4th April 2013 - Heathrow!

A lovely (and exceedingly cold) walk around the ponds to the west of Theale in the morning.  Climbed into the car and drove home to take Jess to Heathrow for her 10.30pm flight.  Strange saying goodbye for a whole year!   Good luck Jess!  Arriving back home we parked the car for the final time on the drive and Charlie (bless him) drove us back to the boat.

A fond farewell to Jess x

3rd April 2013 - Theale

Just waiting until tomorrow to see Jess off at the airport.  Got the bikes out in the afternoon.  Blew up tyres and went out for a chilly but fun 1 ½ hour ride around the lakes next to the canal.  At the furthest point it came on snowing quite hard!

2nd April - Back home again!

Quacky duck joined me on the back deck scrounging breakfast!

Collected the car from the sailing club car park and took Jess back home.  She needs a couple of days to pack and 'put her affairs in order' before leaving for New Zealand on Thursday.  We took the opportunity to collect some things we had omitted to take, and did a bit of shopping.  We returned to the boat with the bikes and bike rack.  Spent a happy hour or so making the bike rack fit onto the back of a narrowboat.... seemed to work!

Theale Swing Bridge

1st April - Theale Swing Bridge

Remaining at the moorings next to Theale bridge.  Very cold day with a bitter wind. Annie and I went a walk upstream to see if there was any wood lying around for the fire but no luck.  Two woodsmen are cutting trees between the canal and fishing lake, creating huge bonfires as they go - but very efficient and not leaving a twig to pick up.

Claire and Rob arrived at 3pm.  Went a walk up to the sailing club, then drove the the Spring Inn to meet Chris, Mum and James for a meal.

The Spring Inn

31 March - We are off!

Well we are off!  The morning dawned bright and clear - which meant it had been a cold night with a thick frost and ice on the inside of the windows.
Jess's friend Jane was meeting us for the day.  She drove to the sailing club, where I met her, left my car at the club and the two of us drove back to the marina - hey presto a car at each end!
We settled our bill at the marina and moved out.  The current was quite strong but we had a great trip across to Theale (10 minutes by car, 3 hours by boat)
Moored up next to Theale swing bridge just after 3pm for a late lunch.  Jess and I drove Jane back to her car to collect it.

Mooring at Theale

Ruined mill across from our mooring

30th March - Waiting for the floods to subside

God bless the English weather!  The continuous rain of February and March have left the Thames full of water.  Most of the locks have been red-boarded which means we cant move!  Sadly we have had to say goodbye to our hopes of cruising the Basingstoke Canal for its re-opening.  Fortunately however the Canal Authority have allowed us to 'bank' our licence fee to use later in the year.

Ruth helming.....

Annie, Jess and I arrived at the marina and moved on to the boat on Thursday.  Spent the first 2 days setting the boat up - changed the engine oil and cleaned the fuel filters.  Today (Saturday) we entertained Ruth and Margaret for the day on board to celebrate what would have been Annie's Mums birthday.  We just poodled down to Aldermaston lock and had lunch there, before returning to the marina.

We are paid up at the marina until the end of the month - which means we have to be off tomorrow!

February 2013

A freezing February morning

We spent the month preparing for our big adventure cruising the northern canals. Our plan is to leave at the beginning of April, to return in September - 5 months away!

During the month we:

• Boxed in all the wiring to the rear of the control panel
• Treated a lot of rust around the battery bank
• Boxed in the batteries
• Washed all the curtains, then repaired them again afterwards
• Had our Boat Safety Certificate done - (a 4 yearly marine MOT) - it passed!
• Fitted an advanced regulator to the alternator
• Removed advanced regulator when it didn't work
• Cleaned and polished the macerator internally.  If you dont know what this is, you dont want to know!