Getting ready to head off -at last

We slowly sort of got ourselves ready to head off, hoping that the weather might just improve a little. Martin and Inge had arrived and were very busy cleaning their already rather sparkly Nordhavn, Malaspina. They even enjoyed a short voyage to turn her around so they could shine up the port side:

We joined in the hull polishing fun, although we completed our port side from the RIB to save the crew bending down and kneeling on the pontoon. Slower but less bodily pain it seems. We were delighted to finish it though and treated ourselves to a right royal day out - we went to Porthcawl for a wander around. The tiny harbour never looks inviting:

and the tiny entrance and pile of mud at low water don't add to the appeal of the place one jot:

A shame really as the town and waterfront area are pretty good, we had a nice time wandering around the town, admiring a rare thing (some sun peeped out) and the ingenious use of driftwood on the promenade:

It was then time to get serious about departing. We returned to Hythe, dropped off the car, set up a new TV for the toddlers (the old one had started to give things a nice green colour, making watching snooker on TV quite a challenge really) and braved the train back. They still run totally unsuitable old rolling stock that was designed for short Thames Valley commuter routes on the Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff service.  Numb bum, ringing ears from the engine noise (windows have to be open as the aircon is feeble) and a horrid resonance in our carriage at speed added to the uncomfortable tiny seats to make the whole experience wonderful. At least this one was on time for a change. This service even stars in the "worst train allocations of the UK" video. That didn't cheer us up much to be honest. 

After a day on board to recover from the horrors of Great Western trains, we dug out the little Brompton bikes, fitted new chains and headed off for what was quite a liberating ride in the sun. Liberating because it was the first one since the end of January and shoulder surgery.  It then became lubricating as we needed a stop off outside a pub for essential refreshment and sustenance:

Only the refreshment had arrived at the time of the photo.

As the boat had also not been moved since the end of January, we took her for a run around the bay area to see if all the oily bits were working OK and then make sure that the electronics behaved too. Luckily all was well, except the stern gland on the main engine could do with a little more water coming through it. The route was the usual confused up and down the bay thing:

trying to keep it in the deeper bits, especially for the wide open throttle runs. It seemed that we were nearly ready to head off, so we had a look at the weather forecasts to see if they would conspire to prevent this.....

Maintenance news:

As part of the pre-departure preparation, we gave the boat a much needed wash off, scrubbed the winter freshwater growth off the hull around and under the waterline and packed away all the things that had migrated out of lockers and cupboards during the long winter period.. It is amazing how things seem to pop out and not get put away again.

The main engine stern gland was slackened off a bit to promote more water flow through it and will almost certainly need adjustment after the first longer sea trip. We refitted the new wiper blades that had been taken off for the winter to save them a little bit, sealed off the heater outlet (SO nice not to need that) and did some route prep work too. Who knows, we might actually use the boat as a boat soon.