The overnight rain had cleared again this morning, so we woke to cold, bright and windy conditions.  I decided to try to keep up my momentum on building up the cupboard, and so spent the morning on that.  It is now clear that the altercation with the lock mechanism has done no real harm to my hand.

Clare had suggested mini shelves in the gap between the cupboard and the sloping wall of the boat.  This is a great idea, and last night I worked out how to do it without having to work too hard.  I had to bring the cupboard down, but that was required for another adjustment anyway.

With the cupboard (and shelves) now in the proper place, I also put some more effort in to ensuring the TV was stable in the right place, and tidied up a few more details.  There’s still more to do, but by the time all that was done lunch was overdue.

As soon as lunch was over, we set off.  I drove electric all the way today, because our destination was Droitwich Spa Marina where we could hook up to the electricity supply.  We had a flight of three locks with side ponds to negotiate before arrival, but managed to show up before the reception shut at 4pm.  We moved on to our jetty in the wind, another job that would be easier with a bow thruster.  We didn’t hit anything, not even the jetty!

We then hooked up the electric for the first time – and nothing happened.  After a lot of fiddling I eventually found the menu item on the console for the shunt that tells it to use shore power if it is available.  With a click the batteries started charging.

We went for a wander around the marina.  It looks very similar to the way it did in July, except there are fewer people out and about.  Back then we were looking forward to our new adventure, today we can look back at a fantastic few months, and wonder how the winter months will feel.