Leaving Venice last night our cruise director promised the best ever sailaway from the portside. He wasn’t wrong ! Going down the Grand Canal the view from deck 16 was amazing ! I’d had a mental image of doing this for a while, it’s just I had a Bellini cocktail in hand rather than a rum punch. With Andrea Bocelli playing it was a moment to treasure.

We will be sailing into Dubrovnik in a few hours, so in the meantime enjoy….

After a hectic day travelling yesterday, more flight and immigration delays, it was a relief to board Rivera. First impressions were good, with a spacious cabin and bathroom ( well anything is spacious after T42), and pleasant dinner companions. Opting out of the madness of St Marks Square we instead visited the islands of Murano and Burano. To do so we boated down Canal Grande. One of the wonders of this world I think….

Murano is known for its glass making, and here at Linea Murano a glass master plied his trade. Not cheap souvenir trinkets but proper art in the form of blown glass. Needless to say a sample of his work will shortly be finding its way home.

Finally Burano, known for its lace. A highly colourful village with excellent gelato. All too soon we had to head home, time for the lifeboat drill and the open sea. Ciao for now.

An uneventful, but hot, cruise back to Pyrford was followed by a torrential rainstorm last night. Luckily it turned into a grey day, so off to Wisley to see how it’s grown. Battlestone Hill was a picture with Rhododendrons, Azalea’s and Cornus. 

After lunch the glasshouses beckoned, with Orchids and exotic Tree Ferns ! but the Jade Vine was  centre stage, with  its unreal green blue colour. Tomorrow we have an early start for Venice, with some Dolce Vita to follow. 

It’s been awhile since we’ve talked about T42, our 27′ Sea Otter. Built out of aluminium with a flooding keel she has 2 great attributes, light enough to trail and doesn’t rust ! Perfect for a pair of long distance narrowboaters. In daytime configuration she has 2 long seats facing each other, full kitchen, bathroom with toilet and shower and a dinette. The front well deck has a cratch cover fitted, great for wet weather gear or drying the washing. A veritable Tardis !  Hazel having a break after a long day looking after the Captain !

In nighttime configuration the forward long seats get filled in and becomes the Captains cabin, whilst the dinette converts to the galley slave quarters ! Actually the 2 seperate bunks work well, otherwise it’s all a bit squeezy. Don’t forget it’s only 6’10” wide, so that it fits into a 7′ lock ie 1″ spare each side. Also it rocks easily….making showers interesting.

Overall a nice bit of kit, here’s our mooring for the night, near Send and the New Inn.

Finally some fluffy cygnets to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, Goodnight !

We are still getting up early, so an 8am start saw us arrive in Guildford along with all the commuters. We seemed to be the only ones on the river though. Hazel saw us safely thru Millmead lock, no gongoozlers today, so of course everything went perfectly. 

Whilst Hazel went shopping I skulked around and accidently found a watch shop ! A nice 1948 vintage Rolex and Omega were added to the collection. The guys just wanted to talk watches and classic cars…….so I obliged ! 

Guildford was also home to Lewis Carol, author of Alice in Wonderland, so a statue of a bunny racing home to his rabbit hole was quite appropriate next to our mooring.

After a quick lunch, another Melton Mowbray Pork Pie ! We pushed onto Dapdune Wharf for their services and the New Inn at Send for a swift half of Stowford Press Cider, life couldn’t get much better ! Cheers Mark and Hazel 

At the head of the River Wey Navigations lies the town of Godalming. Although surrounded by new developments the heart of the town still has its charm. Especially as the River goes right thru the middle of it. A short walk to Sainsburys for food was followed by a wander around the town as Hazel hadn’t explored it before.

Resisting the charm of the old pubs I was delighted to find an old fashioned green grocer, run by a genuine cockney. A little bit of banter, being called young man ! and some delicious strawberries to have with cream for tea tonight ! Lunch wasn’t bad either, Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, Nairn’s ginger oatcakes, proper cheddar cheese and battenburg cake – my idea of heaven. We have started heading back to Pyrford, being moored at St Catherine’s Lock weir stream. Another warm day…..that’s 3 in a row, it can’t last 😎

We are moored up at Gunns Mouth on the River Wey, enjoying some HOT weather !

 A fairly trouble free Dreamliner flight saw us arrive at 6.30 am, despite leaving 2.5 hours late. However there were no aerobridge’s available so we had to be bussed into the terminal. Being on a non EU passport it also took me an 1.5 hours to get through immigration……you can have one of the most advanced aeroplanes in the world but it’s only as good as the weakest link.

By midday we had made it out onto the river, along with most of the people of Surrey. I’ve never seen it so busy with cyclists, walkers and boaters. It was so warm we even got an ice cream from the van next to Pyrford Lock. We pushed onto our favourite mooring beyond Send, and finally collapsed at 7pm after watching highlights of THE wedding. I don’t remember my head touching the pillow, but was awakened at 3 in the morning by flashing lights….our house batteries were failing ! Later on, and reading 24%, we set up the solar panels to start topping up. We shall install 2 new ones before doing the Warwickshire Ring. 

Pushing onto Guildford saw some beautiful reflections……and a data card for the iPad !

Guildford from the meadows.

T42 needs a bit of a clean, so I’ve some work to do before catching up on some more ZZZ’s

In the meantime cheers 

Yes Cooper is feeling the cold, which means we are about to travel. Helen our house sitter, aka Cooper’s new mum is settling in and all our cases are packed. Blogging will soon start !

Hopefully the Med and the UK will be a bit warmer than last year, but first we have a wedding, to not attend !

Well apparently it’s 11 weeks before Tasotter starts his travels ! This year, we will be big boat cruising the Med, then 4 weeks on T42 doing the Warwickshire Ring and finishing up with the Sea Otter Rally at Warwick. Yes it’s been 2 years since the last one at Tamworth. Once again we hope to travel with Lazy Otter’s crew to help Hazels locking duties. After a long, hot and dry summer I’m looking forward to some watery adventures….

But please let it warm up a bit ! at the moment T42 is encased in ice and covered in snow !

In the last couple of days we ventured out on the Thames down to Walton to see our friend Sue. It was good to catch up, even though time was limited to an hour or so. With threatening skies we headed home to Pyrford and the last 4 locks of the year. It’s always a sad moment for me when we “finish with engine” for the season. Hopefully we will be able to attend next years Sea Otter Rally in Warwickshire….

Another final day ritual is a visit to Wisley. Compared with the bleak day when visiting with Leon and Heather, it was high summer. Lunch was held outside in shorts……The roses had also come on, and it was a pleasure to stroll around them enveloped in their fragrance. With the packing completed it requires a few chores in the morning before returning the car and heading to Heathrow, till next time Cheers Tasotter  ps this year we set an all time high with over 1000 people reading the posts, who are you all ?