He left Southampton on 20 May and has spent more than a month weatherbound at various ports. At the time of this writing he was holed up in the small harbour of Whitehills on the Moray Firth in Scotland, only 20 miles from Rattray Head where he can turn south and head towards home.

In one period of sustained bad weather Geoff and his support team were weatherbound at Abersoch in North Wales for over three weeks. Finally on 11 July he was able to sail through Bardsley Sound and into Caernarfon Bay en route to Holyhead. On the subsequent passage to Port St Mary on the Isle of Man, Geoff sailed 68 miles in 13 hours, a record for a quadriplegic sailor. He encountered basking sharks, puffins and seals on this leg of the journey.

Sailing to the first Scottish stop of the voyage, at Port Patrick, saw his 15ft Challenger trimaran ‘Freethinker’ buffeted by heavy seas but Geoff was determined to persevere after all the time lost in Wales. ‘It was pretty scary, he said. ‘I covered 35 miles in six hours but it was certainly the hairiest sail in my boat so far.’

Subsequent longer than originally planned passages took Geoff to Campbelltown and Ardrishag at the top of the Kintyre Peninsula, then across the Crinan Canal. From Crinan, ideal conditions took him past Mull on he way to Oban. It was a cold passage from Oban to Corpach, near Fort William, where a sampling of the local whisky was required to get warm again.

Next up was Thomas Telford’s great Caledonian Canal, with 22 of its 60 mile length being man made. Geoff travelled up ‘Neptune’s Staircase’, the first ten locks on the Canal, finishing at Laggan Locks, then up another flight of locks at Fort Augustus and 22 miles across Loch Ness without sighting the monster. Geoff finally exited the Canal at the Inverness Sea Lock and was officially onto the UK East Coast and the North Sea.

Geoff Holt had originally planned to finish his voyage by mid-July but, nearing the end of last month, he was weatherbound at Whitehills. However, with the perseverance which had taken him that far and a promising forecast for improved weather this month, his return to the South Coast looks only a matter of time. Progress can be followed at www.PersonalEverest.com.