Ahoy there Katie-Ellen and KTLN readers.

During this particular part of our great adventure I hope to show you the value of making a shopping list!

We have shipped out of the Port of Hamble for what is hoped will be a gentle cruise up the south coast of England and across to the French port of Camera - our first port of call before sailing across the Bay of Biscay for La Coruna in Spain.

We have studied three current weather forecasts for Biscay and know that it is our perfect window of opportunity.  Light winds are forecast and we have taken on extra diesel fuel for the journey in four plastic containers, (which were on our shopping list and purchased in Drimmeler), as we expect to have to use the engine on the boat for a lot of the journey.

The winds, as expected, are light and the sky clear.  We make for the famous needles on the Isle of White (see photo below), and turn to cross the channel.  We had a last look back at good old Blighty and made out into the Channel.

After sailing all day we realise that we would not make Camera that night, and instead make for the small Brittany fishing port and marina at L'Aber-Wrac'h, where we arrive at about 10pm.

We moored our boat Intention and made straight for the nearest bar (Le Cafe du Port), where after a beer or two and a meal, Mireille our host, offered to lend us her car the next morning, so that we can visit the local supermarket, to get fresh provisions for the three day sail across the Bay of Biscay.

Below: A French village church.

We sleep well, have a breakfast of coffee and croissant at Le Cafe Du Port, check the weather forecast for Biscay again, and decide to set sail on the next tide, at six that evening.  Just leaving time for a lunch of fruits de mer, followed by an assortment of good French fromage, all washed down with a bottle of local vin rouge.

We sailed for Biscay that evening and made good time.  The wind was in our favour so we cut the engine and sailed out into a beautiful sunset.

I (Barry), was on watch for the first three hours and a good wind drove us along at a respectable 6 Knots.  After handing over I slept for the next six hours until my next watch.  I woke to find my kit bag on top of me and the boat keeled over at 45 degrees.

Looking out of the small windows of my cabin I saw what I thought was rain - this was actually waves breaking over the length of the boat.  The Bay of Biscay had, as it has so many times before to other mariners, dealt us a surprise.

Andrew and I are agreed that the only way to describe the next 36 hours, is that it was as if you were sitting on a bucking bronco whilst somebody poured buckets of cold water over you.

Google Maps copyright acknowledged.

Although we were making good time, the wind was pushing us too far into the bay.  The next morning we found ourselves being pushed even closer to the Spanish mainland, (see photo below), and it was decided to start the engines to allow us to sail against the wind, and away from the coast, to get around the next peninsular and into La Coruna.

No sooner had the engine started than it spluttered to a halt.  For the next three hours, after cleaning and eventually replacing all of the filters, (that had been on our shopping list), and checking oil etc, we gave up and decided that as the wind was so good, we would tack around the next peninsular and sail into La Coruna, which was still about 10 hours sail away.

[Editor: For the non-sailors amongst you, it is possible to sail in the direction the wind is coming from, by sailing in a zig zag manner.  Every time you change direction, zig zagging, it is called a tacking.]

It was decided we would tack for 2 hours, sailing away from the coast and then head back on the opposite tack and around the peninsular.

Our yacht master Tony explained that we should keep a particularly sharp eye out as we would be entering a very busy shipping lane.  Just as we made the turn, Biscay dealt us another surprise, as the wind dropped completely.  To compound matters, a sea fog had started to build up around us reducing our vision to a few metres.  Things had rapidly spiralled out of our control.

It was decided our only option was to look at the engine again and try to get it started.  We decided that fuel starvation must be playing a part and looked at the fuel tanks and feeder pipes.  Andrew removed the inspection cover of the fuel tank and immediately found the problem.  Sea water had got into the tank.  We think it was through a breather pipe on deck.  When the boat had been heeled over, with water running across the deck, we suspect that the water had somehow got into the tank.

This is where our shopping list saved us.  By connecting the feeder pipe going into the engine, using the pieces of pipe that had been on our shopping list, we managed to get the engine to run on the clean fuel in the container - also purchased and on the shopping list.

To our relief, the engine started and we made our way gingerly through the shipping lanes with nil visibility. It was a tense time.  I was on watch.  Andrew sat with his foot steadying our makeshift fuel tank, whilst staring intently at the AIS ship positioning system, looking for any large ships that might stray into our path.

We had made the turn at around eight that evening and eventually arrived in La Coruna at six the next morning, all of us relieved and absolutely shattered.

Below: The town hall in La Coruna.

We sat on the dock at La Coruna and drank the champagne I had purchased in the little French supermarket In L'Aber-Wrac'h, thanking God to have left Biscay behind.

We could have stayed in La Coruna for a month as it is a very beautiful city, but after having the fuel tank on the boat drained and cleaned, and putting back all the wood work in the cabin we had to remove to search for the fuel lines, we left after a two day stopover.

Next stop Cascais Portugal, a three day sail in the North Atlantic, down the Spanish and Portuguese coast, passing Cabo Da Roca, the most westerly point in the Intention's travels, and our turn for home through the Straits of Gibraltar.

Love to all our friends.

Andrew & Barry