Northampton-Worcester-Bournemouth

Posted on 22/03/2013 by Christine

Friday 22/3/2013

Well at last we have had official confirmation that the wedding can take place at the Bankhouse Hotel, so we decided to go and do all the final arrangements.

We left Horndean (Jenny and Bill’s) at 6.30 am we headed up to Northampton, stopping at our friendly bacon baguette place, and walking dogs on route at Ockham Bites, then onto Mark’s, I wanted to see the bridesmaids dresses, and to make sure they were similar to Jane’s (they are slightly different) but I doubt anyone will notice.  We stopped for coffee, then onto Worcester, rest of family at School, so we missed them, such a shame, still we will see them at wedding.

First stop County Hall at the Registrar office, as we needed to give them the music, and reading, having done that we stopped for lunch as they do subsidized lunches, and very nice it was too.

Then onto meet Kathy at the Bank House, we went through the itinary, looked at where the wedding was going to be held, and at present no carpet was down (very worrying) but we were assured everything would be OK. Whilst we were there Lee Webb arrived the photographer, well to say I was a  bit shocked was an understatement, he looked like a School boy of about 15 years, but once we got chatting, and saw his work we were both happy with the decision to go with him.  We left the Hotel feeling very happy with everything, so at last we are on track.

We then went onto the florist, where we were to meet John, he was not there at first, but we were given a cup of tea, and he soon arrived.  Well he is a very artistic chap, and after talking things through, another decision was made, we paid for the flowers, and left very happy with the thought he would do a good job, we also ordered for Jane a bouquet of sweets they looked brilliant, thought that would bring a smile to her face, because when I have been down, she has managed to keep me focused.

Now Bournemouth, we were running late, and worried that we would miss the musician, but apparently he got caught up in traffic, so he was still performing when we got there.  I instantly knew he was for us, as he was so versatile and talented, we booked him there and then, we stayed and listened for a little while, then left to start going home.

It was about 9 pm by now and the poor dogs were still in the car, they have been brilliant, but we decided to go for a walk with them, poor things they never complain.

We finally got home about 10 pm, but what a day, every stop was successful, and now  seventeen days before the wedding, we can now relax, and just hopefully enjoy the day.

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Spain

Posted on 16/03/2013 by Christine

Had to fly into Murcia again, for Geoff to go to have some more tests, we decided to go for a week to get out of the snow in England.  Lovely and sunny here, still a chill in the wind, but lovely blue skies, now I know why I like it here.

I went to aqua-classes on Tuesday and caught up with Daf, and Carole, we do have a laugh, and it is also good for you, Geoff came for coffee, and Steve also came, good to see everyone again.

Wednesday Geoff had his tests, and Thursday we had the results, nothing conclusive, so the Doctor has sent him to see a consultant, so we will coming back after the honeymoon.

Spent the evening with Mary and Barry and played Dominoes and cards, had a lovely meal, and a good laugh, Geoff caught up with the crib crowd, and I joined him in the end, and beat Paul and Geoff so I was chuffed.

Friday evening we went out for dinner with Steve and Daf, we had a bottle of champagne before we left, and then to the restaurant, where we enjoyed a lovely meal, with Daf having decorated the table, it was lovely, everyone in restaurant took the mickey about getting married, a brilliant fun night, with lovely company and good food.

Saturday we popped to Mary’s and we ended up having another bottle of bubbly, and they joined us at the Chinese restaurant, so another fun dinner, good job we are going back to England as our weight is going back on, will my dress still fit.

We flew back into England, Andrew met us there, back to Jenny’s house.

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England Uck!!

Posted on 10/03/2013 by Christine

Why oh why did we decide to get married in England, it is cold, wet and miserable.

We hired a car, drove up to Worcester, still no news on Hotel, we travelled to Derbyshire, and stayed with Marian and Martin, had a lovely time, but oh boy isn’t it cold here, we went on walks, and the boys did the normal trip to the Wee Dram, coming home with another couple of bottles of very expensive whiskey!!.  Weather is closing in, and snow is forecast, so in the morning we quickly gathered up our things, and escaped before we were trapped in, snow was laying, very picturesque, but have to go.  Thoroughly enjoyed our stay again, look forward to catching up at the wedding, where ever it might be held.

Stayed at Jane’s then popped to Portsmouth for a few days, Tom and Kathleen are looking after Sooty and Bella for us, whilst we fly back to Spain.

 

 

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On the move again

Posted on 03/03/2013 by Christine

Having spent several months in Spain,  we finally got our home back on the 5 December, and after several days of cleaning with lots of help, we had a lovely Christmas and New Year, ready to do our next trip, we had our new tenants but unfortunately the day we were planning to leave Geoff had to have tests on his breathing, he is struggling to climb hills etc., so we had to move into Rosie on the camp-site, and await all the tests.

We had several problems at home with the wedding, the main one was the Hotel was going into liquidation, and Richard would not guarantee it would go ahead, Andrew kept saying it would be OK,  but our nerves were frayed.

With all the hassles we decided to fly to England to check on things, so we booked our trip for 29/1/13 , I messed up the flights and ended up flying into Luton, so we hired a car, we were hoping to go to Mark’s but they were busy, so we went straight to Marian and Martin’s, what a lovely time we had, even though we were so cold, have forgotten how cold England is.  On the 4/2 we went to Worcester still no joy, very frustrating, Richard was so unhelpful, he is very negative, we were going to stay the night, but decided to go to Jane’s, we went shopping trying to find bridesmaids dresses, with no joy, then on Friday, Jane from Jersey flew in, so we stayed in Portsmouth with Tom and Kathleen.  It has been good to catch up with most people, sad we couldn’t see the Grand children, but hey ho next time.

We flew back from Gatwick, will not make that mistake again, but the flights were cheap!

On 26/2, we decided to go back to England in Rosie, we had to look for an alternative Hotel, and maybe apply for our licenses again. We left first thing, and we decided to go for the long drive, so we can clear Spain, it is difficult to find a safe spot to stay on Spanish Motorways. We reached Perpignan as it was getting dark, I had planned a stop, but unfortunately we were too big to go down the road, so we started again, and found a lovely spacious motorway stop, which was very good, we all slept very well.

Next day we headed for Catriona’s in St. Claud, near Anglemene, we stayed a couple of nights, and managed to go for lunch at our favourite restaurant, food was excellent as usual.

Friday we were heading for Pouilly sur Loire, to complete our wine choices for the wedding, we arrived in this lovely little village, and parked outside, not sure where we are going to put this wine, as we are bulging at the seams.

We met the lady who owns it, and fortunately Geoff managed to speak the language, to her very well, we went and had some tasters, then bought 8 cases, not sure we need all those, but sure it will not be wasted.  We had admired her glasses, so she gave us two as a wedding present, isn’t that sweet, plus 3 other bottles.  I squeezed everything into Rosie, and we went and parked by the river, where we took the dogs for a lovely walk, another peaceful and scenic parking space, and it was free.

On Saturday we headed for Calais, as our ferry goes on Sunday, we decided to go to Gravelines, another pretty village with a castle, we wondered around with the dogs, and then settled down for the night.  We were parked by the marina, so it was lovely, we could walk the dogs easily, we had to pay 3 Euros, but worth it, just about 30 minutes away from Calais

When we arrived at the Ferry Port, we checked in, and the lady asked if we wanted to catch an earlier ferry, so we did, we drove towards the ferry just in time to be waved on, what a result that was, we then drove to Jane’s to catch up with the washing and ironing, exciting life we lead.

 

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Bermuda to St Maarten

Posted on 19/11/2012 by Geoff

Andrew arrived back to a warm Bermudian day with brilliant sunshine after much of the work had been completed; hey he is the owner so he has to be excused!! The hatches were all re-sealed; the rigger had sorted out the masts and rigging; a bowzer topped up the water tanks; a tanker arrived and added several tons of fuel to the boat; everybody caught up with e mails and we were all chilled out and ready to go.  Unfortunately Trevor did not have sufficient time left to make the final leg to St Maarten, work got in the way so he had to fly back to the UK. What a shame Trevor it was a far more comfortable sail!

We cleared customs and immigration then left St Georges mid-day with a comfortable weather forecast of 20/25 knots and easterlies which should be just what the doctor ordered, this would give us the opportunity to test the rigging and get all the sails up, the only fly in the ointment was that the forecast predicted winds would turn into southerlies, which meant we would be back to Motoring.  However, if we made good progress we may arrive before the winds came from the south.  At least the southerlies will bring up warm air, even if it does slow us down.

The trip south was un-eventful compared to the first part of the journey, we had some inclement weather for the first two days but nothing serious and the hatches didn’t leak.  By now we were dressed accordingly, shorts and flip flops during the day and only an anorak on at night.

By the third day the sun was shining, it was hot and not getting burnt was the order of the day.  We had all the sails up, engine switched off at last, making 9 to 11 knots was the norm, she sailed beautifully and the steering became more manageable.   These 3 days is what sailing is all about, the bad journey from Port Hawkesbury to Bermuda was all forgotten and all talk was about arriving at St Maarten in the Caribbean where further work was scheduled to be carried out.  The boat was then heading to Antigua for the Charter Boat Show which was due to start around the 28th November.

St Maarten is a split Island, 2/3rd Dutch and 1/3rd French and in the centre is a very large Lagoon, Simpson Bay, which has both a French and Dutch Side.  To enter you have to wait for a bridge to open to let you in and this happens only twice a day, morning and afternoon.  We arrived outside the entrance in the wee hours of the morning so dropped the anchor and waited ‘till 0930 am.

We were ready and in the queue for 0930 hrs and motored through the channel, under the bridge and into Simpson Bay where we dropped our anchor.     After securing the boat we all jumped into the Dingy and off to breakfast, this also gave us the opportunity to catch up with e mails.  After Breakfast Skipper went to Immigration, Andrew, Adam and Jamie went off to the beach and I re-arranged my flights.  At this point I must thank Laura, Trevor’s secretary, who spent a lot of time acting on my behalf and liaising with internet travel agency. Again thank you Laura and apart from a minor hick-up in New York due to their security process being so slow, everything went well.

The famous hostelry here and where many sailors hang out is the “Soggy Dollar”, it also where the dingy dock is and it was nice to re-acquaint myself with a few “Rum & Tings”, a popular drink here in the Caribbean.  I also introduced Adam and Jamie to them so we all partied well into the night!!!!!!!

Andrew spent time negotiating with the various Marinas to get a “deal” so that we could come alongside on the cheap.  Well he certainly achieved that, it did help that there were few big boats around at this time and any business is better than no business.

With our tenants still sitting in our home and not leaving it was time for me to return back so having brought my flights forward I left Carinae IX moored alongside the “Soggy Dollar” where the various works will be carried out and headed out to the airport.  My flight back to Spain was via New York, Heathrow, Gatwick and home, tortuous but the most economical.

Christine and I are hoping return to Carinae IX middle to late January 2013; can’t wait!

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Port Hawkesbury to Bermuda

Posted on 07/11/2012 by Geoff

Andrew had to jump ship here in Port Hawkesbury as he had a pressing business, so he said!!!!!!!!!!! (We wondered if he was avoiding the voyage to Bermuda) anyway Trevor and I delivered him to the Airport then went on to Halifax to stop over the Saturday night.  Halifax is a peculiar town; firstly it is a big university town and as Saturday night was also Halloween, the pubs/restaurants/clubs etc.,

Jeff (Skipper) On Deck Next to the Quay at Port Hawkesbury

were heaving; a good time was had by all.  Sunday we received a shopping list from Jeff (our skipper) and to stop there, and on Monday visit the local chandler. Fine, we re-booked our hotel rooms and spent the day exploring Halifax.  There was a lot of very interesting and fascinating history associated with this town but the one outstanding fact is, Halifax only springs to life and becomes “alive” in times of war, at other times it goes back into a dormant mood. (For more details, try their web site).

We were certainly pleased to get going after carrying out some repairs.  Port Hawkesbury was what I would call a bit of a “dead & alive” hole, very friendly people but as it is a long way from nowhere, more dead that anything, still there was “Dooley’s” , this seemed to

A Busy Dooley’s ha ha!

be the centre of the universe apart from “Papas” where they did very passable steaks.  Dooley’s had about 12/15 pool tables but we never saw more than a few used at any one time: In fact there was never much action at any time other than when we arrived; we were seen as new “meat” for the locals.  Still Dooley’s served jugs of cold Canadian (very gassy) beer which seemed to go down well and free coffee, well I think it was coffee, they said it was!

After “Sandy” (the Hurricane) had moved west through New York and into the great lakes we set sail from Port Hawkesbury at last; south to Bermuda.  We had a 40 mile dash along the Causeway to the open sea.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue and we were all in our thermals, heavy waterproofs and wellington boots, wonderful! Everything was fine once we hit the open sea so we thought our luck was in as the forecast told us there was a squall shaping up though with a bit of luck we should miss it.  I staggered up on watch around

An Angry Sea with Rain Clouds

0300hrs and was “gob Smacked” at what I saw.  Seas up to 5 meters, rain pouring, winds around 30 knots and lots of water flowing over the bows and running the length of the boat; and we were hoping to miss this “squall”, ha, we hit it full blast and had to run through it.  To make things worse, as the boat, having been laid up on the hard for the past 5 years with no one to lavish TLC, just deteriorated.   The upshot was that all the deck hatches leaked, not drips, but bucketfuls, no one had a dry bed!!!  We couldn’t put up any sails as the rigging needed attention and the main mast was loose, so we just rolled and rolled like a barrel, extremely un-comfortable.

This squall seemed to roll into another squall then another one and of course we were suffering seas that were the final consequences of “Sandy”. The owner, who incidentally drew up the original design must have had tree trunks for arms as there was no auto helm and the rudder was direct drive (no power steering), so the whole journey

Manning the helm, appropriately Dressed

had to be manually helmed.  Unfortunately with my neck and shoulders I just didn’t have the strength to steer so spent all my watches giving moral support and, making the Skipper cups of tea.  Fortunately we had a skipper and two very fit, and very willing crew who had the strength to cope; then there was Trevor who came for the ride and experience of ocean sailing, I hope he wasn’t too put off!

Finally, motoring out of the night, 6 days later, we spotted the Bermuda light house, then the passage lights that guide you round the masses of coral and into St Georges, we had arrived in Bermuda, fantastic.

The Entrance to St. Georges Lagoon, Bermuda

When the paper work and immigration formalities were completed we all had our priorities. I went for a shower then Breakfast with Trevor, what the rest did I am not too sure but we all met in the White Horse (pub) around lunch time and enjoyed a long afternoon chilling out in the sun; shorts and flip flops at last!!!

Andrew was due to fly in a couple of days later but in the mean time Jeff organised a rigger to sort out the Mast and Stays etc., the crew went about sealing the hatches and we all cleaned up the boat. Ordered a tanker of fuel and another with water, well it is a very big and thirsty boat!!!

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