Oh, the shame of it!……

We left Pillings at about 10 o’clock yesterday morning.  The sun was shining and it was very windy, but we were well wrapped up so we didn’t feel the cold too much.  We had soon passed Loughborough on our way to meet up with Karen and Ian on nb Serenity, and had planned to stop somewhere before the hitting the Trent..  At one stage we were being chased, and then passed, by a canoe!  They were going faster than us, so what could we do but slow up a bit more, pull over a bit and let them past – but, oh the shame of it!!

Being chased

And overtaken!

We were so glad to be on the move again we decided to press on as the sun was still out.  The Trent had breaking waves, but the sun was still out, and it was no windier than parts of the Soar had been.  We were soon through Sawley Lock and heading towards Shardlow although we planned to stop above Derwent mouth Lock and then carry on to Shardlow today.  But we were in for a surprise – on texting Serenity to let them know where we were, we discovered that they were also moored there.  They came and helped us through the lock, and we went on board for a welcome cuppa.  So ‘the ‘twins’ are back together again for the summer.  This morning, we worked our first wide lock together, the first of many, I’m sure, considering that we will be doing the Kennet and Avon!  Although we spent a week together last September, all the locks were narrow ones.

After getting Karen sorted with her blog  we travelled a couple of hours up the Trent & Mersey canal, and are now moored above Weston Lock. Will probably move on to Willington tomorrow as we will be in need of the services and some top up shopping by then.

Back on board….

Sunset over Pillings Lock Marina on Monday evening

We moved back on board last Friday, and spent the weekend washing and polishing the boat in preparation for leaving for our summer cruise down to the Kennett and Avon and Bristol.  We have also turned out all the cupboards and got rid of a lot of stuff that we thought we couldn’t live without, but haven’t needed since we moved on board last June.  We have also had a duvet chucking out session as we bought a new one on Monday – the old winter one wasn’t warm enough. 

We made a quick trip back to Mum’s for a couple of nights as Rog had a follow-up appointment at the hospital.  What a total waste of time – the consultant didn’t seem interested in the fact that his toe is still very painful and still obviously infected, and also in the fact that he now has another sore on the outside of his foot – just shrugged and said that it was probably caused by a small embolus that was loosened when he had the angioplasty.  The toe and the sore will heal in their own good time, he says, within 2-4 months!  So Rog just has to grin and bear it for the moment!

We are now all set to start our journey on Sunday – the marina bill is paid, the tanks full of diesel, and all the washing done!  All that has to be done now is to return the hire car tomorrow, fill the water tank and empty the loo cassettes on Sunday morning and we will be off, meeting up with Karen and Ian on nb Serenity at either Sawley or Shardlow on Monday or Tuesday. 

Can’t wait!!!!

Before and after….

The dinette alterations have now been completed..

Before

and after

Although it has visually cut down the size of the ‘living areas’ of the boat , we have actually now got an extra nine inches on the saloon (and you girls out there will know how important those few extra inches are!).  The back of the new bench is removable, and we have a frame which fits onto the end when it is to be made into a bed which brings it back to the original 6ft 6in size, which meant that we didn’t have to have new cushions made.  We have also had the floor between the benches raised a few inches so my feet aren’t dangling in thin air.  And with the bigger table it will be a lot easier to feed 4 people without having to drag extra chairs out of the cupboard (where they are always buried under everything else!)

All things being equal, we are planning to move back onto the boat tomorrow.

Caxton inspection….

Needing a canal-arac fix, we dropped Mum off at her friend’s house in Daventry and continued on to Braunston to catch up with Lesley and Joe to inspect nb Caxton’s bow stretch.  We have never actually met ‘on the cut’, we always seem to be travelling in different areas, but have kept up with each others’ blog since the first days of our respective builds, finding that we had a lot in common in the way we had designed our boats, and in our thinking on various other aspects of the boating life.  Both our boats are our respective builders ‘No 9’.  We travelled to Foxton by car to meet up with them in December 2008 and have seen them once since at Crick last year.  Unable to contact them by phone (no Vodaphone coverage at Braunston!) we went on the off chance that they would be there.  After hammering on the door of their caravan parked in the marina car park, we wandered down to Dave Thomas’s workshop to find Joe hard at work doing something noisy on the roof of the boat, and Lesley away with the dogs somewhere.  She soon returned, however, and gave us the guided tour of their new pat-y-o!  A good size hold for all the coal and wood that I know they hate keeping on the roof, and for all the other accumulated stuff that they have no room for in the boat.  And, to top it all, a huge 9ft ish long well deck to stretch out on with a gin and tonic (or 4!) after a long hard days’ boating!  Dave Thomas and his staff have done a great job, and will certainly be top of our shortlist if we ever need any steelwork done. We repaired to the Gongoozlers Rest for an early lunch for us and a cuppa for Lesley, and had a good old natter to catch up, and left Joe working!  The Caxton crew plan to do the Fens this summer, so we will probably not see them again for a while.  Have a lovely summer, both, and hopefully we will catch up and be able to do some cruising together sometime in the future.

We also bought a new Nicks and a new Pearson's in preparation for our summer cruise down the Kennet and Avon, and also a new First Mate guide which we found at the chandlers at Wilton on our way back. 

Windsong’s dinette alteration is finished, the few little snags that we had waiting for Neil to sort have been sorted, and Sam from Foxton Boat Services planned to fix our diesel leak from the fuel filter today. We plan to move back sometime late next week, but are waiting for a follow-up appointment for Rog at the hospital after his angioplasty op, before we actually decide what day.  We will be going up on Monday however, to take some of our accumulated junk back and to start a spring clean, as you could grow spuds in the muck after the winter.

We are now champing at the bit to be off on our adventures again, but will have to wait a few weeks until the stoppages finish, and Karen and Ian on nb Serenity are ready to move.  We also need an engine service before we leave, but we should be away before the end of March.

Introducing…..

Elizabeth Poppy Horan – a few days old, and with her eyes open!

We are pleased to announce…….

The safe arrival of our third granddaughter.  She arrived at 0105 this morning, 9th February 2010.  As yet, no name has been decided on as nothing seems ‘right’ at the moment, but I’m sure she won’t be unnamed for very long!  She weighed in at 8lbs 8 and a half oz, and has a magnificent pair of lungs!  Mum and baby are both well, and already home from hospital.

Baby Horan

Florence and Milly are well pleased with their little sister

Still waiting…..

I have been at Emma’s 10 days now, awaiting the arrival of grandchild No 3, and we are still waiting!  4 days overdue now – we are thinking that a nice hot curry might be in order, but Emma’s not keen as she says it will not shift the baby,  just give her heartburn!!  Watch this space!

Rog has been having some problems with an infected big toe on his right foot, which wouldn’t heal.  5 visits to the doctor, and 5 lots of antibiotics later he was finally referred to the Northampton hospital.  To cut a long story short, he has a narrowed artery in his groin and needs angioplasty to widen it.  He goes for his pre-op assessment next Wednesday, and is booked in to have the op at the Day Surgery Clinic on Feb 18th.  We are very pleased at how quick it as been, compared with some.  If  you have been reading nb Hadar’s blog, you’ll know that Keith is in considerable pain and is waiting for a date to go into hospital for an op.  Hope it all happens soon, Keith.

So, hopefully our trip down to the Kennet and Avon with Karen and Ian on nb Serenity will go ahead as planned, leaving sometime in late March.

The progress has been slow on the dinette alterations, due to the weather, but it should be finished soon, so by the time I get back from Emma’s we should be moving back aboard. Can’t wait!!!