Thursday started off with Jeremy and Duncan taking a run along the sea shore, about 8 kms which we think was pretty damned impressive. Alan was last seen having a cup of coffee and a rest.

After the previous days public holiday the boat was invaded by technicians who were doing the final adjustments to the motors and sundry little glitches which needed resolving before setting sail. The workers, thats us, were pressed into service to carry a 1000 liter fuel container from the car park to the jetty and then to load it onto the boat.

After having a look at the long range weather forecast which showed a frontal system moving towards the UK and then down south towards our planned route, Donald decided that he was ready to leave. That caused a state of immediate panic on the boat. For Rickard it was the moment he has been waiting for since purchasing Nenne. For Donald and Audrey it is what they do for a living. For Alan, Duncan and Jeremy it was the moment that they realised that this whole adventure is real and not just a game and 'what the hell are we doing here'. Oh well.

So it was off to the refueling dock to fill up the fuel tanks. The standard fuel tanks, two of them, hold some 650 liters each. The additional container (remember that thing we carried) holds an additional 1000 liters, so, as you, our readers, will have worked out immediately, that is around 2300 liters of fuel. That is more than Duncan's Mustang and Alan's lawn mower together! Add to that the fact that the diesel dispenser would only allow us to take 300 Euros worth ( that is about 215 liters) at time, after which we had to replace the nozzle and start again, and you will understand that by the time we had finished it was too late to leave.

We returned to our berth and moored, breathed a deep sigh of relief and did what all budding seafarers should do. We went and had a beer. Donald and Audrey joined us after saying their farewells to the technical people and we had an enjoyable pre-voyage dinner before returning to our floating home for the last nights sleep we will be having in a stable bed for a while.

In our next episode - OFF WE GO.

Jeremy