This crew change business can be stressful!
Jane had been somewhat nervous in advance about getting across London from St. Pancras to Waterloo as she's never had to find her way around the underground system on her own.
And her concerns were justified as it turned out. We're not sure exactly where she took a wrong turn but she seemed up on the wrong line heading in the wrong direction!
Matters were not helped by her ticket not being recognised by the underground ticket barriers (I've also had this happen with advance rail tickets). The underground staff were most helpful though
Credit where it's due, she didn't panic and got back on track but the delay meant she arrived at the platform at Waterloo with barely a minute to spare to find the barrier already closed.
The barrier guardian was totally unhelpful but eventually Jane persuaded the ticket office to stamp her ticket as valid for a later service.
Fortunately, there are frequent services from Waterloo to Portsmouth and I was able to relax once she was on her way.
Meanwhile, my cousin Maire was on the train Jane should have been on! My cunning plan to meet one train and two crew had failed. Oh well :)
I caught the ferry over from Gosport in good time and met the girls off their trains in turn. Then we caught the ferry back!
Once we'd settled down on board, we sorted out Maire with a lifejacket and ran through a safety briefing. Then it was time to get underway.
Our first port of call was the self service fuel berth at Gosport Marina next door where £100 of diesel went into the tank and cans. And that didn't quite fill the cans to the brim either.
I haven't worked out the exact fuel consumption from the log yet but it's close to 3l per hour I think. I'd hoped for better but we were flogging our way into a stiff headwind and steep sort sea for two long days so it's not that surprisingly really.
Now refuelled, we headed on deeper into the harbour.
We had a following breeze and a fair tide so I hoisted the mizzen, unfurled the genoa and, joy of joys, stopped the engine for the first time all cruise. We were, to put it another way, sailing at last!
It was a brief sail as we were soon sailing past my friend David's boat and putting the sails away to raft up alongside
This was my first opportunity to meet Lindsay, a fellow folk musician and former canal boater with whom I've been corresponding via the Internet for some time
Much coffee was consumed as we chatted and then we decided, with David's agreement, to stay rafted for the night.
We invited David and Lindsay aboard Pagan for dinner and drinks (dinner was Morrisons own brand tinned beef stew and dumplings which I heartily recommend). Beer was drunk, music was played, the rum was broached and the evening ended with one of the most active thunderstorms I've ever seen!
The storm went on into the early hours of the morning and it was quite something to see the Spinnaker Tower take a direct lightening strike!
Eventually it died down enough to retire to bed and get some sleep
Despite using the timeshift feature of the phone camera, I failed to get a single good picture of the thunderstorm. This is the best I got as the lightening lit up the night sky
Jane had been somewhat nervous in advance about getting across London from St. Pancras to Waterloo as she's never had to find her way around the underground system on her own.
And her concerns were justified as it turned out. We're not sure exactly where she took a wrong turn but she seemed up on the wrong line heading in the wrong direction!
Matters were not helped by her ticket not being recognised by the underground ticket barriers (I've also had this happen with advance rail tickets). The underground staff were most helpful though
Credit where it's due, she didn't panic and got back on track but the delay meant she arrived at the platform at Waterloo with barely a minute to spare to find the barrier already closed.
The barrier guardian was totally unhelpful but eventually Jane persuaded the ticket office to stamp her ticket as valid for a later service.
Fortunately, there are frequent services from Waterloo to Portsmouth and I was able to relax once she was on her way.
Meanwhile, my cousin Maire was on the train Jane should have been on! My cunning plan to meet one train and two crew had failed. Oh well :)
I caught the ferry over from Gosport in good time and met the girls off their trains in turn. Then we caught the ferry back!
Once we'd settled down on board, we sorted out Maire with a lifejacket and ran through a safety briefing. Then it was time to get underway.
Our first port of call was the self service fuel berth at Gosport Marina next door where £100 of diesel went into the tank and cans. And that didn't quite fill the cans to the brim either.
I haven't worked out the exact fuel consumption from the log yet but it's close to 3l per hour I think. I'd hoped for better but we were flogging our way into a stiff headwind and steep sort sea for two long days so it's not that surprisingly really.
Now refuelled, we headed on deeper into the harbour.
We had a following breeze and a fair tide so I hoisted the mizzen, unfurled the genoa and, joy of joys, stopped the engine for the first time all cruise. We were, to put it another way, sailing at last!
It was a brief sail as we were soon sailing past my friend David's boat and putting the sails away to raft up alongside
This was my first opportunity to meet Lindsay, a fellow folk musician and former canal boater with whom I've been corresponding via the Internet for some time
Much coffee was consumed as we chatted and then we decided, with David's agreement, to stay rafted for the night.
We invited David and Lindsay aboard Pagan for dinner and drinks (dinner was Morrisons own brand tinned beef stew and dumplings which I heartily recommend). Beer was drunk, music was played, the rum was broached and the evening ended with one of the most active thunderstorms I've ever seen!
The storm went on into the early hours of the morning and it was quite something to see the Spinnaker Tower take a direct lightening strike!
Eventually it died down enough to retire to bed and get some sleep
Despite using the timeshift feature of the phone camera, I failed to get a single good picture of the thunderstorm. This is the best I got as the lightening lit up the night sky
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