Preparing to Depart

 We are aiming to set out on a season's cruising tomorrow morning, meeting up with Andrew in the evening. But first there are some final preparations.

We left home yesterday just after mid day and were at the marina by 2.30. We unloaded and sorted but not much beyond that. If was good that we now are able to bet to the boat with sufficient time to take the first evening at a leisurely pace, despite Mike having a Zoom meeting for most of the morning.

Today had a cool start (overnight temperatures are still closer to zero than comfortable!) Despite that it was bright and sunny, a real encouragement to get a move on! First came a little bit of admin and then Mike made a start on using his latest 'toy' We have always been a bit lax about polishing the cabin sides but had a go when we washed the boat at the end of the shakedown cruise. As we were rather disappointed at out ability to raise even a glimmer of a shine, we took the opportunity back home to order a power car polisher. It turned out to be quite a 'beast' but has enabled us to make a very much better polish. Still takes quite a bit of time and Mike had only finished one side by lunch time. Meanwhile, Christine had been into town for a big larder stock up.

After lunch she returned to town to track down the items she failed to find at Morrisons. Mike however returned to his new toy. Usually we have to take the boat out of its mooring and turn around in  order to access the second side (and then back again afterwards). However, the boat that moors next to us is out at the moment so we were able just to push across without even turning the engine on.

When the polishing was done, the next task was to lay some matting on the bow well deck - we bought it about a year ago but have not had time to use it so far. Not really a major task but the limited space and human stiffness made it more so.

Christine had ordered some kindling - we brought up suitable off cuts of wood last time but last night we exhausted our previous stock of sticks. So, Mike the Hatchetman was tasked with turning the off cuts into something that a firelighter could ignite!

When Christine returned she reported that the car had shown a tyre pressure warning so the final task for the day for Mike was to go to the nearest filling station and check them out. Should have been simple but as soon as he reached the marina exit he joined a queue of cars with a couple of police motorcycle riders at with umpteen blue flashing lights. Transpired that a very heavy load carrying a transformer for a new substation was expected but was having difficulties getting under the nearby motorway bridge.

Eventually it arrived - it was indeed very large. As well as the driver for each tractor (front and back) there was also one on each of the sets of wheels. It was so large that we were too close to get a recent picture just of the payload itself. (see also here)

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