An Innocent Aboard

Thank you for your feedback and enthusiasm for the Blog, it gives me incentive and encouragement to carry on. I described it to somebody as Bridget Jones Goes Sailing which seems appropriate given that I have with me some of Mum's high-waisted Sloggis. This blog is more of a travelogue as Skip and I seem to have come to a truce while we tackled the rivers. There has been the odd change such as darlin' is now sometimes referred to as swee'art. Skip was a bit surprised when he asked me whether I'd rather cook for somebody or live alone and I responded with the latter without hesitation. I will leave my ponderings on life, the universe and France until my next blog.

The Med seems a long way away. We have changed from knots/h to km/h. The rivers make for a very different form of journey. The mast was taken down at Port St Louis on Monday 4th July; we waited for the winds to settle and headed off up The Rhone on Tuesday 5th July starting with a swing bridge and our first lock (ecluse). This part of the journey was by river, first the Rhone (323 km 14 locks) and then at Lyon, transfer to the Saone (255 km 5 locks). The Rhone historically was a wild and dangerous river and has many tales of waterborne misadventure - it was subject to flooding when the snows melted in the mountains and low water levels during a summer drought, these had an effect on the speed of the current and the safety of navigating its waters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rh%C3%B4ne. The Rhone has been somewhat tamed over the last hundred years - In 1948, the government started construction on a series of locked barrages and canal cuts, to improve navigation and generate electricity, with locks raising boats up to 23 metres (75 ft). The Rhone used to be an important commercial route but that is now much reduced, presumably part of the needing things yesterday culture we live in, and one wonders what the ecluse keepers do during most of their working day! The commercial traffic that still exists includes large power units that push up to 2 container barges ahead of them - a bit like an articulated lorry with two containers and no articulation! We went to a museum that equated the capacity of a double barge as 440 trucks. The size of the ecluse is enormous and all the locks on the part of the Rhone that we used have these huge locks so that the double barges can get through. I am guessing that the size of the Rhone locks was calculated based on the size of the double barges that were already using the river, subsequently the hotel boats, e.g. those belonging to Viking River cruises, have been built to fit the locks width wise but they are slightly shorter that the double barges. We shared a lock with Viking Helling on two occasions and felt rather vulnerable shut in the lock behind her.

I don't like to think of myself as gullible but every now and again, when someone says something vaguely plausible with conviction, I may well believe them. Stuart is one of these people. When we were in a coastal harbour I noticed what looked like long, wide rowing boats with a long folded platform. I asked Skip if he knew what these were and he said that they were used by the locals for jousting competitions. My wariness kicked in and I decided not to believe him. When we were at Port St Louis I came across what seemed like a water based fete with stalls at the river side and several different competitive activities on the water - one of which was jousting!! See photo gallery in case I've managed to upload evidence.

I had become familiar with life at sea but still wasn't sure what to expect from life on the river. I was anticipating lots of beautiful scenery and quite a lot of traffic but I was wrong on both counts. The Rhone was tough going, there was quite strong current against us and, although I knew that for a while we were travelling through The Camargue, there was no view of anything beyond bankside shrubbery. It was hard to hear any wildlife noises above the sound of the engine so we were dependant on vision for our awareness of our surroundings. There were very few places for leisure craft to stop, those pontoons that did exist seemed to be taken by barges converted to houseboats leaving few places for the weary traveller to rest. On one occasion we didn't get to a 'port' until after 9.30pm and we were both relieved to stop for the day - I think that was a beans on toast meal that night! Travelling along the rivers meant slightly different mooring techniques with people being around to help being less likely - this meant that I was expected to jump off the boat onto the pontoon in cases where the cleats were more like grab handles or were rings and we couldn't lasoo the cleat. I had heard Skip talk of jumping onto the pontoon but I had hoped that I wasn't going to be put to the test. On several occasions now I have managed to stand on the edge of the boat on the other side of the guard rail, facing the boat and jumping off backwards in the hope that I land on the pontoon - so far so good!!!

Both the Rhone and the Saone have kilometre marker boards so that you can keep track of your progress along the river. On the first hundred or so km on the Rhone, the vegetation for 10 metres either side of the marker had been kept mown/clear of scrub so that they were clearly visible. The rivers also had a new set of signage as mentioned in the last blog - one of which was a board on a bollard in the river with the roman numerals I to III above one another each with a line below it - the lowest being I. When we saw these, there was usually about 2 metres between the water level of the river to the line for I. The meaning of these lines is: I - all ok, keep going; II - you must be mad but if you think you are hard enough...; III - your name must be Noah and you need to have breeding pairs of various species on board. I had become used to channel markers going into harbours but they are a constant feature of the rivers and help to keep people safe.

Back to the journey. We planned to make our first stop at Vallebregues, a set of pontoons 62 km upriver from Port St Louis but as we approached we couldn't see anywhere to moor and the inhabitants of boats already there, rather than offer us to moor alongside them, told us to head off further upriver. None of this was in English which made it more difficult to understand what they were offering as an alternative. We carried on but had the feeling that we found the Rhone bleak and the locals rather inhospitable. 5 km further on we came to another set of pontoons, again with house boats moored all over them. By this time we did not want to go any further, Skip identified a boat with no occupants and we moored alongside her. There is usually a Captainiere who manages the pontoons/marina - in this case it was Pascal; he offered us a 3 nights for the price of 2 and took our baggette and croissant orders for the next morning, what he didn't offer us was a receipt! Aramon itself was a small town/large village with some beautiful old buildings, the now familiar town square and had a pleasant feel to the place. Mitsi, Skip and I took a bus to Avignon on a beautiful sunny day. Stu was very impressed by the pont even though he claimed that he didn't know the song; he was even more taken by the handheld audio guides and I was impressed by the amount of information that he absorbed. I still need to read about popes and why they were in Aviginon - all very political and power orientated I suspect. I had noticed a lot of posters within the walled city and we discovered that it was the start of an annual festival of a fortnight of theatre, not disimilar to the Edinburgh festival, where around every corner there seemed to be some form of venue. We met an English chap from Bristol who came to the festival every year - he had the program for the event which was A4 and about 1cm thick!! I was half expecting Paul Merton's face to appear on a poster but everything looked very French which wasn't really surprising.

The next stop was 39 km later at the Port de l'Ardoise which had nothing very interesting other than a quarry and cement works but there was no choice and we were safely moored up with water and electricity. The rate seemed to vary with each conversation and again no receipt was offered. We stopped in the hope of a baguette at St Etienne des Sorts which was a town beside the river - most towns seemed to be away from the river presumably as the river had re-routed over the centuries. This town was quite depressing, we couldn't understand why anyone lived there, there was very little colour to the houses both in the lack of colour in the shutters and in the lack of gardens and flowers. There were no shops to be seen and this is where we lost the boathook so it was memorable for several reasons, none being particularly good! We finally arrived near the port at Cruas, having covered 73 km that day, at about 9.30pm. Without headlights it was hard to see the route into the little port; Skip rose to the challenge and must have been secretly eating carrots because how he found his way to the pontoon I'll never know - there were all sorts of dangers being warned of in the guide book of currents, weirs, shipwrecks.... but we were across the dangers and able to moor onto the end of the pontoon. What amazed me was the speed with which the Captainiere appeared (they're normally off duty by 8pm) and he confirmed that we could stay where we were. We stayed there for two nights and explored the old city of Cruas - it contained a fascinating old city of steep streets with houses built into the hillside. As part of the conservation of the structures they are converting them to habitable dwellings.

Then on to Valence where we met the couple that run the website www.french-waterways.com. They more or less live on their boat and work remotely via the Internet for a company in Oxford. Food for thought. We spent longer than intended in Valence due to weather then were able to make a break for it. The landscape prior to Valence had been waterside scrub interspersed by quarrying, nuclear of hydro-electric plants; after Valence we started to see hills and the general feeling was much more pleasant. We headed for some pontoons marked on the guide but when we got there we noticed that there were no other boats our size and that there was a P with a red line through it on all the mooring spaces on the pontoon. Once again we had no intention of going any further and Skip manoevered Tarian onto the pontoon, narrowly avoiding a fisherman in the process. As we left the following morning Stu noticed that the depth guage showed 1m! We have 0.7m draft so we can sneak into places many yachts can't go. It would seem that many of the mooring places used by non-commercial pleasure craft have become silted up and they are not being dredged, reducing the places that can be stopped at.

Our overall impression of the Rhone was that it was long, unwelcoming and relatively uninteresting visually. There were towns along it, such as Arles, but there were only stopping places for commercial and tourist boats; this added to our feeling of weariness and uncertainty of places to stop.

Everything changed at Lyon,where we took the left turn and were on The Saone. The office buildings along the banks of the Saone were fascinating, the French are very stylish and have a flair for design - they didn't seem inhibited by planning restrictions! Lyon would have been an interesting place to stop but we felt that we needed to push on so we enjoyed what we saw from the river. The Saone is beautiful, it seemed more natural, tranquil with beautiful scenery and landscapes around it. The sighting of herons was almost as regular as that of the kilometre markers which I took as an indication of the health of the river. There were more towns along the river and there were more places to moor up, everything was smaller, calmer and more beautiful.

Our first stop on The Saone was at Trevoux where Skip managed to park the boat into a space which barely existed leaving about 6inches between us and the boat behind on the pontoon. Trevoux was a pleasant town - we went off in search of a bagguetterie but found that Trevoux was generally shut on a Monday! As we walked back along the river from a wander round the town I was amazed at the number and size of fish I could see all along rivers edge. The next morning we carried on and stopped for a baguette at Montmerle, a lovely little town (Fordingbridge sort of size), that seemed vibrant and had a useful array of shops, but here the Patisseries were closed on a Tuesday! There was a small supermarket 200m from the pontoon so this was an ideal opportunity to stock up with provisions. That night we stopped at Macon which was a bigger town but had little life to it; we were moored on a pontoon near some restaurants and chose the one that suited us only to discover that was closed on a Tuesday - we were getting the feeling that France was generally shut in this part of the world if you were Mel and Stuart! Nothing personal or paranoid!

We continued our river trip to Chalon-sur-Soane which had a marina http://www.bourgogne-tourisme.com/ports-haltes-nautiques/ACCBOU071245788/detail/chalon-sur-saone/port-de-plaisance-de-chalon-sur-saone. This was memorable for a variety of reasons, the first of which was that I learnt what Le Boat was all about. Le Boat is a company in France that hire out canal boats for short holidays. http://www.leboat.co.uk/holidays/destinations/france/burgundy . Holidaymakers come to a Le Boat location, have a brief lesson on how to drive, moor and handle a boat and then they are let loose on the water. When a yacht owner sees a Le Boat (bumper boats as they are known within the owned boats) within 100 metres, they are a bit twitchy and don't relax until any passing involved has been carried out safely. On or walk around the town we discovered that it was the first day of a street theatre festival and once again there was a buzz to the town because there were so many visitors for the festival. We stood and watched a folk band playing in the street who were very good but resisted the temptation to buy their CD. It would have been nice to stop for a couple of days and experienced some of the festivities but we needed to get on as we were still aware of the time that we had lost in Valence. As we walked along the pontoon from Tarian we saw a British ensign on a yacht with no mast and knew that we could greet the occupants in English. They were Jan and Tony aboard Red Marlin - they had been on the water for 17 years and were now bringing her home on the same route as us; they were waiting for their grandson to arrive to help them through the locks. We exchanged pleasantries and headed off the next morning to meet up with friends of Stuart, Ron and Julia, who had left England on their yacht in April. Ron and Julie were having gear box trouble and were waiting for parts at St. Jean de Losne - we found them and moored on the same pontoon. I had met them twice before in the UK and there something special about meeting up with fellow water travellers so we stopped for a couple of days to spend time together. One of our outings took us to the local supermarket (the name of the supermarket was Casino which I still have to think twice about after all there is a big difference between Cornflakes and Roulette!). Skip and I wandered round the shop in one direction and Ron and julia in another - when we found them again they were talking to Jan and Tony who knew each other from 10 years ago. A small world.

We set off again and met up with Jan and Tony and their grandson, Max, at the first lock ready for our next set of adventures on the Canals.

No more swimming; no more anchoring in crystal clear waters surrounded by stunning coastal scenery; no more dolphins; no more lobster pots; no more auto-pilot; no more top-less sunbathing; no more expensive marina fees; no more sails .....

We have had a magical trip around the Italian and French coast sampling the variety of mooring options and Riviera experiences. Some of the most memorable places include:

⦁ Cap Ferrat, once occupied by the rich and famous such as David Niven and Charlie Chaplin now occupied by the wealthy and Bono. A good thing about places lived in by wealthy people is how beautifully the streets, houses and gardens are maintained and we enjoyed walking around it. We were at anchor (free) across from the harbour, in the evening there was a magnificent fireworks display from the vicinity of the marina and the sound echoed off the hills behind us to give an extra magic to the spectacle (Mitsi didn't enjoy it quite as much!). I felt very priviliged to have been present. Many of the boats at anchor sounded their horns in appreciation which was very tuneful as the size of the boats and their horns varied considerably!

⦁ St Tropez was fascinating. The buildings around the port were very quaint and old with the newer buildings beyond the main town. The number of large motor yachts moored in the marina beside the waterfront restaurants was interesting (we were once again anchored (free) outside the marina) - I had a feeling that if I could recognise a celebrity at 20 paces then I would probably have seen one.

⦁ The Porquerolles - a group of Islands. Had a lovely feel to it and lots of bicycles.

⦁ The most bizarre to me was the two nights between the Islands St Marguerite (which seemed to be the equivalent of Forestry Commission woodland) and St Honorat which still has a functioning monastry where the Monks, unsurprisingly as that seems to be a christian enterprise, e.g. chateau neuf dePape, produce wine. These islands are opposite Cannes - we anchored between the islands along with the world and his wife - I think it was the weekend but it was also coming into the holiday season. There was a channel marked by yellow buoys between the islands and boats of all shapes and sizes 'parked' between an island and the buoys on both sides of the channel. The purpose of all the boats' occupants was to swim in the clear blue sea and sunbathe - as evening progressed, the day visitors left and the overnight campers remained. During the day we had seen a boat selling Pizzas - the small boat took orders, displayed a phone number for the boat producing the Pizzas and delivered the pizzas; another boat was moving amongst the anchored boats displaying a sign for 'Drinks and Sandwiches' but in french; I think there was also an ice cream boat. In the evening I spotted a largeish boat to one end of the channel that appeared to have coloured lighting on it, judging by the noise into the early hours this was the disco boat!! Additionally Cannes had a fireworks display which I could hear but the display was hidden by the island. It seemed very unreal and rather different from the quiet coves that we had anchored in previously.

I viewed Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo and Marseilles from afar feeling that I had wandered around enough towns that had elegant shops with tempting clothes yet I wasn't prepared to spend money on anything other than an ice cream! So walking around more towns that offered all sorts of culture that I didn't have financial or mental access to meant that I felt that I wasn't actually missing anything by floating past and peering at them through binoculars.

Other incidents/sights that stick in the mind were:

⦁ Skip had gone on an errand to shore when we were anchored in Le Grazie, near La Spezia, and I was confused to see him hailed by a neighbouring yacht - next thing I see is Skip collecting the chap from his boat and taking him to the quay. It transpired that the winds in the night were too much for one of his shackles and his tender had parted company with the yacht and luckily had parked itself on the quay rather than headed out to sea! Stuart gained a bottle of wine for his trouble which was particularly good as he leaves most of the alcohol drinking to me.

⦁ I'm embarrassed to say that June was particularly hot - well I suppose it had to be somewhere didn't it! When we were in Sanremo we were tied up on the town quay with no access to a beach or a slipway (beaches at Italian resorts are often run as private enterprises, e.g. hotel beach frontage, each comprising sun loungers, tables and waiter service at a price - there are some less appealing parts of the beach that are public but none of them want dogs on them. This left Mitsi short of wallowing options so we decided to create a paddling pool for her in the tender. Mitsi may not have appreciated the new facility as Skip had to hold her down and pour buckets full of water over her but later I had a lovely cooling wallow in it myself.

⦁ The fish market at Sanremo was fascinating, it felt very authentic - fresh fish in a number of different stalls along the quayside - if only I knew one fish from another and Skip liked fish, we would have bought something. It did seem such a shame not to.

⦁ Sanremo was also the place that I sat on the steps at the back of the boat and cooled my rather warm feet in the harbour water; I had the lovely experience of lots of little fish appearing and nibbling at my toes - my feet felt much cleaner afterwards!

⦁ Total dolphin sightings - 3. I did suggest to Skip that we followed a Dolphin and Whale watching tourist boat that went past but he pointed out that it was going a lot faster than us and that they might not be very happy if we tagged along. Never mind, 3 different sightings was lovely - even if Skip does keep talking about when Dolphins followed the boat for miles on previous trips.

⦁ Skip's electronic chart plotter has AIS on it - not sure what it stands for but the big boats have this AIS system that gives information about itself, e.g. destination, size, speed, current status. I was using it to look for any P&O cruise liner that might exist and eventually I found one - Oceana (the first ship I cruised on) was within 2 nautical miles of us near Monte Carlo. The AIS system also gives Closest Point of Approach and time to impact so that you can take avoiding action!!

Stuart had said from the start that I should have one hand for the boat - I took that 'on board' and was starting to become quite nimble at getting from front to back - Oops, bow to stern - by using various bits of boat and rigging. When we arrived at Port St Louis and had the mast taken down, half of my 'one hand for the boat' items were removed and I now have to concentrate harder on keeping my balance. We don't anticipate quite so much rocking so I should be fine!

We arrived in Port St Louis on the Friday as poor weather was forecast for the Saturday so decided that it was prudent not to put in an extra stop so we pushed the boat out and stayed at the marina in Cassis as a sort of last sea port celebration. Cassis had a lovely atmosphere, a beautiful harbour area full of restaurants and an evening street market for us to experience and enjoy. The mast was taken down on the Monday and we set off up the Rhone on the Tuesday having converted to a canal boat. It was an emotional time as I felt that I was getting to grips with sailing - ok not sailing exactly but travelling on the sea on a boat with sails - and now would have to learn new skills and deal with another load of new challenges. While at Port St Louis we met another British couple who try to spend at least 26 weeks of the year in the UK but keep not quite managing it!

The Rhone is a very different challenge to the sea. These links will give you an idea of using the waterways in France http://www.french-waterways-boats.com/ - you will also see information on the guides that we use to identify the location of locks and overnight stops. Information on the Rhone itself is on www.inforhone.fr and the french waterways website is www.vnf.fr .

Dolphin watch is off the agenda, lobster pot look out has been replaced by looking for Le Driftwood, looking for other vessels and channel markers remains unchanged! Bridges are also in need of attention - you have to go under the bit where a yellow diamond is on the bridge - other parts have a No Entry sign.

We have had more stops due to wind on the Rhone than we had on the sea. The Mistrals, which we were avoiding in the Med, start off by coming down the Rhone Valley and the combination of wind, current, small engine and a potentially uncomfortable night on an unprotected pontoon has meant that we have opted for a few nights in a marina. A bonus of the marina in Valence was that we went to a fireworks display for Bastille night.

A day in the life of a water based traveller is roughly:
Wake up, cup of tea
Take the dog for an empty
Prepare the boat - particularly relevant on the sea - i.e. check that everything is secured in place and nothing can fall off and break.
Cast off
Travel - breakfast and lunch being provided en route
Find somewhere to stop for the night
Moor up
Walk dog
Locate rubbish bin
Find supermarket - get supplies with/without shared bicycle
When we are not in a marina, find water on the quay and put into water carrier for pouring into the tanks on the boat. Water taps may be on the quay but that doesn't mean that one has permission to use them - hence it has to be obtained surreptitiously. Obtaining water when not in a marina (water and electricity available on the pontoon for all boats) is a physical activity which is keeping Skip fit.
Explore locality if time
Cook supper
Eat
Play cards
Empty dog
Sleep

We have been doing the washing by finding a launderette in towns and marinas but have been told by at least two water based couples that they wash everything in a bucket. The size of the bucket used varied considerably - one was large enough to tread the washing, rather like grape treading - the other size was hands only. I would prefer the treading bucket option but we only have a small bucket and I don't want to commit to handwashing by requesting a new bucket. Apparently another trick is to take your washing into the shower and tread it while you are showering then rinse them through and Voila, all done.

There is a surprising amount of exercise involved and I feel much fitter than I was when I started although this is now at risk due to regular pain au chocolat, croissant and baguette. I seem to have adapted to the life well and am actually quite suited to it in a number of ways, the limited availability of water has given me the excuse for non daily showers! The relatively small space has forced a certain level of tidiness, partly out of practicality and partly out of courtesy to anyone else sharing the living the space. Whether this can be continued into real life has yet to be seen.

Stuart and I are working well as a team so things run relatively smoothly, cleaning is not as high on the agenda as perhaps it should as I haven't fully embraced my role as domestic servant and Stuart has his principles. We are, unsurprisingly, still working one another out and trying to establish compromises. Stuart has taken it upon himself to re-program me to be good enough/do well enough rather than aiming for perfection, partly in the hope that I will do things quicker but also that I might actually have some feeling of achievement rather than beating myself up all the time using the concept that if I haven't achieved perfection, then I have failed. When Stuart gets stressed he deals with it by issuing more instructions with even more urgency, I on the other hand prefer the curling up and sobbing option; these don't work if they happen at the same time so I've had to 'man up' and try to work with Stuart's stress which is usually only associated with bad weather mooring or a long day of travelling. I have done surprisingly little sobbing. We are in each other's company almost 24/7 and are settling into a domestic contentment which I feel is quite an achievement for me as I am used to spending a lot of time on my own, some of it quite happily! We still laugh with each other (as well as at each other) and I think that is one of the most important things in life for one's spiritual well-being.

We have been stuck in Valence due to wind for 6 days now and we have yet to get to the canals to see what sort of reasonable distances we can do in a day. It is difficult to keep moving every day especially with the canals where you have to be steering the whole time unaided by the auto-pilot and there will be constant interruptions with dealing with locks - we are planning to get from Lyon to Paris via the Saone, the Canal de la Marne a la Saone and the River Marne, this is 713 km and 155 locks at 4km/hr means long days and not much rest if we are to get home by 4th September as we then have the Seine and a Channel crossing to achieve within the timescale. We will have to review in 3 weeks time and assess our options when we have found a rhythm for the canals.

Lost overboard so far: one dog towel, one fender and one boat hook - all wind related and all on the Rhone.

Will I get home on the boat? What else will we lose overboard? Will the wind stop? Will we overdose on French patisserie? Will darlin' get her mooring technique sorted including getting confident in leaping off the boat onto the pontoon holding the rope!

Well that's the Competent Crew book finished, next is the User Manual for the Raymarine C120 Chart Plotter Navigation System. What was that about cookery books? Well I did bring some with me but I haven't made time to look at them much. I have got away with it so far as Stuart seems happy with what he has been faced with - as long as mashed potatoes are produced every now and again. There has been one food failure when Stuart refused to eat his pasta as I had over salted it. But that is pretty good going considering my culinary track record - and here we are, not a microwave in sight. I will get to the Foods that Heal book sometime but suspect that Stuart's satisfaction with meals may diminish if start to use it.

You may notice that Stuart gets quite a few mentions in the blog but as there are only the 3 of us, I'm afraid I can't avoid it. We have only met one British couple so far, Gill and Peter, and we spent an evening with them at Solenzara so there isn't a lot of other conversation to draw on - Gill did ask Stuart what his last servant died of and he responded flippantly - Insubordination; an amusing answer but I feel he missed the point!

The couple of days in Arbatax Marina gave me an awareness of mooring and anchoring procedures as we had a couple of practice sessions before we set off. I have been having a mental block with half-hitches which is a problem when you have 8 fenders to put on and you have arrived at the marina! I have manged to work out the bowline, round the tree and down the hole, but am now almost there with the half hitches. Rope coiling is another skill that I am perfecting. Many days on and half hitch still a problem... Must look it up on the Internet - there must be a Youtube video somewhere.

The first couple of days went well, we had arrived at Olbia where we moored alongside the Town Quay which had the benefit of being free and me being able to get on and off the boat without a tender or anyone else being involved. We had a wander round the town with Stuart remembering the times he had been there before - a recurring theme to the trip - and my being advised at where Mitsi should be taken for emptying purposes - another recurring theme. I still haven't got my solo tender badge so haven't yet been delegated dog duties from buoy or anchor - but Stuart and Mitsi do make a lovely couple in the tender. We settled down to sleep and were woken up by what seemed like gale force winds pushing us against the quay. Stuart got into Meerkat mode and stood up to survey the scene. He went out on deck to put more fenders out between the boat and the wall and to add a couple of extra lines - I kept a close eye on Stuart from inside the boat wondering how I was going to stop him from being hurt if he fell overboard. I haven't been keeping a diary, I've never managed time sheets, so I can't be sure of the exact sequence of events - all I remember is that it was the small hours of the morning and Stuart instructed me to get dressed and to gather the passports and money and to put them in the grab bag as he was concerned that a yacht at anchor across from us was moving towards us and that we needed to be ready to abandon ship in case it hit us. Blimey, I thought, two days into our journey and we're about to be shipwrecked! I calmly followed the calm orders and all remained calm while we focused our eyes on the yacht in the harbour. After a while the wind dropped, Stuart decided that we were no longer in danger and we could return to slumber, shipwreck averted.

Stuart was gaining confidence in the lingo and felt that merely adding io to words would do the trick. I found it quite catching and we were soon talking in Italian to one another discussing the boatio, roastio (i.e. the sun is hot), using the tenderio, doing the washing upio and eating ice creamio, etc. Looking through the Italian phrase book that Philippa had given me, I found that there is in fact the Italian word calendario but we hadn't had cause to use that word in a sentence - such a shame. Once we got to Corsica we were in French territory and I was able to recognise some words from my days of schoolgirl french. I made the mistake of trying to string a french sentence together then not understanding the answer - I think pointing and gesticulating might be safest. After Corsica it was back to the Italian island of Elba and then across to mainland Italy for the planned coast hugging trip around to Marseilles.
I am sorry to shatter the illusion but when we say that we are sailing round to Marseilles, what we really mean is that we are motoring round to Marseilles - we might put the sails up now and again (motor-sailing) but only to add to what we can get from the 27 horsepower engine (roughly 5 knots per hour without sails, sea and wind permitting). We had a couple of lazy days around Elba where we managed a bit of real sailing with the engine off but generally we are on a mission and steer a course that is the shortest route between the start and destination whilst avoiding rocks, wrecks and promentaries. We are avoiding big winds or winds in our face as they make progress slow and uncomfortable so in those cases it is preferable to stay put for another night especially if we are at anchor (free of charge). The journey varies from pleasant to uncomfortable, I haven't yet been exposed to rain or unexpected strong winds. Stuart and I have identified that different sea types affect us - I need my Stugeron for the big swells wheras Stuart doesn't get on with the bangy, crashy, choppy stuff - he has so far avoided the Stugeron but also avoided the Galley while in motion.

There have been questions about Mitsi's (have checked her passport and found that I had been incorrectly spelling her name as Mitsy - apologies to anyone this might have offended) enjoyment of the voyage. Mitsi and Stuart are both used to less purposeful boat travel - they set off from England a few years ago intending to arrive somewhere (probably in Europe), sometime. This voyage home has less staying in one place involved so Mitsi has been having more days of travel than she has dealt with before. She does not enjoy the legs/hops but she tolerates them and she is the number one priority, once the boat is secure, when we arrive after a few hours on the sea - so far our maximum has been around 8 hours. Mitsi's favourite place is on the beach, partly because she then has easy access to the sea where she can sink down and wallow in the cooling waters with a smile of contentment on her face and partly because she is more of a sea dog than a land dog. She loves going in the tender, although getting in and out are a bit tentative, as it has the promise of wallowing and being admired by all of Italy it would seem - I have heard her several times being described as a 'bellissimo Boxer', which she certainly is. Stuart has found that if he sits at a table outside a bar, it is highly likely that a woman will bend down to make a fuss of Mitsi, in this heat that usually gives him a good view of cleavage as all the heights and angles are right - a smaller dog wouldn't give the same view! Mitsi is happy, healthy, exercised and enjoying her adventure which also involves a large amount of a dog's greatest activity, contented sleeping.

The sea journeys are surprisingly tiring, Stuart is on other vessels and dolphin watch, I am on lobster pot watch. Stuart has spent hours surveying the sea in his life and has a remarkable ability to spot things on the horizon that I probably won't see until we are half an hour closer and with binoculars! Stuart made another Dolphin sighting between Corsica and Elba - this time we saw half a dozen or so in the water behind us, one of which did a Flipper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipper_(1964_TV_series) )impression and came vertically out of the water, appeared to stand on his tail and look about for a couple of seconds before returning into the sea - a wonderful spectacle to add to my mental treasures from the trip. The legs/hops vary in pleasantness depending on the height of the swell, the colour of the sky and the direction of the wind to name but a few considerations. There are days when just gritting your teeth, watching for hazards and avoiding any activity that might invoke seasickness and other days when the sea is calm, the sky is blue and we can play crib on deck (the autohelm deals with the steering most of the time). We played I-Spy and found that S was quite tricky: Sea, Sun, Sky, Sail, Shore, Ship, Sandal, Suncream, Sand, Sailor, Sheet, Screen, Seat, Shackle, Seaweed, Steering Wheel, Sun Roof, Seagull, Sandwiches - can you think of any others? Down below is generally avoided by both of us while travelling unless we are having a snooze or I am making tea or sandwiches and the ability to read depends on the swell so we are generally both on look out admiring the majestic mountains and beautiful scenery wondering at how few other boats we see or take it in turns to have a snooze - Stuart is trusting me with his boat!!

Stuart is on high alert much of the time, I hadn't realised how stressy he was before we set off, he has a keen brain and is always looking for potential dangers (some I think he exaggerates to himself but he enjoys the worry of it all) and working out ways of avoiding them. He is also very handy and is at his happiest covered in oil with a spanner in hand. He is even happier if he finds that something needs to be mended or replaced which then gives him an excuse to go to a chan-del-ars, - like me visiting a tack shop and children in a sweet shop, the chandlers to Stuart is a place of wonder and delight - what a shame he gave up earning money!!

Stuart has a cap that he wears a lot with Knackered Sailor written on it. On several of our meetings back home, Stuart and I found ourselves in chan-del-ars in one of which I saw the same set of caps and bought one which said Dogsbody which I thought was very amusing. I am no longer amused or wearing the hat! We are inevitably learning more about each other as we are spending so much time together in a limited space. We have different views on task management, Stuart favours the division of labour along the traditional gender stereotype roles which roughly means that I am responsible for the inside of the boat - cooking, cleaning, tidying (I have eased off on the cleaning and tidying as it seems pointless when 10 minutes later it has returned to its former state) and he is responsible for the outside of the boat, deck cleaning, engine maintenance, fender supervision, sail management etc. but does do washing up and tea/coffee making. I on the other hand prefer the sharing of tasks option, that way we both have the skills to deal with inside and outside tasks and can enjoy teamwork - either way as someone who does not enjoy inside tasks, I am bound to prefer the sharing option! I have done some sail hoisting and am getting more confident that. Stuart is a very enthusiastic fixer, he is not a completer/finisher which means that there can be a degree of carnage remaining at the site of an otherwise completed task. I am not a clean and tidy person but have been behaving in a relatively clean and tidy way - I can almost manage being a boatwife but I would have to live in a studio flat before I could transfer that to becoming a housewife. Stuart is frustrated by the speed at which I operate (there are times when I am also bewildered by my inability to do things quickly) - he refers to me as a striking killer snail - Caroline will sympathise with him as, when we were teenagers, she could never work out how it could take me so long to plait my horse and many other horse related activities - mucking out, cleaning tack ...! I like to think of myself as the tortoise but in my case the hare doesn't encounter any problems. On the whole we are getting on well and are very companionable; he has taken to calling me m'darlin' which I am not sure whether to take as a step closer to a term of endearment or to recognise that he is going through a piratical phase as in m'hearties.

The day always starts with a cup of tea, the speed of preparing the tea depends on whether we have use of the electric kettle (in a marina - costs money) or not. On this morning I had made the tea and passed it to Stuart - I thought there was a bit of a strange smell but hadn't worked out where it was coming from - he took a small mouthful and declared it undrinkable. Having bad water was not good. There are two water tanks on board and we had been using one of them - I had suggested that we swap to the other tank so that the water wasn't sitting in it for too long - Stuart had changed the water to come from the other tank. He remembered that the valve had been stiff a couple of years ago and he had put some vasseline in the valve to ease it. Unfortunately the vasseline had found its way into the water once the valve had been disturbed by the tank change. We needed to empty the tank so we each had a shower in petroleum jellied water for the cause. Stuart set to being Mr Fixit and all is sorted and well and we even have a new water filter, at great expense, the old one still smelling of petrol. It is good to have safe, clean water again. This all happened when we were staying on the River Arno near Marina di Pisa from where we could have taken a bus to Pisa and seen the leaning tower but couldn't easily because of dog logistics so we found some walks from the 'marina' instead. The entrance to the river had fascinating huts with fishing nets either side and looked very idyllic in the evening sun when we arrived. We had stayed an extra night because the weather forecast had shown strong winds that we didn't want to be involved with but we felt that the forecast for that day would be fine. We set off to the mouth of the river - I wasn't scared but I was apprehensive and wasn't sure how I was going to cope with a sinking ship - the river seemed to have a swell bigger than I'd experienced on the sea and all we could see were breaking waves ahead of us that looked several feet higher than us and Stuart thought looked like a Bore; the fishing huts now looked forboding and threatening. We carried on, riding the large swell out of the mouth of the river wondering whether we were going to have to turn back - we got onto the open sea safe and sound but the swell was still big as a consequence of the big wind that we had been sheltering from and I had to reach for the Stugeron. Another little experience to add to my list.

Yet another excitement for Stuart was at Porto Azzurro where he espied the same make boat as his, a Gemini 105 - they are made in America and there are not that many in Europe so to see the same boat needs more than the equivalent of flashing headlights with one another - performance needs to be compared, upholstery admired etc. After several days of seeing it moored across the bay, we took Mitsi on a different walk which meant landing near the Gemini and so it was logical that we wander past and have a closer look. As luck would have it, the owners were on board; they were from Switzerland and had recently bought the boat in Elba and spent 2/3rds again on a refit resulting in a very smart looking boat. The boat owner had been specifically looking for a Gemini and had only found 2 for sale, one in Southampton and one in Elba - Elba is a much sunnier and beautiful place to look at boats..... Stuart enjoyed his chat and Mitsi enjoyed her walk.

So how does this compare with a P&O type cruise? Surprisingly well. I wish I had bought a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet for each of the countries that we have visited but I have enjoyed our casual explorations of the locations that we have visited, our excursions may be lower key than the P&O ones but have been equally enjoyable (with the exception of the tours of St Petersburg from P&O which we could not do the equivalent of wherever we went). Obviously the ad lib food provided by trained chefs on cruise liners is unbeatable from a food variety and not having to do it yourself sort of way. The arrival and departure is more meaningful on Tarian because I am actively involved in and getting more familiar and skilled with my mooring/anchoring tasks - I also regard it as teamwork which I am starting to realise that I get satisfaction from. A huge advantage that Tarian has is the sort of places that we can stop - it can range from a flash marina by a large city (expensive), at anchor outside a marina at a large city (free), at anchor in a harbour at a small town (free) and our favourite has been at anchor in a small bay on Elba, Golfo Della Lacona, where there was a beach used by a campsite on the hill during the day and empty and peaceful by night. It was in this bay that Stuart encouraged me to snorkle and helped me get my confidence to swim above the rocks where there was seagrass and fish to be seen - a wonderful experience; sadly we haven't stopped anywhere that offers that opportunity since. I also have a strange feeling of temporary belonging when we go ashore from Tarian rather than feeling like a tourist from a cruise liner - all a matter of scale I suspect. There is something satisfying about stopping in the same place as huge sailing yachts and enormous motor yachts (we saw one with a helicopter on its pad on an upper deck) and feeling that we were just as able to enjoy our surroundings as they were (although I'm sure they didn't do any cooking). The evening entertainment on Tarian falls far short of the cruise liners but actually Stuart and I are quite happy playing cards, reading and going to bed early because we are tired out (not as young as we used to be). I am always looking out for cruise liners on our journey as they have given me such wonderful experiences and I hope to go on a Fjord cruise on Oriana one day as Mum liked that ship and I haven't been on it yet.

A large misunderstanding has been identified! It turns out that occasional mash is not enough! Stuart knew that I wanted to improve my cooking skills but he thought I wanted to produce food to please him - oh dear- I wanted to get confidence in producing food that was healthy, nutritious and quick to prepare so that I could do my best for my immune system on an ongoing basis! Houston - we have a problem!

We are currently in San Remo where we will stay for several days to regroup, we have free electricity and free mooring for three nights so we are happy - we will need to go in search of water to top up the tank before we leave but in the meantime we will chill (bit hot for chilling). I will hope to blog more when we are in the canals as I anticipate that it will be possible to type while we are travelling without sea-sickness or mistyping because everything is moving being involved. I will provide more info on where we have been at some stage! Please see the gallery/album for photos, I seem to have lost the knack of putting them in the text and I am too hot and sticky to try and sort it out at the moment!

Will darlin' realise that cooking, cleaning and tidying to please her man will provide her with all the joy and fulfilment that she needs? Unlikely. Will Skip become a completer/finisher? Unlikely. Will compromise and understanding be found? Hopefully.

My poor head - i wish I'd brought my riding hat with me. I am hoping that after a few more brainings my subconscious will have become spatially aware before I actually knock myself out. The problem is concentrating on my feet when I move from one level to another on the boat and not realising that my head is about to receive another blow. No worries, all part of the adventure.

Good News - darlin's Initiative level has increased to 3 which is giving Captain Bale hope that he might not have to find new crew before he leaves the safety of Arbatax.

Thank you for your kind comments on the blog, I will do my best to provide further entertainment and am appreciating your encouragement although Stu is keeping an eye on my ego.

Generator tested, mainsail put on, personal belongings and food put into some sort of order so that we can move round the boat and find things when we need them. On the subject of food, I mentioned in a previous blog that confidence in the 'kitchen' was one of my goals for my trip - on this basis, Stuart had shown me images of the boat earlier in the year explaining that one side of the boat was his (general equipment for boat maintenance and boys toys) and mine was the other side of the boat, the Galley. I thought he was just teasing but I was once again confused by his sense of humour - maybe in 3 months time I will have worked out when he is serious! I feel that this 'ownership' of a side of the boat may need to be addressed while I remain on board!

The evening before the launch we decided to treat ourselves and went out to a local restaurant - none of them seemed very busy. I thought that it would be nice for Stuart to have some proper Italian food - we were challenged by the menu as there was no English translation so we got out our Google Translate apps and took the plunge and made an order - mine for a pasta salmony thing and Stu for steak, both of us having additional salad. A very unappetising salad of lettuce, cucumber and tomato arrived, closely followed by the main course - which we were confused by as we were expecting the salad as a side salad. The upshot was a relatively expensive meal and darlin's cooking was regarded as superior and much more economical. Oh poo.

At the same time as the bellows were replaced on the leg, The Genius (I mistakenly referred to him as The Expert in my previous blog) replaced the reverse lock cable which was missing - this allowed the leg to be released and to come out of the water while under sail or in port (reduces the time in the water and associated corrosion as well as drag when we are sailing). This seemed to work fine in the boatyard. The day of the splosh arrived and Stuart nervously watched as Tarian was hoisted into the air - nervous because it might befall an incident en route to the safety of the water but mainly nervous because he hadn't sailed for several years and he was about to embark on a long trip with an untested crew where he was responsible for everyone's safety. What had he got himself into! Tarian was being lowered into the water and I was taking photos minding my own business when I was called to attention to get on the boat before it finally hit the water - this was the first time I had encountered Tarian and water so was not as quick or nimble at getting on as would have been liked - luckily there were several chaps about to manhandle women and dogs onto the boat. Splosh - in the water - how exciting - Stuart started the engine, all seemed fine - better just test that cable release now we are in the water - oh dear the leg has been released but won't then stay re-engaged - The Genius and Umberto are straight onto the boat in an attempt to fix the problem but despite their efforts feel that the cable needs to be looked at on dry land so Un-Splosh - also another travel hoist has arrived with another yacht to be deposited in the water which needed Tarian out of the way. The Genius and Umberto attended to the leg at eye level which was a rather easier position to work at than upside down from the back of the boat. We were ready to try again, Mitsy and I had disembarked as the boat came out of the water, and once again we needed to get on again - Stuart just hopped on and off like a gazelle (my rose tinted glasses!). Splosh - engine started again and this time we motored away from the hoist, one more test into reverse - Uh Oh - I've heard that sound before - the leg has released and now we have no power. The Genius and Umberto grab ropes and drag us back to the hoist. Un-Splosh, Mitsy, Stuart and I disembark - there is a discussion about springs and a crack is found along the line of the screw hole in use - a new hole and a new spring will be sorted by Umberto after lunch. It is now well into Italian lunch time and we won't see Umberto and The Genius again for an hour and a half. We find lunch and Stuart deliberates to himself. We return to the leg and more discussion takes place - Stuart keeps making strange Clanger whistling noises as part of his charade method of communication, which represent things moving up and down (I think) - I did suggest he used Google Translate but he was enjoying himself too much to be concerned with understanding one another! By now everyone was fed up with the cable issues and just wanted to get the boat in the water - Umberto probably felt that he had used up the warranty on his labour and wanted to see the back of us so that he could get on with a profitable job, Stuart wanted his boat on the water and had plan A and B in his head for eventualities so that is what happened - Splosh.

We were now in Arbatax Marina and no longer had our en-suite portacabin facilities of the boatyard which we had become strangely fond of. I had told Stuart that I had a bit of a problem with unfamiliar showers and that I found the whole thing a bit stressful - I shared this with him in trust and expectation of understanding and caring from him but no, he just sounded amazed and disappointed in me. I resolved to be brave and deal with what came to me on the shower front. The Arbatax showers use a 'key' with an amount of time allocated to them (3 minutes) - the trick is to get several showers from one key and to make sure that the water doesn't stop when you are soaped up. In the evening Stuart went off for a shower and returned clean and happy - I wasn't brave enough to give them a go until the next morning. I found myself a shower and looked at the controls - one of those with a lever that you pull up to turn the tap on and move from one side to the other for hot and cold. I was concerned to notice that there were no red or blue dots. I had been caught out in the UK with people's hot taps being on the 'wrong' side and was now wondering whether there was an EU regulation that determined which way was hot and if so, what was it. I put in the key and pulled the lever - bloody cold, I tried the lever in one direction and then the other - still bloody cold - I tried to be logical in my stressful situation and thought that if I left it in the middle, the hot should start coming through - still nothing, the seconds on the key were ticking away and I was no cleaner. I determined to be brave - they swim in The Serpentine on Christmas day don't they - get under that water girl - I tried and found myself hyperventilating - it was no good - I had once again been beaten by a shower. I decided to try another cubicle - this one was closer to the entrance - I repeated the process and this time, after a few precious seconds, I felt some warmth. Hurrah - I now had the confidence to apply soap and return to Stuart rather cleaner than I'd started. I recounted my experience and he was convinced that I was mad. I think that there were more men who were around and showering so the warm water had been pulled through when Stuart had his shower, I had chosen a shower too far from the source of the warm water so needed too long for the warm to come through. I was pleased that Stuart had a cold shower experience several days later and he had to acknowledge that I wasn't mad after all.

One of the last tests Stuart made was to check the electrics by turning all the boat electrics (non mains) on at the same time. This was a useful test that resulted in the main fuse blowing. Luckily there was a spare in a clip neaby. I was highly impressed when Stu tracked the problem down to a faulty starboard bilge pump!

Now that we were on the water Stuart needed to find out quite what he'd taken on. There was a lovely area of sea just outside Arbatax harbour that we used as our practice ground. The sun was shining, the sea and the sky were blue and it looked just like the travel brochures. How lucky were we. I had done a bit of boat driving but not much and was still getting my confidence with the whole thing when I am suddenly aware of Stuart on deck lobbing a bucket overboard - my first thought was that I'd put things in the bucket that I wanted to put in the car, my second thought was Hell, I think this is a man overboard drill and I'm not ready (but then you wouldn't be would you) and that it was a different bucket. Stuart enjoys teaching and is good at it being patient and keeps good tone and encouragement in his voice. I was therefore somewhat bewildered when he told me that he was overboard so he couldn't help me. I regard Stuart as a good de-briefer but wonder whether he could do a bit more on the briefing front as I, as most of you know, want to know what to expect, when, how long for and what to do next. Stuart just gets on and deals with stuff. The upshot was that he wasn't rescued that time but I had learnt some lessons from the process. In went the bucket again (Stuart had rescued it) and this time I had a bit more of an inkling of what to do - Don't Take Your Eyes Off The Bucket I was hearing - I had my eyes glued to it and was beginning to have some form of control of the boat when I heard Mel, Mel - was this a test of keeping my eyes on the bucket or was there a situation happening? I gathered that I was being beckoned to the front of the boat so that is where I went and was shown dolphins a few hundred yards ahead of us - Stuart had promised me dolphins but I wasn't expecting them so soon - I was allowed a few seconds to wonder at the sight then back to Don't Take Your Eyes Off The Bucket. Five or six bucket lobbings later I managed to get to the bucket and grab it out of the water with the boat hook, much to Stuart's relief. We haven't tried MOB with sails!! My training paid off recently when I drove the boat up to a buoy which Stuart hooked first time.
Housework is not something I spend much time on but I was aware that it was likely that I was going to be involved in sweeping inside the boat but had only been able to find a horrid, much used, hard bristled broom and a dustpan and brush - just thinking about bending or kneeling down makes my body a bit thoughtful so when I saw a soft headed broom in one of the supermarkets I expressed my desire for us to own it. Stuart humoured me by saying that if I wanted it, then I could have it, with the look of someone who thought that I should be able to manage perfectly well with what was already on board. He has subsequently said that my new broom is a revelation so I have been vindicated and also feel more inclined to sweep.

I am losing track of time but roughly we arrived in Sardinia on the Wednesday, were in the water the following Monday. We took the car up to Olbia on the Thursday, Stuart was in a hire car - this was the first time I had ever driven on the wrong side of the road alone in a car - such a sheltered life I've led; the car was being left with friends of Stuart's who live near Olbia and will be collected and brought back to the UK in September.

We left Arbatax Marina on Friday 27th May and started our journey home.

Stuart, Mitsy and I have arrived safely in Sardiania and have found the boat. We now have a home even if it is on dry land for now.

The journey down went very easily. The car behaved well and I had my first ever experience of driving on the right hand side of the road. We stopped just south of Dijon on Monday night where I saw some beautifully built woodpiles. We had supper at a pleasant cafe in Nuits St George which is a quaint small town and had many cafes (mostly closed) as well as almost deserted streets so we were wondering when and why so many people needed to be fed.

We had 811km to cover on the second day from Dijon to Livorno to be at the ferry terminal by 8pm. This seemed daunting at the outset but we arrived in Livorno by 6pm so had plenty of time to eat my first genuine Italian Pizza. The route took us through the Alps and the Mt Blanc Tunnel which were new experiences for me. Lot's of 'firsts' already. Stuart had driven from Dijon and I took over the driving in Italy. I had got the hang of the wrong side of the road in France but somehow Italy felt different - the road ahead seemed very grey, the lorries looked grey and the cars, when they were around were black, silver or white - I think they sell all the red cars (e.g. Alfa Romeo) to Britain. I found that this grey driving needed a lot of concentration especially as the black cars, usually 4x4s, just seemed to appear from nowhere!

The B&B in Faversham had a larger than king size bed, coffee making facilities, wet room and a lovely Full English breakfast, the B (no & B) near Dijon had a double bed, bath and no kettle, the cabin on the ferry had two single beds but a decent shower, no kettle, no & B. Tarian has coffee making facilities but the 'en-suite' won't be functional until we are in the water; meantime we have a bucket for the older bladder at night to avoid midnight decents from the boat.

The boat was fine but needed 10 months of dust to be removed from the decks. Stuart had a power washer on board which I found myself detailed with so in my cautious, unconfident way I asked if there were any parts that I needed to avoid and met with the reply, "It's a boat darlin' " . This, I feel, says it all (Lower case darlin' is the generic term for addressing a female whereas the specific upper case Darlin' denotes a Loved One). I did mention to Stuart that I'd noticed oil on the "leg" (technical term for the bit with the propellor on the end) which turned out to be a leak in the bellows, luckily he had spare bellows and being on the hard was necessary as he needed to get the leg off, with help from the boatyard 'expert' to replace the bellows.


All now sorted. Hull anti-fouled, engine runs happily, wheel moves the rudders in both directions, genoa on but waiting for light or no wind and enough energy to get the mainsail on. Generator to be tested and tender to be set up. We are expecting to be put in the water on Monday. We were initially blocked in by a 350 passenger tourist boat but this has now been moved to the sea to start earning some money - see photos in the Road Trip album to see various shots of the boat being moved.

Stuart is doing well with the pointing and shouting (more speaking slowly and clearly) but is showing great enthusiasm for charades although his version involves saying the words at the same time. We have both loaded the Google Translate app onto our phones which was useful the other day in the chemist - Stuart was mimeing self strangulation and was about to start barking when I was able to show the worried looking woman behind the counter that we wanted a flea collar for the dog. There was relief all round and Mitsy is now protected from Italian fleas.

We have now been together for 9 days and all ok. I am showing an initiative level on the scale 1 to 10 of around 1 which Stuart is finding frustrating but he is being very patient - lots more firsts to go and then hopefully I'll be more useful. I have managed to produce food, help with the anti-fouling and be a general gofer. The weather is hot and sunny.

Will Stuart remember how to sail? Will darlin' manage the man overboard drill? Will Mitsy look at us in bemusement?

Mel's First Blog

Ship's log 15/5/2106 - Oops - I'm slightly ahead of myself as no ship currently involved and no confirmation from the boatyard in Sardinia that the boat is still there. It was strange to leave the house all locked up and gas, water and electricity turned off with the intention of not seeing it, friends or family for 3 months not to mention giving up my friend and compnion of the last 3 years, the handsome Arthur. But these days with modern technology I am only a click away from everybody. You'll get used to the long sentences, just remember to breathe now and again.

It dawned on me, as I was driving home from work in the sunshine on Friday afternoon, that I was about to spend the next 3 months in the company of Stuart the boyfriend and Mitsi the Boxer dog in a confined space. Somehow thinking about going away for three months when you are living your normal life sounds very appealing and desirable whereas the reality seems quite daunting but exciting. Stuart and I have now been together for over 36 hours and all is going well...... Saturday Farnborough at Stuart's, Sunday Faversham with my sister, Monday night Dijon and Tuesday night on the Ferry to Sardinia.

Quick background to the situation: I was looking for a man with a boat but forgot to specify that the boat should be in Britain. Stuart seemed like a fun chap to be with and talking about a Sardinia trip at the outset of the relationship was just a bit of fun. And here we are 5 minutes later (4.5 months) about to set off on an adventure.

Stuart is Skipper, used to drive power boats but converted to sail late in life. He was on crutches when I met him, which I thought an advantage at the time, as he had had his second ankle fused to relieve arthritic pain. He doesn't drink or smoke, regularly walks the dog, cycles to work and believed himself to be healthy until he met me and had a heart attack; coincidence rather than a direct result I'm sure. Four stents later he is bionic and ready to take up the challenge of taking a rooky crew from Sardinia to Chichester. Mitsi is an experienced sailor and will probably be showing me how to deal with boat life. We are all a bit creaky but full of enthusiasm and looking forward to beautiful scenery and sunshine.

My personal development plan: Acquire confidence in the 'kitchen' keeping the skipper fully fuelled; learning the ropes and becoming competent crew; developing interpersonal skills (intensive course!); to enjoy the experience and the company; to laugh and be happy; to complete the trip. I will also work out how to format the blog at some stage!

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As part of the voyage of discovery Stuart and I may craft a blog together if we can merge styles. For this first blog, both contributions are presented, Stuart's wrote it with me as the narrator. Stuart uses less words, is more informative and less navel gazing which has its advantages for writer and reader!
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Stuart's Suggested Blog
THE OLD CROCKS EUROPEAN ODYSSEY 2016
HI All
as you may well know already we are off on a European adventure to try to get Stuart's boat Tarian back from Sardinia to the UK.. whether we get all the way is fairly dependant on weather and the old crocks fragility... but we will give it our best shot :-)..... we are going to pick up the boat in Sardinia the come back via Corsica, the Italian and French Riviera then up the canal system home via Lyon, Paris and then a hop back across the channel .. well that's the plan....
We plan to use the a combination of a blog and e mail to keep in touch with you all... and of course the odd phone call when signal and cruising funds allow
Why the "Old Crocks"?... well I have done a quick count up of our infirmities
Human crew 2 off... Skipper ( so he thinks ) Stu.. and Admiral Mel.. ( he will learn )
Boob count... 3... ( must get Skipper on a diet to lose his )
Heart count 1 1/2... I broke Stu's... but he has forgiven me
Ankles 2 working... 2 locked up ... Skipper is a REAL old crock
Guard Dog 1 off Mitsie 9 year old boxer
1 1/2 eyes
3 good legs
1 fully working tongue...

Still even if the flesh has seen better days our spirit is strong... we are both determined to have a good time that's for sure!
We are driving and ferrying our way down to Sardinia to the boat hope to be there on the 18th...