What a busy, but successful 24 hours we’ve had. After a series of tech disasters on day 1 we’ve managed to resolve most. Our first nights mooring at Papercourt Lock was spectacular at 2am with lightening all around us, but still and misty by 6…..

I was the shower curtains first victim of the day, I don’t know about senior cyclists in Lycra, perhaps a soapy wrap round number would be better, think telephone box with lukewarm water. The days locks got better and better as Hazel and I got into the swing of things, but the rain decided to re appear as we neared Dapdune Wharf.

Apart from some slight belt squeal when under heavy load Prime Thyme is performing well. I think she’s more manoeuvre able than T42, and I seem to in control most of the time ! Our arrival in Guildford saw re provisioning from Marks and Sparks, Boots the Chemist for Hazel (blood pressure machine for me, you can’t take the nurse out of Hazel), a camera battery for me and a SIM card to contact our UK friends. The cause for a G and T was the successful unlocking of my Visa Card, only a 25 minute wait on an international line! We managed one more lock before finding a mooring in the Guildford Meadows. I think we’ll both sleep better tonight !

Just a quick blog, to say we are safely aboard Prime Thyme and have motored down a little further than expected due to our 4:30am arrival. A fellow Sea Otter on the same pontoon had his drone up and captured us leaving….so all is good except on the phone front. Telstra is not dialling out and all attempts to get the UK one going have failed, and got my credit card locked. Please text to unlock……. BUT MY PHONES DON’T WORK so how can I do this……tech, great when it works but when it fails !I shall attempt to sort this out tomorrow, it’s all too hard for my sleep deprived brain.

Yesterday we did a skip from Lonnie to Melbourne, and have overnighted in the airport hotel. It was pleasant to while away the hours plane spotting from our room using the Flight Radar app to find out where they had come from or where going to…

Just a few more hours to go before making our way to the international terminal, and skipping to Perth and then a mighty jump to London ! For those of you interested in photography, a quick note on the gear I am using.

The little camera on the left is a Leica CL. A very capable crop sensor unit coupled with 11-23mm and 55-135mm zoom lenses with a walk around 18mm pancake lens. This has manual and autofocus capabilities and can be easily carried in a small bag. It’s ideal for quick, but good images. To the right and back is full frame Leica M10R, with 2 Summilux, f1.4, lenses at 21 and 50mm. This is a digital Rangerfinder, no autofocus, and is only limited in image quality by the operator. You need to slow down and think using this, but the super wide 21mm will be great for evening walks along the river. Finally the little unit in the front is a Olympus Pen F, fitted with a pancake 14-42mm zoom and 60mm Macro. This is a great camera for Hazel to point and shoot, and I’ll use the Macro lens when visiting gardens.

Well that’s all for now, see you on the other side, of the world!

Well it’s been a long time coming, but almost 3 years since swapping our Sea Otter narrowboat T42 for Prime Thyme, it looks like we are finally going to step aboard. As usual in the “new” world of ours there are still a few curved balls in play. Namely the lack of water in the UK. This has led to restrictions on the canal locks to save water, and has unfortunately led to Lazy Otter being unable to join us this year. However Rico and Lorraine plan to join us along our trip using their camper trailer.

So our current plan is to have a 3 day shakedown cruise to Guildford on the River Wey, then use our existing trailing option to go Lechlade at the head of the navigable Thames and slowly sample the pubs, I mean cruise, back to Pyrford Marina. We have done part of this before, but I was recovering from an abscess under a tooth, so it will be good to do this at leisure. There are lots of attractive towns and scenery along the way, and I’ll have some photographic gear to capture it

But first we have to get it of the Marina. Here is an aerial view, a bit of reversing first, always interesting with a squared off stern, then out on the “cut” (slang for canal), past the pub, bound to be lots of gongoozlers (people watching for crashes!) then up to Walsham Gates for our first night.

Then if all goes well, upstream to Guildford to provision the boat. We’ll have 2 days to get back and prep the boat for trailing to Lechlade. Tony Tugboats, great name ! will be doing this as Norm from Central Boat Transport has sadly stopped due to health reasons.

The upper Thames is very rural, going thru towns like Oxford, Wallingford, Abingdon and Windsor. Lots to see and do, hopefully we can get on the Oxford canal for a short cruise as well, so much to look forward to! It will feel strange being on a new boat, we had some great times on T42.

A leisurely start to the day, with our usual walk along the beach before leaving Turners Beach. Taking the slow road via Forth, Don, Latrobe and ending up in East Devonport. The caravan park is deserted, no interstate travellers here. I tried a quick ride along the river, then along the coast to conservation point.

Our campsite is right on the Mersey, so when finishing dinner we listened to the lifeboat drill as the Spirit sailed out to Melbourne. We will head home tomorrow, with a flight to WA soon. It’s looking like we will at last get to step onboard Prime Thyme next year, till then “Joey” will do us nicely.

Another glorious day, with an early morning beach walkies for Rosie

After paying for another day we then walked to the Berry Farm for morning tea, or rather Cooper was carried there. However we did walk back along the beach, which he greatly enjoyed from his “happy” tail and high stepping march. As usual Rosie lived up to her “Cyclone Rosie” name with much growling at the sand and doing donuts….

I then assembled the bike again and did a 29K ride from the campsite to Picnic Point and back. There really are some superb tracks about, all well maintained with mown grass verges, etc. Puts Launceston to shame really…..

At last the sun is shinning ! An excellent walk on the beach this morning, what a difference low tide makes. Cyclone Rosie lived up to her name, and even Cooper and H went for a run !

I then met up with the “Dad’s Army” cycling group at the Berry Farm and cycled to Ulverstone and back. A late lunch walk to La Mer cafe down the road was supposed to be followed by another beach walk, but the tide was too high. Postponed till later, an excellent day in all.

Well the last couple of days haven’t been anything to blog about, rather wet and windy. We got a couple of walks in, but that was about it. The weather forecast wasn’t looking good for Stanley either, so we cancelled and have relocated to our favourite spot at Turners Beach. This has good cycling and 2 excellent Cafes within walking distance, as well as being right on the beach. Mind you Rosie mis judged high tide and almost got swept off her feet by an errant wave. Most indignant, especially being towelled off..

The 4 other couples in Caravans relocated to Ulverstone, but the site didn’t permit dogs being close to a Penguin breeding colony. We shall catch up once the sun re appears….till then, Cheers.

Well Covid continues to play havoc with our travelling plans. Not only are we prevented from travelling overseas, but a 3 day lockdown in Hobart saw us forced to cancel our planned trip south.

Fortunately the cycling division of the MG Car Club, yes I know, also has a further sub division of caravan enthusiasts, yes I know even more weird ! So we invited ourselves along to their north west coast jaunt

So after loading the dogs, and an assortment of clothes, it is spring in Tassie, we headed north. Joining 2 caravans at Frankfort’s Blue Barn for morning tea, we enjoyed the scenic drive from Ulverstone to Sulphur Creek along the coast. A quick stop at the 3 sisters nature reserve for the dogs, then back on the main highway to Wynyard. By 3 we were all settled in, 4 caravans and 1 motorhome. Although a small caravan park it’s right on the beachfront, and has loads of walks for the dogs.

Unfortunately there’s been a lot of air/sea activity around the area. A small boat has been missing for a day, and 2 bodies were recovered as we were setting up. 1 person is still missing, so there will be more patrols tomorrow. It was a slightly subdued group tonight, and with the wind howling we’ve retreated to our van. Everybody has their bikes, so it’s off cycling, weather permitting.

Our final day at Spring Beach saw a visit to a pop up bookshop at Triabana, followed by a river walk for the dogs. We then drove to an lookout with amazing views over all the bays, islands and passages.

Then onto Spring Bay distillery, with some pretty good gin ! Whilst the dogs had an afternoon nap I fitted in another bike ride, along the coast looking at Maria Island. We have loved our Easter break with friends.