Out and about in Pembrokeshire

We took advantage of  a lovely day yesterday to do a bit of a wander. Down  to St David's and on to Solva then to Newgale beach. LJ was, and is,  totally shattered after two beach and an estuary walk and I fell in love, not just with the scenery but with the Window on Wales shop in Solva. I need another two hours in there. I'm not worried as am sure we will be back. Solva just such a special place.

We finished the day with a meal at the Golden Lion. Our second. We just have to visit the Royal Oak and we'll have spread ourselves round the three Newport pubs open through the winter. We thought we'd learnt our lesson from last Saturday and arrived at 1800. The only two tables left in the bar were round the corner by the pool table! They don't serve food until 1830. Arrive early to avoid disappointment. My meal was so good I forgot there was a chap playing pool resting his cue on my shoulder but our quest for a sticky toffee pudding to beat the White Hart at Lydgate continues.

Some of today's views

Oooooops ........ A rebuttal

Sorry folks, I've given you the impression that a painting I included on a blog to show what the area was like was the one Alistair sold recently.  It wasn't!!  Thanks to Gentleman Boater of 2013 for making me look again!  Below are some early photographs. These courtesy of Alistair as I'm still grappling with the new phone!! 

How on earth can I be moaning........

The excitement of meeting Maggie took over from a bit of a moan - YES but not about Newport - and some photos from our first proper walk with LJ this morning.

Best to get the moan over with, it's Tom Tom. Yesterday we followed it off a perfectly good dual carriageway that we knew would take us to Haverfordwest/Fishguard/Newport. We also knew their was a northern alternative on maybe not quite so fast a road. Foolishly we believed this was the option selected by Tom. Er not. He preferred to take us over a mountain with his route getting progressively more challenging until we were on single track lanes between high hedges. My favourite. Of course,mby the time we got to that point we couldn't have turned round if we'd wanted to. Shall I mention the unfavourable diesel situation? Best not. We made it to a garage anyway - after that we even made it to a garage that was open!!

Green Cottage http://www.greencottagepembrokeshire.co.uk quickly cheered us up. This followed by a walk down the estuary to the harbour and by a trip to the Golden Lion which absolutely lived up to it's reviews. (Sometimes the Gods smile ...' Sunday Times). We didn't stand a chance of making it to pudding. I am hopeful the sticky toffee might equal that of Ben and Jess' wedding - always on the hunt for that!

Reminded of an epiphany

Spooky got spookier still. Intrepid readers of the blog - that's at least Alistair's Mum - will know he sold a painting of Newport last week. His first sale and we thought how spooky it was to sell it the week we were coming here for three weeks R&R.

We chose Newport because Alistair loved it when he visited here in 2012 with

indigo painting holidays
http://www.indigiobrown.co.uk

indigo brown are some 25 miles from Newport in Haverfordwest West. In the winter, Maggie catches up on her own painting and, well, life. You can imagine our surprise then  as we returned from walking LJ this morning and saw their logo on a car in the school car park and Maggie and her daughter sitting in it. She was doing the dropping off teenager run.  Maggie is responsible for making painting accessible for Alistair. He would NOT have kept going without that course - she remembered his epiphany moment sitting on a cliff. Good value - even if was his next three birthdays and Christmases combined!! He's still not caught up yet.

Even spookier because all of this before we are usually up and around!!

It does beg the question ... what next?

We're all going .......

On our holidays. Off to the seaside. Everyone I've spoken to has asked or assumed it's three weeks in the sun for us. NOT off to what looks like fantastic cottage in Pembrokeshire. We love our coastal winter walking. Weather permitting. This will be our third January on the Welsh coast. Just a break and a change of scene.

LJ just loves the beach. He's had his haircut so won't be bringing quite so much sand with him. Alistair is all fired up from his first sale of  a painting - spookily, of the harbour in Newport, Pembrokeshire .... But he can start on it's replacement on Sunday. The painting gear - ALL of his painting gear went in first. Really timely and all profit to Combat Stress.

Fortunately I can manage on a capsule wardrobe!

A funny thing happened on the K&A

Any boaters or tow path walkers familiar with Newbury will also be familiar with the cruiser FLUKE.  After all, it hasn't moved from it's position  near Poundland except from one bank to another for over two years. well, Fluke has moved! Don't get too excited. A dredger has claimed her place and FLUKE has had to move down the towpath.

A journey of less than 50 yards but symbolic - I'm guessing this doesn't pass the continuous cruiser remit!!! 

Busy old day by QISMA crew standards

LJ due for his haircut today so a quick walk round the lake at Thatcham - no swimming allowed and LJ deposited at what must be a contender for the friendliest dog groomers ever.

Then Alistair back to see if he was required for sluice duty and I went into Newbury to relieve myself of a £50 John Lewis voucher which is part of our credit card deal. I didn't have the luxury of being extravagant and buying myself some luxury item because the voucher already had 'second set of new bedding'  written all over it. When I changed the colour scheme we were fine with one set, having 24 hour access to a tumble dryer. Second set needed before we depart the marina.

Back for series of domestic duties and before I knew it we were on our way back to collect our boy.

I decided he deserved a long walk on the way back so Alistair dropped us at Thatcham Lakes again and we set off back. I was working on the principle that LJ was going to be wet and muddy tomorrow anyway so ..... he loved it. Almost up to the top of  my boots at one point, but only for  20 yards or so.  It was so lovely and quiet. Only one other walker when I got back to the towpath. We were lucky and just got back before the heavens opened again. 

Just past the swing bridge was this sad sight. CRT workboat sunk. 

 And despite efforts with sluices, if we have much more rain, there will be more than this bit of towpath flooded as the river is only two feet away to the right of the photo. Nothing to what is happening elsewhere. Have you seen the photos at Abbingdon?

Cousin's Day 2014

Out of the blue this week came the opportunity to have a Cousin's Day in Gloucester as Sister Sue was down,for a week's holiday in Stow and my plans,for today got moved. I just couldn't pass by the opportunity to catch up with her and our cousins Simone and Justine.

Friends and family reading this will know how much I hate having my photograph,taken. If possible, Sue hates it even more. Fortunately, the cousins are not the least bit camera shy!

Great to catch up with them. We don't get to do it often enough. 

It did seem strange to be in Gloucester and not go down,to the docks but the weather was ..... Yes, filthy! We just hunkered down in the pub. I'm certain that QISMA isn't quite done with the G&S yet. 

That was the year ....

I know it's that time of year, when people start to reflect on the year almost gone and in our case, to think about the QISMA annual boating awards.

So here we go ..

BOATING  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT - only queuing at ONE lock all year. Unlikely ever to be repeated.

PUB OF THE YEAR - we are spoilt for choice. I may have to do a Masterchef and have joint winners. The Brampton Mill near Godmanchester with setting and food and dogs and it gave me the cocktail of the year! And it would be impossible not to mention The Two Brewers in Windsor.

MOST HELPFUL BOATER - Graham of NB MATILDA ROSE fame who spent two hours with Alistair plotting our Nene and Great Ouse maps. His top tips were invaluable. I hope your adventure on the French canals is all you both hope for.

BEST NIGHT OUT FROM BOAT -  easiest of all - the Curtis Stigers 'Up Close and Personal' show at The Stables Milton Keynes. Our Spring cruising arranged around this and a haircut in MK for LJ.

PHOTO of the year ... The hardest choice of all but ...

Three categories .. non Boating ... boating ... LJ

This because it was at the start of Zoe and Paul's wedding

This because it was just magic to be on the water with her

Summer, the day Andy Murray won Wimbledon and LJ doing what he loves best

SURPRISE OF THE YEAR how much fun Twitter is  so thanks to those I am following, those following me and #boatsthattweet for your company. 

We had a fantastic year on the water. All good wishes to bloggers, boaters, non- boaters, friends and family. I hope 2014 is everything you want it to be. Xx

How was it for you?

Ours was peaceful and quiet which is just the way we like it on QISMA. I hope you enjoyed yours. We finally stopped running hither and thither last Sunday. Good to get a week off  from travelling before we head to Dorset for New Year.

We did make some unusual friends over the holidays. The semi resident swans seem to have taken to us. I don't know why as we don't encourage them but now they even ignore LJ if we come across them on the tow path.

What did you think of the TV over Christmas? My memory might not be what it once was but I thought it the worst ever. With just a couple of exceptions. Thankfully we had Band of Brothers to fall back on ... So to speak.

Mixed bag

Back briefly from Torquay. In time for the Christmas drinks on Thursday, organised by Peter and Stephanie from Maggie May. They did a cracking job, even with the weather, the rain held off for just long enough.

Friday it was down to Midhurst. I was staying with LJ's Auntie Lil aka known as Marion. Alistair was off to West Sussex on Saturday on Gramps duty. Marion and I had our evening arranged, mac, cheese and bacon, pink cava and the final of Strictly. Two dogs, one cat, hardly seen when LJ is around. Couple of walks, dodging the rain. Booked for more of same next year.

Today, Marion's Mum arrived for Christmas. Two plus one out and one in at The Park! Lovely to see Daisy. She had some tablet training from our Captain. He should develop a sideline!

Now back on QISMA just one shopping trip and four dog walks from Christmas.

By the seaside

The view from our current location. The last of the pre-Christmas family visits - well,the last if you don't count Alistair being on Gramps babysitting duties in West Sussex on Saturday.

After 14 hours of rain, it eased just before we left Newbury to drive down. A welcome relief. Traffic,was light and we made really,good time until we hit school traffic as we came into Torquay.  Here just as it got dark and this was the welcome.

Can we catch up with ourselves?

Life is certainly different at the moment. We were with Alistair's daughter Zoe, her husband Paul and their daughter Lexie for a long weekend.

We stay at a hotel - mainly because it stops us from being on top of each other and to keep LJ and their Bobby apart. They just do not take to each other. We've found a fantastic bargain not too far away where we can stay with LJ. The public areas are quite posh .. But we don't trouble them very much!

Great walking from the hotel, including my favourite extra large sheep. It's OK, I do know they are Llamas!

On Saturday we had the delight of Lexie, aged 18 months, for 24 hours. I hope she never changes character because she was a delight and slept through the night. I think they black out strength curtains helped. 

On Sunday I went up to London to catch Curtis Stigers with his band at Ronnie Scott's. Absolute magic. Only outing with the band this year in UK and they were HOT. 

It was good to get back on board and to start to think about dressing QISMA for Christmas. I think she's looking pretty neat.

Now we've got a few days to settle ourself down. 

Always sad ....

Lovely walks in the woods just yards from Marion's house. So many you could never get bored by the same route.

These photographs are taken at the memorial tree planted in honour of Cpl David Connor Royal Marines who was killed in Afghanistan. His family and friends have planted a tree and the other  photo is the view.

Special delivery

We weren't planning on putting the decorations up until next week but ..........

A brief visit .... to QISMA

Three nights in Dorset where LJ gets,some fantastic walks

We were out nice and early this morning so had the miles and miles of woods almost to ourselves. The early start was courtesy of the newspaper being delivered before 0700. Too much for LJ who was overcome with excitement!!! 

Now he's back on patrol on familiar territory