And we are off

After glorious spring weather and hours of sunshine that was sometimes too hot to sit in, the last few days before departure have been decidedly chilly and this morning we set off at 7am on a very grey day with even some rain ......


No sign of life on Barrogill (Paul & Helen's Boat)as we crept slowly past

No sign of life anywhere in the yard..Goodbye Clifton for another 6 months.....

The early departure was in order to be moored up in time for the Wedding.  We cruised very slowly to Braunston, just 3 locks but passing a lot of moored boats which reduces our speed even further..........I wish it did everyone elses!!

Managed to moor in our usual spot just short of bridge 88, out in the open with a field of sheep opposite and Braunston Church Spire in the distance.  A hasty aligning of the satellite aerial enabled us to watch mainly a good picture, providing we both stayed on the same side of the boat......

We plan to stay here for the weekend as friends Fran & Keith and Maggie are joining us at the Boat Inn for Sunday lunch.

So far the computer is behaving itself....touch wood....Navvygator ran for the whole trip with no crashes.  I have managed to set up my MIFI dongle giving me a wireless net, successfully linked to the other computer, but have not yet fathomed out how to make the signal go from one end of the boat to the other.  I usually have the dongle at the stern under the pramhood cover and get a good signal in most places, however I would like to be able to access the internet from the front of the boat when I want.......some experimentation is obviously called for.  This will not involve hanging the dongle through any of the windows.  Last year I had to resort to that and forgot to bring it in and managed to knock it off coming into moor against a high wall.......straight to the bottom of course.
Another success has been my learning how to upload a video clip to the blog via UTube.......life is just one long learning curve........
Geoff is now the proud owner of his own computer (he's frightened to touch mine in case he makes it crash)which I decided he should bring with him...whether he ever takes it out of its case will be interesting....

7.8 miles, 3 locks, 3hours 20 min

Under Starters Orders

Just in case anyone thought we had disappeared we have been busy preparing Petroc for the 2011 summer season, in between we have had a great Easter Weekend with Giles and Family in Goring Heath.

Several large shopping expeditions were undertaken including a delivery from Tesco's with all the heavy stuff...wine, beer, water etc!!

One or two items of equipment had to be replaced before departure notably the water pump...very essential.
Geoff was spared his normal start of season job of cleaning Petroc's outside as Hannah from Clifton Cruisers was hard at work trying to raise Sponsorship for a gap year so we engaged her services and she did a wonderful job.  There were still lots of other interesting little jobs to keep Geoff happy (I do like to see men working!)
I was not idle however as you can see from the short clip below.
A Woman's work is never done

Nomads

Our house has it's first guests and we have departed.  We are staying with various friends and family for another week.
Petroc was looking good when we arrived in Clifton today, so now we have a few days of getting her ready to depart next week.  Easter weekend we will be with Giles & Susannah and the grandchildren and then off cruising next week.  We hope this spell of sumer weather will hold for our departure...........

Cruising time becoming closer

Now in the midst of spring cleaning the house ready for our first holidaymakers, then waterways of UK here we come.  We have had some lovely spring weather down here in Cornwall but this has inevitably brought out the Car Park Attendants..........our local beach at Harlyn was charging £4 at the weekend...needless to say I did not pay this for a walk with Barney!!  It comes as a shock when we have our glorious beaches to walk on all through the winter and early spring.