A Change of Plans

We were due to spend this winter bunkered down in Montenegro. But when the UK recently added the country to its COVID travel red list, it meant that we were facing the possibility of yet more months away from friends and family. Having spent most of the past two years unable to travel “home” we knew it was time to change tack.

After days of discussion, thinking and research, we came up with a new plan. We would leave Long Summer on the hard in northern Greece and spend the winter in the UK. Now, to sail the length of the Adriatic in less than two weeks and prepare for an international move in less than a month!

The first leg of our journey would be from Venice to the island of Hvar, Croatia. A 48 hour passage. We waited for the perfect weather window, but two days before departure whilst testing our engines, one of the throttle controls broke. This was not good. Without it we would be going nowhere, but our schedule was already tight and we could not afford to spend any more time in the Schengen Zone. Aligning weather forecasts, Visa requirements and COVID travel restrictions is no easy feat.

However, as luck would have it, the very throttle box we needed to replace is designed and made in Venice. We were in the right place! Just 24 hours later we had a wonderful engineer on site fitting the last known parts available in the city of our outdated throttles. And by lunchtime the next day we were checked out of Italy and on our way!

The passage to Croatia was smooth and uneventful, and our last-minute throttle replacement gave us no hiccups at all. The gods were on our side to help execute this plan! Step one, done.