Many of you will have heard the story of how we part-exchanged Red Panda for Goldcrest and the troubles we’ve had since.  We won’t be posting any details to avoid boring many of you or possibly jeopardising our legal case against the Dutch surveyor and vendors.  All that needs to be said is that we now own a very substantial Dutch built boat that everyone tells us will look after us well and we’ll soon forget the experiences of the last few months.

Here she is, looking very fine in St Katharine’s Dock where she was used as a floating hotel for family for 3 weeks over the period of our daughter Heather’s wedding to her partner Di.  It was a great experience to be in London in our own home and we would recommend anyone with a boat to give it a go.  

It was a real rush getting Goldcrest sea-worthy and to London in time and a bit of a slow trip back to the Solent where the remaining passage preparations were to be done.  En route, we were delayed by strong winds in Ramsgate and rather liked the place. We also had a chance to renew a very old friendship with friends who live in Kent which was a bonus.  Now, at the beginning of September all the work is complete, our bank account empty and we are out of excuses, we just have to get going on the next adventure.