From tomorrow, Kudu will have a guest on board until Tuesday. I had decided a while ago to take a friend for a trip down the Caledonian Canal. Not because I needed help, not because I couldn’t hack it any more, but because it’s an inland leg of the trip, there’s loads of pubs (apparently) and I haven’t seen a single one of my old friends since I set off in May.

Just over two weeks ago I asked Rob Graham, a good friend, ex housemate and colleague, and co adventurer, if he would like to join me on the Caley leg. He’s just getting in to sailing himself having recently completed a competent crew weekend, so he jumped at the chance.

I thought two weeks would give me plenty of time to get to Inverness, but oh how the weather had other plans.

Since Rob had already booked his flight to Inverness, I couldn’t exactly tell him to cancel the whole thing because I’m still in coastal waters, so I’m meeting him here in Stonehaven tomorrow, which is the reason I didn’t leave this morning.

I’m not going to lie about it, I’m seriously looking forward to going for a beer with my old mate with whom I’ve shared many an adventure. We’ve snow holed in the alps, snow coffined on Ben Nevis (was supposed to be a snow hole but we couldn’t get through the wind slab), wild camped on islands, and he was crew when I made an almighty cock up with my first boat, thus parking her in a field for a month.

Do I think I’m losing anything by taking on crew for a few days? No. I’ve proven to myself what I set out to do, I’ve got this far, and when he gets off (likely before the caley) I’ve still got a long way to go. I haven’t invited him because I failed in anyway, except for maybe missing friends a little too much. Of course I’ve met a lot of great people and made new friends on my way around, but 4 months is a long time to not see somebody you haven’t known for just a few weeks or minutes. All I can say is, it’s a shame he’s not a girl.

What do the jury think?

Oh, while I’m here, and since his boss, Daniel, is a friend too, I’ll mention his company. If you’re in the legal profession and have continued professional development to contend with, check out cpdcast.com

This is a bit of a problem for the immediate future of myself and Kudu.

If you need any digital media work doing (web sites, search marketing, or bigger projects) then please get in touch. I’m located in central London and have been at the forefront of this industry for nine years.

From small web pages to promote your business, to full scale internet applications, I am capable of producing it all to market leading standards. I was, after all, the lead programmer for one of Europe’s largest digital marketing companies.

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http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ85JJSBchM

If you haven’t watched any of Dylan’s Keep turning left series before, I emplore you to do so. He’s sailing around the UK coast bit by bit in his 19 foot Mirror Offshore and documenting it all in a very well produced and edited video diary, with narration and commentry about local facts throughout.

Either follow the link above and navigate from there, or search for “Keep turning left” on Youtube.