The Limes Maldon

... steps. The outdoors is a typical farm yard, I suppose, with rambling bits of wood, wire, old tractor and park bench scattered around in a quaintly attractive mess.

The road is narrow and meandering, as is the stream at the bottom of the field, and when we attempted to watch some British television last night, it rambles along with everything else, going nowhere, but taking the scenic route to get there.


In other news, British roads are atrocious. They are ...

... s house in Maidstone, with a mug of tea reflecting on an amazing 5 days. I have met old friends and lots of new ones. I have never laughed so much or been so impressed by the generosity of complete strangers...a big THANK YOU from us all.

Well I know it's a Friday night & I should be out celebrating but I think I might just have another cuppa & early night!

So after 6 months away and visiting 8 different countries, we have now arrived, reluctantly, back in England. Although its not as cold as we were expecting, which is a bonus!

We have had a fantastic time and visited some amazing places, and we are now hoping that reality doesn't hit us too hard!

Hope that you have enjoyed our blog and will probably see most of you shortly.

Well I'm getting quite excited now! last night I met Colin, Wendy, Leigh and Sarah, 3 of the team that will be riding with me. They were all really nice and Wendy had even made me a leather waistcoat but I might have to cut down on the doughnuts as it was a little snug!

It was good to meet them all and we discussed the trip, what gear everyone was taking and what the weather would be like. I told them that the sun always shines up North! but I don't think ...

Well, I arrived down in Kent safely yesterday and have now settled in to my new home for the next couple of weeks before we set of on the trip.

I went out last night with Martyn and Jackie to get kitted out with my new biker gear! don't know about the pants but I like the ...

This is the last entry for this year and it will end as we started all those event-filled days ago, in getting the boat ready, but this time, adventuring done, its' preparing her for her winter's rest. Dear thing, she deserves a break. The yard team were up and ready to take us to the hoist at around high water. Rather than using my engine with its nice new oil, they towed us round to the lifting point, just by the entrance sill. The hoist they have in ...

... with the fuel and oil filters, Julie to carry on sorting and tidying and the marina staff to take our mast down. I want some work done on the wiring and other bits and pieces during the winter so we'd decided to have it taken down. All tasks were achieved with relatively little angst and that evening, we celebrated a successful end of trip by having a meal in Tollesbury cruising club, together with an excellent Chablis.

... came back and we were able to explore West Mersea island a little. At least, enough to get Julie the 'Times' ( she really is an addict) and we bought two home made steak pasties to have back on board (they were truly dire, if we'd have made them we'd have thrown them away as failures), James running us back as soon as we arrived. We slipped him a few ££'s as a thank you and he was quite surprised, the free service didn't even normally require ...

At 5 a.m. it was windy and rain was threatening, so I announced to all and sundry that it was plan 'b'. By 7 a.m., the wind had slackened and I was starting to question my decision. By 10:00, the wind was back and we now had a new plan. Rather than leaving the boat in Bradwell's marina, we would travel about 7 miles up-river to Heybridge Lock. This is where the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation terminates (strange name, but basically it's a 17 mile canal ...

... were off by 2:30. It was a breezy ( F6) afternoon but the wind was warm, so walking was a pleasure. We did catch a few drops of rain as the clouds scudded by, but in general, it was a bright sunny afternoon. Blackberries abounded and we sampled dozens as we walked out to St Peter's Chapel. The chapel dates back to round about 660 A.D. and was founded by St Cedd upon the invitation of King Sigbert of the East Saxons ...