I’ve been lucky enough to travel to various bits of the world, some of which are renowned for their bugs. However, the North Carolina mosquito takes the biscuit in bug prizes. Dave and I were bitten, bleeding and flapping like mad fruit loops after a seriously mis-judged detour into a marshy area at Cape Lookout. Never again.

Mentally and physically scarred, we headed to the hills in Brevard, still in North Carolina but almost an 8 hour drive away. We were both looking really forward to the spending time with the family from Piper, a boat we met in the Bahamas this winter. The trip healed the wounds and we have had a fabulous time.

We had a full on stay including waterfall walks in the rain, experiencing Halloween on Maple Street, a day’s climbing with everyone, then Dave and Tripp did a 460’ multi pitch route plus a mass bike ride to a couple of breweries, which seem pretty common here, for someone’s birthday.

It was fun just to hang out with the family, kicking a football in the garden, playing cards and checking out town.

It’s Sunday night here and we are undecided as to whether to head back to boat world tomorrow or have another day here. There’s loads to do and see here. It’s been really relaxed and we’ve experienced some great hospitality. Thanks Piper.