Staff Pick: This is one of the news stories our staff is reading this week.

Editor's Note: Be sure to take some time to explore the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail. The Dismal Swamp Canal Trail is a former section of Virginia State Route 17, now a multi-use trail open to bicycling, walking, running/hiking, horseback riding, and boating. The north trailhead is located at 1246 Dismal Swamp Canal Trail, close to the intersection of George Washington Highway South/Business US 17 and Dominion Boulevard South/US 17 in Chesapeake, VA. The trail runs south 8.3 miles, adjacent to the Dismal Swamp Canal. The Dismal Swamp Canal Trail is designated a Virginia Treasure with the area well known for its historical significance.  

Martin Fuller and partner Stephanie discover the atmospheric Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Albemarle to Chesapeake in Virginia.

Stephanie and I had left Cape Verde on the 6 January 2020, on a blustery and wet morning almost exactly six months before arriving at Elizabeth City in North Carolina, USA, writes Martin Fuller.

For the early part of our passage, the pandemic had hardly featured at all but from the Turks and Caicos Islands northwards, restrictions began to bite; however, we were fortunate to be able to enter the USA in Miami.

We moved steadily north, reaching North Carolina almost on schedule in early June 2020. From here, we planned to take the Great Dismal Swamp route on the Intracoastal Waterway from the Albemarle Sound to Chesapeake Bay, Virginia.

We were heading towards Canada and Newfoundland on our 39ft Sadler, Starlight, on a three-year circumnavigation of the North Atlantic and had been enjoying some wonderful cruising through the Caribbean before creeping up the US east coast, keeping one step ahead of the pandemic all the way, as the US states were gradually easing their initial COVID-19 restrictions.

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