Broken Captain, delayed departure

After a couple of days back afloat when we finished the hull polishing, gave the waterline area a scrub and generally prepared to leave we also had some nice weather to enjoy:

Sometimes enjoyment means the aft cockpit with a cheeky G and T. Had to be done. Although it looks nice and tropical, the wind was still keen but sheltered in the cockpit allowed us to believe that summer might arrive soon.

Then a huge spanner in the works. The captain woke up one morning with a painful back / leg in a way that he had not experienced before. It was not a good way. Far from it in fact. Each step was seriously painful so it became a "drag the leg around and do loads of exercises to free the thing up" day. Naturally that happened just after the hull scrubbing escapade and a couple of days after the trip on the horribly uncomfortable train from Southampton. It also happened at a weekend but the osteopath appointment was duly booked for as early as possible. Fortunately the exercises really worked and the captain was fit to get to the Osteopath although the monster hill in Penarth was not attempted - a taxi ride instead. Walking back down was OK though. 

To be sure, we delayed leaving, had a couple more osteo visits and decided to have a quick trip back to Hythe to check on Toddlerville and the exterior decorating that was underway. The scaffolding that is now needed to paint the place was a serious affair and costs more than the work itself:

Fond memories of the first few times we had the place decorated and they just used ladders came flooding back...... The smart scaffolders hadn't asked the Toddlers if they needed access to the garage or wanted to get the car out so it was marooned inside. Brilliant service. To make things worse, the painters who were supposed to start the day after the scaffolders all mysteriously got ill / had an overrunning job so they took ages before starting. The joys of getting work done are unbounded.

During our stay in Hythe we took advantage of Alex and Gisele (yes, the couple with the HUGE Nordhavn 55) being in Lymington to pop over and visit them. On the way through Beaulieu there were more wild donkeys on the green than we've ever seen there. The crew took a quick picture that only captured a few of them and mainly bum views:

As you can see, Avis like to remind folks to drive on the left. 

We much enjoyed catching up with the HUGE Nordhavn owners and hearing about their summer plans. Made us get more serious about ours too.  So, we returned to Penarth, dropped off the hire car (driving on the left of course) and did some final boat prep and lots of weather checks. They were a bit depressing. Loads of northerly / NEly strong winds, not at all ideal for going up the Irish sea.

There was one little weather window for that trip, so we prepared for a nice early morning departure to Milford Haven, followed by an even earlier one the following day from Milford to head north. Tide times can be a nuisance.