All change!

We were expecting Kantara to go back in the water on Thursday, but when I called Debdale on Tuesday I was told the job was finished and the boat would be floated again on Wednesday. What a pity, thought I. We'll have to stop decorating!

Starting out at 9:00 the next morning, hoping that the M1 rush would have finished by then, we arrived exactly as Kantara was being hauled out of the shed. She looked very smart in her new black coat.

Once she was back in the water, we paid up, loaded up with essentials, parked the car, and headed off up to the top of Foxton Locks, where we moored to fill up our almost-totally-empty water tank.

Then we bow-hauled her around the corner to a legitimate mooring, and tied up. We'd skipped breakfast, and not had any lunch either, so we strolled down to the Foxton Locks Inn for a very late brunch. Or was it lunner? The locks were very quiet. The whole site was. Vollies commented on how few boats had gone through. We had the restaurant pretty much to ourselves. There was just a handful of people at the Bridge 21 pub.

 Views from the restaurant

On Thursday morning we cast off, intent on getting back to the marina that same day. As it has been now for...how many weeks? it was hot and sunny. The heat was moderated by the breeze, and simply being on the water. And neither of us gets sunburned, so the travel was comfortable. We didn't race. We stopped for lunch. We moored at the marina in the best of Yelvertoft winds, but Grace managed to catch a critical pause between gusts, and berthed neatly.

Since we've been back, the weather has changed somewhat. Average temperatures have fallen from very silly to silly. There has been some rain. Fairly heavy, but for no more than ten minutes, only in the evenings, and generally only once per evening. Last night was an exception. After some poor attempts during the evening, it rained hard on and off through the night, and the winds were - and are still - crazy! Although the BBC call it a "fresh breeze".

Yesterday, it was temperate enough for us to wash the boat. There is no hose ban here yet, but in previous years the marina has been exempt from bans because of the perceived need to wash water-borne bacteria off boats. It sounds odd, but that's what we were told. I'm also told that our tap water is counted as a commercial supply, and is exempt anyway. That's no reason to waste it, though. The roof of the boat was the area most in need, and I tackled it by taking buckets of water up there and cleaning by hand. It took a long time, but the result is very pleasing.

I'm so glad I did that yesterday. Being on the roof today would be dangerous!

Oh good! It's looking as if it might rain again!