A MALVERN couple have embarked on the "adventure of a lifetime" with an around-the-world voyage on their yacht.

Katy and Tony Martin finally set sail on Tam Lin, a Hallberg-Rassy sailing yacht, in July 2022 after a two-year delay due to Covid.

They have covered over 17,000 nautical miles already but former midwife and health visitor Katy, who has lived in Malvern for almost 50 years, explained that the plans following early retirement may never have been a possibility.

She said: "We often wonder what would have happened if I had decided sailing just wasn't for me after many early experiences with crippling seasickness.

"We can't quite believe now that we are actually doing this epic journey. But I am very determined, I persevered and it's all been worth it.

"We are on an adventure of a lifetime, which has become life-changing, and we are having a very unique experience.

"Deciding to be away from the UK for at least three years was a major decision, leaving family and friends, and embarking on a wholly different lifestyle - but we are having an incredible time."

Katy and Tony, then aged 58 and 48 respectively, set off to the Caribbean across the Atlantic Ocean in 2022 and then headed from St Lucia to Australia via the Caribbean Sea, Panama Canal and Pacific Ocean.

They will go back to the Caribbean through the Indian Ocean and south Atlantic before returning to England in late 2025.

Katy plans to write a book about their experiences and do charity fundraising talks for groups.

She continued: "We have visited so many incredibly unique and beautiful countries, not as tourists but as visitors living in the local environments.

"For example, taking a gift of 'cava' to remote villages in Fiji for the 'sevusevu' ceremony as part of the traditional way of asking permission from the village chief to be able to anchor in their waters.

"We have been able to go to some of the most remote places on earth, places you can only see and get to by boat.

"But ocean sailing is an extremely harsh environment and inevitably things break and equipment fails.

"We have also experienced some very challenging sailing, weather and sea states at times, particularly across the Caribbean Sea. Five-metre waves, big rolling swell and winds in excess of 50 miles an hour."