Free at Last

Couldn't leave yesterday (Monday) cos the weather was so Poo!!

so we decided to leave on Tuesday and it felt like the great escape, we seem to have been at Pillings Marina for so long that we are starting to go stir crazy.

But all's well today the suns shining and I've got my shorts on for the first time in ages, so we joined Plan B and made an exit out of the Marina,

As we turned right at the wharf in Loughborough, now closed due to new visitors moorings being built which by the looks of them should be really nice when finished,

we stayed outside the Albion well it would be rude not to call in to say hello.

A walk into Loughborough to do some shopping and lunch, it's a lovely place to stay the centre is so close and the public house so welcoming.

Wednesday weather not too cleaver but the Soar fully open so decided to press on and see how far we can get.

And this is it, Kegworth shallow lock, as far as we can go for now, a phone call to BW reveals that the Trent is closed for at least the next 2 days,

So while there is a break in the weather it's time for jobs around the boat.

Scrubbed the roof which was getting really grubby from all the time spent in the marina,

touched up a few paint scratches below the gunnels and decided while the paint was out might as well paint the boat pole the same colours as Lorimar, and must admit it does look better than plain wood.

Decided to drill some holes in the top of the battery boxes as they are in the engine compartment and they do struggle to keep below 30 degrees C and a bit worried that if summer ever does arrive the they might start to cook.

Just past Kegworth lock are 4 or 5 lovely little pre-fab type bungalow's all with there own mooring at the bottom of the garden, really nicely cared for and a credit to the owners.

The couple that live at No. 14 explained that last week was a worry for them as the Soar had risen to just below the steps on the bungalow.

But now as you can see it's nearly back to it's normal level.

Here you can see every body starting to congregate, waiting for the Trent to open,

Surprise surprise another escapee from Pillings Marina Dave and Sandra on NB Catherine arrived in the afternoon to join the waiting convoy,

still with so many boats escaping from the marina gave us all loads to chat about in the evening,

Son Andrew called today to say that he had just sat his final exam at college and is now a fully qualified carpenter, so a big well done to him, very proud of you son well done.

Looking Forward to Monday

Not had much to blog about just lately, weather has been Poo!! and Lorimar has been moored at Pillings while we have been away for the last two weeks working at Priory marina in Bedford.

We had originally planned to cruise to Bedford as I had been offered two to three weeks servicing work at the Marina, working on the Canaltime boats moored there,

but due to the river Soar being in flood we had to revise our plans and travel down by car and stay on one of the Canaltime hire boats at the marina,

turned out to be a wide beam so had plenty of room and good facilities, they are very nicely equipped with everything from microwave to dishwasher on board, but you can't beat the comforts of your own boat so we are really looking forward to returning to Lorimar this weekend, especially after two weeks of changing shower pumps, bilge pumps, replacing faulty wiring and safety checks + general oil and gas servicing on boilers and appliances.

But weather permitting we are hoping to go cruising on Monday, probably only going to be a week away unfortunately so will probably head of towards Fradley and see how far we get, because the week after I've got more gas repairs and general servicing of the Canaltime hire boats at Sawley Marina, still at least it means that Canaltime must have been impressed for them to offer me more work, even though they had to pay all our expenses for the car and provide the wide beam to stay on free of charge and that's not cheap these days,

most of the people staying on the hire boats seem to be either American or Australian which made for some interesting discussions in the evenings over the odd beer and bottle of wine of course.