The maintenance drive continues with work to the anchor chain and windlass

Ruby keeping a lookout while Phil was working on the windlass

The big spring clean of Ravensdale has continued this week and, at long last, today (Friday) we’ve got some spring weather to go with it 😊

We’ve had another week of maintenance and cleaning on our 43ft Neptunus 133 motor cruiser at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK.

The most important job was checking her anchor chain and adding some rope to enable us to cut the anchor free if it ever gets stuck while we’re out on the water. Phil also serviced the windlass.

The weather’s been better this week but still not calm enough while the marina gate was open to take the boat out on the Solway Firth.

And the last few days have felt like a return to winter with the temperature dropping to just 1C (34F) in the early hours of yesterday (Thursday) morning, but it improved dramatically today (Friday) with the temperature going up to 12C (54F).


Anchor chain

Phil pulling out the anchor chain and laying it out on the pontoon

Ravensdale's anchor chain laid out on the pontoon

Phil decided to check the anchor chain this week as we hadn’t looked at it for almost two years.

The last time we had it out on dry land was when Ravensdale was out of the water for antifouling, changing her anodes and other work in the spring of 2017.

He also wanted to use rope to attach the chain to the securing point in the chain locker.

Phil pointed out that, if our anchor ever got stuck so we couldn’t lift it while we were out on the water, it would take a long time to cut through the chain to leave it behind.

So, he pulled all 55m (180ft) of chain out of the locker onto the pontoon and visibly inspected it.  Thankfully it was fine. The galvanising had come off in a couple of places, but it was still sound.

He then bought a 5m (16ft) length of rope from our marina and tied one end to the securing point in the chain locker and the other to the end of the chain.

We then used the windlass to wind the chain back into the locker.

The rope connected to the end of the chain and the securing point in the chain locker

While he was working on the anchor chain, Phil decided to service the windlass as well, so he topped up the oil in the gears and cleaned the gypsy or chain handling wheel.


Cleaning and maintenance

Ravensdale's nice clean dodgers

I mentioned last week that Phil had removed the dodgers from around the aft deck and was scrubbing them on the pontoon next to Ravensdale while I was finishing off writing my blog.

Once he'd finished cleaning them, he fixed them back in place with cable ties while they were still wet, and they dried in situ.

They certainly look a whole lot better now they’re dark blue again as they were turning a rather sickly shade of green 😊

Phil painting teak cleaner onto Ravensdale's bathing platform

He has also cleaned the teak on the bathing platform, the steps leading down to it from the aft deck and those from the bathing platform into the water.

He used the same products we use on the aft deck – Teak Wonder cleaner, followed by the same company’s brightener and then the corresponding dressing and sealant.

They’re also looking much better for their spring clean.

Ravensdale's newly cleaned bathing platform and steps

Meanwhile, I’ve continued with the interior clean up by washing the curtains in the saloon, the dinette and the en suite heads for both the forward and aft cabins.

I also gave the areas around the windows that are normally behind the curtains a good clean before I put them back up again.

One of the newly washed curtains in Ravensdale's saloon

We’re now hoping the engineer who repaired the exhaust elbow on Ravensdale’s port engine after it came away from the flange attaching it to the turbocharger will soon be able to do the same thing for her starboard engine.

We’re keen to get it done before we take Ravensdale any further afield than our regular fishing trips in the Solway Firth.

We’re just waiting for him to let us know when he has time to do it.


New stuff

We love Thursdays because Thursday is “middle of Lidl day” 😊

For the uninitiated, it’s the day when our local Lidl supermarket changes its range of non-food items in the centre aisle of the store.

And they have some really interesting things at very good prices, so we like to check them out while doing our food shopping.

New wall clock in the en suite heads

This week we came home with a decorative wall clock for the en suite heads in the aft cabin.

We also bought a mini tool kit, containing tiny screwdrivers, wire cutters, long-nosed pliers and mini sockets as Phil has lost a few of the tools from a similar set he has had for years.

Phil's new mini tool kit

And we were really pleased to find they were selling a long-handled, extending brush with interchangeable heads – one soft and one harder – that is ideal for washing the boat, especially as our soft deck brush is well past its sell-by date.

Phil trying out the new extending brush

Phil gave the new brush a trial run on Tuesday when he used it for washing Ravensdale’s hull.

Ruby has a thing about brushes and would love to get her teeth on it but, so far, we’ve managed to keep it out of her reach 😊



Ruby of Ravensdale

Ruby keeping an eye on the marina from Ravensdale's aft deck

Ruby has taken to her role as a boat dog like a duck to water.

But then living on a boat is normal for her. It’s all she’s known since she was eight weeks old.

She’s very confident climbing the boarding steps and jumping onto the boat now, even when it’s moving around a good bit, but has, so far, made no attempt to jump off it.

Ruby sitting on Ravensdale's aft deck watching the world go by

Ruby loves sitting out on deck, where she watches everything we do and everyone else that she can see from the boat.

She also loves playing fetch but isn’t very good at it.

When the weather’s bad, I throw a ball for her indoors on the boat - there’s not a lot of room to play fetch on board, but we have a good go at it.

Ruby trying to get two balls in her mouth at the same time

Ruby holding onto the second ball with her paws

She seems to enjoy chasing after the ball and bringing it back, but she refuses to give it back to me.

I thought I was being really clever when I decided that if I threw another identical ball for her, she would drop the one she was holding in her mouth and run after the second ball.

But, no, she kept ball number one in her mouth while running after ball number two then tried to get them both in her mouth at the same time.

And, when that proved impossible, she held one in her mouth and the other between her front paws in an attempt to stop me getting either of them, but I managed to prise one of them away from her to throw it again and repeat the process.

She had me in fits of laughter, so I enjoyed the game. Just hope she did too 😊

However, she seems less interested in running after a ball on the beach as there are too many other interesting things around.

Ruby chasing after her ball but Phil had to fetch it 😊

Sometimes she brings it back, but more often she runs in the right general direction then ignores the ball and goes after something else and we have to fetch it ourselves.

Ruby looks forward to her daily walk on the beach and is happy to walk through water now but still draws the line at going into the sea.

As she's not great at retrieving a ball, we decided to try her with a frisbee, and she loved it. She was much more interested in the frisbee than her ball.

Ruby bringing back her frisbee after taking a couple of bites out of it

The trouble was that it only lasted for about five minutes before she started biting chunks out of it and we had to take it away.

Before we put it away, Phil tried throwing it into the sea to see if she would go in after it, but she wouldn’t so Phil had to wade in to get it.

Ruby trying to reach her frisbee when Phil through it in the sea

Phil retrieving the frisbee when Ruby wouldn't get it

Phil and Ruby on the beach

Ruby running on the wet sand

Ruby standing on a rock

Ruby leaping out from behind another rock

Phil and Ruby looking for sea creatures under the seaweed

Yesterday (Thursday), I moved the furniture in Ravensdale’s saloon back to make more room to play then got out the full-size football she’d played with when tiny.

Ruby trying to eat a full-size football

Back then, we had to put it away because she wasn’t interested in kicking or rather pushing it around. All she wanted to do was to eat it.

I should’ve known it wouldn’t work. The only difference was that she’s now bigger and stronger so can hold onto the ball more tightly to stop me trying to kick it away.

She also has a bigger mouth and teeth and can, therefore, rip it to pieces more quickly 😊

Meanwhile, she’s getting better at walking on a lead, especially since we bought her a harness. She isn’t pulling as much and is definitely sitting down and refusing to move less often.

Ruby modelling her new harness

Ruby tired out after her walk on the beach

Ruby may be a big girl now but she still likes her teddy at bedtime

Passers-by

There’s been a lot more boating activity in the marina this week.

A couple of new boats arrived for the start of the season including one with a rather unusual name – she’s called Ship Faced 😊

A powerboat called Ship Faced

An attractive yacht, called Manatee, passed Ravensdale on its way to the slipway to have her bottom washed when the tide went out.

Manatee passing Ravensdale on the way to the marina slipway

And yesterday (Thursday) a large wind farm boat, Windcat 41, arrived at the marina to be lifted out of the water on the MPM North West boat hoist.

Wind farm boat Windcat 41 arriving at Maryport Marina

However, they weren’t able to lift it and it had to stay at the marina while it waits for a crane to come and lift it out of the water.


Wildlife

Clyde the crow carried on joining us for walks on the beach for the first half of the past week despite Ruby's best attempts to chase him away.

Clyde AKA Pugwash eating one of Ruby's treats

I got talking to a couple in the harbour last Friday that I was fairly sure I had seen feeding the crow while walking past Ravensdale with their dogs. I asked them about this, and they said they did feed the crow who they call Pugwash.

So, I now know he has two names and wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that he pesters everyone walking in that area for food and probably has a number of other names too 😊

We saw Clyde sitting on the fence just across the water from Ravensdale on Saturday afternoon, but he hasn’t ventured down onto our boat yet.

And we haven’t seen him for the last few days so we’re hoping he’s OK.

The lone cygnet waiting by Ravensdale for food

The single cygnet is still in the marina most days and turns up at Ravensdale looking for food.

And he or she (I still don’t know which) has been joined by some ducks – sometimes we see a male and a female, sometimes two males and at other times just one duck at a time turns up here.

The ducks are considerably less friendly than the swans and are reluctant to come too close for the floating duck and swan food we give them.

The pair of ducks that turned up in the marina this week

Meanwhile, we’ve been learning more about the wildlife down on the shore here at Maryport.

A honeycomb worm reef on Maryport beach at low tide

I am fascinated by the honeycomb worm reefs that are exposed at low tide.

The unusual-looking structures are created by the Sabellaria alveolata worm.

Their honeycomb-like reefs are built of sand and bits of shells and each worm has its own tube with an overhanging porch.

A close-up of one of the honeycomb worm reefs

We were also interested to discover weird jelly-like creatures in the sand. Some were teardrop-shaped and clear with a slight orange tinge and others were round and a fairly bright green colour.

A flounder egg in the sand

Plaice eggs in the sand

I put photos of them on on Facebook asking if anyone knew what they were, and a friend told me they were fish eggs – the green eggs are plaice and the clear ones are flounder.


Photography

I took my camera for a walk up to The Settlement in Maryport last Friday as it provides a good view over the River Ellen and across the harbour to the Solway Firth.

View out towards the Solway Firth from The Settlement in Maryport

The River Ellen from The Settlement

Another view of the River Ellen from The Settlement

There was a lovely light in the marina just before sunset on Saturday evening.

Maryport Marina

Another view of the marina building

Reflections in the still water at Maryport Marina

Just before sunset at Maryport Marina (Ravensdale is on the far side of the marina)

I then took my camera over to the beach to capture the main event and was really pleased to see one fishing boat heading home and another leaving Maryport.

The sun going down over the Solway Firth

Sunset on the beach at Maryport

Maryport Pier at sunset

A fishing boat passing Robin Rigg wind farm in the Solway Firth on its way home to Maryport

A fishing boat leaving Maryport

A fishing boat heading out onto the Solway Firth

As usual, a lot of my photos were taken while taking Ruby for walks on the beach.

A sunny day on the beach at Maryport

Iggesund paperboard mill at Workington from the shore

Maryport beach at low tide

Maryport beach looking towards the pier

Another view of Iggesund paperboard mill from the shore

And I’ve taken a few more close-up and abstract images, but not as many as I would’ve liked so I'm planning to go out looking for some new inspiration in the coming week.

Rust and old paintwork on a fishing boat

More rust on the same boat

Shells and barnacles on a rock on the shore

More shells and barnacles

Weather watch

The past week has been mainly dry and bright with varying amounts of wind.

We had sunshine and light cloud first thing on Saturday. The cloud increased during the morning with light rain early in the afternoon. It then cleared up and became brighter again. This was followed by a very calm evening.

Sunshine on Saturday at Maryport Marina

The top temperature was 8.4C (47F) and the top average wind speed was 15mph at 8am. However, the wind speed had dropped to just 2mph by 6pm.

Sunday was calm and bright, but the marina gate was open at the wrong times for us to take Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth. It would’ve meant going out really early when we’d already lost an hour’s sleep due to the clocks going forward an hour.

Heavy cloud on Monday at Maryport Marina

Monday started dry and bright. The sky then clouded over, and we had light drizzle for a while during the afternoon. The top temperature was 7.3C (45F) at 5pm and just 5.2C (41F) at midday. The average wind speed reached 24mph, gusting 33mph.

It was dry and sunny first thing on Tuesday morning, then clouded over a bit mid-morning before clearing again.

Blue sky and white fluffy clouds at Maryport Marina on Tuesday

Heavy cloud developed from mid-afternoon and it rained during the evening.

The top temperature was 7C (45F) and the top average wind speed was 14mph.

Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday was a cold night with the temperature falling to 2C (35F).

Wednesday started overcast but dry and fairly breezy. It rained for a while then brightened up and the wind dropped considerably later in the day.

Rain on Wednesday at Maryport Marina

The top temperature was 6C (43F) and the top average wind speed was 18mph, gusting 38mph, at 8am. It dropped to 2mph at 3pm before starting to increase again.

Wednesday night into Thursday was even colder with the temperature falling to 1C (34F).

We had a cold start to the day yesterday (Thursday) but at least it was dry and stayed that way all day.

There was sunshine during the morning with increasing cloud during the afternoon. It also became windier as the day went on.

The temperature reached 8C (46F) and the top average wind speed was 25mph, gusting 54mph.

Maryport lighthouse in the sunshine this morning (Friday)

And today (Friday) the weather has been sunny, dry and breezy. The top temperature was 12C (54F) and the top average wind speed was 31mph, gusting 49mph.