Wednesday 20 July 2016

Cleared for takeoff

It's been an eventful month, but at last things are sorted. Our last tenants have been and gone and we have full possession of the lodge. It means that we can start sorting it exactly as we please; we'll be unloading a certain amount of stuff like the microwave and the toaster, and some of the linens will transfer to the boat to replace worn out towels and the like.

We've acquired a luggage trolley from Midland Chandlers, a nifty four wheel folding beast that greatly simplifies moving gear to and fro. We had an Ocado delivery yesterday, partly stocking up the lodge with staples that now don't need to be carted up from the boat every time and partly stocking the boat ready to cruise.

In the afternoon, Jo kindly gave us a lift into the Royal Derby where Sheila's foot was X-rayed and pronounced well recovered. The plan is to take a few more days here, partly for her gait to return to normal after wearing a surgical shoe for six weeks and partly to finish off these adjustments to the lodge. Then, probably on Sunday afternoon, we'll pull out of the marina, getting a pump out on the way, and spend the night on the towpath.

We aim to do the long route to Braidbar, round the Four Counties to Middlewich and up the Cheshire Locks to Red Bull. The Owners' Weekend is the first in September, as usual, which will be very early this year. We'll get just a bit of work done this time, mainly sorting the solar panel controller which seems to have failed, putting as much as 15 volts across the nice new battery bank, not good at all...

Once we're cruising, I'll start blogging regularly again.

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