We have had a few months without any major works on the boat so I should expect something to be needed….but it has to be one of the worst jobs on the boat, and is apparently classified as “blue” job by Maria….
When we first got the boat, the first thing we had to do was to refresh all of the toilet pipes because they were blocked. A few years later and we knew it was getting to the time when we would have to service everything. Unfortunately we decided this and then the fun and games happened.
Firstly the main toilet stopped emptying….oh dear. So we went to shut off the seacock so that we could do the required maintenance. Nothing…. The handle wouldn’t budge. We are due to come out in August to have some work done but there was no way that we could survive living aboard with no toilet for six months. So an emergency lift and hold was organised so that we could change the through hull and then get to work on the toilet. 
On inspection it seemed that the pipes were blocked with calcium and, erm, solids… not quite sure how these hadn’t been flushed away but it had jammed the diverter valve (that allows you to switch between tanks and outside. We decided that the safest recourse was to fully change the pipes and diverter valve although I decided to refurbish the diverter valve, by cleaning it up and keeping it as a spare.
That all worked fine for about a week before the pump that brings water to the toilet was pumping very little water. This pump comes with a filter, which I hadn’t cleaned previously (looking sheepish!), it was a mess. Cleaning this up worked a treat. However, then there was a leak from the filter unit. A quick visit to a shop to buy a new o-ring (50p! – cheapest thing I have ever bought for the boat) and now we are back to new 🙂
Boat jobs seem to go that way though. A blockage in the toilet has required us to do a lift out, change a through hull and valve, change all of the pipework, a new diverter valve and clean/maintain the pump filter. Always the way!
which is not best put on in the dark. Clearly the Moody 54 wasn’t designed with this requirement in mind and lighting is dim to say the least. So as part of her interim requirements to live on the boat prior to our journeys, Maria needed some decent lights in the aft stateroom. These have now been fitted and I think it resembles a make up table in a theatre, but it is much better. It also has the added advantage that if “someone” is still in bed beyond when they shouldn’t be, it is possible to 
put enough lights on in the aft cabin to overcome their reticence to get up. At the moment, I have been the only recipient of this particular treatment 😉 .
I would never have got this done, thinking they have lights in there and it’s not as if they will need the lights on for long but I have to admit that they do look good.
and broken through the window to get in. They had rummaged through our stuff and stolen the electrical goods, alcohol and tools. They then walked through the front door to get out. All in all it has cost us 2-3,000 euros.
We arrived in the town at around 7pm having filled up with fuel to avoid any disasters whilst driving around country lanes – not that we have any history of panicking while looking for fuel. To get in we had to call a number so that we could get the code to open the gate for an area that had power, water and waste facilities as well as being on the river in the centre of town. We had also been told to cross the river via the bridge and pop into a restaurant to pay the €7 charge for the night. Having parked up with a little space between two Italian vans we headed to the restaurant. Having paid our money, it seemed churlish not to have a quick beer having driven so far, and I am sure the cats wouldn’t mind…… With our drinks came some tasters in the local style and since it was getting late we decided to get a little food from the restaurant to take to the van rather than cook. Returning to the van, we agreed to let the cats out for a short time, the area seemed quite safe and despite the five vans also staying there, there were no dogs. At this time of year and this high up Italy, it gets dark a little early and so the cats were not out for long before it got dark. We wanted to get the cats in as it got dark and so started to call them – nothing!
very high powered torch (thanks Kristy). As we are searching the search party is joined by an additional member, Melina Russo from Sicilly who is an artist who loves owls and cats and is touring Italy going to markets and fares selling her art. And she loves our cats. Eventually we get the cats back and it is now pitch black and Clyde is playfully attacked by a wild cat about half his size. 
So he runs away! We settle down to talking to Melina and Luico and share a few glasses of wine. We talk about Puglia and get them some of our lovely olive oil and Melina kindly gives us one of her pieces of art.
One of the few problems that we have with the motorhome is that the satnav built into it does not recognise that it is not in a Fiat CinqueCiento. So it decides to take you down some roads that are ….. “tricky”. This all adds to the fun and means that we have to be ever-watchful rather than trusting the satnav, this was ably proven on the trip down but the satnav didn’t disappoint this time either. Having taken us down some windy single track roads, it asked us to make a 90degree right turn at the smallest crossroads I have seen with buildings in each corner. Needless to say there was no chance we could make it. We kept going and tried to see if the was another way to that road. This vineyard is on the French Passion list of friendly sites that do not charge and have produce you can try, so they must be able to take a motorhome. Having skirted all round the area we found the other way into “that” road. It is tight but doable. However, I have no idea what awaits when I get into this road….am I going to have to reverse out of it around another incredibly tight junction? I decide that discretion is the better part of valour, having already proven that cowardice was the best part of discretion at the other end of the road by not taking the turn. I park up at a reasonable spot and walk the route. 
It’s actually very nice with fields of vines a hard standing and then up the other side towards the impossible junction there is the main building where I am greeted by a friendly gentleman and I explain what we are doing there. He gives us the choice of parking near the building or down on the hard
Village on a wine list, it is difficult to resist a taste. Now the important thing to remember is that these places, in France Passion, do not charge you to stay and have no expectation that you will spend money. In our case though we have noticed that a stay in a vineyard generally costs us between one hundred and two hundred euros a night! However, we do get some very nice wine 🙂
Clyde outside of the van. Hmmm, that’s not good as we find the mosquito net in our bedroom separated from its frame with a cat sized hole. He could get out but he couldn’t get in again. I make the necessary repairs and it is ok but that will be closed with the blind at night. Dinner is a quick and simple affair washed down with a bottle of free wine, I guess if you spend some money a little charity is easy to offer. It’s been a reasonably long day and we are still recovering from the first drive through Italy so it is an early night and prepare for driving to Chablis the next day. My comfortable nights sleep is disturbed a little at 4am when I wake and think where are the cats….Bonnie is fast asleep (such a good girl) but there is no sign of Clyde, the little beggar has made another cat sized hole in the mosquito netting in the lounge area. I am so happy to have to get dressed and go outside to find our “favourite” cat. After ten minutes of fruitless searching and calling, but not too loud so as to wake the neighbours, I haven’t found him. Talking to Maria, we are trying to decide what to do. I go out for one more look. Usually when you call the cats by name, they come running home. Clyde generally shouting and wanting some attention. However, he knew he was naughty on this occasion. The normally shouty cat was very quiet as he crept round the corner. He also would not let me in range to grab him and it took another few minutes to get him in. He knows he has done wrong. Eventually he comes back in and we are all able to get back to sleep with a few less windows open. The next day we are up at a reasonable time and it is time to say goodbye.
, I took Maria to review the facilities and take a view. It was a no. So we looked through the book at other potential places. Maria was convinced that we hadn’t stayed in Chablis before but I thought I remembered one place a few years previously. Our second choice, was the place we had previously stayed at, again a no. Number three looked nice enough and we stopped outside because it looked a difficult entrance. The lady from the place came running down the road to help us but when we checked there was no way we could get a large motorhome into the courtyard and Maria was also worried that the cats wouldn’t be able to roam. Four and five faired little better, one being closed with no-one around and the other being close to the road with lots of motorhomes and dogs. Our book is running out of places to stay! We then noticed that in the book there are several categories and it doesn’t have to be a vineyard to sell wine. We tried one more before we agreed to give up on Chablis. We have now been searching for somewhere to stay for nearly two hours and it is no longer the early stop that we (I.e. Maria) were hoping for. This place is not marked as a vineyard but offers wine as part of their produce. I pop in to have a chat. The “cave” where you try the wine is nice and cosy. I then get directed to where we can park for the night. There is a small field round the back with fantastic views 
and a number of tractors parked. We can slot between these and then put it anywhere in the field. No problem and satisfies Maria’s requirement for exploring space for the cats. As I return to the motorhome, a couple of the men from the farm move the tractors for us and by the time I return with the van we have a clear field.
As we stop and get ourselves sorted, the cats get out to take a look. The Frenchman comes over to talk to us and tells us that the owners are away for a while and will return but that there is a sheepdog outside of the farmhouse. This is a fair way away from us but nice of him to warn us. The cats are not wandering far but we are keeping our eyes on them as we settle down for a sit down, chat and perhaps a small glass of wine. The young owner returns and we pay for our overnight and naturally offer him a glass of wine. He enjoys the burgundy (clearly the Beaujolais is 
being saved for the return to England) but then has to excuse himself but will return shortly. We didn’t think anything of it until he returns a few minutes later with a bottle of wine – try this burgundy too it is lovely :). So another night and another gift. He even 
refuses to share a glass with us and we all settle down for another nice evening. Unfortunately the rain starts to settle in and so we are restricted to the motorhome but that isn’t so bad with music playing (but not too loud!). The next morning we are up bright and early, we want to try and give the best chance of an early return but we have the fallback of returning to the farmhouse if we want to (but it is still raining).
we pack up our stuff and head home to the boat and Ipswich where the cats can roam around the home turf and not be locked up. The end of two and a half weeks of fun and games for all of us.
The house is really taking shape away and the “rustic” build will be completed in the coming months. This is the build of the walls and roofs, the framework for the home. The completion part of the build is the next phase when the doors, windows and internals are all completed.
Looking over the trullo area of the build is not quite complete and Massimo at Trullidream Construzione has said that the outside of the cones will be dressed by the end of October. Already you can see what these will look like and they will be an amazing sight. As you can see the structure for all six cones is now in place and the outside will have the same uniform structure. Maria is now at the stage of thinking about the decoration at the top of each of the cones, there are a number of standard shapes traditionally used in the area and Maria is currently considering whether to have a cross on one of the central cones surrounded by the balls on the others. Again this is something that needs to be agreed with the team doing the build and we are keen to keep the traditional feel of the trullo so will take advice. Finally, and considering the recent earthquake in central Italy, the stone structure of the trullos has been reinforced with concrete anti-earthquake pillars. Let’s hope we never need to see how well they work but it is reassuring that the possibility of earthquakes has been factored into the design to make the house safe.
It wasn’t that long ago that all we could see was steel reinforced concrete pillars and we couldn’t wait to see the stone work going up. Part of this was the concern of whether the space in the trullos would be usable for a master bedroom suite. A lot of trullos are very small but we wanted this to be unique selling point for the house, with the master suite combining five star luxury with a traditional feel. The outside being all stone will look amazing and the plan is to have a small “English” garden outside of the front of the trullo, partly as a nod to our background but also as a tranquil place combining with the Italian architecture. So we are more than happy with how the outside is taking shape but their was still the niggling concern about the size of the rooms and would it work. Pino, our architect, is a very talented man and so we didn’t have anything to worry 
As you come into the trullo, the first cone to the side is a dressing room which is a good size, especially considering that this is being used for holidays rather than a permanent residence which would have a lot more clothes. The picture shows the corridor to the trullo and this is wider than it looks on the picture. The picture does show the flow into the first set of cones, the bedroom cones and finally the bathroom cones. One thing that cones give is height and this increases the feeling of space in the building. To be fair this is true throughout the build with three kinds of traditional ceiling designs on show: stellar, curved and trullo cone. All of these give height to the room.
First of all, he is a he! You can’t weigh 4.25 tonnes and be built like a brick….. and be a girl! So he is a big boy that looks after us.
chorus of Cliff Richard summer holiday (well we are taking our ‘bus’ to the continent) and we are on our way…..to the first roundabout where we discover that Maria has left her wedding, engagement and eternity rings on the side! About turn, back to Lisa’s, retrieve rings, check that nothing else has been left and we are ready to go again. Another chorus of Summer Holiday (Lisa still didn’t join in), and we are happily motoring down the A130 and A13 on the start of the 1,500 miles. We are making good progress with 20 miles in 20 minutes before we arrive at a bad queue of traffic. We can tell it is bad because people are out of their cars and discussing how long they have been waiting. We had heard about a bad accident on the bridge the night before but surely this couldn’t still be the same problem. We are stuck for two hours in this queue and find it is all because of the problems at the interchange of the A13 and M25 which is cut down to one lane instead of three. The ironic thing is if we had gone from Ipswich we would have avoided the problem so our attempt to save time backfired. Still in a journey that is likely to take 24 hours of driving, what’s a couple of hours of delay!
It is in amongst the mountains so the views are stunning. Again there are two vans in there, it looks like an orchard with lots of small trees, not easy for a large motorhome to negotiate. One of the motorhomes is being stored but the other has a dog outside which isn’t on a lead, that will scupper our plans. Maria’s not having that and marches over but I suspect she was very polite and nice when she got there because the other motorhomers said no problem we will keep the dog in and let your cats have free roaming across the site! Of course they did this in French which Maria doesn’t really speak but the effect was the same. We also discover that isolated doesn’t quite capture the essence of the the hill climb course for the village youngsters as they drive up and down the road at high revs for some time. This is of course a road that Clyde in particular would like to cross to see what is on the other side. Let’s just say that Lisa made it clear to him that he should stay near us! However he now has the devil in him and decides to randomly climb ten foot up each of the trees around the motorhome. A cat that swims and climbs trees, nutter! Bonnie of course is a lady, and everyone knows that ladies would never do such a thing….but it is very tempting and maybe just a stretch up the tree would be OK….that’s probably enough, time for a sleep.
It is our first visit into this mountain range, we understand you can ski there during the winter so that will be on the list at some stage. We are driving up into the mountains and the satnav tells us to take a right up a very steep hill to get to the site. I don’t notice a draining dip at the bottom of the hill and as the rear wheels go into this there is a nasty scrape as the fibreglass shell at the rear makes contact with the road. Now one thing our yachtmaster taught us is that making contact with the ground is not a good thing, at least not in our boat (or motorhome). Maria gets out to investigate. You’d better take a look! Heart in mouth I step down from the cab ( why didn’t I look at the dip, why didn’t I just bail and not go for the hill, how bad is this going to be….). I am relieved to find that the rear bumper is not hanging off and in fact it just looks MH Mariadz is just sitting nonchalantly on her rear corner. However, as I found when I had the lotus, roads do a lot of damage to fibre glass so we need to think about how we get out of this. In the end we deployed our levelling ramps so that we could go backwards onto these lifting the rear and mitigating the dip of the storm drain. We get out of it and Maria reports that it looks like we haven’t had too much damage, we can check that out later. We are all a little shook up but continue because the site looks good and clearly it must be accessible for motorhomes. As we are trying to find our way I take a diversion onto a mountain pass which is very thin with a rock face on one side and a wall protecting you from a severe drop, think end of the Italian job. I so much don’t want to be here but there is no way I can turn around and a lot of traffic going both ways. I am going through tunnels in the mountains and am fortunate that i am meeting other vehicles at the right places or I would be trying to reverse with a queue of traffic down meanering thin roads with motorhome-wrecking objects on both sides. We get to a passing spot and I let five cars go by. We take a look and decide that this is our opportunity to do a three (ish) point turn. Maria and Lisa get out and stop the traffic while I attempt to do the turn without damaging anything under the watchful eye of the mountain goats. Actually the manoeuvre goes without a hitch and we are now returning down the really small roads with cars coming up but hey we’ve done this before. At this stage I discover that I had nothing to worry about previously. Far from it being difficult to bring a motorhome up the road it is actually quite easy to bring a coach up there too. Now we are in trouble. I get around some very thin stuff before the oncoming coach is upon us and I have found a patch of road a little wider. I reverse so as to get as close as I can to the wall but the coach driver is not at all worried, he has been here before and throws it around us with barely a pause and we continue. Back through the thin tunnel with not enough room to pass, nothing coming the other way, phew. That’s it, we are bailing on this stop and need to find somewhere else to go.
But it is completely empty and there is lots of space for the cats. I return to the van and come up with a way to get into the tight entrance. We get down there and it is perfect. The girls are worried that they are going to get killed in their beds but we have an alarm on the van so at least we will wake up for it! Needless to say there are no problems overnight and the cats get some quality time outside. Even better, on inspection the rear quarter is undamaged, we stopped immediately we heard the noise and fortunately before anything disasterous happened – result.
In fact from the start line all of the Thames barges aim straight at us since we are on the inside of the first 
corner in the river! It gave us the opportunity to put the camera through its paces.
wifi receiver, an 
and a 
which allows the signal to be shared wirelessly. 
This sounds a good idea but with a 15GB monthly limit, it is very easy to blow that watching TV over a weekend! The MIFI needed to genuinely achieve 4G where available, apparently some marked as such do not do it. I thought the 4G would be a form of future proofing :). We went for the 
which has worked brilliantly. With the “3” SIM card, you can travel aboard for up to thirty days and not pay any roaming data charges which also works very well for us, even though we also use it for the motorhome. You just need to keep an eye in usage, which is shown on the screen. However, we do travel abroad a lot and these things are changing all of the time. We have now moved over to EE who offer up to 15GB abroad a month as part of their 30GB plan. Post blog update…….the European usage is unrestricted within your plan since June 2017, so if you go for the 60gb plan you have that much data in Europe, at least until Brexit!
are due to arrive late morning which is perfect for the tides since we will get through Ipswich lock when they have the level and drift down the river with the tide and light northerly winds (again, we have never seen such a long period with solid Northerlies). 11am and no sign of our guests. The boat is ready and the cats are getting impatient, they know we must be going somewhere so either go or let me off the boat! Half an hour later we get a call and a sorry story of locking themselves out with their phones inside and having to wait for their daughter to let them back in – it can only happen to Kay.
We get everyone on board, including the cats, and set off. A few refreshers for John who is keen to learn and we safely and easily get through the lock and start to sail down the river at a very gentle pace. The weather is gorgeous, in the twenties and I need sun cream to avoid becoming a lobster. We make the turn into the Stour but not before a little hiccup when the wind does an about turn and literally goes from behind us to on the nose. More drifting gently down river before Maria declares that she wants to fish this evening and so can we get there. We find our favoured anchor spot near the cardinal under the Royal Hospital School.
assembled the new roads and got to catching fish, crabs or seaweed as appropriate. However, after a few hours, John hooked a really nice Sea Bass which was over the size you are allowed to keep, although subsequently we have been told you are not allowed to at this time of year. Anyway a discussion was had. Kay was firmly in the get that hook out of the fish, you are hurting it camp. Anyway, in the end and despite me reminding her how much Sea Bass costs in Sainsburys, Kay told John he had to return the fish to the river :(. Adam wasn’t happy. A few minutes later, John caught another Sea Bass which was much smaller. Despite having pretty much swallowed the hook, we were able finally to remove the hook and having checked the fish was OK in a bucket of sea water, we released it and saw it swim away. You will notice I have yet to mention Maria catching anything….
Then just after sunset Maria’s line was being pulled with a heavy weight. We all looked on expectantly as Maria retrieved her line to find loads of sea weed, poor Maria didn’t catch anything else all night. We had been drinking Prosecco since we had anchored and after several bottles, Kay started to doze up in the cockpit while the rest of us chatted. A lovely evening just chatting to friends with music quietly in the background and no troubles.
Mariadz 