Birthday was plain sailing after epic trip

Anne Campion, a former nurse from South Queensferry, celebrated a 60th birthday with a difference recently after returning from a round-the-world sailing trip.

Instead of accepting presents, Mrs Campion instead asked for donations to the RNLI Lifeboat Station in South Queensferry, where she and her husband had started their epic adventure.

Mrs Campion and husband Gordon, 59, sailed the globe in their 38ft yacht after retiring, crossing ten seas, three oceans and visiting more than 40 nations in a journey that lasted two years.

Mrs Campion was born on July 25, 1950, and was brought up in Glasgow, going to the Garnethill Convent School.

Born in Cardiff on January 24, 1951, Mr Campion moved to Edinburgh at a very young age and attended Stewart's Melville College. It was in these young years that his passion for sailing began.

Their first meeting was a blind date. Mrs Campion recalls: "A mutual friend set us up after we'd both came out of relationships. We went on a blind date and we sat there hardly saying a word.

"It was like we had nothing in common, but we persevered, got married in 1973 and here we are now."

Mr and Mrs Campion's career paths couldn't have been more different. Mr Campion had a long career in engineering, working as the technical director of MacTaggart Scott at Loanhead, a job that saw him travel all over the world.

Mrs Campion trained as a nurse and began working at the Southern General in Glasgow, before moving in 1971 to Edinburgh. She worked at Chalmers Hospital and then the Western General. She then bought the first of two care homes, St Margaret's in 1979 and Bellville Lodge in 1992.

During this time the couple had two children, Rachel, 33, and Chris, 30.

Mr Campion retired in 2006 and Mrs Campion in 2008. Having moved to South Queensferry, Mr Campion's passion for sailing had been rekindled and he decided to circumnavigate Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean. Mrs Campion said: "All our friends and such were asking what was next, and for someone like Gordon, it was obvious: we had to sail around the world."

They began their journey of a lifetime in June 2008. They made for Ireland, before plotting a course for Europe. They then sailed across the Atlantic to St Lucia.

Mr and Mrs Campion had a few scares, with horrible weather a constant menace, a rowdy bar fight in Dublin and having to sail through "Pirate Alley" between Oman and Yemen. Here they were kept under constant supervision due to fears they would be attacked by pirates.

They returned in June. Mrs Campion said at the time: "I've come back with a real sense of what's important. We have come from a world where people have absolutely nothing except family."

It was this that spurred Mr and Mrs Campion to celebrate her birthday by donating 500 to the RNLI in South Queensferry.