More mud!

When we set off on our coastal adventure I never expected to see so much mud! I guess that's what you get for exploring tidal rivers. It's getting a lot more busy around Cowes now in preparation for Cowes week which starts on Saturday. It was good fun watching the boats moving about outside The Folly Inn yesterday. A lot of people head up river for lunch or an evening meal and then sail back to their mooring for the evening. Watching them trying to set off after a couple of drinks can be quite entertaining! Around 8pm a very impressive speed boat around 40 foot long moored alongside us and it's passengers disembarked already somewhat wobbly! I think the owners had been taking them for an evenings cruise - at very high speed! They headed straight for the pub where I imagine a stiff drink was quickly ordered! They piled back on the boat a couple of hours later and headed straight back out to sea.... rather them than me!!!
We tried to have a long lie in yesterday as we knew we couldn't get up to Newport much before 12pm. As is usually the case we were wide awake and got up to wait for the tide. We set of with intrepidation watching the water level. It was pretty low so we had to follow the channel carefully. In addition there were three sailing schools out in force for us to avoid. The trip went without incident and we reached Newport Harbour about 12pm. We expected the harbour to be quiet. We didn't think there would be much for the sailing yachts in a place so dependant on tides. We were wrong. We passed boat after boat after boat, all with ridiculous gaps between them! It's amazing how invisible you can become when assistance may be needed. Trying to catch the attention of someone on a boat so you can ask them if they could move up a little proved impossible. We eventually reached the end of the harbour and realised there was virtually no room to turn around! We weren't sure what to do for the best so Martyn just gave it a go and turned her round on a pin, thank goodness! Still, we had a problem. We travelled back on ourselves still trying to see if anyone was willing to help without success. We found one space where someone had just left, would we fit? Martyn didn't think so and one of the boats had it's tender tied up behind it. We thought it was worth a try..... Martyn moved in nose first, the tender gently moved out of the way, would the back fit? At one point it looked impossible, then, we were in! 42ft of boat in a 44ft mooring (or something like!) It really was an impressive bit of boat handling! The owners of the boat with the tender never even looked our way even thought they were aboard! We spent the next half hour waiting to be told off by someone. We were OK though, the guy from the Harbour Masters office came to see us and said there was no problem. He then started asking people to their boats where possible to allow more people in. It really is unfair that people use so little thought and follow that by being ignorant when it is clear that people need assistance. They clearly forget how awful it can be to arrive at your destination with no room at the Inn! Anyway enough of the moaning, this is supposed to be fun! Newport is a pretty good place and the Harbour guys are really cool and helpful. We have electric, water and a full range of shops including a really good Morrisons! All for the princely sum of £14 a night, now that's what I'm talking about - almost like a BOGOF compared to what we've been paying! So a minimum of two nights is a must. There is a small issue with children fishing from the pontoon but there seems to be quite a few people around. Did I mention the mud? This harbour dries out completely at low tide so once again we spend a lot of time sat in the mud. Good job she's an elephant, I think she enjoys it really!
A lot of boats have left this morning, I imagine they will be heading for Cowes in preparation for the excitement of Cowes week. We're not sure what to do tomorrow. The weather is good enough to get across to the mainland, however we feel like staying put for a couple of days. Our next weather window is Monday so we may stay and catch a bus into Cowes at some point to join in the fun!

Comical weather!

We had a lovely evening in Bembridge at The Baywatch Inn. We bought a bottle of wine and sat next to the beach as the sun went down. We had expected it to be quiet being a Sunday night but the place was packed, so the food must be good!
We have been doing the usual weather checks and seem to find that a good dose of rain, sun, wind, calm, good visibility, poor visibility fore 2, 3, 4 possibly 5 is pretty much forecast for the next few days! This being the case we decided to head for Ryde, approx 5 miles from Bembridge. We chose our time in accordance with the tide (Ryde Marina dries out) and the windfinder website. After the usual game of dodgems with the local sailing schools we made our way back to open water. One thing that was a big surprise on this trip was the depth of water. We were a long way out with still only 6 or 7 feet below us. Not wanting to get too close to the shipping lane we followed the shallow until we reached the channel for the marina. Just as we turned into the channel we saw the hovercraft setting off. The hovercraft is based right next to Ryde marina and takes 10 minutes from Ryde to Southsea - that's an hour for us! We were fine where we were but there were two sailing boats just crossing to the channel from the West side. It looked pretty close from where we were but they all missed each other. We entered the marina and were shown exactly where to berth by the Harbour Master. We expected it to be quiet here for some reason but it was crazily busy! An enormous catamaran followed behind us. I've never seen anything like it before or apparently so difficult to manoeuvre! We found out the boat was only four weeks old so extreme caution was required around it! Once again we had neighbours alongside but of a similar variety to ourselves. A classic wooden motor cruiser which had just been re-launched after about ten years. It was all good fun and very exciting!
Being in Ryde on our boat was very strange. We know the place itself very well after attending one of the biggest scooter rallies in Europe there on a yearly basis. Just walking through the streets without them being full of scooters and scooterists and without the ever present smell of two stroke oil was unusual to us to say the least! We missed our friends at that point quite badly.
We had a good time in Ryde, the Harbour Master was an absolute star. That being said we were quite keen to move on and get round to Cowes so we could explore the River Medina. The weather forecast was similar to the day before so once we were floating we should be OK as long as we were back in port before 1pm (ish).

Our neighbours left around 11am, apologising for the smoke.... ha ha... if only they knew how smokey we were!! Just as we set off it began to rain, and blow. At least we were inside so the rain didn't matter much. We had an exciting 5 mile trip around to Cowes. We had to pass the hovercraft, the fast cat, the Wightlink ferries in and out of Fishbourne as well as the ferries in and out of Cowes. Firstly to dodge was the hovercraft, I was on lookout, it wasn't moving so no problem. I sat down and out of the corner of my right eye I saw it, the fast cat - it's fast! We had no option but to increase speed at this point and hope it was heading for where we thought it was heading. A few tense moments later we were out of the way and sweating a little. Eyes in the back of your head are needed around here!! Next job, Fishbourne and the Wightlink ferries. One ferry was in port, one waiting to go in. The one in port started moving, umm, not so sure what will happen here. Sure enough the ferry in port was heading back out for the mainland as the one waiting headed in. Trying to gauge its possible path I said to Martyn "What's your plan?" "I'm just going to keep my course across" he replied. I looked at him, looked at the ferry, looked at our speed, looked at the ferry. "Do you think we'll make it?" "Dunno". Gulp! Martyn looked at me and said "Do you want me to turn around and pass behind it?" "Sounds like a good idea" I replied. I was wrong! It turned out that the course the ferry was taking meant we would have been well out of the way before it got anywhere near. Now we had to deal with wash from both ferries. It was lumpy, bumpy and choppy. Water was thrown all over the place. Yet again I must make my apology to Martyn and promise not to interfere on matters of navigation! It was flipping big and fast though!
We turned the corner and were met with the amazing view of Cowes, and another really fast ferry! It was so fast though that it was in port, turned around it's passengers and was just starting on its return journey as we passed it in Cowes!
You can go out in the calmest of weather and the wash of one boat can cause you the biggest problem. We battled with the wash of a variety of different boats, speed boats, pilot boats, big cruisers even the yachts motoring cause a wash. It's all good fun though and you get a bit of a buzz with all the excitement. Cowes is a very expensive place to moor so we thought we would head up river to the Folly Inn. We are again without shore access, apart from the dinghy! We also have no electric or facility for water so we will just spend the day chilling and make our way into Newport tomorrow where hopefully we can re-charge our batteries and stock up the fridge. At last we don't have to worry about the comical weather for a day or two!

Isle of Wight - not via Wightlink!!!

We walked for miles yesterday and awoke achy (yes I am rather unfit!)and to the sound of rain on the roof again. The plan was to get up and away for around 10am. After pressing the snooze button on the alarm twice I reluctantly got up and went for my shower. As I got off the boat the lady who owned the boat next to us advised me that the berth holders of the mooring we were on were due back around 10.30am - better get a move on then! The weather looked a bit dodgy to say the least! Black clouds dominated the skies and the rain started to fall again. What would we do? I got back to the boat and told Martyn that the berth holders were on their way back and we would have to move one way or another. We checked the forecasts, we now use four different websites! All looked OK except for one which was forecasting moderate seas and force 4 to 5! This was enough to put serious doubt in our mind. Ever since the Dungeness trip we have been more than wary of relying on just the Met office forecast. We ummed and aarghed for ages, the skies got blacker. Martyn went to the office to see if they would have another berth if we decided to stay. We were told there was room and initially decided that if neither of us was sure we shouldn't go. OK - let's move on to the other berth and stop for another 2 nights....... or poke our nose out and see what happens, we can always come back in! We decided to give it a go we didn't really fancy another night at Southsea. There was something strange and a little claustrophobic about the marina. The people were lovely but we just didn't feel comfortable there. We headed back out, through the wibbly wobbly channel and towards the imposing looking Isle of Wight. The sea state was very strange, sometimes calm, other time rolling, then choppy. The sky looked as though at anytime we would be in for a storm. We crossed the shipping channel with caution, both on lookout. We saw a pilot boat heading back into land and immediately starting looking for the moving ship! All the ships remained at anchor and we passed through without problem. As we approached Bembridge it got busy again, everyone appeared to be coming out as we were coming in! I never cease to be amazed at the age of some of the kids out there sailing without a care in the world, I wish I could remember what it was like not to be so scared sometimes!!

We followed the channel in looking for the visitor pontoons which weren't hard to find. We fit perfectly on the end which is where we always like to be - out of the way! Bembridge is very pretty but dries out so we have been back on the mud again! There are some amazing houseboats here. We have done the usual trek for provisions (why am I not a size 10 yet?)and had a quick look around Bembridge. It's picture postcard stuff here. We have a neighbour, it's really common to raft up down here i.e. moor side by side. So far that has not happened to us - until now. Not a problem for us but I do feel sorry for the people on the small fibre glass sail boat tied alongside! They seem like very nice people so I hope they don't mind too much! Tonight we are going for a walk along the beach - weather permitting and tomorrow we might head for Ryde, the town that hosts the annual scooter rally and home of The Cod Father - the fish and chip shop Martyn always insists on going to when we're are there! It was quite apt that we should see a group of scooters riding through Bembridge this afternoon - they are a little early for the Bank Holiday though!

Southsea - I can see the Isle of Wight from here...!

Yesterday we arrived in Southsea. I have been very keen to get to here following time spent googling the place on the Internet.
We made our way to the entrance to the channel for Southsea marina, as we did so we heard a radio conversation between a marina and a boater. The boater was asking for permission to enter an unidentifiable marina for an overnight berth and was being advised that there was no room at the Inn! Oops! Could that be Southsea? We had not considered that it might full and didn't have a plan B! We were quite close to the boats at anchor on the channel and the channel itself. I have mentioned before that it is all but impossible to hear the radio and be heard with the engines running so we have to all but shut down the engines to use it. This presented a problem, the flow was fast and the boats were very close. Martyn got us steady enough to radio through and we held our breath hoping to hear a different voice on the radio to the one declining a berth. We needn't have worried we recived confirmation that they had room for us and gave instructions of where could moor up for the night. One thing that happens on a regular occasion, this being no exception is that nobody can hear the name of the boat correctly. The Northern accent probably doesn't help down here!! We really should have given more thought to the name of our boat it causes endless confusion over the radio. We have not yet to be asked for it to be spelled phonetically but that day is bound to come, hope Martyn's ready!

The channel to Southsea marina is something of a challenge, I would not recommend attempting it at night or in fog. You are so close to other boats and the channel twists and turn, the entrance is something else! We are quite narrow comparatively but still had concerns over the width of the entrance. We got in without drama though, always a bonus! The people that run this marina are some of the friendliest we have met so far. We were made very welcome, paid our dues and headed off to the local shop for provisions. We didn't do too much for the rest of the day. We had a walk to the beach, watched the Hayling ferry and discovered some very unusual houseboats, some of which appear inhabited, some don't. Many look like old lifeboats but have so many holes in them you would need more than a draft exluder to keep them warm. They are way above the point at which the sea comes in so at least they won't sink! We had some entertainment for the afternoon, unfortunately at the expense of a boat owner. The yard lads were moving a boat from one end of the marina to the other. Disaster struck when it fell off the trailer blocking the road and causing chaos for around four hours - oops!!! Martyn was fixated watching the drama that ensued. A crane was required in the end. Not quite the Goole Boathouse way.......

Today we thought we would walk into Southsea, it looked picture postcard on the Internet, that's if you can find it! We walked for quite some time along the seafront without problem. There was some sort of carnival going on, although no posters to tell you what for! We located Southsea shopping centre and I have to say I was a little disappointed! I expected lots of unusual shops and was met with the usual high street garbage! We spent most of the day walking for miles trying to find places. The inevitable happened on the way back, we got lost! Martyn had been told that the place to be was Albert road. We had already tried to find it in the morning without sucesss. We eventually found it around 6pm this evening and then got lost again trying to get back to the marina. I'm beginning to believe I don't do inland anymore!

What really amazed me today was the view on the coastal road from the marina to Southsea front. The Isle of Wight is so prominent and the sail boats just seem to fill the horizon! It makes for a nerve racking scene when you think you will have to navigate it very soon! We watched the Isle of Wight ferries in and out and found ourselves at the ferry terminal where we have been so many times on the scooters. As we passed by I remembered how excited and relieved I used to be to arrive here! It was the end of the big road adventure and the beginning of a five day party with good friends and always the promise of making more! I feel quite sad that this year we probably won't do that, at least not by scooter!

Itchenor, to Chichester, to Southsea!

We are enjoying exploring the harbours around the Solent, however there appears to be little in the way of an Internet connection! Even at Chichester it was a struggle so I apologise for the lack of news in recent days! We have been still been on the move.
Ichenor was good fun and lovely and sunny. Martyn spent most of his time in the dingy - I'm still not convinced it will seat us both without sinking and am waiting for a less public place to test it out! We managed to do a few jobs including some painting, not that you can tell now. Mostly we bummed about doing nothing. It's a great place for it as the boats passing by appear as an endless stream. We sat happily for hours watching them pass. We now know that our batteries are pretty much at the end of their life. I refer only to the batteries that supply the lights, fridge etc. We were on candle power by the second night listening to the fridge trying to squeeze some life out. We were ready to head into Chichester Marina for a good old recharge and a warm shower!
We had been in Itchenor a day longer than originally planned so didn't leave until Wednesday, it just happened to be my Birthday so I was looking forward to a tea time treat at the on site restaurant.
Martyn had phoned through just before we set off and we had been advised to tie up on the visitor pontoon outside and head up to the office to be allocated a berth. Just as we released the ropes we spotted a sail boat heading down the channel in the same direction we wanted to go. We let it through and followed it on route to Chichester. It was slow.....! Approx 2-3 knots! We got behind the only boat we had seen on the channel in two days doing less than 8 knots! Chichester Marina can only be accessed 5 hours before and after high tide, not really a problem. Access is usually by a lock but at certain states of tide they have what they call free flow when both gates are open and you just go through if the light is on green. We had got up early to try and hit free flow... Guess what? We missed it - we really are far to polite some times! It wasn't a problem, I'm just not a big fan of locks. The boat in front tied up on the pontoon and went in to sort their berth out, we followed. We entered the office and stood patiently awaiting our turn. The lady from the sail boat turned around to look at us at one point, so I smiled hello and received a look that is quite hard to describe. Something resembling horror and disgust! Very charming. As I said maybe we should start to be a little ruder! They even insisted on going through the lock alone. It really is a shame that some people must try so hard to be unpleasant! I wasn't about to let it ruin my day though. The people in the office were lovely and we got a discount on the mooring which made up for the unpleasantness of the woman. Locking through was quite amusing. We didn't know the protocol for this lock, everywhere seems to have one though. I was ready with my bow line to tie on, Martyn usually gets the stern. Except the lock keeper was trying to hand me a line and insisted it went on the stern. So I am in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing as usual. We got sorted in the end and awaited the big ascent.... I think we went up half an inch, it was so funny! All that palaver for half an inch!!
We found our berth easily enough and Martyn went to sort the electric out. We had been given a code to enter into a bollard on the pontoon to get the electric, it didn't work! We had been using the inverter at Itchenor so Martyn set about going through everything on the boat that might be the cause of the failure. No joy! He eventually called the marina and by the time I had had my shower power was restored. All was well again, and it wasn't our fault! It turned out that electrical faults are quite regular. Not surprising considering the tale Martyn told me later. As I headed off down the pontoon I overhead a chap on sailing boat preparing his crew for a trip out. He was giving them their instructions and advising what would happen as they left the berth etc - all very authoritative and knowledgeable. When I got back to the boat Martyn was giggling to himself. He too had heard the chap talking to his crew and watched as they released their lines and set off.... With the electric lead still plugged in....! The lead actually broke off leaving the plug in the socket! Apparently the chap was last seen quickly pulling in the wire quickly trying to disguise the event! It doesn't always pay to be too clever!
We knew there was a small shop on site where we might pick up a few provisions so we headed off to stock up. We would have been fine if we only needed cold beer and a navy times! We made do with our existing provisions and went back out to enjoy a couple of drinks in the bar. A lovely day was had and I greatly enjoyed my Ribeye steak later that evening. We drank the final bottle of champagne which had been given to me as a good bye gift, after that it was 'goodnight Vienna!' Neither of us can remember going to bed! I blame the champagne!
We awoke to the sound of rain on the roof. We had intended going back to Itchenor on Thursday for the cheap mooring but neither of us were moving too quickly. We missed the morning penning out time and decided to stay and head into Chichester for the day. We thought we would walk.... Shouldn't take long.... We arrived in Chichester around 3.45! We had left around 2pm.. Chichester marina? Not so close to Chichester!!! We followed the canal path which was OK but quite overgrown in places. There were lot's of moorhens and ducks, it was a bit like being back in Hebden Bridge to be honest. We were quite tired when we arrived so stopped for refreshment before heading into the city. I have to say I thought Chichester was lovely! So many nice shops and buildings, we were quite impressed. We had some tea at the Slug and Lettuce before getting a taxi back. It was all a bit frivolous for two unemployed people but I made the excuse that it was still my birthday!

This morning we were up early again ready to diesel up and head for Southsea. We had quite an audience this morning on the lock. I have to say the lock thing really makes me giggle, when you're used to places like Ocean lock and the lock at Hull Marina the protocol seems excessive to say the least! We had two people waiting to give us the ropes this morning and make sure we were in the right place, all for a 30 second descent! We were back into the channel through all the boats and back out to sea. It's such a different feeling when you get back on the big water. I would highly recommend the Chichester channel to anyone wanting an adventure, there's so much more to go at than we did as well. It's a very beautiful place and one that I would love to go back to.

We followed a very nice Dutch sailing boat out to sea and set on our course for Southsea, literally just around the corner (or buoy!). I'll tell you more about our adventures here later!

Venturing into the unknown......19/07/2010

We left Brighton at 5.30am this morning following a rather late night trying to get the most out of our time at Brighton. We awoke bleary eyed to a red sky, not the best prediction for the day and set back out to sea. It was still a bit choppy following the terrible winds from previous days but nothing to be worried about. I made some undrinkable tea - guess the water is very hard in Brighton - yuk! Then made coffee which we drank with the now traditional breakfast chocolate. It's a winner - honestly!
We followed the coastline, passing Brighton Pier, Shoreham, Worthing, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. It was all lovely the colours of the morning sky made everything look extra nice.
We looked ahead of us and both decided that the land mass we could see must be Selsey Bill, considering the size of it. For some reason we both had it in our heads that Selsey Bill was rather large. We had been going for some time, making good speed. There was little in the way of traffic to watch so we just enjoyed the view. At some point near Bognor Regis Martyn turned to me and said " I don't know where we are..." "What do you mean? There's Selsey Bill in fron of us". I looked at the GPS and the paper chart, he was right. The large mass in front us wasn't Selsey Bill. Selsey Bill was the low land to our right... good job we're not sailing round the world! What we were looking at was the Isle of Wight! Neither of us expected it to be so big or so close to the mainland. You wouldn't believe we have travelled to the Isle of Wight almost every year for the last 12 years or more! You lose your sense of perception sometimes out at sea, we were heading in the right direction at least so there was no problem, just a surprise!
As we turned the corner things got a whole lot busier. We were among commercial traffic, alongside sailing boats, motor cruisers and fishing boats. We could see ferries in the distance but luckily for us we wouldn't be getting anywhere near them, not just yet anyway!
We arrived at the entrance to Chichester Channel and it was pretty busy for a Monday! Doesn't anyone work in this country anymore......(joke!)!? Trying to judge navigation around sailing boats is not always easy, they change their course and speed unexpectedly and it can be quite nerve racking trying to ensure that you don't upset them. This is not really an option for us as we seem to upset them just by our presence on a regular basis. Not all of them I must add, but a large percentage unfortunately.
Working our way up stream towards Itchenor was heavy going. We followed a sail boat doing around 3 knots and didn't feel comfortable to pass so stayed behind until he eventually pulled in somewhere. On arrival at Itchenor we came across a section where boats were moored up on buoys all through the channel, you had to try and pick the best route through. This was coupled with the local sailing schools and countless number of tiny children in sailing boats everywhere. It was terrifying for us, when you see two tiny children, around 5 or 6 years of age in a tiny plastic sailing boat heading right for 18 tonne of steel boat that you are in charge of, with nowhere else to go.......!
We all survived non the less and we located the visitor pontoon at the far end of Itchenor, it was lovely and empty! We moored up sorted out the harbour dues and mooring fees and finally settled down to some breakfast at 11.30am!
We had a surprise visitor too, Paul and Denise from Goole. Martyn used to work with Paul at Goole Boathouse so he was very happy to see them. The pontoon we are on is not linked to land but they arrived just as Martyn was on his way to the harbour office in his dingy. I believe a quick half at the pub with them was consumed before they headed back 'oop North!' Hope you had a good journey home - sorry I didn't get to say "Hi!".
So, Itchenor, never really heard of it before if I'm honest! It's somewhere near Chichester and it's actually quite lovely! We have no electric, no facility for water, no fancy toilet or shower block and no immediate neighbours. What we do have is sunshine, lots of food and enough alcohol just to get us through the night without entertainment. We also have each other for company and lots of boats to watch passing by. Things could be so much worse!

Time for chapter two of the adventure.....

We have been in Brighton now for five nights, tonight will make it six. When I envisioned our time in Brighton I saw blue skies, calm seas and drinking champagne on the deck. What we actually got was high winds, rain and waves over the harbour wall! The first thing we did on arrival was head to the pub to congratulate ourselves on reaching Brighton in our home made boat! We had a great evening although the details are a little sketchy following the champagne. I had saved the bottle given to me from work as a leaving present especially for this event it was lovely and provided us with a good nights sleep!
We awoke the following morning excited at the prospect of exploring Brighton. We had a lovely day and didn't think too much about the weather, we had a little rain but it was still warm and quite sheltered in the town.
We returned to the boat that evening just as the wind was starting to pick up. As the evening wore on it got rougher and rougher. The boat was rolling from side to side on the mooring. The big yachts were having a worse time of it, especially the ones rafted together. Waves were flying over the harbour wall and we were getting covered in salt water again - more rust! At one o'clock in the morning Martyn was out helping a French sailor next to us put out extra fenders. It was all a bit mad and has continued to be so ever since. I believe at one point it was gusting 78mph! We were amazed at how much it affected the water in the marina and the noise from all the masts was constant.
We have been surrounded by French, German, Swedish and Dutch boats during our time here. It's a bit like spot the English boat - that will be us then! It's great though. We watched a group of French sailors spend the day drinking and watching the waves come over the wall sat in their waterproofs. By the end of the day they were climbing up the masts, we still have no idea what they were doing up there but they seemed to be having fun! You can't beat a bit of crazyness every now and then!
Today, for the first time, motor boats have begun to turn up in the marina. Many of the sailing boats have gone. The sign of more motor boats moving is good for us, it means it's calming down - I hope!
We have had a great time in Brighton even though it's been a bit choppy! Martyn had an extra special treat last night. Elephant Daze is named after a song by Kirk Brandon from Spear of Destiny. By some amazing coincidence they were playing in Brighton last night, it would have been rude not to go! Kirk didn't disappoint even though the venue was so tiny, we were all packed in like sardines! We decided to forgo our bus fare home for another drink and walked the two miles or more back - it was worth it!
This trip has brought together so many things from our past, our present and will hopefully point us in a good direction for the future. We joked to some of our friends that we will be doing the scooter rallies by boat this year and although we have been in or near places that we have visited by scooter we have yet to be there at the right time! It's quite mad to think that we have actually achieved what we always said we would. At Brightlingsea we were close enough to swim to Mersea Island, Wallasea Island brought back amazing memories with some great friends and now here we are in Brighton! I love Brighton and it would be so easy to stay but I have an urge to stick my nose round the corner and see what happens on the next leg of the journey. This is supposed to be an adventure after all!