Launch day – I didn’t sleep well last night, afraid to oversleep because we had an early start this morning. The craning in was going to start at 8.00 and we still had a lot of stuff (clothes, bike batteries, bedding, food, etc) that had to be moved onto the boat, even though we moved quite a lot of stuff yesterday! Funny how much stuff you accumulate in 3 weeks!

I was up at 6.15 and by 7.30 we were on the move and everything was out of the room by 8.15 so I get out the duster and vacuum cleaner and leave it reasonably clean.  It was really rather sad to leave our “home from home”.  The van Nevel family made us so welcome that we came to feel part of their family. 

At 9.15 the crane was ready to lift Njord in

We spent about an hour at Buitenbeenje’s dock while Ian checked the engine water leaks.  Whatever he did last night seemed to work and we had no leaks this morning so we set off for our mooring at Portus Dixmuda – all of 500m. We were amazed and delighted at how quiet the engine is now with the new exhaust installation.

Right behind us on the dock is a beautiful barge called “Iron Lady” – isn’t that a wonderful name for a barge?  It is owned by an Australian couple, Roger and  Alison, who we met briefly last year.  Hopefully we will get to know them a bit better this time.

I spent what seemed like hours trying to find space for all our stuff and moving things around from locker to locker!  We have way too many clothes – again!  This happened last year too.  I even made a list of all the clothes we had left behind on the boat but somehow when we are back home you forget how little you need, and how little storage space there is!

Ian got stuck into something that has worried him ever since we bought the boat – the trim.  The boat has always been slightly down at the stern and heeling to starboard.  While it was in the shed he used a laser spirit level to get the water line absolutely level and today we got all out bits and pieces stored  where it suits us then he ferretted around in the bowels of the bilge moving the lead ignots around, with the aid of a spirit leverl (old fashioned, not laser) until we got it trimmed to his satisfaction – no port/starboard heel, no fore/aft pitch. It took all afternoon.

Meanwhile I took a walk to the supermarket, not going by bike because it’s so close.  I bought some chicken pieces to put on the Barbie tonight.  We have been deprived of BBQing for too long, so no matter what the weather we decided to have a barbecue tonight.

I also cleaned the windows which I had wiped the dust off a few times while in the shed, leaving them rather streaky and in need of a good clean.

We also tried out a beige floor mat that we had brought from Faial, to replace the horrible royal blue carpet that was so badly fitted with umpteen little inserts to fill in at the edges. Our mat is not a “wall to wall” fitted carpet, just a loose mat that can be picked up easily when Ian needs to get into the engine room.  So it is not a perfect fit but covers 90% of the saloon floor.  And a much better colour!

Barbi tine – it is 7C outside, actually relatively warm for the time of night.  With the chicken we are having baked potatoes on the grill, grilled butternut and braised endive.