Saying bye to Penarth

Well, as the forecast was better for a Wednesday / Thursday trip around to Falmouth  (and as we wanted to wait for the previously mentioned new domestic water pump) we started preparations for our departure from the winter hidey-hole.

After lots of elbow grease, we finished cleaning and sealing the hull and transom. Party! Actually we couldn’t party. It was more like “move very slowly and stiffly whilst listening to soothing music with a glass of Sanatogen”.  Pitiful really.

As a treat, we walked into Cardiff for the last time and used the nice voucher that John Lewis sends you for a free tea and cake. Now, we haven’t reported back on the best carrot cakes recently and as that is overdue:

All-time best – St Ives, see the post from May 12th last year

Most unexpectedly good – Co-op shop on the Isle of Bute

Best value – any Wetherspoons pub, and there are lots of them to choose from!

Most disappointing – John Lewis

They may be never knowingly undersold, but their café provides carrot cake that isn’t as good as a cheapo Wetherspoons  offering. It is a bigger slice to be fair, but not that nice. Conclusion – boycott John Lewis cake, get the train to St Ives and go wreck your arteries there. Trust us, the trip would be worth it. We might need to sample it again this year if we spend some time in Falmouth.

What else to report– well, Steve the local Waterbus man (pic of his boats etc in the late September 2013 posts) has a wonderful spaniel called Bronwyn. Bron has kind of got used to us and when Steve visits the pontoon to get fuel, Bron hustles up to the hammerhead to see what is going on, climbs on the boat and gets fussed, lots. Because you have to, she is that kind of dog.

Now, we had turned the boat around to clean the port side of the hull. So, Bron duly arrived looked for the entrance gate and was very confused as it had vanished (Nordhavn 47’s’s only have an access door on the starboard side, if you moor port side to, you have to climb onto the bathing platform, not as easy). Much whimpering and jumping up looking for the non-existent door followed. Clearly we have become fixtures in Penarth, must be time to move.

Bron tried to help Steve paint his trip boat too:

Apparently she also uses her tail, not just the brush in her teeth.

We also had our new Bimini cover delivered and fitted by Wayne, the really nice guy who runs the local trim shop. After some gentle adjustment of the spreader bars, it zipped into place and the boat is no longer topless.

It was with a strange mixed set of feelings that we finished the boat prep and settled down on Tuesday evening.  We are looking forward to travelling again but we will miss this area and the people. The marina folks and the locals have been great – Penarth is an excellent winter-time mooring, sheltered, friendly, secure and there is lots to do in Cardiff. We will be back (if they will have us).