A Relative Weekend!

Elaine here !  Last Friday, we moored up at the Black Horse at Great Linford - our first night out in the big wide, world - away from our Marina at Yardley Gobion!  As mentioned in the previous entry - we met Russ and Tracy for a swift half when Russ had finished work on Friday night.  We had a nice chat and drink - it is a lovely pub - loads of atmosphere !  Mind you, it is a bit wobbly - or maybe that we just our 'narrowboat heads (that was actually the first time we had had the head wobble)!

On Saturday, we took the dogs for a walk up to Giffard Park and then across the bridge to Great Linford Park - opposite where we were moored.  What a brilliant park - loads of lovely history !  We walked back over the Railway walk and back to the boat - where we cleaned up as my sister and her hubbie were coming to visit from Kent !

At about 6 pm my Sister and my Brother in Law arrived and after showing them around our new home, we headed to the Black Horse where we did lots of catching up over a lovely dinner !

On Sunday, they came back over to the boat and we took a little trip down to the Milton Keynes Marina - where we 'chucked a U-ey' and headed back.  We had a lovely day but I think we experienced every single weather pattern possible that day !  Poor little Sam - our Terrier cross - was still freaking out about being on the boat, so we took him off for a walk for a wee while to give him some land legs again !

We got back to the Black Horse and moored up right outside this time!  We had a quick cuppa in the pub and bid a fond adieu to Julie and Paul - what a brilliant feeling to know that it won't be years before I see them again !

Following are some pics from the day ...

Giving the dogs a walk - and also warming up with a walk !

 

We had left Paul to do it solo at that point !

 

My Sister taking a pic !

  

Paul skillfully turning the boat around !

 

 

Paul and Paul !

On Monday, we headed back to Yardley Gobion - and back to base in our little Marina for a few days.  This Saturday, we will head back towards Milton Keynes again for a catch up with Paul's family, before finally setting off on our first great journey Northward !

Last Connection with the Civilised World!

We had a strange night's sleep last night as we were going to lose our last connection with the civilised world ... our hire van had to be returned on Friday morning.  We both felt that losing access to a vehicle somehow makes you feel more vulnerable and some what stranded ... this would be my first time without a car for 40 years!

Anyway, up bright and early 8.00am! I returned the hire car to Bletchley and they kindly drove me all the way back to Yardley Gobion - excellent service!

By the time I walked back to the boat it was a case of ...'what the hell are we worried about ... this was always the plan'; Elaine felt the same.  It is spooky how we are always thinking / feeling the same thing!

Nice little Kangoo

 We decided to go for a run in the boat, as we decided there was no point in hanging around the marina, plus it was a lovely sunny day.

We kitted up the mutts in their new life jackets and headed off southwards towards Cosgrove ...
 

We trundled along at 2.1 MPH, according to the GPS, through
the glorious countryside.

 

 

We were soon going under the ornate bridge (that everyone photographs) into Cosgrove...
 

Sammy and Bombo enjoyed the ride sitting on the roof in the life ring, although Sammy still freaks out with some of the engine and general prop noises, I'm sure he relates the noises to sitting in the hold of a Jumbo Jet  for 24 hours!  Poor little boy - hopefully, he will get used to it !

 

Elaine walked for a while on the towpath, she also masterfully handled the 1 lock of the day!!



Tonight we are moored up just south of Black Horse at Great Linford, we went up there for a swift half after taking the dogs for a walk and are about to go up again for another couple, along with my brother, Russ and his wife, Tracy.

Yardley Gobion

We are still at Kingfisher marina in Yardley Gobion, the boat now all sorted and shipshape and ready for the off. We have been making use of the hire van to pick up various bits and pieces, as it has to be returned to Milton Keynes on Friday.

I think I have now mastered the electrics of the boat, although the tumble dryer constantly blows the circuit breakers on the boat and shore power, but if I disconnect the shore power it will run fine on the engine driven 240 generator!

We now have the phone, laptop and printer all sorted (after much gnashing of many sets of teeth !)

We have also purchased 2 life jackets for the dogs plus a life ring for the humans

I have also mastered lighting the fire.....but I do wonder, what is the correct etiquette for getting rid of the ash? I have been letting it cool in a metal bucket and dumping it in the trash.

We are also well rehearsed in the emptying of the toilet cassette!

I have also sorted out the cratch area as best as I can and stored various bits and pieces in the hold; we are trying to make the boat as unclutterd as possible, which is quite difficult after living in a house for so long - and especially with 5 animals !  I don't know how we would have managed on a 58ft boat!

Elaine has turned into a cooking monster....so much cooking and baking going on, no complaints from me!  I think she has missed her cooking opportunities over the past few months because she has been so busy with the house stuff.  Her dad gave her quite a few kitcheny  bits and bobs when we were up there, for baking and cooking, so she's been getting good use out of them.

As I have mentioned before, we are paid up up to the end of April on the marina, but will probably leave a bit before that, as we have got a date for some goods that are coming on the slow boat from OZ. They are being delivered to Elaine's dad in Macclesfield, so we will take a leisurely cruise up there to collect some stuff for the boat and store some stuff at his house.

We are still going up the local pub with the dogs every night for a swift half and a chat with the barstaff and locals.

I took the camera tonight a and took a few pics of the village plus the marina - the village and the scenery arouund here are just stunning!  Lastly there are couple of pics from Macclesfield from last week.

nice house

another nice house

more nice houses plus El and mutts

Very grand house

Chooks at the marina, fresh eggs, yum 

The marina

view from side hatch tonight 

Other way 

2 dogs and 2 cats william (cat) was hiding  

Macclesfield cobbled street 

Elaine outside her house 

Elaine's dad with Sammy

First Impressions ...

We've been back in the UK now for just over one week.  We have only taken the boat out once as we have been busy getting together all our bits and pieces for our extended cruising plus visiting Elaine's dad and brother in Macclesfield; whilst we were there we also sorted out our bank account and registration with a doctor - the latter was slightly tricky after a bit of an inquisition by the reception-nazi at the doctor's surgery, who wanted to know who my doctor was 30 years ago - and what their postcode was.  She wasn't at all impressed to know that the whole housing estate had been demolished years ago!

So, these are our observations of the UK so far ...

• Apart from the quack's receptionist, we have found everybody we have encountered, eg, shop assistants, hospitality staff etc to be unbelievably helpful, exceptionally friendly and humorous !

• The standard of driving is excellent, as usual !  So far we have done a few thousand kilometres and we have only witnessed one Aussie-type driver - as in, crap and dangerous !  I love driving here !!! :)

• Thirdly ... the pubs !  Our local at the moment is the Coffee Pot in Yardley Gobion where we are now on first name terms with the owners and staff.  Tonight we went up there to watch a band and how refreshing it was not to have to leave by 8 pm because all the 'young uns' are about the invade the place (ie, as in Manly, NSW !).  We reckon the average age was 50... it is just, so, so nice !  As regards pubs, we have also take the dogs into 3 of the 4 visited and they are made very welcome.

As regards other happenings, we picked up the cats from the cattery today and they are very relieved to be back with us in our new home.  They are settling in really well - however, we haven't started the engine yet !

One other exciting thing that happened in Macclesfield was that Elaine's brother gave us our new mode of alternate transport !  I (Paul) now have an 'as new' mountain bike and Elaine has a Raleigh fold-up bike - with the famous Sturmey Archer 3-speed transmission !  We've not been out on them yet - but they have been cleaned and polished and stored nicely in the cratch !

We are also getting to grips with all the new technology - we now have a Mi-fi which enables us to connect up to five different wireless devices.  So far, we have our laptop, wireless printer and new mobile phone happening!  Talk about extremes - we are going to be living a simple life - but all high tech at the same time ! 

So - all' is good aboard NB Caxton; we are really loving our new home  - we are planning to go out on our first 'solo' trip on Tuesday (after the long Easter weekend) - until then we will be making sure we are all ship-shape - and maybe do a bit of relaxing too !!!

Dogs meet snow!

Brrrr - wot is this stuff ?!

Yesterday we were up in Macclesfield, Cheshire - a beautiful spring time day - in the snow !! We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw it snowing in the morning - and as it carried on during the day, we saw it settle in the hills (Pennines); so, in the afternoon we went up to Teggs Nose Country Park to check out the snow falls with the dogs ... their first viewing of the fluffy, white stuff !

Sam in the snow !

View from Teggs nose over to Macclesfield Forest

Sammy up to his elbows in it !

Not too impressed !

Anthony, Bombo, Sam and Elaine

Paul and Elaine and the boys - dressed a bit differently to a week ago !

   

Bank Account

We left Kingfisher Marina this morning after another very restful night aboard Caxton....it's a very nice bed!
After a quick drive up the M1 and M6 and we arrived at Macclesfield, which is where Elaine's dad lives and where we are using as our address base.  We did say we wouldn't whinge about the weather but it really did change during the day - really, really cold and rainy - with snow in the forecast tomorrow ... bizarre after the 20 degrees temps last week !  Thank goodness for our Kathmandu bubble coats - they look ridiculous but they are totally warm!

Our first task was to set up a UK bank account; luckily Elaine still had an account open ... although it hadn't been used for 18 years !  We met a very nice girl in the bank who enabled us to set up our new bank account with ease - and even a few laughs !  They even let us bring the dogs into the office with us !

So - that's another box ticked - tomorrow we will tackle the doctor and the new driving licences !!

I just took the dogs for  a late night  walk around the streets of Macclesfield , its bloody freezing but they loved it, they are totally at home here.

Now off to bed to deal with our delayed jet lag - no nana naps were had today !!!

Maiden Voyage !

Well - we finally made it !!  We have been aboard NB Caxton (aka the Manly Ferry !) since Friday afternoon - here are a few pics of our first meeting with Caxton and also of our Maiden Voyage!
 

On approach - with the dogs !

The smiles say it all !



Bombo and Sam checking out their new view !



... and their new reclining chair !



... and their new bed !



Russell giving Paul instructions on how to make fire !!


On Sunday we took Caxton out on her maiden voyage.  Paul picked up his mum in the morning and brought her over to the boat and then Tracey and Russ came over - also bring goodies with them ! The first manoeuvre  of the day  involved reversing approx 100 metres and winding (chucking a u-ey for our Australian friends) I then realises that she is a bloody long boat! I managed it on the second attempt with the help of the bow thruster.  As we set off, Paul's sister rang to see if she and her hubby Mick and son, Liam could meet up with us somewhere - which they did along the way, so we had a merry crew for the maiden voyage !

We set off towards Cosgrove and then onto Bradwell in Milton Keynes ...

Captain Paul getting the feel of things !



Sam (small dog) didn't take his first trip well at all and went into full-on 'where is a wardrobe to hide in' mode ... poor little thing !  However, he got lots and lots of cuddles on the day, so he didn't do too bad!

First stop on the maiden voyage was the poo stop - well, to put more politely - to empty out the toilet cassette!
      

Preparing for emptying!

Russ was behind instructing us what to do !!

... and for my next trick - Russ was showing me what to do with the Locks !  Yikes !

All that excitement over, we stopped for a bit of lunch and then Lynne, Mick and Liam arrived ...

Gets quite full quite quickly !

Bombo took to the boat like a duck to water !! He loved it sitting on the roof - although our first purchase this week will be 2 x life vests for the dogs !

We had to wind again at Milton Keynes, and that went a lot better. 

Paul with his audience !

On the way back ... full house at the stern !

What a beauty !

Beautiful English countryside - just stunning !

 
Today, we had a relaxing day - just sorting stuff out and succumbing to our jet lag !  Tonight we achieved a long-held goal ... we took the dogs to the pub for a pint and some porkie scratchings !!  Our local at the moment is the Coffee Pot pub in Yardley Gobion - such a friendly crew in there, it was our second night there and we are on first name terms with the staff and some of the locals...bloody fantastic!

Waiting for the nod to eat the porkie scratchings

At last a nice pub and beer plus dogs welcome

Lastly any help in how to set up a Tesco home delivery with no fixed abode would be most appreciated.
o