Setting sail together on dream trip was a real voyage of discovery

Eilid Ormiston, 56, and her husband John, 55, who live near Oban, have wanted to live on a boat and sail the world since they first met more than 30 years ago but reality and family life got in the way, ...until now

I was 19 when I met John at university in Glasgow. Very early in our relationship, John told me of his passion for sailing and one summer we tried getting work on yachts on Palma.

We were unsuccessful but were left with the lingering dream that maybe one day we’d sail round Europe. That went on hold when we got married in our 20s and had our three sons, settling near Oban. We bought a little weekend cruiser and John charter trips along the west coast.

I had always hoped when the boys left home that we could finally realise our dream but life was just as hectic as I tried to juggle my job as a lecturer at West Highland College with looking after my mum, Moira, who was in her late 80s.

Then in 2017 we lost two close friends within months of each other. It stopped us in our tracks and we reevaluated everything – life was too short, we. We sat down with a bottle of wine and we began to plan our sailing adventure.

My main worry was how mum would cope without me but when I asked her how she felt about us going away for a year, she told me to go for it. We took a year’s unpaid

leave from our jobs and a colleague of mine agreed to house and cat sit.

In August 2018 we set sail from Oban, heading round the Portuguese coast to the Mediterranean. We had the occasional fall out but it was a very special time, just the two of us doing something we’d dreamed of for so long.

But reality hit five months in when mum had a small stroke. I flew home and she bounced back very quickly. I didn’t want to leave her again but she waved me off firmly in the February. We continued our journey round the Med, stopping off wherever we fancied and just enjoying a feeling of being free for the first time since our 20s. But in May, as we sailed into Barcelona, we got a call to say mum had died. Devastated, we flew home to organise her funeral.

Coming back to the boat afterwards, grief hit me like a hammer. I flew to the Azores in Portugal to stay in a beachside studio, walking the shore and trying to come to terms with the loss. I realised I owed it to her to carry on. I rejoined John and we sailed back towards home.

When I returned to work, I had so much more enthusiasm. I was promoted and now have plans to arrange a student expedition, sailing from the west coast of Scotland to Russia. Discovering my spirit of adventure in later life has made me determined to encourage others.

It’s not easy in your 50s to go for something just for you, with so many other people and things to consider, but this has been an great experience. It has helped us reaffirm our relationship, too. We see each other in a new light.