Yes, it's us.....

We are staying with Mum in Northampton for Christmas, and decided to take a drive out to Foxton to see if we could find nb Caxton as we thought it was time we met. As we were walking along the towpath a duvet on legs accompanied by a lady carrying Christmas pressys came towards us. 'Morning' says we, 'Morning', says they. 'Wonder if that's Lesley', said Rog. We walked on a bit and came to Caxton, where we found Joe, and introduced ourselves, to be told that Lesley was helping Jill from nb Matilda Rose load up the car as they we going off to Norfolk for Christmas. Lesley (minus duvet) returned to the boat and we were kindly invited in for a look, and a very welcome cup of tea. Cassie had to be dragged on board at the bow as she took exception to the generator chugging away on the stern. Caxton is a beautiful boat, and Lesley and Joe are very happy with her. We spent a very pleasurable hour or two having a good old natter - we felt like we'd known them for ages.

And, unlike Lesley's, our camera was fully charged so here's one of me with Joe and Lesley, and Fletcher, Floyd and Cassie (Fletcher and Floyd are beautiful, and so well behaved - please can we swap ours for one of yours, Lesley). Thanks both for your hospitality, and we look forward to seeing you next summer 'on the cut'.

We also took a photo of nb Matilda Rose, but Jill and Graham had left for Norfolk by the time we dragged ourselves away so no photo of them, however, it was nice to meet them both and hopefully we will get to know them better when we next meet.

Progress report

We had a call from Beacon to ask if we could go up this week and chose the galley tiles from their supplier in Loughborough. They needed to know what size tiles we wanted so that they could determine the height of the bulkhead between the galley and the dinette. Of course we had to call in first to find out where we were going. We were amazed at how fast things were moving along - all the lining is in, the ceiling is almost finished, and all the bulkheads (apart from the galley/dinette one) are up. And very good it is looking too!! We are increasingly glad that we decided to go with maple walls and ceiling as it has a beautiful finish and, according to Ali and Neil, is a pleasure to work with. The photos show it looking a bit paler than it is, but that is just the flash on the camera - it has a honey tone. We have chosen oak for the floor and the framing around the doors, side-hatches, portholes, Houdinis etc as we didn't want it to be too bland - we think the contrast will be lovely!

Looking from the galley towards the bathroom

Bedroom/bathroom bulkhead from the bedroom

From the bedroom into the front well-deck

Bulkhead from bathroom to bedroom

The 'all important' khasi!

No more curries, chillis or kebabs for us then!

Or this will be full before we know it!

The calorifier

After we'd had a good look around we set of for the tile supplier - we chose the galley tiles, and also the bathroom tiles - unfortunately we left the camera in Beacon's workshop so we unable to take any photos of our choices, but will post them at a later date when they have been delivered. While we were having another coffee and a chat with Ali and Neil, an Aquafax delivery van arrived with the oven, hob, boat-hook and pole, freezer and various other bits and pieces. We will be going up again early in the New Year - I think it's about time that they had some time off, so we won't expect too much progress. although knowing Neil he'll be beavering away long before the rest of us have recovered from the festivities!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

On Wednesday, the man with the compressor arrived at Beacon to spray-foam the insulation.
Ali kindly took these photos for me and emailed them as we won't be able to get down again for a look until the week after next - thanks Ali.

The electrics all taped up and ready to go

Foaming in progress - looks like the blizzard that the north of England suffered on Thursday!

Finished and looking all Chritmassy!

Starting to cut back the foam to expose the battens and electrics again

The line-out is started underneath the gunwhales