Caxton is Sold!!

But firstly back to Sunday. 

We had a phone call in the morning from the Aston Marina crew, who we left in Northumberland on Friday.  Turns out they were in Windermere!!! Yay ... we have stalkers :)

We arranged to meet them down by the cruise boats.  As we walked down two very low flying aircraft flew up the lake - I believe they were Hercules.

It had a different snout to the normal Hercules, I bet it is a buzz flying through the mountains!

Down at the jetty there were some beautiful owls, owling around.

We met up with our buddies and went to the local church pub.

It is always good to catch up with these guys.

Later in the arvo we headed off back to the good ship with the boys assuming their positions ... 

I think the motorhome is a bit more comfy for them than the roof of the boat ... 

On the way back down the M6 we passed a couple of Airstream caravans.  They are made from aluminium and very expensive ... 

On the way back to the boat we received a text from a couple who had read the blog and were interested to having a look at the boat, with a view to buying her.  We were running late so we arranged to meet up at the boat on Monday arvo.  So, to cut a long story short, they loved the boat and she is SOLD!!! 

She will be going to a lovely new home and I am sure the new owners will enjoy her as much as we have, she is a top class boat.

We would have to say that it was a bitter-sweet moment.  We have had absolutely the best time, better than we could have ever imagined.  We did have plans to keep her longer but Elaine still won't be 100% for a while yet plus we have the motorhome now.   We are desperate to head south for some sun, so the boat would have probably sat in a marina for the most of summer, and we just couldn't see the point or justify the expense of paying marina fees etc. 

It was always a two year narrowboating-plan and we are pretty much there now.  One thing for sure though is that we do not want to return to Oz yet, so are now really looking forward to our European adventure in the motorhome.

The one thing we will miss so much are the fantastic friends we have made, especially over winter in the marina.  We are absolutely sure though that we will stay in touch for many many years to come.

Talking of these wonderful friends, this morning we farewelled Andy and Sue from NB Festina Lente, who are heading out of the marina and turning right!  They are our kind of cruising plans!  Happy cruising guys xx

We then headed off to Newark to Brownhills to pick up a TV/Reversing camera Monitor for the motorhome.  Ours has been playing up since we bought the van, the problem being that it is an obsolete model with really strange wiring connections.  Elaine's brother, Trevor, has been scouring the internet looking for one and rang the other day to say that there was one on Ebay!  Lo and behold it was at Brownhills and it was a brand new unit that was found buried in their store room!

We plugged it in and voila, it all works again!

Brownhills is the UKs biggest motorhome dealer.  It is a huge dealership and as we bought the motorhome from them we are 'Brownhills Club Members' which entitles us to stay overnight on the premises, hooked up to electric and water with the use of their swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna.  There is also a restaurant in the grounds, so we are staying here overnight.  Oh ... and its all free!

There is also a pub across the road, so we went to do some 'research' ... it was so nice we stayed for dinner!