As the title suggests, today has been a success despite a poor start. First up a picture of Prime Thyme and Iris at their respective berths yesterday. We caught up with Penny, Iris’s owner in the afternoon, a lovely bunch of flowers and a bottle of bubbly from her were much appreciated. It was a rather warm day so by 5pm we wilted, had tea and went to bed !

I awoke at midnight, then 3am when we both had a hot chocolate, which must have worked as I awoke again at 6.30. You would have thought all that sleep would have left us refreshed, but no the cold/flu was in full force and i doubted if I’d be capable to cruise. It took a hot shower to start me, we decided to try for Guildford, any problems and it’s an easy return to the Marina.

My happy place, at the back of a narrowboat, was the best medicine ! The locks were negotiated with no problems and PT behaved herself along the flower filled river banks.

On the final run into Guildford we were warned there was a kayak race ahead…….but around the corner 100 plus kayaks jockeyed for position and filled the river !

We hugged the right hand bank and crept thru, and of course promptly met boats coming the other way. No accidents to report, and an organiser thanked us for our patience, remarking it was like “herding kittens” to organise the start.

Luckily we managed to moor up below Guildford High Street before they had all turned around and did a few more laps. Our shopping was successful with the 3 shop setting us up with the dongle, medicine from Boots and M&S providing provisions.

We are moored upstream in the meadows now, waiting for the afternoon jet lag and flu to hit us….hopefully they can both be eliminated in a few days time.

A very quick blog tonight to just say we’ve arrived and have set up Prime Thyme for cruising tomorrow. Our flight was as comfortable as a 15 hour non stop flight can be be, but suffering from a cold didn’t help and I’m feeling a little jaded at present. We have a Suzuki Ignis hire car from Kendall this year, the NICEST people drive them, which we have utilised for a shopping run to Send. The Marina is lovely and quiet, with the bathrooms being a step up from Pyrford, and Iris is moored close by. We will cruise with her in a couple of days time. We should be able to sort out the dongle tomorrow with a data card from Guildford but in the meantime, sleep……

Tasotter and H are on their way to the UK again for the annual narrowboat cruise and more. We had a slightly delayed flight and overnight in Melbourne yesterday, and are shortly about to board QF9 to London, with a quick refuelling pit stop in Perth.

Our house sitters from Dunedin quickly settled in, and are being re trained by Cooper and Rosie into a Butler and Maid service, good luck guys ! Flying up the valley gave us a Birds Eye view of new housing developments around us, I’ll be glad when the earthworks finish. As ever the Valley looked beautiful in the afternoon sunlight, we are lucky to live in such a stable and picturesque part of the world….but there’s always room for canals and rivers to explore by a Sea Otter.

Our boat trip plans have changed a number of times, here’s Plan C……there is no plan apart from going from the River Wey onto the Thames and hopefully up the Oxford Canal in a 5 week period. It’s all about SLOW BOATING this year. Let’s relax and explore some of the towns along the waterside. We do have a rental car back in the Marina should the desire to play in the traffic prove too strong. However roundabouts like this quickly put me off.

The last 2 weeks of our trip will be a big boat cruise around Ireland in Oceania’s Nautica. She’s a sister ship to Regatta who we cruised to Alaska last year, and with just 600 passengers is very comfortable. I’ve cut down on the camera gear this year, with just 2 (so far 🤫) suitable for the expected landscape needs. A Fuji XH2 with 18-300mm lens will cover the wide angle to telephoto requirements, with a stabilised body and lens to cope with rolling boaty movements ! For the evening strolls and macro requirements a Leica Q2 will be more than sufficient.

The trip has not started off brilliantly, I lost my razor on the way to the airport, and have come down with a cold…..sounds just like last year doesn’t it….if that’s all that goes wrong I’ll not complain.

See you in England !