Medical stuff and G lines (no, not strings, behave)

When we made it back to the poor neglected boat it seemed only fair to give her a little attention. First of all, a good wash off although there were fewer black streaks than we expected. Then we made a start at polishing the hull only the return of VERY chilly weather put that on hold for a few days.

Since the main and wing engines hadn't had a run in many weeks, we did our usual trip around the bay, only it wasn't a totally usual one. There was so much floating debris and huge lumps of timber sloshing around out there that we dare not head as for north as we had before and we ended up dodging some rafts of tree branches and rubbish. A very short and quite worrying run ensued:

The main engine prop is reasonably protected with the keel / skeg and hull shape helping keep the stuff floating around the bay at bay. The wing prop is way more exposed so it didn't get a run, just in case. We quickly gave up after getting the main up to temperature, a few wide open throttle runs to test all was well and lots of swerving around to avoid the bigger logs. We pass no comment on the ability / desire within the harbour authority to clean the place up.

Heading back to the marina, our local expert photographer caught a picture of us topless - no bimini cover on. He's sent us many pictures before that have also appeared in here - usually involving the barrage lock. This time you have the captain sitting on the flybridge in the cold just to get a better view of whatever was floating ahead of us:

When the temperatures killed our desire to do more polishing, it tempted us out on the new Brompton G-line bikes. Basically they are a 20 inch wheel version of the original bike with many other improvements. The ride quality on rough surface is way better and they are trail capable too. We started testing them out on the tricky run to Pret a Manger in Cardiff:

They come in a few boring colours and this rather natty orange finish. As a half-Dutch person, guess which the crew preferred. They were treated to several outings after fighting with one front tyre that refused to hold air pressure properly (they had been converted to tubeless by the selling dealer). Some bad words and another dose of sealant helped sort that. We are deeply impressed with them and had great fun on some longer rides alongside the rivers here.

As you can see, they park rather nicely with the rear wheel folded away.

Fun continued whan Steve (the ex-Cardiff waterbus man) brought his newish pup Emily over.  She liked exploring the boat and showing off her tongue too:

She also rather liked Izzy's favourite toy ball. Good job Izzy was not around to witness this little video clip:

Emily is gorgeous. Steve tells us that he is too. No comment.

We did manage to finish polishing the transom and starboard side of the hull but then medical stuff overtook events. The crew had been diagnosed with a cataract in one eye (the other is still 20/20 and the contrast between them was huge) so we headed to the Gower area for a specialised test using some rather posh and expensive looking equipment. The challenge- to get a replacement lens that allows her to return to her previously excellent pot spotting duties out to sea. We spent a happy couple of nights at the quirky New Gower hotel in the "Room with a bath" once more. Yes, it has a bath in the middle of it. 

which had to be used of course. We then had a quick dash back to Hythe for the crew to get a pesky hip checked out (bursitis that she has been trying to resolve with exercise alone for many months) and she ended up with a steroid injection. Then it was time for the eye surgery in Cardiff to pop in the new lens. All rather medical really, we must be getting old. Or should that be older? The good news is that the op was quick and successful, long distance pot spotting is back 

Maintenance news:

Wayne the trimmer had been busy, all the ceiling panels in the forecabin had gone, leaving us to admire the battens and insulation, together with the dangling wires that normally attach to the recessed lights:

After a significant battle, he had also removed the stuff glued to the timber finishing around the Portuguese bridge area:

The panels are now in his workshop to be recovered..... 

We were not totally idle either. The many fuel filters were changed and the usual battle to bleed the fuel system on the genset ensued. Grr. Then the genset was treated to a new raw water impeller - just in the nick of time too as one blade had started to fall apart:

The little bits had gone up to the end of the cooler tubestack so removing them entails draining out the coolant, removing the boot off the end of the cooler and then rebuilding it all. That is going to wait until we change the coolant which is also on the to do list.

Finally, one of the all time fun jobs. The captain cleaned out the grey water tank, braving the smell (which was not too bad this time) and having fun watching the Bio-Blast stuff eat away the soap scum on the walls of the tank.  It fizzes so nicely.

Of course, as you clear a job from the to-do list, something else gets added. The RIB was in use for hull cleaning when the outboard decided to cough and stop. It was being run on fairly old fuel (not good) so we are pretty sure that the carburetor is gunked up. That will need to be removed, dismantled and have the jets cleaned out. A job for a warmer and dry day, when we get one. Hey ho.

Heading back

To break up the journey back to the ferry in Santander, we'd booked a couple of nights in Palencia. Just a local town with a Marriott hotel that was offering rather good rates. The Captain is still one of the Marriott gold card holders thanks to many many nights staying with the hotel chain in Munich, America etc whilst working. After a gentle drive there, we found the hotel easily and it looked fine from the outside (borrowed picture): .

Indeed, inside were very friendly staff and a lovely room too. Only to park the car we found that the hotel's description of their parking facilities was a little over-egged: We should have done an AI search earlier:

The three exterior parking spaces were tiny, after squeezing into one we realised that we were in for lots of dents from other folks doors so we opted to pay and use the underground parking area. Oh dear. The entrance had an evil up and over door that was simply timed, no sensors, so it wanted to close on top of the car if you took too long. The ramp was very narrow and had an equally evil 90 degree bend. We had to back up and take two goes at getting round it. Once inside, there was plenty of space - wonder why!?!  In fact no other car parked there!

Needing lunch, we ventured across the road to Restaurante La Balastera and partook of their wildly expensive (yes, 14 whole Euros) menu of the day:

That delivered a truck load of bread, a bottle of water, a bottle of white wine, a large plate of a vegetable / meat stew as a starter (it was good!) then grilled fish and potato, then a dessert. We went big and ordered a coffee too. 32 Euros later we waddled back to the hotel. The restaurant staff spoke no English, were very patient with our attempts at translation, friendly and happy. Such a contrast to the one grumpy man in Madrid. Yes, normal service had been resumed.

The town itself was a strange mix. Some great buildings with interesting decor:

(that was a post box built into the post office). The main drag was filled with prosperous looking upscale shops and was busy. However, we saw the first signs of the same blight that has impacted the UK high streets here - many closed shops on the other roads and as soon as you left the bustling central thoroughfare, things looked very different. A shame as the town itself was pretty, some amazing old churches (one of which was huge) but the same issue that hits many more rural locations - closed shops and not enough employment locally.

As the ferry to Portsmouth was due to leave on the following day, we did the obligatory weather check since February can be a bit fruity in the Bay of Biscay. Sure enough, it promised to be so:

You can guess that deep red is not a good colour for predicted wave heights. The ferry timing worked well though and we "only" had around 5 metre high waves which the ferry stabilisers laughed off. It would have been a  little bit different in the Nordhavn, quite a bumpy tiring ride. 

The hardest part was escaping from the horrible parking area under the hotel. Getting back up the 90 degree bend was unamusing. The concrete walls and posts had been wrapped in some foam protection stuff and we saw why at first hand. The crew climbed out to hit the button to open the evil sadistic door, only by the time we had made the first attempt at the bend (failed dismally) the door had closed again. Backup, try a different angle for the ramp, open door, same thing happened.It took 4 attempts to get round, with a 2cm gap between the front bumper and the wall and around 1cm between the rear wheel arch and the post before we made it. A nice lady from the hotel had come out and was keeping the door open for us whilst the crew watched the front of the car and got suitably stressed. 

Hint, never ever use that car park! Especially in a car that measures around 5m long and 2m wide. It is bad for your stress levels. Very bad indeed. We so needed rear wheel steer (an option not fitted to our car). After all that fun, things seemed pretty simple. A gentle drive to the ferry port, stopping off to fill up for the last ime with nice cheaper Spanish diesel before we hit the UK prices again. The usual queueing thing in the port itself, then the rather good service we've come to expect from Brittany Ferries in their club cabins and lounge. A happy trip that got nice and calm once we had crossed Biscay and started heading up the English Channel:

Our welcome back to the UK was tempered by the fact that the ship docked late evening and we were told that disembarking would be delayed thanks to ramp problems in Portsmouth port. A rather rapid reminder of the decaying infrastructure here. Still, we finally escaped, had a chat with a very friendly border control guy as he checked our passports and spent the night in a most upmarket Portsmouth Premier Inn. Rather after the Lord Mayor's show really. 

The following day was manic. Drive to Hythe, empty out the car, drive to Sunningdale and collect our new Brompton bikes plus one old one that had been there for service. Bring them back to Hythe then to a hotel in Southampton for the night (we don't like to stay in Toddlerville after travelling just in case we've picked up some nasty lurgy thingy). That evening, we had a visit from Anne and the goddog:

She clearly had a bad fur day going on. That didn't stop her getting massive amounts of fuss from everyone who passed by the hotel bar area of course. It was a lovely welcome home.

Maintenance News:

Whilst we were still away, Wayne the rather wonderful trimmer guy contacted us to say that he had the replacement foam backed vinyl and was ready to re-do the headlining in our forecabin. The original was failing - the glue was coming free in several places and it looked as though the headlining had blisters and in some area big boils. Not pretty. Left alone it would probably turn into the hanging gardens of Babylon, So, we asked the marina to release the spare key to him so that he could dismember the cabin, removing the overhead panels and taking them away to be recovered. The tricky bit would be the stuff stuck to the boat structure itself, around the inside of the Portuguese bridge area. Getting that off and replacing it tidily would be a real test of Wayne's skill. Little did we know how apt that comment would turn out to be....