We have just passed the shortest day but my thoughts have recently gone back half of a year to when I was last on the water. It was a short but wonderful trip on the Solway in south west Scotland in the glorious summer of 2013. I arrived on the beach just as the sun was rising, it was shortly after 5am.
I soon had the boat at the water's edge and although there was not a breath of wind, I rigged the sail as a breeze was forecast to pick up as the day progressed.
The water temperature was 18C so the sea felt like warm tea on my bare feet compared with the chill of the dawn air. Where was I off to that required such an early start...?
