter & Linda Gibson // Apr 7, 2012 at 3:27 am

  Dear David and Mary,
  WE have read all your web pages and are interested in your adventure. Before you leave NZ we would love to meet you, either in Nelson or on the Kapiti Coast where we live. If you are traveling North by road do call in and stay if you wish. Plenty of room here. Regards

  Peter & Linda Gibson

• 4 Brad Smith // Mar 11, 2012 at 8:22 am

  We just passed on an aluminum Samoa 47 and are looking for something a little smaller. Would you recommend we look at the Madeira? What is the bridge clearance- it does not show on the stadt web site. Where was Giselle built? Contact me on email. Would love to chat.
  Brad

• 5 Kathleen Bowie // Feb 12, 2012 at 3:57 pm

  Hi Mary, just back from Australia myself and thought I’d tap into your website to see where you are. Susan mason from your Fallin class and i are friends and she was asking about you so i said i’d send you an email and give you her best regards. i always think ofyou when i get out thesewing machine !!! How long will you be going round the world for now? (bad grammer !!) Hope you and all your family are well. Best wishes Kathleen

• 6 Ian Hards // Feb 4, 2012 at 11:23 am

  David, I heard a rumour you might be back in Scotland. Hardslog is in Ferry Marine getting a bit of facial work done after a Port Edgar hurricane but you know you are welcome to come out on her anytime you are home until you have a boat back here. just say the word. Regards to you both and really sorry to hear about the house. Ian

• 7 Ian Reid // Dec 8, 2011 at 11:36 am

  Hi David,
  Looks as though you have become very fond of new Zealand. We had a reunion last night with folks you me last year when in London -Gordon Trevor, Barry, Dave, Geoff, Julia. Geoff is recovering from a coronary and had a procedure only the previous week. Hope the house repairs are underway, Best wishes to you and Mary, Ian

• 8 Ernesto Ryce Welder // Oct 11, 2011 at 2:31 am

  Hi David & Mary,very happy to know that you are please with your new rudder and giving me all the credits for a job well done;thank you,and include yourselves for a nice professional finishing you gave it.

• 9 David // Apr 9, 2011 at 8:07 pm

  Adam,
  We have Lewmar 58 electric winches for the genoa and halyards etc and Lewmar 48s for running back stays and extra tasks if Lewmar 58 loaded. Mast has 2 x Lewmar 48s. All feel nice and easy. Electric winches are nice but you have to ban novice crew from using them on a lot of tasks beyond sheet tensioning in case they do damage.

• 10 Adam and Kylie // Mar 17, 2011 at 6:56 am

  Hi Guys ,

  Our boat is coming along nicely and we are pricing winches etc, which leads into another annoying little question. The plans mention a lewmar 56 for the genoa sheets ,should we go up a size?

  Adam.

• 11 David // Jan 30, 2011 at 3:41 pm

  Delighted to Chat.

  Will send you a phone number to get us on.

• 12 Mike and Sally Bowker // Jan 28, 2011 at 8:22 pm

  David and Mary,

  Since buying a steel Madeira 44 last year we have enjoyed following your circumnavigation on the website. If you have time before flying back out to New Zealand, we’d welcome the chance to talk to you about your experience with Giselle.

  Mike and Sally

• 13 David // Dec 24, 2010 at 5:27 pm

  Pete and Gay,
  Thanks for Christmas wishes. The snow is very pretty here in the UK but its very cold. Trust France is warmer

  Giro not fitted. Windpilot with the rudder I made in Panama still works very well. Hand steer a lot for day sails. Generally a few electronic improvements like a transmitting AIS and a plotter but mostly a lot of repairing with the same.

  2 part main halyard lets us both put the main up without the winch, this makes it easier to time the hoist to get sail past the lazy jacks and we are not seeing any chaffing. Friction feels low.

• 14 Ann Herd // Nov 30, 2010 at 5:39 pm

  Dear Mary,
  Glad to see you are both so well, still safe and enjoying the wonderful experience. The photes are superb and really let me see what you have been up to.I think you might be back in the U.K. around now and since the snow is awful here you will surely have another adventure dealing with it.
  I haven’t been in touch because things have been very difficult here. Ian was diagnosed with incurable stomach cancer in March and is receiving treatment to make him feel a bit better for longer. We have had lots of support from so many people and that has helped us to stay strong. I didn’t want to be morbid but just explain why I haven’t been in touch.
  Enjoy your time at home and I will e-mail again after Christmas.
  Love , Ann x

• 15 pete and gay // Nov 30, 2010 at 11:40 am

  Good to see you are having fun.
  You seem to have arrived at exactly the same sailing parameters as we used for sailing Giselle.
  Have you made many mods? Have you fitted a giro to the autohelm?
  You say you have fitted a 2 part purchase to the main hallyard. We did not have so much friction that it was needed. I wonder where it is coming from.
  Most of all we are delighted you are taking your time enjoying the experience. Bon courage & Merry Christmas!

• 16 David // Nov 15, 2010 at 1:38 am

  Adam and Kylie,
  Just thought – the reason you see modern Van de Stadts with a reef in the main is that you reef the main first. Boats with genoas larger than the 108% on the Madeira, reef the genoa first to reduce the overlap. Roller reefed genoas are always poor shaped sails.

• 17 David // Nov 13, 2010 at 12:10 am

  Adam and Kylie

  Might visit Sydney but by plane as routes out of Sydney harder than the normal tradewind downwind breeze we have got used to!

  I would hate the idea of a smaller rig on my Madeira. Would strongly recommend against it. It’s the large rig that makes it so magical to sail. The balance of the main and the genoa feel perfect. Make sure the wheel is large enough so that you can sit on the coaming. We hold the bimini support post in that helming position.

  We can start sailing at 6knots of wind. We get about 2 knots below the wind speed in light airs. Spinnaker or code 0 (the big reacher) stay up to 12knots. Spinnaker OK well beyond this but you are going plenty fast enough and drop so easy in 12. 15 knots reef 1 ion main. Boat goes well upto 20knots with full rig but again you are going plenty fast enough and balance is perfect with 1 reef in these wind speeds. 25 knots reef 2. Again 30knot squall with 1 reef and full genoa just makes her go faster no drama. There is a big overlap in the usuable sail combinations so never pressure on to reef at an exact moment. Sails very well with the staysail above 25knots not enough sail below 25. Staysail and 2 reefs great as you go up through 30, 35 and probably towards 40knots. We usually put the trysail up in 30knots on longer trips. Again real easy to pack away the main at these wind speeds. This is is still delivering 6 to 7 knots and is so low in attrition on the boat you know she can go on forever. No issues of putting the boom in the water with trysail as it sheets to spinnaker gear. Hove to with only trysail in high winds. We think this will work up to 80knots. We have not had to stop in any heavy weather yet. Several times sailed to windward in 35-40 knots. Enjoyed sailing to windward into Auckland a month ago through the night initially 35 gusting 45 and then 25 gusting 40 using staysail and trysail. If we do have to stop when weather too much for us or the boat then favour Lin and Larry Pardey’s hove to approach ultimately with a parachute anchor. We changed the fair-leads on the bow for closed eyes to allow this. We have 18ft parachute with 165metres of single plait 18mm rope but I think modern thinking is it should be slightly smaller diam chute – rope is about right. Downwind above 12 knots when spinnaker comes down, we pole out the genoa. Don’t usually run the spinnaker through the night with just two on board.

  We hank on our staysail – works well. Trysail has separate track. We pull the lazy jacks forward to the mast to allow it to fill on both sides. It uses the main haliyard.

  Work up all the details of the mast with great care. It’s a big rig and a lot of riggers are pretty clueless. For example in New Zealand we found you really have to go to Auckland before you find companies that can think through good designs.

  Smaller genoa means the winch loadings are OK plus going downwind the normal spinnaker pole is the correct length for poling out.

  We have just fitted a two part purchase main halyard like the catamarans have – big step forward.

  Are you building in wood? Worry details in the anchor locker. Water will come in via the chain hole. We use door frame foam before long trips to seal this. Creating a watertight bin feels good but you must be able to inspect the whole locker for corrosion/rot easily.

  Note the mainsheet off the top of the doghouse with no track works well. We have a block and tackle for stopping the boom moving about and expected to use it to pull main to windward in light airs but have never needed to do so. A must is a good preventer system. We have two. One each side. Rope attaches to the end of the boom ends in an eye that can be tied off close to mast on boom. Rope controlled by a clutch in the doghouse goes forward through the bow fair-lead and is then tied to the rope that was parked along the boom.

  I’ve put too much in this e-mail. Feel free to request a phone number so that we can discuss further.

• 18 IRENE MEIKLE // Nov 3, 2010 at 3:23 pm

  Hi Mary – sorry we haven’t been in touch but we do keep up to date with your progress. Heard on the grapevine that you are coming home for 6 weeks – hope this is true and that we can arrange to meet up. Class met this morning – everyone busy at something – even if only chat! Look forward to hearing from you and if you can fit a visit in with the group – Wed. am until 24 Nov but even better if we can meet up for an evening supper. Look forward to hearing from you – everyone sends their love.

  Irene

• 19 Adam and Kylie // Nov 1, 2010 at 12:10 am

  Hi David and Mary,

  We wrote to you earlier this year about our plans to buildg a Madiera and are happy to report that it is under way and progressing nicely. I`m currently seeking quotes for the rig and would be interested in your opinion .I`m thinking about reducing the mast height by 1 metre and raising the forestay a bit .This will ruduce the area of the main by about 6 sq m and increase the headsail a little. My reasoning is that i`ve seen a lot of photos of van de stadts with a reef in the main ,also its quite a tall rig to start with. What are your thoughts about this idea?

  Thanks , Adam and Kylie

  Ps. any plans to visit Sydney?

• 20 Michelle Kibaris // Oct 16, 2010 at 11:31 pm

  MICHELLE CALLING MARY AND DAVID!

  I am coming out to south east asia at the beggining of this Nov for 4 whole months…..are you going to be around?? I plan to go…..everywhere. will I have the pleasure of bumping into you. You must be heading up that way by now….come and seeeee meeeeee.

  I will keep you posted on my whereabouts and adventureeeeeeeeeeeeeees.
  Love you both x x x x x x x

• 21 Kathleen Bowie // Oct 3, 2010 at 2:26 pm

  Hi Mary, it’s taken me this long to get on your website and just marvel at your trip. I dragged my sewing machine out today and automatically thought of you !!! When does the big trip finish? I can’tbelieve you’ve been away as long. Are you both writing a book when you get back to Doune !!? All the best wherever you are .Kathleen

• 22 David // Jun 17, 2010 at 7:54 pm

  Happy to answer questions for those planning a Madeira or Margarita 46 build.

• 23 David // Jun 16, 2010 at 7:37 pm

  Adam, sent this direct to your e-mail but may be of general interest.

  Standard design is easily controlled by 2 people. Preventors on the boom critical as accidental gybe with running backstays rigged would be bad.

  We don’t have the fold down stern just a big boarding platform – better detail. Gives room on transom for windpilot pacific plus 2.

  We have a large cockpit locker and one aft cabin. No generator so cabin is big.

  Forward the berth is to Port with heads forward like the Samoa layout – no shower in forward heads.

  We don’t have water in the steel tanks just fuel. Separate water tank and holding tank. Water maker.

  Rear heads extended to use some of the chart table to give excellent shower.

  In haste. Australia probably next year now.

• 24 Jeff and Elizabeth // Jun 5, 2010 at 7:45 am

  Hello,

  My wife and I are planning to have a Madeira 46 aluminum hull built and will probably finish the interior ourselves.

  We look forward to learning of your progress in this regard.

  Please update the site as often as possible and good luck with your build.

• 25 Adam // Apr 2, 2010 at 5:57 am

  Hi,
  We are hoping to start the build of our Madeira, in Sydney, in the next few months. Noted that you plan to be on the Australian east coast sometime this year. Would love to get some info on the boat’s interior. We are a cruising family of 4 and are trying to gain good cabin space for young children to grow in ,whilst keeping a boat that is easily controlled but 2 adults. We have recently put our boat of 15yrs on the market as she has become too small, she was a van de stadt seal 36. The kids feet have hit the bulkheads and neither will opt for below the knee amputations. We would be very interested in seeing your layout and hearing how it is working for you. Anything that you have noted as wishing you had done in the build, we would love to hear. Would love to catch up with you when you hit our fine shores, until then have fun doing your maintenance and we will keep watch of your progress.
  Fair winds
  The “Mereas”

• 26 Stuart // Mar 22, 2010 at 10:01 pm

  So there were, hard on the wind having just tacked around Tesco’s fresh fruit display when we ran smack into the McDuffs. (such is our mundane shore based life).

  Our respective children used to play rugby at Stirling County but us Letton’s and the McDuff’s hadn’t met for some years.

  Chat turned to “what you doing next”. We explained our great escape plan on board our newly acquired Island Packet and A&J said they’d enjoyed a break in the Caribbean with you.

  If you hang around, we might catch you up!

  Meanwhile gotta work and save up to cover the growing list of “maybe we gotta haves”.

  We have an ever increasing list stuff to buy, most of which I suspect we really don’t need. If you have some time to kill, I’d appreciate your views on the following on a scale of Nice to Have to Must Have.
  - Watermaker
  - Gennaker
  - Electric self steering (Monitor in box)
  - SSB

  Your site reads like you’re having a great time. Hopefully catch you up pretty soon.

  Stuart & Anne Letton

• 27 Lesley, Gavin and Kate // Mar 4, 2010 at 2:56 pm

  Hi Mary and David. Left an email on cobble1, but can’t remember if you get that where you are. Anyway, you’ll pick it up sometime. Just to say many thanks for Kate’s bonny jumper and postcard. Showed the postcard to my neighbour who worked there for a year quite some time ago. Brought back loads of memories for her. We wish you well as you continue roaming the oceans. Tara the noo from the snowy highlands!

  Lesley, Gavin, baby Kate and Dougal the Wonderdog. xxx

• 28 Diane // Feb 11, 2010 at 12:19 pm

  Reva and Ken…friend from SA.. Diane.. can you drop me a line please. Thanks

• 29 KIM // Oct 6, 2009 at 12:41 am

  Kirsty,
  Oh God. I’ve just heard the tsunami news in samoa.
  Hope everything alright.
  Plz leave me a message if you’re ok.

  KIM

• 30 Pete Geddes // Sep 30, 2009 at 7:03 am

  Calling all Sailors!

  The Geddes’s have just seen the tsunami news on the bbc website and I’m checking all is safe and well?

  Take care,

  Pete x

• 31 KIM // Sep 4, 2009 at 5:07 pm

  Dear Mr.Wilson
  I’m not sure here is the right place to ask to keep in touch with Kirsty. This is Kirsty’s one of Asian friends who are really missing her. Plz tell Kirst me and firegirl are dying to see her. If she has any chance to visit Korea while she goes on trip from NewZealand to SouthEast Asia, we are very very glad to welcome her. Hope good luck to your trip!
  Thank you.

• 32 Natalie Lovegrove // Jun 8, 2009 at 10:12 pm

  Hi David and Mary!

  Having a look at your pictures finally I gor the right website! Looks like you’ve had some amazing adventures! We’ve just got back from a week’s camping on the isle of Mull which was great we had the most amazing weather and saw lots of wildlife it reminded us of our trip with David sailing in the Sound of Mull which we thoroughly enjoyed! We have recently joined the boating ranks and invested in an inflatable canoe but I’m not sure we are fast enough to give Giselle a run for her money

  Hope you are both well and the sun is shinning!
  Love Natalie (and David)
  xxx

• 33 William Burgess // May 21, 2009 at 5:35 pm

  Hello David & Mary

  Just in case you’ve forgotten who I am, I’m Philip’s friend who BBQ’d with you in Tobermory and again visited Giselle on land at MRC when you were preparing for this voyage. Would love to keep in touch and very envious of your current location, or near location. Galapagos is on my bucket list if I live long enough!

  Look forward to hearing from you if you can find a moment to email me.

  Best regards,
  William

• 34 Gordon and Rita // May 18, 2009 at 8:59 pm

  Hope this gets through. Sounds as though you are having a great time and envy you being close to the Galapagos especially as I look out on yet another squall hitting the window.
  Love Gordon and Rita

• 35 ruth herman // May 18, 2009 at 7:11 pm

  Giselle certainly attracts some interesting wildlife! Not sure if egrets are recommending eating. Mudskipper was home to a pigeon from Portugal to Ireland. Couldn’t get rid of it so landed at Cork with it much to the amusement of local fishermen who reckoned we should have made pigeon pie!
  Dancing rays – now that’s something!
  good sailing
  Ruth & Pete

• 36 glenys // Mar 3, 2009 at 9:53 pm

  Ok ..Ok..lets try this blog thing again. I have just spent and hour(or so) roaming through your fantastic photos and getting a flavour of the fun you must be having and thinking I fancy a sopt of that fun! You both look so well!Early retirement potentially on the horizon for me but not quite yet for Alan. However without the restriction of school holidays we could start to think about a trip to join you after Ruth and Robin get married in Sept this year!! Likely to be in 2010 so we will consult the itinerary and yourselves about a suitable rendevous!
  Love to you both
  Glenys

• 37 Michael // Feb 27, 2009 at 12:39 pm

  Oops!!!… there will be some champagne too (: 0

• 38 Michael // Feb 23, 2009 at 9:16 am

  Extra Shampange for the forthcoming season!!!

  For the two imposters onboard Giselle, please pass this message to Mary and David.
  Just had hot of the press news that Council tax is Frozen fro the forcoming year. and guess what, the Old jail will stay open for the forthcoming season…

• 39 kirsty // Feb 21, 2009 at 2:24 pm

  found the videos, oops was looking in the wrong place!

• 40 kirsty // Feb 21, 2009 at 1:50 pm

  Just been looking at photos of Jane and alisdairs visit and had a few comments that i thought you would enjoy!!! (or not!)
  pic 4: her clearly saw you coming, saw the scottish flag hanging from the mast and found the biggest scottish flag he could and tied it to the side of his boat so you would buy som coconut and friut from him!
  pic 5: should this not be titled pigeons sitting on pigeon rock??
  pic 19: this is amazing
  pic 22: cant use your normal “look for the tallest mast” technique here can you!
  Hope you having fun- i cant find the videos you have uploaded? there not with the photos taken with becca?
  xxxx

• 41 Carol & Peter Bailey // Feb 10, 2009 at 10:27 am

  Mary and David,

  We met with your sister Barbara last month in Scotland. She was sharing your plans and experiences with us as we are something similar; just a bit behind you!

  We have been sailing Bali Blue for 6-7 months each summer over the last 5 years and have fully explored the Med. We will be back on the boat in April in Crete, to meet up with the end of the current Blue Water Rally. We will then sail to Gibraltar over summer, to meet up with the start of the 2009-2011 rally, which we will be joining.

  We don’t sail as far south as New Zealand, so it looks like our paths may cross in Indonesia or thereabouts.

  Meantime, we will be perusing your blog as part of our ongoing preparation. If there are any other insights you’d be prepared to share, they’d be most welcome!

  Our experiences (on sea and land) are on our website (user=baliblue, password=sailing). It has served us well and is in the middle of an upgrade to better present some of the sailing aspects.

  We wish you fair winds and look forward to dipping ensigns somewhere along the way….

  Carol

• 42 David // Jan 13, 2009 at 9:31 pm

  Many thanks for your comment Meike, Catrin and Andre. The e-mail we have for you doesn’t seem to work. Can you send one to Rebecca for her to forward to us and then we will have your correct address. thanks David

• 43 Fam.Franz // Jan 5, 2009 at 10:10 pm

  Hello Mary, hello David,

  we send you all our best wishes for 2009.
  Hope you had a nice christmas?

  We were celebrating with the whole family at my grandparents new house (they built it last year).
  I’m not sure if I(Meike) have told you that i am living 400km from Saalfeld away. I’ve been working near Heidelberg for 1 1/2 years now. So im not often at home.

  We always enjoy looking at your photos and hope everything is going well with you?
  Take care.

  Bye for now.
  Lots of Love
  Meike, Catrin, Andre & Vitus

• 44 Janice // Dec 29, 2008 at 11:18 pm

  Hi Mary Finally getting round to contacting you again. We have joined 21st century as Santa brought us broadband so now (hopefully) I will be able to do e mail loads quicker than before. Pictures look wonderful and hope you had a lovely Christmas… great that Andrew managed out. I have new email address and I promise to start checking it more regularly!!!! Have a brilliant hogmanay… show them how to celebrate in good old scottish style! and have a brilliant 2009. Speak soon Janice x

• 45 Katrina // Dec 22, 2008 at 1:22 pm

  Hello you pair of happy wanderers. Just a quick note to say thank you (I tried sending an e-mail but it kept getting bounced back as undeliverable).

  Anyway A Big Thank you for the lovely surprise, I have huge plans for it starting off with breakfast on Christmas Morning.

  Take care and have a fantastic Christmas.

  Love

  Katrina & Stuart

• 46 David And Joyce Firth // Dec 17, 2008 at 11:14 am

  Have been following your adventures faithfully – what a riot of colour and food you’ve encountered.

  Best of luck and thanks for putting up such a well crafted blog. Really appreciated.

• 47 Katrina // Dec 14, 2008 at 11:58 am

  I can’t believe how quickly you seemed to have got across the Atlantic.

  Thoroughly enjoy reading your updates.

  Take care both of you.

  Love

  Katrina, Stuart, Mr B and all the rest of the gang.

• 48 Fam. Franz // Oct 27, 2008 at 1:07 pm

  Hello from germany!!! Hope all is going well?
  We look at your page regularly to catch up all the news.
  So take care and enjoy !! Best wishes Meike,Catrin, Andre & Vitus (the dog)

• 49 Helene et Hubert // Oct 15, 2008 at 7:21 pm

  Hello,we were together in Ribadeo.
  Our boat is a Targa “vent d’ouest”.We are very
  happy to know your trip in portugal.
  We are at home.We left our boat in Viveiro and
  will sail again next spring.
  We will follow you in your beautyful travel.
  Best wishes…..

• 50 Mary // Sep 18, 2008 at 11:01 am

  Thanks for your email Liz, I’m glad your enjoying our blog. We’re certainly having fun, and life goes on at a different pace! If Bob wants to pester me then that’s fine I expect he has been on the web to see our route and plans. Technical questions go to David though! Obviously happy for him to publish our web site. Is the Bridge on line?
  You will be glad to hear that I’ve been using the Rick Stein cookbook, we had squid last night, so I needed a step by step guide on how to prepare and cook. It was quite easy though, and not chewy! Very cheap to at 2 euros, with enough for 2 main course. Food is generally cheaper though, certainly it’s easy to eat out for next to nothing and have a very good meal, usually sea food around here.
  I thought I would have had this reply sent to you before class was back, but manana!
  Hope all went well and that there are enough numbers to make it worth while and that you all got some work done!
  During the transfer of information from house computer to laptop I have “lost” most of my email addresses, so it would be good if folk want to keep in touch if they could email me with their address, same goes for Thursday evening addresses so if you could leave then a note at class that would be great.
  Anyway best be off now, Davids mum arrives today for a few days so perhaps should tidy up!

  Mary

• 51 Liz Duncan // Sep 4, 2008 at 10:15 pm

  Hi Mary
  Enjoyed looking at the photos and catching up with your progress. It look as though you are both having fun and enjoying yourselves.
  Bob attended a meeting of the “Bridge” the local, community news sheet and was asked if he would contribute an article on your adventure!!
  No doubt he will now pester you for requests for lots of information regarding your trip so that the readers can be kept up to date with your progress. The Bridge features lots of public and human interest articles. Glad all is going well with you We will continue to monitor your progress!
  Best regards
  Liz and Bob Duncan

• 52 Janice // Jul 14, 2008 at 8:59 pm

  Hi! Finally managed to beat my technophobia and get on to your website.. . and I have managed to read all the bits and look at all the photos. Hope you are impressed!! ( I was!)Sorry I couldn’t be there for the leaving party but it looks as though you had quite a crowd.We had a drink(or two) in Costa de la Luz and toasted your safe and exciting journey. Bet you never realised how important your class was to Remant Kings… they are closing in a few weeks…missing you already!! Take care and enjoy.

• 53 Liz Black // Jul 12, 2008 at 8:09 am

  Hi, hope all is going well.
  The weather is very mixed here in “The Trossachs”
  Busy making strawberry jam – and it’s set! Doune Show was quite eventful – a cow escaped and had to be shot in Dunblane, but thankfully no-one was hurt.
  Bye for now.

• 54 Mary // Jul 10, 2008 at 12:03 pm

  Thanks Marion, we had a great day it was sad exciting and dry! Photos will be coming of the day so keep looking!

• 55 Marion Bone // Jul 6, 2008 at 12:22 pm

  I hope the launch of this epic journey went well and we wish you all the best and hope you find the sunshine.

• 56 Andy // Aug 20, 2007 at 7:44 pm

  Dude,

  I am just about to leave for St Petersburg. Taking a charter from Helsinki to St Petersburg, to Tallinn and then back to Helsinki. Actually I live in Edinburgh! Any chance of a quick phone call to pick your brains about border crossing etc. Andy – send me an email first. Thanks.

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