Day 115, Tuesday 18th September 2018,the lull before Helene and Ali arrive……..

A warm, close day… the occasional shower and a general greyness…. all the forecasts predicting strong winds as the storm passes through the Scottish lowlands. On this evening’s BBC Scottish local news…. the broadcast came from one of the three bridges… the new one that carries the motorway. Strong winds up to 70 mph are predicted, the bridges might be closed, teams are standing by to clear fallen trees etc etc. We will see.

Today Mike and Christine went into Edinburgh for the second time…. this time to join the tour to the Royal Yacht Britannia…. which is now based  in the Port of Leith.

Christine with a sailor friend and the Royal Yacht Britannia in the background.

Christine and Mike having lunch on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Christine on Poli Poli with her two souvenirs from the Royal Yacht Britannia …note the Corgi.

We remained in or near the boat…. there are approximately 500 n.miles to go until we are home in Eastbourne on Sunday 14th October. Our objective is to complete the Circumnavigation safely and without any mechanical problems.

There seems to be a good team of marine engineers on site here at the marina…. so I am having the engine serviced and checked over…. after all it has done over 2,000 n.miles in three months. Other checks are also taking place… the electronics, the freshwater main pump and other small items. We want to complete on time…. and as the issue over the final weeks seems to be one of bad weather…. where the boat will be under pressure in poor conditions…. everything needs to be checked and working properly as we set off on the last leg of our journey.

So we have been engaged with the engineers most of the day… apart from a nice lunch at “Down The Hatch” and a walk into South Queensferry to the Co-Op and back. The heavy rain came about 7pm and the winds are now blowing.

Each day a number of good folk post messages to us here on Poli Poli on the blog. All are very welcome and its a good feeling for us to know that our friends, family and even strangers are following our journey around Britain.

So today James, our nephew in Cambridgeshire….. discovers through the blog that he has a birthday on the same day as a newly discovered 2nd Cousin….. Emma from Madrid in Spain. So belated birthday wishes to James.