TRIP REPORTS

WINTER 2005/6
The maiden trip of Felis Catus III

Part 1 - we move aboard in time for Christmas

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Felis Catus III was built for us by Orion Narrowboats at Ashwood Marina on the Staffs and Worcs. See here for the story of her design and building. During the summer of 2005 we had used Ashwood as a forward base for Felis Catus II, so when in December the time came for us to take possession of the new boat, the old one was at the same place. Felis Catus II was going to be sold to Ian Wright, one of the people working on Felis Catus III.

Wendy travelled up on her own by train, since our contact Andy hadn't been able to get a van until the next day, so I was left to pack all the stuff that was to come up from home. We'd booked a delivery of groceries to the boat for this evening, so somebody needed to be here. Wendy was handed the keys, escorted aboard by Orion boss Richard Ibbotson (who'd started the stove) & Phil Hall, the carpenter who'd done all the fitting-out, and shown various things she needed to know. Richard moved FC2 alongside FC3 to make it easier to transfer stuff from one to the other.

The Ocado driver had problems finding the place with our groceries, because Ashwood wasn't on his satellite navigation system, so 'phoned me for directions to Ashwood and then Wendy to find the boat.

The evening was very cold, she'd not asked how to start the central heating, and the stove was struggling to warm up a large boat from freezing, so Wendy decided to sleep in the warmer front end of the boat.

An extremely cold & frosty day - so much so that Wendy couldn't open the front door of FC2 to continue moving stuff across from one boat to the other. She was worried because of the short daylight hours, as she didn't want to use the lights on FC2 as it was a long time since the battery was charged. She went to the garden centre and bought some rather straggly pots of herbs.

At 10:00 she decided it was time to 'phone Richard and ask about radiators. He couldn't remember the details (even though it's the same system as on his own boat), but Wendy finally found the right page of the manual and got them going. Eventually she managed to force open the doors of FC2 and could carry on transferring stuff across.

Andy & I arrived early in the afternoon with a van-full of stuff from London. How will it all fit in? It was to take several days to answer that question.

The bookshelves were beginning to look more like home. Phil was still making useful things like racks to hold the Desmo legs (in the saloon) and the barbecue (in the semi-trad deck). Later Richard took me into Stourbridge for the train to London, and Wendy to shop for veg. They bought some more coal on the way back.

Wendy was still trying to clear & clean FC2, not helped by frozen doors & slippery decks. Eventually, much later than planned, she decided to give up and go to London to help me bring the cats back. Phil gave her a lift to Stourbridge station at 17:30. There were train problems which meant she had to wait nearly an hour at Snow Hill.

Perhaps the Winter Solstice wasn't the best day to plan putting Tilly into her travelling basket. That was achieved at the cost of a fall and banged head for Mike and a scratched arm for Wendy. As always, doing the same job for Mandy was much easier. Neither of them liked the journey, probably the longest they'd ever had in the their baskets, so sulked when we finally got them aboard at something after 22:00. Phil had kept the fire in, so the boat was warm and welcoming, but Tilly still went straight to earth under the study desk. Relaxing drinks until very late - we've moved home at last.

I pitched in to more sorting, stowing & bringing across from the other boat. Taking down all our rally plaques, cleaning them & re-mounting them on FC3 took an age. Wendy (full of euphoria at having got the cats here) made the mistake of having a large cup of coffee with breakfast, which gave her a headache for the rest of the day, so she postponed a planned shopping trip to Stourbridge until next day, Instead she walked into nearby Kingswinford, which proved an interesting village with a lot of small shops including a computer repairer, massage, colonic irrigation and a useful greengrocer.

While I carried on working out where things ought to be stowed & bringing more over from FC2, Wendy went into Stourbridge for provisions and such other necessities as doormats. A homeware shop called Wilkinson's proved extremely useful. At tea-time, we'd invited for drinks all the people who'd been involved in building the boat. Not everyone could make it, but the three main contributors were there - Richard Ibbotson (boss of Orion), Steve Granger (welder/fabricator) and Phil Hall (carpenter). Later came Ian Wright (tiling and painting) who is also going to buy FC2 from us, so we arranged with him about moving the boats. Weather permitting (which it didn't) we'd leave Ashwood with both boats (and some helpful friends) on Tuesday, heading for Ian's workshop mooring at Delph, where we'd leave FC2, then carry on next day in FC3 to his paint-dock at Valencia Wharf, Oldbury, where the external paint-job and signwriting will be completed. Ian's girlfriend Penny also looked in to collect Ian and had a soft drink with us.

Yet more moving & stowing. Wendy went back to Kingswinford for forgotten oddments. I stuffed the turkey (which just fitted into the oven) and got the radio working.

A very frosty day. A short walk around the marina was enough for Wendy.

We had a traditional Christmas Dinner, and caught up on a lot of conversation, newspaper quizzes, crosswords & radio. Tilly was out exploring, despite the frost.

Much as the previous day, combined with frantic efforts to get FC2 presentable for Ian & Penny tomorrow. In the final sort-out of the cupboards on the old boat, Wendy kept finding things we'd forgotten we had, like a lemon-squeezer (I could have done with that on Saturday when I was making the stuffing). Tilly came back for a visit during the night, but went out again.