We arrived at our winter home in Falmouth Marina a day early, travelling the few miles down the River Fal on a still morning, the river to ourselves, to avoid bad weather due on the 1st October. We got settled into our berth - above is the view from the bow of the boat taken last Monday. We're way out at the edge of the marina - the downside is the 1/4 mile walk to shore, the upside that we don't annoy anyone with the noisy / messy jobs we have planned for the winter!

We decided to take advantage of the great weather at the start of this week to get the toe rail stripped, sanded and Coelaned. We had a minor panic when we checked the Coelan primer we had and discovered it had gone rock hard in its tin, it was Saturday afternoon and no suppliers to be found locally who had it in stock. Got some ordered to arrive in the post Tuesday. Tuesday morning up and ready to go but no post.... oh well it allowed us a few hours break sitting in the sun waiting. The post arrived Tuesday afternoon and primer coat on in an hour or so. Now its Friday, 5 coats of gloss on, 1 more to go and the weather still dry. We never expected to get the varnishing done so soon so a good start to getting through the job list.

Amongst the boat jobs we've squeezed in a bit of socialising and getting to know the Falmouth area. Without a car getting around is more of a challenge for buying DIY bits and pieces, but thats no hardship - perhaps it will save us some money!

We're in a lovely part of the world, much slower pace of life than the south east which suits us fine. The local beer (Skinners) goes down well and the Cornish pasties also go down just as well. Not forgetting the Cornish clotted cream... perhaps its a good thing we don't have a car so are doing more walking to walk off these pleasures! This weekend we'll go and partake of salty, slimey sea creatures.......