Castleford for groceries

We've just arrived in Castleford (again) to do some shopping. I bought some boat paint, and hope to get the boat looking a little better in the near future. Going for red, greys, black and white. The webcam has been working well today, so probably set the timing to every 15mins, and leave it out for good...:) I've stuck it up on a pole..:)

Bye Bye Leeds.

We left Leeds at midday, retracing our steps back towards Castleford, because I dont want to stray too far at this stage..need to stay in the area till end of May. It was a gentle cruise down a handful of automated commercial (big) locks today, and eventually drifted into a place we stayed in a week ago on the way to Leeds. This time though, we aren't planning on paying to stay in the marina..we're tying up across the canal on the other side, which is a great place to make lots of noise without disturbing people. I'm hoping to grind off some rust spots and put some paint on the boat...red...bright fire truck red.....I tried some in Leeds...and I think it works rather well :) No one else has got such a red boat, which makes it stick out a bit, which is nice. We're all in bed now...kids in the front..Jac in the middle, and M and I in the back cabin....the coldest part of the boat...but cosy. I sleep like a log in this boat...and waking up is hard...this morning it was really dark, until I pulled out a porthole cover and the sun pierced the darkness. Will upload some pics soon. Nite nite.

Leeds: A haven.

Yesterday we cruised into Leeds, Clarence Dock...and plan to stay till Wed morning, after buying a few extra mooring days with elec.:) Just a time to chill and enjoy a larger city for a bit, with access to Halfords and other shops:) I bought a new battery charger today, after burning out the last one.....I realise now that I shouldnt have connected it to the entire bank....would have been fine if the bank was relatively charged, but it wasnt, and I think it was too small for the job. The new charger has a lovely digital display which makes it easy to see what the state of charge is....information is power, and comforting:) Nothing worse than looking at a battery thinking...do you like me?:) Weather is great, and I'm looking forward to a weekend of chilling and enjoying the shops with the kids. I seriously thought I had lost my wallet this afternoon, but found it had dropped down into the propshaft area under the stern floor. Relief when I found it.:)

Battery issues :)

We had a great cruise from Wakefield, up to Castleford, and along the river towards Leeds, finding a nice spot to stop for the night, next to Lemonroyds Marina...a lovely place. Found that all that cruising hadn't charged the batteries an ounce. I found one of the older batteries hadnt any ionised water in it. Bought some this morning, moored up for a night in the marina on shore power and recharging the whole bunch. Measurements are showing a stedy increase in the battery bank levels so I'm hoping tomorrow will be more successful. Also took my generator apart today, and carried a 5Litre tank of petrol back to the boat, mixed in some 2stroke oil and blew out a blocked fuel line, plus fixed the pulley gearing, and the gennie started up first time. At least our back up power option is now working. It's been a gloriously sunny day and we've walked twice to the nearby Lidls, carrying over 10kg per trip...madness. (Once to fetch petrol etc, and later with M to go shopping...aaarrghhhh!) :) The tv reception isnt that great here...I need to go on the roof and adjust the aerial. Leeds is about 2.5hrs cruising away, through 4 locks. We'll be setting out midday tomorrow....with fully charged batteries I hope. Plan C is to toss the faulty one, and either buy a new one (a truck battery from a guy I met at the marina) or use the ones we have stored...smaller car ones, but the more the merrier :) The cat piddled on me today. (well...I lifted it while it was doing it's thing, without me knowing...silly me :)

We've made it to the end of the world...

Well..nearly the end of the world..:) 2 days travelling through some peaceful canals and rivers, and we're settled in for the night in Wakefield. Kids are MUCH more active than when land-based.....eating loads, and passing out early. We still need to find a way to rise earlier..this morning was REALLY bad :) I was up an hour before everyone..really peaceful on the canal in the morning...we have 400litres of water left, and a toilet which has already been replaced with the spare, which is soon going to be full too...oh...where to empty them....tomorrow the search for that Elsan point is on. Luckily we're moored just round the corner from a Halfords, and I need to buy some oil, spare fuses and ...erm...possibly another toilet storage container. Sorry to harp on about the loo....but it's a real practical priority when you live onboard :) The 400litres of water will probably be finished by midday tomorrow, but there are places to refill along the way. I need to get my 950Watt generator running soon...it started once last month, but hasnt since...hmmm...watch this space :) The layout on the boat is working well. Kids in the front. M and I at the rear. Jac in the middle. Cat has made itself comfortable in the front. At the moment the rear cabin has the desk layout, but later those go under the bed, and the cabin transforms into sleeping quarters. There's a condensation drip on M's feet though, which I need to sort out soon...going to redirect it rather than solve it...Missing our friends and family, but really enjoying the change in pace...(it's faster, yet more relaxing....strange that.) More updates and pics soon.

Living onboard

Marielle here.. I'm getting to write this blog... Dean is a lot funnier than me but he's busy so I am taking on the job for now :)

After endless hours of packing / carrying and cleaning at our house, we finally shut the door to Nightingale Drive at about 3pm on Wednesday afternoon. To view the car, with all of us in it, was just plain crazy. We were absolutely jam-packed! Only to arrive and see the mountain of stuff in our little lounge that Dean had dropped off the day before. I had been prepared for a lot of work and attacked it with gusto but by about 10pm Wednesday night, there was no sense of humour left or any sense of adventure at all. Every place in this boat is packed with something. There is no room for anything, even fleas will battle to find some space if they decide to hop onboard!

Talking about fleas... which our cat does NOT have... Rocky, the cat, has been a bit unsettled but yesterday afternoon discovered that sitting on the one end of the boat watching the ducks is a great pastime. He has now settled in. Jesse took him for a walk on his leash yesterday but that didn't go to well. In about a day or two, we'll put him on his leash and he can roam up and down the boat to his hearts content. Just hoping that he doesn't decide to catch a duck for his lunch.

We have had a lot of wind whilst on board, but all taking it in our stride. Most of our belongings have been packed / squeezed away into every nook and cranny so we are able to walk around the boat without stepping over things. The boys have really been great helping out wherever they can. They have now mastered the art of making up and taking down their bed which is a huge help.

Dean and Jesse drove the car to Sheffield yesterday, and caught a train back. So the car has a new home for the next 2 months. I will have to walk to Asda today as it could be my last shopping trip for a few days which is probably a really good thing cause there is no space in my grocery cupboard for absolutely anything anyway. I cooked for the first time last night in the boat... it was a bit hectic... we all ate in relays as things were still a bit crazy. Thank goodness for my microwave as I could heat up each plate as we went along. Our link to electricity will be cut off a bit later today so that should be interesting. Another challenge :)

I am looking forward to finally leaving the Marina which will really mean "living onboard". Our boat is the only boat that has so much junk on it which clearly shows we are here and here to stay - well for a while at least :) I have no idea what happens when we go under a very low bridge, it would mean having to take a lot of stuff off the top of the boat and carrying it along.

We filled up with diesel yesterday, which was a bit of experience in the wind. Ummmm we did connect with a few boats along the way - eeek! I just stayed inside... No way was I gonna show my face during this pre-adventure adventure! We made our way back to our parking spot but this time the correct way round, so leaving here will be a lot easier.

We have our little cubicle at the back of the boat. I am still sitting in bed at the moment which is not good as the bed needs to be taken down so that I can move about. I NEVER stay in bed till 10am!!! but I can't move out right now cause Dean is clearing out his toolbox, just outside the door.. so I am taking the opportunity to enjoy watching "Saturday Morning Kitchen" on our little tv which actually looks huge in this small space.

Anyway.. that's all for now. Guess I had better do something constructive and get a move on somehow. I am sure Dean will give you the next update and hopefully there will be some photos to add. There would have been yesterday, but I had no idea where my camera was!!!

6 days to go ---eeeeEEK!

If you saw the amount of stuff still lying around the rental home, you would never think we're down to less that a week before moving onboard our boat. I've finished whatever refurbishment I could do, so we'll just have to do our best from hereon out! Some pics of the interior of the boat below.