Strings attached

Yesterday we arrived uneventfully at Alvecote, and spent a lovely evening chatting with Viv and Simon and a couple of other people, and a total of five dogs, all of whom were very well behaved and lovely (and that from a hard line cat person).

We've been allocated a pontoon in the marina, as part of the boat gathering that's taking place this coming weekend, although hopefully soon after we will be moving down to the dock for Martin to start painting.

As the bank is quite low here, and the fenders fly over it, I've used a rudder string to hold the rudder to one side, safe from banging into the bank if the boat moves. People sometimes wonder why there's a hole in the top of the rudder. This is one answer. It can be used to help lift the rudder if it needs to be reseated while the boat's in the water, though I wouldn't want to have to do that.