We've gone back inland .... just for a while!

We spent last night at Chatham Maritime Marina, which was OK but certainly not value for money. It was slightly disappointing that a historic dock was full of big white modern boats. We hoped on this trip to find somebody that might be able to shed some light on the history of our boat and expected Chatham to be a good start. Sadly, it is little more than a pleasure palace for 10 bob millionaires, with one or two exceptions. This morning we met a couple who were very complimentary about the boat and seemed to know quite a lot about naval pinnaces. They gave us a good contact for a chap who owns a steel pinnace not dissimilar to ours, we have emailed him with our details, who knows he might be able to shed some light on her origins! So if Chatham provides us with a valuable contact and some more information it will have been worth it. At every stop we are asked "what is she?" If we only knew ourselves.....
Today we left Chatham Marina and headed up river to Medway Bridge Marina - some difference I might say! The trip was interesting to say the least. We passed all types of vessels including a lot of military types. We even passed a submarine would you believe?
We arrived at what we thought to be the start of the marina and began looking for berth 42 and 43, we couldn't see a single number on any of the pontoons, further on we went until we reached the end and decided we had go in! Then we started losing water - again!! Back out we went and Martyn radioed through for directions. We had passed the mooring way back at the beginning... No worries at least we knew where to go now. We found the spot and began to moor up, it was quite a struggle, the tide seem to move this way and that and the wind well.... Eventually we got moored up and went to pay our rent for the evening. This place is something else, houseboats, gym palaces, wooden boats and not a sail in sight! Don't get me wrong sailing boats look very pretty out on the water but it really is a game of dodgems when they are tacking all over the place and you have no clue where they are heading for. I am also secretly jealous that it costs them virtually nothing in fuel to have their fun on the water. The disappointing thing is that we have been met with mainly negative responses from the vast majority of the sailing fraternity, I really hope this changes further round the coast. You can be the only two boats on the horizon out at sea, you give them a wave and receive nothing but a blank look, it leaves you feeling a lttle dejected! Not all are the same I hasten to add although it is more often the case than not unfortunately. At the end of the day we are all enjoying this beautiful water, and it is every persons right to do so. We should have respect for the people on it and the things that live within it. So ends my sermon!
At Medway Bridge Marina we have discovered the best chandlers in the world - it has a bar in it. £2.50 for a large glass of wine - that actually means full to the brim of the glass - heaven. Sadly, I could only manage two before we had to come back, it's quite a long walk on a small pontoon! It was a very pleasant afternoon overall. We have booked in for two days so a good lie in tomorrow will be gratefully received!

Crossing the Thames...

We had a lovely evening last night, after we managed to get the access code for the gate again. Martyn decided to wash his shorts, forgetting that the piece of paper with the gate code on it was still in his his pocket. We found the soggy mess after spending 10 minutes searching the boat for it!! Anyway, we had a drink in the marina bar and one (maybe two) in the Creeksea Ferry Inn and reminisced about previous visits to Wallasea. We retired to the boat to open the bottle of champagne that Martyn had been given as a leaving present from work - it was very nice - and sat on the roof of the boat to watch the sun go down. We got talking to our neighbours who just happened to be the people who run the ferry and the seal watching trips. They live at Wallasea full time on their boat, which they are in the process of renovating and are an amazingly generous couple. We were offered a lift to Burnham for supplies, fresh crab, milk... they couldn't do enough for us. If I knew how to dress a crab I might have been tempted... They are the sort of couple who renew your faith in mankind. They live on the sea, catch their food from it, make a living from it and have a huge amount of respect for it. What more can you want? He also had a friend living on a narrow boat in Hebden Bridge, it really is a very small world!
As for today - the Captain made me get up at 6.30am - slave driver - for our trip across to the Medway. I was very tired, thought I was supposed to be on holiday? That being said it proved to be a very good move. Whilst enjoying a breakfast of earl grey tea and chocolate, we caught the ebb of the tide which took us back out to sea and we made great progress. I saw a seal with her pups on the beach, shame I didn't have a bigger lens for my camera, I took a picture with a dot on it! The sun was shining and everything was great..... Then it descended, the big dark cloud, followed by the rain. Ooh my god, what do we do? We couldn't see a thing apart from the Thames sailing barge, tacking perilously close to us. Do we turn back or continue? It was sunny behind us but the course we had plotted looked grim. We decided to continue. It was quite scary, visibility was virtually nil. I was on lookout for boat traffic whilst Martyn tried to spot the buoys we needed to keep us on course. This foul weather continued right up until we reached the last buoy along the coast and just before we began to cross the Thames to pick up the Medway channel. You would have thought you had been transported in time! The sun came out, the sea changed from a muddy brown to a deep green again. Thoughts of Hallelujah came to mind. I was reminded of a similar moment on a trip to Kelso scooter rally with Paddy, we were all running out of petrol in the middle of the night and finally came down a hill with a petrol station all lit up at the bottom!!!
We were quite nervous about crossing the Thames, it's so large and the ships are bigger than anything we have encountered before. We needn't have worried though, there were only about three or four ships in the area and Martyn took us safely through them. We followed the channel into the Medway alongside a huge ship. It was eventually met by tugs boats who escorted it in to Port. It was an impressive sight!
The Medway is very interesting, full of boats of all ages and size. The further south we get the more variety of boats we seem to see. Tonight we are staying in the Chatham Maritime Marina - we would stay longer but at £42 per night, and being unemployed, we can't really afford to so we are looking for somewhere a little cheaper for a couple of nights. The wind is really blowing now and is expected to do so for a few days so we will stay on the Medway for now and see what adventures can find here!

Wallasea Island

We left Brightlingsea this morning around 8am to head for Wallasea Island. Wallasea island is a very special place for us, again the connection being scooters. It sits on the River Crouch and is surrounded by small creeks. It's a place we would probably never of found if it hadn't been for a scared petrol attendant and a police escort! Way back in the depths of time - probably around 1997. Myself, Martyn and our Friend Tim set off for Southend Scooter rally. I can only hope we had set off around teatime on the Friday as we found ourselves on the outskirts of Southend in a petrol station around midnight. We hadn't booked a B&B we had just taken some camping gear with the intention of finding a campsite. Considering the time neither option looked good! Tim suggested sleeping around the back of the petrol station but one look on the attendants face told us it wouldn't be our wisest move. Then we noticed him on the phone, looking at us in terror - oh no he's calling the police! I have no idea why - Three people on scooters wearing pilot jackets, combat boots and Dr Martins - what's to be scared of? Martyn thought quickly and decided to try and be as nice as possible to the attendant and ask if there was a campsite nearby. Just as he did so the police turned up! He asked our intentions and advised us that he would escort us to the nearest campsite. So off we went, with a a police escort, out of town, into the darkness of the Essex countryside. It was so dark and the corners were heavy going, we did wonder if we would ever been seen again! Once we stopped he pointed into the darkness beyond a gate. "Camp up there and pay in the morning - I'll be ringing them to check you have done!" Glad to be still alive we put up the tent - a three man tent with three in it and all the riding gear - very cosy! We shared the four cans of beer we had brought with us and tried to get some sleep. The noises in the night were very unnerving, strange squawk's and rustling noises, we wondered were on earth we could be. We woke early and stuck our heads out of the tent and were met by an amazing scene. There we were, in the middle of a field with a creek running through it. There were swans, moorhens, grebe. All manner of wildlife - we had been escorted to Wallasea Island. We packed up and paid. We were told that the policeman had rung up just to check....!
That was the start a new yearly routine. We began to take our main holiday at the end of August starting with the Isle of Wight scooter rally and ending with Mersea Island. Brighton was one of the stop off points in between and Wallasea became the other. We introduced our 'Uncle Tubbs' to the place, we met him at Brighton and he decided to join us there, a great night in the local pub cemented our friendship. The following year on the Isle of Wight we met Jeannie and Dunfy, they also decided to follow us there and another long standing friendship began. I can't forget our friends from the early days though - mainly Tim and Paddy - we had some great times at Wallasea, it really is a very special place and I am so pleased to be here with my home.
The trip across from Brightlingsea was great, although we did touch the bottom leaving the harbour and nearly ground again about 5 miles out. Can you believe the sea is so shallow so far out? I am an avid depth watcher, to the extent of being a pain to be honest, so I was glad to be out at sea or so I thought!!
We sit overlooking Burnham Upon Crouch on the same pontoon as the houseboats. There are a lot of houseboats here too. It's great to see some variety after mainly seeing sailing Yachts. We feel as though we are among friends again. Tomorrow we will cross the Thames and enter the Medway, I shall let you know how that goes!

Brightlingsea.... a world of it's own

Today was a good day, a very good day! After a disappointing and expensive stopover in a marina near Harwich we set off today hoping for better, we weren't disappointed! We had fabulous blue skies and virtually no wind. We maintained approx 8knots all the way round and although we encountered lots of yachts were now more prepared for it. We were particularly excited about visiting this place as it is right next to one of our favourite scooter rally sites - Mersea Island. We have many great memories from Mersea and have formed many of our most important relationships with great friends there. To visit this area by boat is probably one of the things I have dreamed about for some time.
We left Harwich at approx 8am, amongst the ferries and the sailing boats. We followed two Dutch sailing boats out - I wondered if they were on their way home? If so I hope they have a safe trip.
We followed our course around the coast passing Clacton and picked up the channel for Brightlingsea. It was amazing, boats just seemed to appear from everywhere! Every possible type, from sailing yachts to motor yachts and the historic Smack boats. There were water skiers, jets skiers, canoeists all enjoying the water. The atmosphere was electric. It did make it a little hard to concentrate on radioing the Harbour Master to find out where we needed to go however. That being said we got through really easily and managed to get a great mooring no problem. We have the best seats in the house, right at the entrance to the Harbour, it's our turn to be spectators! Today there has never been a dull moment, we have watched various different people on various different small motor vessels being towed back in from sea, watched the small sailing yachts tacking through the harbour barely missing each other - a few not quite moving across in time and catching their heads on the boom! As the vistor pontoons are not linked to land we have been across on the water taxi for provisions and a quick beer at the local hostelry - we were thirsty! Followed by more time sat watching the boats come home to port for the evening. This is one of Englands secret gems, if I can i'll definitely come back. It's been a fabulous day..................

It's all a bit choppy!

Today was supposed to be a nice 6 hour cruise round to Harwich....... It started out lovely, we said goodbye to Lowestoft, we have quite enjoyed being here. There is such a variety of boats passing through there's always something to see. We had originally intended to stop at Southwold but decided to push on a bit as we had stayed for two days in Lowestoft. We expected a relatively calm, easy run. Martyn planned the best time to go in order to gain some benefit from the tide. The first two hours were great, we were doing over 8 knots and the sea was lovely. One thing I did notice though was that the water had changed from the lovely green colour further up the coast to a muddy sandy colour - maybe a reflection of what was to come. The sea started to become slightly more choppy and it got a bit colder. We passed a power station that was being overlooked by a very imposing ship that said GUARD on it. As we progressed the sea continued to become worse, we heard a met office forecast broadcast over the radio - force 3-4 sometimes 2 or 5........ There was an enormous clatter from the under the kitchen sink. I looked and saw a pool of blue liquid pouring out of the cupboard. Upon opening the cupboard I discovered all our pans sitting in a pool of blue glupey liquid - fabric softener! I quickly moved all the other cleaning products from the cupboard to a more secure area, but it was too late for the pans!! Thus continued approx 5 hours of Martyn trying to take us safely through the waves and the ever present crab pots and me running round like a mad woman trying to hold things in place or pick up broken glasses etc. Luckily I had stowed the champagne (our leaving presents) on the bed....... It was actually quite good fun, just hard work and it took so much longer than we anticipated! Elephant Daze had a ball! This wasn't the end of it. The sailing boats were out in force, it was the perfect weather for them. They also decided that they were all coming into the same marina as us at exactly the same time so Martyn really had his hands full making sure we didn't get in their way! It's a shame that we didn't get as good a reception at this marina as the last one, we were received with a great deal of warmth at Lowestoft, the same can't really be said for here unfortunately.

I recall a conversation with the nice chap who supplied us with the diesel yesterday. I commented on how good the weather was and he said it was nice for motor boating but not for sailing. I replied with the comment "What's good for one is not always good for other" He also said that the weather was due to be good over the weekend - good for one but not necessarily good for the other......

Lowestoft - time for a rest!

We thought we would have a day in port today, actually we decided that yesterday after the epic 10 hour journey! Elephant Daze is not the quietest of boats when cruising and it's actually quite difficult to hold a conversation on route. It's also quite difficult to do anything due to the movement, although I have mastered the art of chopping salad without losing a finger! Making coffee still needs some work.

We have been for diesel at the neighbouring marina - yes the chap that Martyn spoke to yesterday on the very same diesel quay. He was quite polite and friendly and didn't treat us as the complete buffoons we made ourselves out to be yesterday. We were very nervous about entering this marina for a couple of reasons, firstly, yesterdays shenanigans and secondly we had been told that the marina was difficult for access and full of extremely expensive sailing boats. Martyn radioed the Harbour Master for permission to move within the Port and we were off. Upon entering the marina we saw row upon row of posh sailing boats, I think they were racing boats. The wind got up just as we got in there but Martyn held her steady, then around the corner came a sailing boat with a grim faced owner at the helm! We managed to get over in time to miss it and Martyn made a perfect landing on the fuel quay - phew! As we were preparing to leave we heard a conversation over the radio that made us smile. Apparently the owner of the vessel we encountered had left the marina without the permission of the Harbour Master and was getting a right royal telling off! At least it wasn't us for a change - the funny thing was that the marina entrance has lights to tell you if you can leave or enter and the Harbour Master had accidentally put them to red after granting us permission to leave. We had to radio through to double check for clearance and a very apologetic Harbour Master changed the lights to green. Little things, but they make you realise that sometimes other people make mistakes too!

Following lunch at The harbour we are now back on board and Martyn is having a well earned snooze - it's a hard life this unemployment thing!

We will be back out to sea tomorrow - trying to avoid the ferries! I will let you know how that adventure pans out.

Lost in Port.......

Yesterday we had a lovely day on the beach at Wells. We both got stripey suntans - remember the perfect English tan....? I actually managed to burn my feet and Martyn swam in the channel we had sailed up only the day before. It was just lovely - so relaxing, I believe England won their first match of the world cup. We didn't watch it - sorry - but Wells became a hive of excitement around 5 pm with lots of drunk people swimming in the Harbour and the infamous sound of the bazooka - who thought that was a good idea?
Anyway - nothing much to report from yesterday - today was a little more interesting. We set off around 5am - yes - these early starts are becoming a habit. We circumnavigated the very confusing channel back out to sea and made it unaided - amazingly! We followed the coast noting various different seaside towns that Martyn had visited as a child on holiday, Sherringham, Cromer etc.

Initially the tide took control and we were making good time, our only concern was looking out for crab pots, which there are many of, so I was on crab pot watch! We were approaching the Hemsby coastline which hosts a windfarm consisting of approx 40 wind turbines. The chart shows a channel for 'ships' as Martyn told me. "How do you know it's just for ships?" I ask, "Well everyone else just goes South side on that small channel" "OK - if you're sure". So on wards we went keeping close to the shoreline, then........ 5ft, 4ft, 3ft, 2.5ft of water left underneath..... "Let's head for the shipping channel - quick!" I'm sure people do use the lower channel but for some reason we ran out of water, it added at least an hour maybe more onto our journey as the tide changed and we were down to 3 knots fighting it. We finally landed in Lowestoft about three hours later than expected. We put the right call out asking for permission to enter the harbour and thought we had it all under control. No problem - we were granted permission and made our way in..... then it all went a bit Timothy Spall..... We were looking for the ABP marina and ended up in the trawl dock. The Harbour Master politely advised us of our error. Further embarrassment was to come when we couldn't find the marina we were looking for, and had to ask for help over the radio. We were finally helped by a lovely chap on a sailing boat who took us into the ABP marina. This wasn't the end of the nightmare however. Martyn had called the marina on the radio, they had advised that they could see us and could we meet them at the fuel quay? What fuel quay? Unknown to us the two marinas within the Port use the same VHF channel. We were talking to the wrong marina.... Luckily for us we found some very nice people within the marina who were very happy to help two Yorkshire numpties who were lost in Port - never mind at sea! In our defense the signs for the marina don't tell you where to go and the marina itself is unmanned - ABP really need to make it more user friendly, although they are very helpful when you finally get to speak to someone and the resident boaters were lovely ! So here we are, in Lowestoft, wondering if we should venture into the Norfolk broads or just head South - what do you reckon?

Time to go.... at last! 22/06/2010

Finally, after three false starts we got away! We were up at 3.30am and locked out around 4.45am - yes that's early - especially for us! The flags were not flying North, South, East or West - perfect. It was already warm and forecast to be a lovely summers day. As we left Hull I felt quite sad. I have always loved Hull, stemming from my years at University and have loved being back in the city, so if we return at the end of this adventure it won't be a huge disappointment.

We locked out and began our trip down river heading for the sea, all was calm and quiet and lovely, then it began.... The first ferry, followed by one, two, three, four more. No problem, they were going the other way and there is plenty of water for all. The problem came when we needed to cross the river to the South side, two ferries coming our way and a cargo vessel followed by an extremely large tanker in a hurry coming up behind us. We had no choice but to go for it, the ferries passed no problem, as did the cargo vessel, the tanker was an experience I won't be in a hurry to repeat. Water rolled off the back of it into huge swells, Martyn and the boat did a fantastic job and our only casualty was one glass. The fridge spilled it's contents but even the happy eggs survived! We have not yet managed to find the tomato ketchup! One thing is for certain, this boat loves a good wave, she just dug in and got on with it - thank you Elephant Daze.

Once we had got out to sea things were so much calmer, in fact it was amazing. I saw seals and nearly cried, embarrasingly, I waved and I do believe they waved back! We saw quite a few seals and each time seemed just as special as the last, they have such an amazing personality.

For a long period of time we couldn't see land, that's a strange feeling. We didn't even see any other boats. The sea sparkles and mesmirizes you, you think you have seen something but it's just a reflection or trick of the light. I can see why people can go mad at sea, it's all quite overwhelming. I just thought how amazing, between us myself and Martyn have created / restored this boat and brought her back to life and now here she is taking us across the sea.

We arrived at the entrance to the channel for at 1.48pm - absolutely on time for the first entrance into the harbour. It was busy, after not really seeing any boats after Spurn Point they appeared to be everywhere, sail boats coming out, fishing boats going in. We called through to the Harbour Master for permission to enter the harbour - no reply - panic!! Let's go in a bit closer, let's follow that fishing boat - we got through to the Harbour Master who gave us permission to enter - now where's that fishing boat quick...... Not a chance, they know that channel like the back of their hands they does! So we plodded our way through, we took that long the Harbour Master eventually came to find us - thank goodness! We moored up on the visitor pontoon right in front of the car park where Harbour watching is a daily sport. People actually bring their deck chairs and a picnic with them. So we had an audience whilst mooring up, thankfully we didn't disgrace ourselves too much - I hope...

We paid our dues to the office and went for a celebratary drink in the town before sitting out on the roof of the boat with a glass of Champagne. Moments like these don't come every day.....

How it all began....

We have to resign our self to being in port for some time yet. We are being sensible and not venturing beyond the limits we set ourselves. It is very frustrating though when you just want to get going. So we have been painting, umm not very adventurous is it?

We came upon boating in a very roundabout way. It was all Martyns idea to start with, it didn't take me long to become as enthusiastic about it as he was. In 1996 Martyn and I decided to take a road trip to France on a Vespa P200. We set off one Friday in early June and headed for Ayr in Scotland. Now I know that's the wrong way but we had a scooter rally to attend first! That journey is another blog page worth of stories!

On the Monday we went to Liverpool and got our passports, continuing on to Ipswich to pick up the green card before heading off to Dover. Now don't get me wrong, we had discussed and pre-planned the trip in our heads, just not completed the preparations. Story of our lives..... Luckily for us the Passport office and the Insurance company took pity.

We arrived in Calais in the dark, and put up our tent somewhere near a beach on the North coast of France. We didn't sleep well, not surprsing as we had no idea where we were! The original intention of the trip was to make it Santa Ponsa in Majorca where Martyns' brother lived. Our next stop, coupled with an unfortunate map reading incident resulted in us giving up on that idea maybe a lttle too quickly.

We awoke to find ourselves in a very French campsite (yes, I know they are French in France!)and I used my very best GCSE French to pay the bill. We set off again to find ourselves lost in Paris, eventually finding a campsite near Fountainbleu, on the banks of the Seine. What an amazing experience we had there. Little did we know that we had landed in the middle of a campsite that was hosting a festival for Django Reinhardt. Reinhardt was a Gypsy jazz guitarist who lost the use of the third and fourth fingers of his left hand in a fire but miraculously continued to play the guitar. We met some fabulous people there, many from England, including a great spoons player from South Yorkshire - amazing characters who took us under their wing, plying us with cold beers - we repaid them with warm ones from the local cheap supermarket. I blame the festival atmosphere for a terrible faux pas in map reading. We were trying to work out how far we had to go to make it to the ferry in Spain to take us across to Majorca. We decided it looked too far and thought we might as well just have some fun in France. We discovered later that the map was duplicated over the page and we were seeing almost twice the distance it actually was. Yes, we really do intend plotting our course around the coast of England.......

We spent a few days chilling on the banks of the Seine. We watched enormous barges pass by with washing lines and small cars parked on the the roof - yes they take their cars with them. We can't even get our scooters on our boat! Just as well we could chill out by day as the music just played on through the night - it created a great atmosphere but we got vertually no sleep!

We eventually got going again and said good bye to the lovely people who had made us feel so welcome. We continued on from Fountainbleu to the South of France, through mountains and Vineyards. At this point we realised our error - one day from Paris to the the South oops! We landed in Montpellier around 10pm and ran out of petrol - the first but not the last time on this trip. An interesting night ensued with us us walking around some of the dodgier areas of Montpellier looking for a petrol station that was open - we were not successful and spent the night trying to talk in broken French to some very colourful characters. Character building!! We survived the evening needless to say and eventually got petrol to take us to our next campsite. They weren't so friendly here and took our passports, being naive, we let them! We spent our only day on the beach drinking small bottles of beer and eating an unusual pizza.. the least said the better... We watched the young, rich French kids who had landed their speedboat on the beach. I managed a perfectly English suntan - lobster red and stripey, with a very red nose! The next day we moved on to Perpignon to an English campsite and took amusement from the various coachloads turning up, all ready to get a perfectly English tan of their own! That evening we walked into the town and discovered the Marina. We sat out at a cafe and watched the boats bobbing up and down and listened to the clink clink of the masts.

I didn't realise the impact this trip had had on Martyn. When I look back at all the places we stopped, everyone of them, with the execption of Besancon was on or near the water. We travelled 3500 miles in ten days and had a great time. We essentially drove a figure of eight throughout France, Paris, Claremont Ferrand, Montpellier, across to Perpignon, up through the Dordoigne and over to Besancon to watch the Tour de France near the Swiss border before heading for home. This is when we ran out of pertol again, on the way to the ferry in a town called Festieux. We were saved by a chap who spoke no English, yet trusted us enough to take us back to his home and give us the petrol from his lawnmower. Yes, we did wonder at one point if we would be seen again, however this man wanted nothing more than to help two scruffy, smelly 'Crazy English' (as we were called quite regularly) on a Vespa.

It was one of our first adventures and one we will never forget!

On our return we started to look for for somewhere to rent. We found an enormous house in Hebden Bridge, every room was painted a different colour. We had all sorts of ideas what we would do with it! We got the money ready and were on route to meet the guy and sign the contract when Martyn said, why don't we buy a boat.......?

All at sixes and sevens... or should that be 3's, 4's or 5's?

We were all set to go this morning, Martyn was clunking around at 7am, even though we didn't plan to lock out until 9am! We did one final check on the weather forecast and then spent the next hour and a half debating whether or not we should go, right up until it was too late! We follow two forecasts, one Accu-weather.com and the Met office. Accu-weather predicts force 2-3 winds - no problem. The Met office predicts 3 or 4 occasionally 5. Sea state: smooth, slight or moderate. Weather: fair, rain or showers, with visibility moderate or good!! Guess they are covering for all possibilities, the problem is we are only insured to force 4, so even the mention of a 5 puts us in a bad situation should we have any problems. That was the deciding factor. So we sit here now with blue sky above, it was raining when we got up, and not the slightest hint of a breeze......we should of gone..... or should we? The worst thing is that the weather for the rest of the week is terrible so who knows when we will finally begin our adventure?

We always said we would not do the first leg of the trip in anything more than a force 3, so we have probably made the right decision. It's a horrible feeling though not to have gone when, chances are we would have been ok. You can't gamble with the sea and it's a long way round to Wells without anywhere to stop in between. Literally everything we own is now on this boat and we have to make decisions based on safety first. Yes, still trying to convince myself we made the right decision....

Final preperations

Today we have been making the final preparations for our departure from Hull. We have really enjoyed being here but are ready for a change, whether or not it's a permanent change will have to be decided by mid August - or when the money runs out if sooner!!!

The weather certainly looks to be improving, though still a bit gusty, our insurance only covers us in weather up to force 4. No more than 3 for me thank you very much.... We watch the flags on the marina avidly, which way is it blowing? how much is it blowing? We are looking for ..... the flags are not moving.... lets's go!! I am told by Martyn that the preferred wind direction is Westerly so look out for force 3 or less and winds (if any) from the west, chances are we will be on the move.

We have stocked up on ham, cheese and wine just in case and filled up with diesel. We had to sail passed the Green Bricks pub to get to the diesel point and got heckled by the football supporters, it was quite funny really they played their airhorns and saluted! Hope we get that kind of welcome everywhere - one would hope so!

I'll add another couple of pictures for you - just so you don't get bored!

Bye for now.

First week of unemployment!

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I finished work. I think this summer will go by in a flash, must take lot's of photgraphs to remember everything!

We had a great night with one of our neigbours on Wednesday, it was a goodbye drink, yet we never had the hello drink.... Crazy to think people can share the same space for three months yet only get together when you know you might never see them again. He is a fantastic guy who loves his boat. Hope he gets to do his trip 'up North' one day - Cheers!

My Mum came across from Sowerby Bridge to say Bon Voyage and take us out for lunch. I showed her the sights of Hull, taking her on a historic trip round the Old Town, think she was glad to get to the pub for a sit down! Sorry Mum - lunch was lovely though. If you ever get to Hull follow the signs from the marina to The Deep and you will come across The Minerva - well worth a drink or two and some grub - best view in town!

So we are still in dock, the good news is it looks like we may actually get to set off early next weeks. Keep your fingers crossed and keep checking the blog, remember you won't know we've gone 'till we get to the next port!

Getting sorted.....

Hello.

We are still in Port, the weather is terrible, just as well as we have lot's to do and a Citroen Saxo to sell - I'm open to offers!!

Selling up and shipping out..... That's what we've been trying to do ever since we made the decision to re-route our lives. I have to say, to coin a phrase, "it's been emotional". When you start to look around at the things you have accumulated over the years you find everything has at least one memory tied to it. We are an emotional pair and always feel sentimental about the things we own, hence we have have not found it easy letting go of some of these things. Not all have been sold, to my relief... The Triumph Herald that Martyn bought when we were about 18, and the Lambretta with more bespoke parts engineered by Martyn than original parts when it left the factory. The registration numbers are almost identical - fate? Hareni, our first boat, a 27ft Seamaster which we bought in 1996 and with the help of a good friend took her from York to Sowerby Bridge in November through rain, floods and eventually snow... She was to remain our home until 2006 when we eventually moved on to Elephant Daze. She is up for sale but no interest as yet - I am torn between relief, anxiety (we need the cash...!!!) and a little bit of anger that no-one is interested in the best boat ever.... (I guess I may be slightly biased). I have managed to sell both of my scooters a Vespa Primavera (My first bike from 1995) and my Vespa cutdown which I have had since about 1996 - it has taken many different forms and has been re-engineered that many times you wouldn't know it was the same bike. All of these items are linked to memories with people, if it wasn't for these machines we wouldn't have met some of the amazing people we have shared great times with. To steal a phrase " without people we're nothing". I wouldn't swap those memories for anything. So yes - it's been emotional....

Enevitably we have spent the last two days going through old paperwork, finding out things about our life that we had almost forgotten. These things don't make it any easier to leave but are an essential part of the trip. They remind us of all the crazy things we have done in the past (there's been a few!) and spur us on to create some new fantastic memories, before we get too scared to take any chances.

We will spend tonight going through the enormous pile of photographs - remember before it all went digital? It may well be a late one, there's a lot to get through. Tomorrow we will be back on weather watch.

Bye for now.

This is it!

Well, the jobs have gone now so I guess it's time to get ship shape and prepare for the summer of a lifetime. What happened to the sun??? We left Goole at the end of Febuary and have spent three very happy months in Hull but we are very much looking forward to our trip. We will spend the next few days tidying up and trying to sell my little car! Then it's a case of waiting for the weather...... Flat calm is the only way to go......