Be gone woman...

I was sent off this morning with the dogs and told to keep out of the way for a few hours.  So the boys and I went up to the Wyre Forest and trekked about for two hours before daring to return to Caxton.  A great day for walking, if a bit unseasonally warm, acres and acres of mixed woodland to wander in and hardly anyone else to share it with.  I kept a wary eye on the comings and goings of Floyd and Fletcher though, it was here in the summer when they found a 'ripe' deer carcase to embellish their coats with...disgusting mutts!

 And the reason for the banishment.... Joe had hired a carpet cleaner to clean Caxton's carpet tiles so the new owners, Paul and Elaine, will start life aboard Caxton without an accumulation of deep down grit - all fresh now folks.

Joe has decided that for it is probably worthwhile doing this once a year on Yarwood just to keep the wear down - it is the accumulation of abrasive grit, that most vacuum cleaners fail to completely remov,e that damages the carpets. 

Thank you Mother

My Christmas pressie from Mother and tonight I have cooked our first recipe/meal from said Booook..

A rather pleasing aubergine casserole - the dogs are just eating the remainder - cooked for four when I only need to feed two...doh

Red Boarded

The River Severn has been closed to navigation (red boarded) following last week's heavy rains.  The River is only moderately high compared to what she can do but some of the Severn Way was under water at the weekend when I took the dogs on our circular walk of Stourport.

The Barge lock looking towards the basin and the clock tower.

The first night we moored in the basin I was woken by the clock bell tolling every hour - now I sleep through most of those 'chimes'....not all . but most.

The narrow locks, the first of two staircase locks up from the River Severn

The R Severn from the entrance to the narrow locks

There is quite a flow here and a lot of trees being taken down stream at the moment.

Should every boat have one?

We have just bought a venturi shower head for Yarwood. 
The blurb says that...
 "A conventional shower has a flow rate of 25 to 30 litres per minute so a five minute shower uses around 125 litres of water. The Venturi shower use only 6 or 8 litres per minute, so you save over 90 litres having a 5 minute shower, cutting water and energy consumption up to 70%."
The flow of water to the shower head is restricted but a 'vent' in the base of the shower head handle sucks in air which aerates the flow of water and increases the pressure again - result you feel satisfied with the flow and shower experience but have used less water.
Now that has got to worth a try ..

Insurance sorted..

I posted a couple of days ago about starting the tiresome job of trawling through Insurance companies for boat quotes.  Several of you mentioned Towergate Marden as a good source of cover but my initial trawl through, via a comparison site, had TM refusing to cover a 'liveaboard'.    However,  I took your advice and got in touch with TM directly, the old fashioned way, by the phone, and have decided to insure Yarwood with them.   It is not cheap but then a very new boat isn't cheap either and I don't fancy having to cope with a total loss of boat and home without adequate cover.  Towergate Marden have policies tailored for liveaboards, they appreciate correspondence addresses and they get continuous cruisers so they have my business.
And sadly, my money...
Thanks for the advice folks.

Dashing for the dock with a bit of NEWS - CAXTON SOLD!!!

The night before last the wind was howling a hooley and we lay awake wondering if the wind might just relent a little by the morning
It didn't.
At 08.30 we slipped our mooring here in Stourport basin and headed off for a date with the dry dock.  The wind gusted and growled and did everything to make mooring  68 feet of steel tube on the lock landing as difficult as possible.  We managed, though it wasn't elegant, and dropped down through the first staircase lock and on towards the dock.

There be the dry dock

And there be Caxton heading out of the shelter of the lock and into the dock

Just getting Caxton positioned 4' from the dock wall and readied for the dock to be drained.

And here is the reason why, Caxton is being surveyed by Chris Berry on behalf of her new prospective owners! 
Yes, Caxton is sold!  The new owners are Paul and Elaine from Australia the writers of the Manley Ferry blog.

Chris spent 5 hours doing a thorough pre-purchase survey

Anodes OK

And while Chris Berry was busy freezing outside, his dog, Thomas Lurcher was making himself at home in the warm thank you very much...

See you can get a big dog in a small comfy space - Our two, who don't do furniture, were less than impressed

Christopher Berry Marine Surveyor..

Survey completed, and only two hose clips required, it was time to refill the dock and fight our way back through the wind to our mooring!

Smelling salts anyone?

The insurance quotes are coming in....I am laying on the floor twitching!!