Circumnavigation complete!

With the weather looking dodgy we made it back to Portsmouth in two 60 mile hops from Ramsgate via Eastbourne.  We had a slight disaster on the trip from Ramsgate to Eastbourne, we slipped our lines at dawn and must have been a bit groggy because we didn't discover until halfway through the journey that the rear hatch was not properly shut.  Normally this is not a problem but the heavy seas as we approached the straights of Dover caused great tidal waves of water to rush down the decks at frequent intervals resulting is a rather damp bed. The first job when we finally arrived through the lock at Eastbourne was to wash and dry our bedding.  Luckily the mattress was new last year and covered in a fantastic waterproof fabric which was a major bonus.

Storm Approaching near Dover

We spent two days at Sovereign Quay marina, a couple of miles from Eastbourne town centre.  A couple of wet and windy days, although the sun did make an appearance on Monday afternoon and we enjoyed a good walk along the promenade before the rain returned.

Wild seas at Eastbourne

Although, sun came out in the afternoon for a short while

The weather forecast was looking not too bad on Tuesday so we decided to push on departing the lock just after 7am to grey sky and gusty winds.  The first couple of hours was hard going as we rounded Beachy Head and past Brighton.

A bit choppy at Beachy Head

It wasn't raining and the forecast for the next few day's wasn't looking any better so the continued all the way to Portsmouth stopping at Gosport Marina, the first stop on our outbound trip six months ago.  Today we had a rest day and visited the Mary Rose Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, this was an excellent outing as we both remember the raising of the Mary Rose from our school days (1982).

Tomorrow we'll travel the short distance down Portsmouth Harbour to our home marina and begin the task of cleaning Bathia and packing up.

It's been a fantastic six months, we can't believe its almost over.  It'll feel strange not to study the Met Office inshore waters forecast and plan our next port of call...well not for a little while anyway.

I'll update the route and distance table pages and any other thoughts over the weekend once I'm back on home broadband.