Leaving Erith and cruising up river on The Paxton Princess to arrive at The Hayling View
Leaving Erith and cruising up river on The Paxton Princess to arrive at The Hayling View

Leaving Erith and cruising up on The Paxton Princess to arrive at The Hayling View after spending overnight at Erith and a late breakfast time at the St Ives Harvest Bakery. We had stopped at Buckden Marina for fuel and water on the way.

After washing down the boat I drove to White House Marina to arrange them to look into the noises emanating from the port shaft. Then the most delightful hair wash and shower after feeling tired mentally and physically with aches and pains to go with it.

We slept the sleep of the just and I awoke to find that Steve had been up for some time but could not find a shop open for breakfast materials. With hire cruisers coming in for the turn-round day, we made our departure and cruised up to St Ives to moor at the Town Quay intending to do some shopping. To save the time and effort, we went to the Harvest Bakery and had breakfast there before getting back on board and leaving for home. It was very windy from the South West today and quite a problem in and out of the locks but we negotiated all of them without a bump. There were also a few showers but the wind kept them from being more than brief as the clouds raced over the sky.

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At Buckden Marina, I stopped the boat and we filled up with Diesel and Water and also bought Steve a present for helping me round which took the form of an automatic fire extinguisher for his engine bay. All aboard for the last lock and then the cruise up to Paxton as Steve took the helm and I washed up and vacuumed the boat. As I did so, I become more concerned about the noises from the Port shaft and so, after we had moored up and had tea, I drove down to White House marina and arranged to see the engineer in the morning about getting it looked into. Then the rest of the hours, until dark, scrubbing and washing the boat which had accumulated the most awful combination of dust, mud and salt water scum since it was last looked into. The only way to deal with it was to use the hand brush and detergent to remove the droppings/marks etc and then the water hose to wash the remainder overboard. Before I left it, I also fitted the alarm loop to the back and put the alarm on and the mud-weight down so as to protect it from anyone overnight. Then the most delightful hair wash and shower and, feeling tired mentally and physically with aches and pains to go with it, I sat with Diana for my evening drink before going to bed.