From this !!

To this in one night.
Woke this morning at 6.30am and took this shot of a lovely sunny day,
we thought the rain was never going to end, and last night spent time revising Lorimars build plans to check out the possibility of turning her into an ark !!
But no need now,
Yippee !! the suns got it's hat on.

But we still have to trudge 200 yds. or so to get near the car parking area through thick, deep mud. Doh !!

The walkway as it is now.


You can see from this shot that it's along way to walk, even if we had real paths and no mud.
The work has re-started on the pontoon pylons today, the lads started at 7.30am making hay while the sun shines, I suspect.
The forecast for to-morrow and the weekend is again unsettled and the soar is still in flood, so nothing else to do but sit and wait it out.
A few owners are a bit fed up as it's there annual holiday and are just sitting around at the marina waiting for somewhere to go.

Cheeky Monkey

Today's lovely the suns shining and a chance to get the chairs out and do a spot of fishing, but Deefer had other idea's first she pinched my bread roll that I was using for bait, then while I was fetching another roll she decided she would pinch my chair. cheeky monkey !

The marina work force dug a massive hole with the jcb and buried the large tank that arrived on site a while back, I think it must be for the pump out station.
Work on placing the pylons is still underway, and Paul hopes they will be all in place by next week.
Weather permitting of course.
The river is still in flood conditions and the floodlock remains closed, so not much chance of any day trips for now.

Rain, rain and more rain

The weather may be Poo !! but the work goes on,
Lorain's favorite Lab picture put in the galley.

Picture frames for the living room being painted to match the decor,
Lilac, Lilac and more lilac Lorain's favorite colour.

Rain stops play

Brilliant news the open day for the marina on Sunday went great with plenty of people looking around all day,
and Paul was over the moon, as the pylon machine has finally arrived and 5 pylons have already been put into place, this means at this rate it won't be long before the pontoons will be floated out into position.
Then the weather broke again and the poor lads tried there hardest to carry on, but eventually had to call it a day.

Barbecue on the patio

At the moment on our temporary pontoon mooring we have so much space it's like having your own patio,
so nothing else to do but have a barbecue, lets face it the weather has been glorious.

Invited some new friends to join us.

First visitors

Our very first family visitors,

Vikki and boyfriend Scott from Great Yarmouth,

It was lovely to see some family and catch up with all the goss. surprising how much you can miss out on in a month.

Good to see you both, we hoped you enjoyed your visit, just got to convince your Mum & Dad to visit now.

Hint Hint Reg.

Crick to Pillings

Just thought I would let you know,
Since leaving the Crick show we have travelled 49.6 miles and done 44 locks.

Scariest moments on our travels so far have got to be :

1. Watford staircase locks
2. Crick Tunnel 1528 yds.
3. Husbands Bosworth Tunnel 1166 yds.
4. Foxton staircase locks
5. Atherstone locks

But it has been a great learning curve for us both and we have really enjoyed ourselves along the way.

For now we have got to stay put and get ourselves organised, get the final inspection carried out by our friendly boat inspector Mr. David Broach,

and of course collect the last of our belongings that are scattered around family members houses and then work out where to put it !!!

Pillings Lock Marina

Well we have arrived,

a place I wasn't looking forward to arriving at, not because of the marina but because for now it means an end to a fantastic two weeks of cruising.

Pillings Lock Marina http://www.pillingslock.com/ not in it's finished state but does promise to be a lovely place in the very near future.

The pontoons that will form the main walkways to the finger moorings are all placed around the outside of the marina ready to be floated out into position when the pylons have been driven into the marina base, but unfortunately the machine to do this has been delayed.

On a plus side this means that we have a brilliant position on the side well away from the construction crew and overlooking the marina.

On a minus side it's a walk of about 200yds. to the car parking area, not far but if it rains it turns the walk into a mud bath something like an unploughed field, and of course the dogs have to go out and they come back after a 5 min stretch of there legs and sniffing everything in sight to turn the boat into what I can only describe as a war zone, this then takes us half an hour to clean up and get back to normality.

but it hasn't rained that much so it's all good !!!!


Oh yes sorry about the pics it's not really that dismal looking although the day was a bit overcast, I had been messing about with the camera settings on the previous evening trying to get a good night shot of the marina and forgot to put the settings back to auto. what a Muppet !!!

Lorimar & Plan B (Heartwood Narrowboats Crick show boat last year) share a lock on our way to our moorings for the night in Leicester, we hope to find room on the pontoon in the basin by Castle Park, Peter and Diane from Plan B have stayed there before and have fond memories.


Cruising on after we stayed at Castle Park, we had a great day and evening, went shopping in town (Lorain's favorite pastime) and went for an Indian with P & D, fantastic little place, no alcohol license so took a bottle of red and a white for the girls, and was entertained by Peters tales of the cut and stories about the places and people they had met while cruising last year.

At Foxton flight we had chance to explore, because there was a 4hr. wait to go down, the museum & inclined plane is well worth a visit anyway,
work on the lift is coming along and they now have a new observation point, and you can take some great snaps from there.

Lorimar with Leicesters football stadium in the background, an amazing looking place.

Crick Show

Brilliant, the weather was traditionally wet but the atmosphere was priceless, loads of people came along to wish us well, and it was brilliant to meet all the people that have been following the blog.
We just could not believe that people wanted to stand in the pouring rain for over an hour just to look over our boat, it certainly makes you proud,
waterworld visited and asked if they could send a film crew to spend a day with us, for there new series.
Canal boat magazine are coming in July to give the boat a test and do a write up, Hope they don't want me to drive or the article will be all about how many things we can bash into. well it is a contact sport !! so I'm told. and anything under the gunnel's is fair game.

How Many

Entering the first lock in the flight.


When I said I would do the locks nobody told me how many there was, says Lorain.

Lorain takes the helm.

Our first ever flight of locks, but we got on ok!
Mr. Locky was more than helpfull and told us always open red first and leave a lock in front empty, and we managed ok. Lorain decided I should do the driving and she would do the locks. I did give her the choice Honest!!

I Spy Granny Buttons

Was days before Crick, when we came up the cut and could not believe our eyes it's Granny Buttons says I, who says Paul, Granny Buttons says I, been following Andrews blog for a long time, and rushing to get the camera was the best shot I could get.

Paul enjoying the trip as much as us, thinks I, no prizes for guessing what he's holding but it's not tea.

Lovely pub on the way and rude not to stop and partake in refreshments.

Our first stop on the way to Crick and been new to all this Paul the builder decided to come with us and teach me everything he knew on the way. Just worried I would damage Lorimar before he got chance to show it thinks I

Taken from the bridge at 5.30am. you can still make out the mist on the canal.
I know, I know, 5.30am is much too early to be up and about, but just excited,

Cruise to Crick

And the first dunking went without any problems, and we spent our first night afloat at the marina, well they had some nice ales so would be rude not to.

Transport arrives to take Lorimar to Festival Park Marina for her first dunking, from there we will cruise down to Crick boat show