Blog By Laura July 12

Blog from Laura Thomasson on Go Commando near Sunderland

July 12 12.01

The crew of Go Commando are a happy lot today, after covering 30miles overnight and arriving in Newcastle 6-12hours ahead of schedule.

We have had wildly variable weather over the past few days, a theme that has followed us through our entire journey in fact.

The wind doesn't seem to want to make its mind up and has continually flipped direction, building to blasting speeds (never in our favour) and then dropping to a complete lull, during which time we row our socks off trying to make the most of light/non-existent winds.

For the past week we have had the tempting forecast of northerly winds lingering around us but so far they are yet to arrive.

If we were to get strong northerly winds we could really make up for some lost ground and speed on down the remaining east coast. If, if, if.....

One thing for sure is that we are nearing the finish line, slowly but surely.

Our thoughts and conversations seem to revolve around what we are looking forward to when we get home.

I can spend a whole two-hour rowing shift dreaming of a long hot shower, crispy clean cotton sheets on a soft bed and a feast of fresh food.

In the meantime we are being kept occupied by the ever-increasing signs of civilisation, brightly lit towns and cities have replaced the natural light nights that we had got used to further north and we can see the stars for the first time in weeks due to the dark skies at night.

The RNLI lifeboats have been out to see us twice over the last few days and they always leave us with the kind reassurance that they are never far away, I would love to look into volunteering to work for the RNLI when I get home.

Our PR friend Katie Scoggins is hoping to see us in Scarborough tonight/tomorrow, I hope that we are there during daytime to see her but if not we'll be celebrating together very soon!