Limehouse Basin Marina, London, UK

Spring has finally sprung in Limehouse and although the weather cannot be described as consistent, it certainly is quite a bit warmer and I think that we can now retire the dehumidifier and the space heaters but I think the electric blankets will have to remain until we get well south of here. 

I went back  to California earlier this month for my friend Len's memorial service. It was a  very sad event but I did feel the need to say goodbye to him. 

We are now making our final preparations for leaving and have a tentative date for June 3rd. The plan is to go left out of the lock and  to exit the Thames estuary and weather permitting, head for the Dutch  Friesian Islands and then on the Germany and the Kiel Canal and up into the Baltic Sea. Then on to Copenhagen and then around to Stockholm via Gotland Island.

This should take us 6-7 weeks and as we need to be out of Biscay by the end of August, we will retrace our track back to the Channel Islands and on to La Rochelle for the beginning of August.

We will pop in to see the Amel boys and get a few things checked and then on to Northern Spain, around Finnisterre and then to Portugal and the Algarve by October.

We have been on babysitting patrol in Rochester for a few days and both babies are growing well. It's amazing to see the changes in Genevieve in just a few months.

Most of my maintenance list is completed, all the sails are on and all the fluids changed. The air conditioning is misbehaving but probably needs to have  some start capacitors replaced.  I don't think we are going to need it for a few months at least.

One task I'm not looking forward to is diving under the boat to inspect the hull, propeller and the anodes in the murky, cold Limehouse Basin but it will have to be done when we get a very warm day.

We had the pleasure of having some cruising friends visit us for lunch last week. John and Cheryl from Seamist and Helen from Dignity came by and a very pleasant afternoon was spent reminiscing about cruising the world.

Evie, doing what she does best. Now mobile.

Callisto, among all the narrow boats. This has been a very good place to leave the boat for the winter

urban swans. all the birds seem to build their nests from a combination of natural debris and local trash

mum and dad guarding their nest

the first of the ugly duckings. Cygnets are really quite cute.

Being directed by Sydney(the one with the tiara) on arts and crafts

Seamist John and I fixing the world's problems and drinking a little beer.

The Admiral producing an excellent lunch

Seamists and Callistos

and Helen on the right