A ship in a harbour is safe…

Saturday 30 December 2023


“A ship in a harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for”



I write this as Normandie, our Brittany Ferries ship, sets sail from Portsmouth to Caen. The forecast isn’t great, wet and windy, but it’s Day 1 of our trip so nothing is going to put a damper on that!


When we set off on our last big road trip in 2013 it all felt a bit scarier. We’d both left good jobs, downsized to clear the mortgage, and sold the car and motorbike. Oh and leaving our uni aged sons to fend for themselves for 8 months - what could possibly go wrong?!


We had an amazing time driving 14,000 miles through Europe as far as Greece and Turkey, and the lads survived fine without us! So if anyone is contemplating doing something similar at any time we’d say …. just do it! Push yourself slightly out of your comfort zone.


“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”