Azores to Home,
On the 5^th of July at 11.00 I left Praia Vitoria Marina on the Island of Tercieria in the Azores. The local weather forecast was for one day of fair north-westerly winds then days of very light north or north-easters. So I decided to leave a day or two early and go north where the westerly winds blow.
During the first day the wind was fair but over night it went very light and pushed me well east of my intended track. It then went so light from 10 am to noon that I put the motor on for 2 hours. At 15.00 there was a wind shift and I edged more to the north with a strengthening breeze. 83 miles in the first day and 103 in the second, but the wind going progressively into the north.
The AIS radar detector fitted at Horta worked really well giving a warning of all ships over 1,000 tonnes one of which came within 500 metres.
On the 8^th the wind went further west and by evening I was wing on wing but the weather was deteriorating steadily and the waves got nasty. I ended up using a tiny little fourth reefed main sail in the grey overnight rain. But the 9^th dawned fine and sunny but the sea had got bigger with waves to 3 metres and lots of white water about. The wind had gone into the north again so it was just a case of keeping on keeping on with the wind just aft of the beam, to reduce the discomfort from the big sea. By night fall I was down to a well furled jib and the violent motion in the cabin put cooking out of the question. I bore off the wind a bit more and got a fair nights sleep.
At dawn on 10^th the main sail went back up and I started to try and win back some of the 15 miles I had been pushed south over night. Hard on the wind and by midnight I had got all but 5 miles back. But the wind strengthened as the pressure slowly rose and the hard fort for 10 miles was lost in no time. The Azores high was building and I had to get north ASAP. Poor old Cariad had her  starboard taffrail under water most of the day. Then as evening came on the 11^th the pressure stabilized at 1020 mb, it became overcast, the sea abated as the wind eased and backed into the north-west. I was through to the westerlies. Shipping was heavy with up to 4 threatening  me at one time. The A.I.S. makes it so much safer and easier.
The 12^th dawned overcast with a good north-west breeze and we started to get north and back on to track. The dull weather continued right through the 13^th with 106 miles in the day with little effort.
Light wind and poor visibility started as we crossed the King Auther under sea canyon where the 4,000 metre deep Atlantic Ocean rises to the 100 to 200 meter deep continental shelf known as the Sole bank, 200 miles west of Lands End.
It was thick with fishing boats. During the morning I was having a nap to be wakened by a foreign fishing boat hooter, this was not good. I am supposed to keep a good lookout, but these fishing boats have no AIS transponder so it has to be a visible watch which is very difficult in the poor visibility. I sorted this out by just dozing in my reclining seat then heaving too at 20.00 hrs  till 3.00 on the 15^th which dawned a little brighter.  Though  there were dozens of small local fishing boats out of the Scilly Isles and Cornwall mixed in with many ships, but they didn’t give me any real problems.
The 16^th was a great day made for me when I met a 3 masted square rigger under full sail 40 miles off Lands End tacked about 5 miles ahead of me. It was glorious to see the 20 or so sails all change as she went through the wind. There were 2 other large sailing ships with sails furled and motors on and lots of ships and fishing boats. As evening came on I passed Lundy Island and entered the Bristol Channel. I almost made Ilfracombe before the tide turned but not quite so it was not till 2.00 in the morning of the 17^th that I dropped anchor in King Authers North Devon port.
England again after 4 years.
I spent 9 days in Ilfracombe virtually on holiday and relaxing then it was back into the Bristol Channel to an anchorage off Sandy Point by Weston Super Mare for the night. And at 9.30 off across the channel and into Newport Uskmouth Sailing Club at 12 noon on Sunday the 27^th  July for my official return to the  point where 4 years and 1 week previously my life changing voyage began. The club put on an excellent buffet and lots of friends turned up.
Unfortunately Uskmouth SC has very few moorings and it’s quite a long drive from Ross so on the 29^th I set off for Lydney dock this time with company and it’s a good job John helped me as the starter decided to give up the ghost so I had to hand start the. The wind was a strong breeze so we just shot up the river at 10 knots after first anchoring in Newport Deeps then rounding the Welch grounds. We had to heave too twice so as not to arrive too early at the Lydney Lock gate which looked very narrow as we approach with a fare speed on so as to keep good steerage. Then we were in the lock and all went quiet with Peter Kirby and Godfrey to lake the mooring lines.
This was the real end of my voyage and poor old Cariad  my fantastic sadler 34 coastal sailing yacht is in need of a great deal of TLC after being hammered around the world.

Tony