Thursday 2nd July day 6

The last 24 hours have been... well... fog.

Just fog.

No dramatic whale encounters, no dolphins racing alongside the boat, no puffins dropping in to say hello.

Just endless grey.

Well... almost nothing happened.

There is one rather sad news update...

Wally has gone.

For those of you following Wally's story, he was the piece of seaweed that wrapped itself around one of our oars a few days ago and became an honorary member of the crew. He survived countless miles, several whale encounters and more rowing strokes than I care to count.

Sadly, at some point during the night, Wally finally let go.

Fair winds, Wally... you served us well.

With very little else happening outside the boat, I thought I'd give you an insight into what a typical 24 hours actually looks like on board Penny B.

At 9am, I come off the oars and climb into the stern cabin. First job is boiling water for breakfast—which, more often than not, is something that bears absolutely no resemblance to breakfast. This morning it was macaroni cheese with a generous helping of Tabasco sauce!

While that's cooking, I strip off my foul weather gear, doing my best to dry it before climbing into the cabin. That's easier said than done. There hasn't actually been much rain, but the fog has been relentless, so everything is permanently damp.

Then it's time to switch on the Starlink (more on that another day), download the latest weather information, update our route, send off photos and videos, write this blog and generally make sure the outside world knows we're still alive.

By around 10am, breakfast is eaten and I climb into my sleeping bag for what sleep I can get.

At 11:45am, the alarm goes off.

This is probably the hardest alarm of the day.

Getting out of a lovely warm sleeping bag into a cold, damp cabin knowing you then have to wrestle yourself into layer after layer of clothing isn't exactly appealing. Base layers, mid-layers, outer layers, hat, gloves, buoyancy aid... by the time you're finally dressed you're almost ready to take it all off again!

Then it's three hours on the oars.

Back off at 3pm, and it's time for what I call "self and boat admin."

Brush my teeth.

Wash as best I can.

Wash up mugs and bowls.

Tidy the cabin.

Deal with any little jobs that have appeared during the shift.

Keeping clean out here is incredibly important. Salt left on your skin can quickly cause sores, and once they become infected they can become a real problem. So although it can be tempting to crawl straight into bed, taking those extra few minutes to wash and dry yourself properly really pays off.

By 4pm, I'm back in bed.

At 5:45pm, the alarm goes again.

Another three-hour rowing shift.

Off at 9pm, a bit more food, another quick tidy up and back into bed by around 9:30pm.

Then comes my favourite part of the day.

At 11:30pm, Gordon Ramsay's Dangerous Kitchen opens for business!

Paul and I spend half an hour together on deck while I boil water for coffee and soup ready for my night shift. We catch up on the day, put the world to rights and usually end up making one of our daft little videos that has us both laughing far more than it probably should.

Then it's another three hours on the oars before diving back into the sleeping bag around 3am.

The alarm goes again at 5:45am, and by 6am I'm back rowing until 9am...

...and then it all starts again.

It's a simple routine.

Hard.

Repetitive.

Occasionally exhausting.

But somehow incredibly satisfying.

Now if only the fog would lift and let us see where we're going!

---

Dawn

“Together Paul and I are rowing home — the long way round.”

Hometown Row

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