On The Cut,Nearly

A flight of 26 hrs was broken by five days in Melbourne visiting our eldest son ,Myers.From the day we arrived Melbourne turned on the coldest days they,d had for 5 months,max,18 degress with a cool wind. By the time we were ready to fly on Leonie was as sick as a dog,Im blaming the dik who sat next to,and coughed and sneezed all over her on the flight from NZ.Anyway we made Dubai,2 hr stop,then Manchester with snow on the surrounding hills but fine.The weathers been okay,9-10 degrees,no rain and a hint of spring round the corner.Piked up a rental car,brand new Hyundai diesel,Thursday 2pm,drove to Wigan where the boat is moored,Peter & Janet,boats previous owners & builders were there and had the boat all opened up withthe fire going.Fireflynz more than met our expectations.We were sleeping the first night aboard so to town for a few provisions followed by a good nights sleep in a bloody comfy bed.The next 4 days were spent travelling around the district,20-30 miles all ways buying everything from cutlery to a tomahawk,also trying to open a bank Acc,we have succeeded, but it seems British banks have shit loads of money and don't want any from anyone from NZ.Wigan has the old one way street system so driving up a street,more than once, . meeting oncoming traffic is abit of fun.Later executing a 3 point reversing turn at the marina,looking were I,d been instead of were I was going I dropped the right rear wheel of the rental over the jetty edge,only 1.5 metres to the drink,hardly the drop over Bluff Hill,still would have taken a bit of explaning to the hirers,but a touch of classy driving with the handbrake and front wheel drive managed our extradition.Stopped to watch the Grand National from Liverpool,GB,s equivlivent of the Melbourne Cup,at a pub near Warrington,chose the only pub in GB that dosent serve food,still the beer was cold and the winner was 66-1,a day for the bookies.The winning jockey,still on a high no doubt rode in a jumps race the next day,horse fell,and he may be paralysed,the old saying,one day in the penthouse,next day in the shithouse.Hope he,s okay.7.30am Wed,lying inbed reading one of our favourite NB blogs,The Manly Ferry,we see that they,d stayed the nite at Crooke,chrickey that's only 500 metres away,wonder if they,r still there,Off I go on reconosince,yip sure are,so with a change to our plans for the day when we had nothing planned we managed to meet later over a cuppa.Paul and Elaine were very welcomeing and talk from there experiences on the cut was invaluable to us novices.Peter and Janet are taking us on a days shakedown tomorrow,steering the boat,doing locks providing lunch and all other necessities will be covered then its off we go alone.One concern though,when we exit the marina alone,do we turn left or right?

 

Leonie cooking another Ex,meal,(I do the dishes)

Fireflynz at Crooke Marina

FireflyNZ

Ohwell we share the dishes

Calm day out the front doors

Del Boy parked to fish close by

That's him,5th angler along

The biggest pole ive ever seen,carbon fibre,3000.00 to
5000.00 quid a set

 

The secret bait,not just any old maggots,especially bred,& 2 different varieties
plus worms & bread.Maggots last alive about a month in the fridge,but not
if you come home from the pub with the Munchies

You use the Best gear,you always get the results