Now that reading has become my preferred form of travel, I was absolutely captivated by A. J. "Sandy" Mackinnon's book "The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow".
Equipped with little more than cheerful optimism and a pith helmet, Mackinnon sets out in an ancient Mirror dinghy in 1998, aged 35, to "see where I got to - Gloucester near the mouth of the Severn, I thought".
Instead, he travels from the borders of North Wales to the Black Sea - 4,900 kilometres under sail, at the oars, or at the end of a tow-rope.
I found "The Unlikely Voyage" in one of my favourite op-shops, book-plated by an ericdavies421@gmail.com whom I contacted. He replied, "I've been putting bookplates in books for the last six years and leave the books somewhere during my travels. So you may find some more."
I shall certainly look out for them as I will for Mackinnon's other book, "The Well at the World's End", but not today which turned out to be a gloomy and overcast morning after a wild and rainy night and gives me the perfect excuse not to go into town.
After all, I still have enough bread and milk and Swiss cheese and onions and lots of tinned stuff in the larder, not to mention the two portions of frozen lentil soup in the freezer, and enough tea to last me a lifetime. I even still have a whole unopened case of Coke. You're reading this, Des?
Peter the Skipper had anchored in the Bay for a few days before coming upriver, and had gone to see 'Swinging Safari' at the local cinema. He compared it to 'The Castle' and said I should see it. I checked the cine-ma's website which shows it runs until Wednesday, so Wednesday it is for my first trip into the Bay since Padma left for Melbourne on the 12th.
