It was absolutely glorious this morning. I’d been awake since about 6am, the sun shining its halos through our new porthole stuffers.
Photo: Hubby’s porthole (and stuffer)
Hubby took the dog out then went for a shower, so I got up, cleaned through the boat (slowly and on my knees rather than bend down and getting a rollicking later) and started to prepare breakfast.
Sadly he didn’t want any as he had an upset tummy, so I decided to have a shower too then come back for my cereal and cup of tea.
Oh, that shower felt so good, even if I had to use a different cubicle because the one I favour was occupied. Nice warm water, plenty of shower gel, hair wash, total bliss (but no rubber duck).
Photo: This is us at the Stratford festival last year.
Hubby had a doctor’s appointment at 10, so after that we got some basics in for dinner, then decided to take the boat out.
It was engine run day anyway, and as it was so warm and sunny, what better way to do it than putter upstream for an hour?
It was lovely, having the river all to ourselves apart from kids under tuition in a few canoes and a single cruiser coming the other way.
Not much in the way of wildlife on the river, no ducklings, cygnets or goslings, in fact everything is really quiet on that front, even here as we haven’t seen Mum and her babies since I took this.
Photo: Mum and 12 ducklings, taken 25th April 2016
We got up to the motorway and the phone rang. It was my GP as promised (which I covered in my previous post) and I took the call at the bow as it was quieter.
By the time I’d finished, Hubby was about to turn the boat and head for home.
The wind picked up and he had a terrible job, even using the bow thruster, forward and reverse, he was blown all over the place.
We were against the wind all the way back, then coming into our basin and lining up to reverse into our berth, the wind caught us again. Two of our neighbouring boat owners came out to take ropes, which helped enormously to keep us on track as we backed in.
Hubby replaced the helm covers whilst I tidied up inside by putting away our life jackets and all the other little bits and pieces that are moved when we go out on the water.
We were just getting ready to take Maggie up for a wee when it started to rain, and it has been off and on ever since!
In total, we were out for an hour and a half. It’s our second outing this year so far, and the engine is purring like a pussy cat.
Couldn’t decide on contented cat images from google, so picked a combination
pensitivity101 
What a nice cover over your cockpit. Just like an outdoor room and shelters the companionway. Even with fighting the wind back, sounds like a lovely day
Getting covers for helm and bow were priorities when we got the boat, especially as the bedroom is at the helm end and would have been soaked when it rained. We call the helm the Mud Room now as it’s where we hang our wet coats and leave our muddy shoes, and the bow is our conservatory, currently housing a few rather large triffids under the guise of tomato plants and dwarf beans!
Sounds like a lovely cruise on the river. 🙂 And takes some skill to manoeuvre such a long boat – in high wind!
Hubs is the best!