Is it me or is the year backwards?

The adventure, "The Great Sword Feast" occurs at the Christmas feast, but then you have either Naval raids or a trip up the length of the country to Eburacum (a journey that would take about a fortnight at good pace), neither of which seems like something to be doing at the start of Winter.

Should the Christmas Court be of 486, especially considering the Sword was recovered that year why would Merlin hold onto it for over a year before handing it over?

Is it me or is the year backwards?

The adventure, "The Great Sword Feast" occurs at the Christmas feast, but then you have either Naval raids or a trip up the length of the country to Eburacum (a journey that would take about a fortnight at good pace), neither of which seems like something to be doing at the start of Winter.

Should the Christmas Court be of 486, especially considering the Sword was recovered that year why would Merlin hold onto it for over a year before handing it over?

This is a known thing. Technically, the Great Sword Feast happens at the end of 486. However, since it forms the basis of the next year's action, Greg moved it to the start of 487. Kinda like 'do the winter phase first and then start with this scenario'.

As a quick aside, it works, IMHO, much better as Uther's Easter Court 487. Makes much more sense travelling & warmaking-wise, rather than risk the winter storms in the Channel & the North Sea. This also gets rid of the confusion.