Marina's and wind. Not a good combination

 Oct 17th

 Mat and Jen phoned at 4.30 pm, "Traffic is really bad, we are at junction 9 on the M1 and at a standstill". They were trying to get to us from Tilbury and had no idea what they had let themselves in for. We should have told them to leave early, should have mentioned the Friday rush hour traffic, but we forgot. Coming from Oz, the main highway from Sydney (where my brother lives) and Newcastle (Mats and Jen's home town) is called the Pacific Highway and traffic hardly ever builds up as it does in the UK. So it was a bit of a shock to them both. They eventually arrived just after 7 pm. We phoned our son to see if the family would like to join us in the pub and for him to get reacquainted with his cousin. He jumped at the chance.

Showing Jen and Mat, FS

Left is our son Colin, next to him is grandson Oliver, behind Oliver is Ian and next to Ian is Jen. In front of Jen is Mat, I'm behind Mat, then daughter-in-law Iwona and lastly grandson Oscar to the right.

 

The evening was over all too soon, quite when we will see Mat and Jen again is yet to be decided, but certainly not next year. Our 5-week motorhome safari in South Africa will be the main holiday then.

Oct 18th

No great distance to go today, only as far as Milton Keynes Marina. In fact, we could have stopped at Campbell Park, and we would have done if it hadn't been completely full! 

 

In the end, we stopped about a mile from the marina. We had arranged to go in on the 19th for 5 weeks, somewhere to leave the boat when my brother Andre and partner Sally come over early November. We will all be staying with our son.

 Sunday 19th

Of all days to go into a Marina, it had to be the first day of wind and rain we have had in ages! Marinas are notorious for the effect wind has on them, swirling in different directions, and this one was no different. Our first task was to find the office. I do wish some sort of signage could be present. It would make life so much easier! Anyway, we turned through the entrance to our right, luckily we chose wisely!

Heading in

Having sorted the paperwork, walked with the manager to where we would be berthed, a challenge then to get FS turned around. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough room to do that manoeuvrer, so had to reverse back through the marina entrance before then turning to the left.

 Our berth was on the other side of the marina, meant we had to travel right to the end and then do a sharp turn to the right.

 

Wind was blowing directly toward us, not good for where we needed to be.

On the pontoon were the geese and ducks. Great, as this was where we had to be, lots of poo to contend with!

 

Gosh, there was hardly any room to reverse in. In fact, the wind was such a hindrance that Ian really struggled, so I did no more than, when Ian put the bow up against the bank, jump off with the bow rope  (yep, I can do that with my new knee) and haul her around. That worked a treat but left me on the opposite bank. Oh well, just have to walk to the gate pictured in the distance, a walk all the way to our pontoon.

 Ian will fetch our car tomorrow, a taxi to the bus station and then a National Express to Nottingham, followed by yet another bus to Sandiacre. We will stay on the boat for the next few days and then drive to our son's for his delayed 50th birthday party.