Handover Day

Sorry, but there was no blog yesterday  - thanks Ade for the helpful comment. We spent a good few hours unloading the car and Phil's van. This took us to a very late lunch - we went back to Stone Bakery cafe where Christine especially enjoyed a Lobby -  a kind of beef stew that was especially delicious but left here little room for an evening meal later!

We next went to Morrisons for thew main shop to stock up our on-board cupboards. We have not bought as much from a supermarket at one time for a good many years! We also bought some more items to have later in our hotel room.

Then back to the boat and by now it was time for Phil and David to go home and we carried on sorting out stuff, emptying boxes and filling cupboards and lockers. BY 8.30 we were shattered and eventually made it back to the hotel!

With Phil and David still having a few final touches to make to the boat, we did the final batch of shopping, especially the fresh and freezer items. By the time we had visited Stone Baked cafe for a much needed strong coffee, Co-Op, a local butcher shop (for a pork pie) and Morrisons and returned top the boat to offload it was fast approaching 11 am for the scheduled trial run. As we were mid unload Andrew arrived having driven up from home this morning.

A little later than planned, as no-one was entirely full of energy this morning, we set off, up two locks and then on to the first winding hole to turn around again and back down the same to locks.

Along the way we passed the Mikron Theatre boat at Fullers Yard.

Christine and Andrew steered for the first part and Mike took over after the turn around.

At Stone Boatbuilding, Christine collected a bag of logs (or at least she cajoled someone from the chandlery to carry it for her!) and then we continued back to the mooring.

Mike to a moment to use the internet to order our boat licence now that we have reached the date on the RCD documentation. Assuming that it has worked (and the bank system claimed to have taken the money!) it was simple indeed.

David made some adjustments to the tick over - however we discovered later that it might still need a bit more fine tuning.

Just as we started the final run through the boat for Phil to explain all of the features and hidden switches, taps and cut off for water, gas and electricity, the chap from Aquafax arrived with the pins for the privacy doors and the second centre line. However, it was he who designed and installed the Mastervolt System so we took the opportunity for him to run through ll it many features. In the end, most of the time we only need the on and off switch! However, it was useful to know what the unit is capable of doing and how to access the features.

We then carried on with the rest of the boat until the moment came when Phil brought out the Acceptance Form for us to sign. It was then up to Christine to make the final payment by BACS and Alchemy was all ours!

By now it was around half past four so we only took the boat down through the next lock onto the visitor moorings alongside the small car park. This made putting some things, including the coolbox, back in the car a much easier task. We then spent some time sporting out a few more things - the satellite dish connection proved more complex than anticipated (at the time of the blog it was still not working properly!). Christine made up our bed and Mike attached the second centreline as well as the tether for the chimney cap. By now energy levels were sagging and cooking the planned meal was less attractive than a quick dash to a local chippy (or that is the plan as the blog goes to post!)

Alongside the canal at the moorings is a new Peace Pole. According to the information panel, there are 250,000 such poles across the world, all with the same wording - here in eight different languages. This particular pole was organised by the Quakers in Stone.

1.9 miles - 5 locks