Bristol and Friends

When we went over to give Bristol Marina some pennies for putting the boat in, they pointed out that we could have a night's stay at the marina for a tiny bit more than we'd pay for our harbour licence, which was included in the mooring, so we had the first night in the centre of Bristol. This meant we could fill up with fuel and water and plug in for the night. We had our first guests - friends came and brought a takeaway.

In the morning, we made our way to our home mooring. Seeing Bristol from the river was fantastic.

We also saw a crocodile in a tree. 

Moving the Boat

A.B. Tuckey moved the boat so smoothly and so professionally. What we'd imagined could be a nerve wracking experience was exciting, but not in the least bit worrying - how they squeezed the boat into and out of the spaces they did is beyond me. To a chorus of predictable and no doubt long-established jokes about windows falling out, and not following the boat in case it slid off like the last one, we said goodbye to the builders and made our way towards Bristol. 

We managed to get just a few minutes ahead of the driver to be able to get up on to a footbridge and watch the boat come down the portway to Bristol Marina.

Now all we had to do was drive the thing!

Old Rope

I find doing stuff with rope profoundly satisfying somehow. Splicing and knotting and whipping and all that. I've come to think of it as a kind of man knitting. It's crafty and relaxing but you get to use a knife.
I've spliced all the mooring and anchor ropes, and made all the fenders. In the end, I did the button and front fenders too - they're not perfect 'cos I was making it up as I went along, but they'll do the job, and for a fraction of the cost of new ones.

Wireless

We've been on the boat nearly a week, which is completely unbelievable. The time has absolutely hurtled past. We've just set up our little 3 Mobile Wi-Fi gadget. Well, I say set up; to be honest it was so simple it may as well have just walked through the door, plugged itself in to the wall and made us a cup of tea while it filled in all the forms. Lots of pictures to follow - we've been busy!

Vanday

Yesterday was vanday - we hired a van to take down the majority of the stuff we'll need in the first instance. Between showers of rain, we managed to get everything in, and had our first meal on the boat! Fresh bread, organic houmous, and additive-packed rolo desserts. Good times!

Bicycles

Simone's brother and I cycled to the boat on Thursday, which was about a seventy mile round trip. The way there was characterised by a brutal and persistent headwind, whereas the way back absolutely flew by.

Dominic recorded this little boat tour video whilst I was talking to the fitter.

The boat is now finished! Well, to be fair, it's far from finished. The tricky bits which we asked our fantastic builders and fitter to do are finished. We still have a lot to do. Amongst other things, we now have an inverter, and I for one am looking forward to doing some serious inverting.

Update

These are those out-of-sequence photos. Loads has happened! We now have:

Keys to the marina!

A full set of side fenders!

Beautiful window frames!

Electric wizardy!

Programmable heating!

A loo!

A shower tray!

 

 

The fitter-outer is hoping to finish on Thursday 12th August. Less than a week away! We'll move a vanload of stuff in a couple of days later, before the boat makes its way down to Bristol with A.B. Tuckey at the beginning of the following week. So unbelievably exciting! We have a massive boat!