The past week has been mainly about the three 'F's – fishing, photography and a fuel filter :-)

Fishing off Maryport Pier

At long last we have got around to doing something other than studying and working on the boat.

A few beautiful sunny days have tempted us to put aside the various jobs we had planned to do onboard in the past week and to do some of the other things we enjoy, such as fishing and photography.

Waiting for a bite

Maryport pier, which is only about half a mile from the marina, is a popular fishing spot so you have to get their early to get a good location.

Phil proudly presents his first catch

We haven’t managed to get there early enough for the end of the pier yet, so have been fishing off the side, without much success. The only consolation has been that none of the other fishermen seem to have caught much while we were there either.

On his first attempt last week, Phil caught a small flat fish and an even smaller whiting and today he caught two small whiting.

While he was fishing, I took my camera for a walk along the shore and thankfully got back in time to get a quick snap of him with the little flat fish just before he returned it to the sea.

Next time, I may set up a rod too as two rods have to give us a better chance of catching something.

Despite the lack of a decent catch, both fishing trips were very enjoyable. There’s nothing like being outside doing something I want to do at a time when I would previously have been chained to my desk slaving over a hot keyboard.

Hope this fishing boat had more luck than we did

We have also taken our cameras for a walk around the harbour and, when I don’t have my camera with me, I take copious photos on my phone, some of which have come out much better than I had expected.

Dusk over Maryport Harbour

Another image of the harbour taken between heavy showers

But it has not been all play.

Phil disappears down into the engine room to change the oil filter on the heater

The new fuel filter is fitted in place

When the new heater was fitted, Gary, of Autolec in Carlisle, discovered the fuel filter was very dirty, but did not have a new one with him so his company sent out a new one that Phil fitted yesterday.

The heating system is now working really well. We are lovely and warm and it is so much quieter and cleaner than the old one was before it broke down.

We also did a couple of small jobs outside while the sun was shining and it was great to be able to sit outside for a coffee break.

Time for a well-earned break in the winter sunshine

And Dex loves being outside with us while we’re working.

Dex keeps a lookout for seagulls and passers-by

He spends his time watching sea gulls, running around the decks and greeting everyone that passes by on the pontoon or the promenade above the harbour when we are outside at high tide.

The last couple of days of fabulous weather have given us a taste of just how wonderful our new life will be in the spring and summer when it will hopefully be considerably warmer out there.

Another chore that was considerably less fun, but will save us money was the latest battle in our own personal storage war.

We initially rented a 75sqft unit at Box Clever, near Cockermouth.  After much effort, we managed to downsize to a 50sqft unit and we have now moved into the smallest size unit available, which is just 25sqft.

The aim is to get rid of it altogether in the next few months and we will achieve it. Just wish we had been more ruthless before we moved as it was considerably easier sorting through our stuff and deciding what to keep, sell, rehome or throw away when we had a house to do it in.

The best advice I could give to anyone considering moving from a house to a boat is that you need much, much less than you think you will.