“Did you sail all the way … from Canada?” My husband, David, and I were asked that question dozens of times as we circumnavigated the Baltic Sea during the summer of 2005. As people strolled by to see our port of origin, they’d spy the maple-leaf ensign and immediately strike up a conversation. Canada is popular in the Baltic; being Canadian is a first-class calling card.

Completing the Tour of the Six Celtic Nations. Sheryl and Paul Shard continue their sailing adventures with an autumn cruise of the Brittany coast of France aboard their Southerly 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II. It was a chilly and challenging summer aboard our Southerly 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II, exploring the beautiful west coast of Norway as far as 61°N and also the Celtic nations of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales and Scotland including the Shetland and Orkney Isles.

Commissioning a new boat can be exciting, enlightening, challenging, sometimes frightening, often frustrating, but mostly a delightful experience. At least that's how it's been for Paul and me for the last few weeks as we go through the process with our new Southerly 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II, the latest variable-draft cruising boat built by Northshore Yachts in England. We took delivery of our new baby in mid-March at the Northshore Shipyard which is located on beautiful Chichester Harbour on the south coast of England.

Having spent most of my holidays in the Caribbean over the past two decades of holidays, the Adriatic was a distant destination ‘to do someday’. I knew basically nothing about the Adriatic and what it had to offer but the lure was apparent. We – Mango Yacht Charters – decided a to expand our business and add the Mediterranean to our repertoire of destinations.

“Who wants to go first?” I do, so up I step up to the controls of our 34 ft. Le Boat cabin cruiser. A few minutes earlier, my two friends and I had been eyeing the cruiser eagerly and a touch anxiously from the safety of dry land. It’s our new home for the next week.

In the interests of full disclosure, I’m not a boater. Not from lack of interest, just lack of opportunity.

Paul and I both have roots in the British Isles so this past summer we decided to spend a season sailing from England to Ireland and Scotland to visit the homeland of our grandparents and catch up with relatives still living there. And since Scotland is not that far from Norway – a 25-hour passage across the North Sea - we worked that in to our itinerary too. This story begins with our return to England last spring and Leg One of the 2011 cruise – the voyage from England to Ireland along the coast of the Celtic and Irish Seas.