Back on board Ravensdale for our 18-month liveaboard anniversary

Home Sweet Home - Ravensdale's dining area

We are very happy to be back on board after two weeks away from our floating home.

Much as we enjoyed our shore-based break in the Scottish Highlands, it was still good to get back to our 43ft cruiser Ravensdale at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK, at the weekend – especially as this time she didn’t have any nasty surprises waiting for us on our return.

After returning from a holiday to discover the electricity had been off most of the time we’d been away following a power cut and all the food in our fridge and freezer had gone off, we were a bit apprehensive as to what we’d find.

But, this time, the whole experience was totally uneventful - just as we’d hoped it would be.

And, it was particularly good to be back in time for our 18-month liveaboard anniversary, which is today (Friday).

Life wasn’t quite the same without the rocking and the comforting sound of water lapping against Ravensdale’s hull - and the considerably less gentle rocking when the wind gets up 😊

18 months afloat and no regrets

Ravensdale - the Neptunus 133 that is our lovely floating home

I bet you thought it was only children that celebrated their half birthdays 😊

Well, you’d be wrong, or maybe it’s just that I’m never willing to grow up. Not so keen on celebrating my own half birthdays anymore though (or the real ones come to that 😊)

I’ve been looking back over my blog posts on our previous milestone anniversaries.

And it was interesting to see how things have changed and the various things we’ve learned during our first 18 months on board.

One thing that hasn’t changed though is that we’re still very glad we took the momentous decision to sell our house and buy a boat.

For anyone who’s interested, the links to my previous milestone blogs are below -

The great escape from a house to a boat – my first blog post after moving on board on November 4, 2016 - Mad or what?

This time last year - Our six-month liveaboard anniversary

November 4 last year - Our first liveaboard anniversary

Last day of our Highland holiday

The weather forecast for last Friday - the last full day of our holiday in the Scottish Highlands - had been reasonably good when I checked it the previous evening, so we went ahead with plans to go out into the mountains on our last day.

We set the alarm clock for an early start and woke up to discover it was raining AGAIN!!! And the forecast had changed to rain for much of the day.

We had two choices – to put on our waterproofs and head out into the hills anyway or cancel the walk we had planned and stay at the cottage.

To be honest, it was a no-brainer.

We’d spent the previous couple of days waiting for the weather to improve and for our legs to recover from the last long walk and we felt fit and ready to go so that’s exactly what we did.

It stopped raining just before we set off from our holiday cottage in Ballachulish to drive up to Glen Coe and was still dry when we got there, but we still put on our waterproof walking jackets and trousers before taking the route we'd planned.

We were heading for the 2,811ft summit of Beinn a Chrùlaiste, which is behind Kings House Hotel in Glen Coe.

Beinn a Chrulaiste (left) and Meall Bhalach (right)

I was getting rather hot in my waterproof trousers, so stopped to take them off but, soon afterwards, we could see the rain coming in across the hills to the west of us, so I had to put them back on again.

A thick, grey mist enveloped Beinn a Chrùlaiste and it started to rain.

At that point, we decided to forget Beinn a Chrùlaiste as we wouldn’t be able to see anything from the top anyway and to head up neighbouring 2,323ft Meall Bhalach, which was still clearly in view, stopping to take photos on the way up.

A ruined building with Buachaille Etive Mor and Stob a Ghlais Choire in the distance

Buachaille Etive Mor from Meall Bhalach

Stob a Ghlais Choire from Meall Bhalach

The light rain didn’t last long, but, by the time it stopped, we were committed to our new route, so we decided to continue heading in that direction and we were rewarded with some fabulous views of Glen Coe, Rannoch Moor, Blackwater Reservoir and the Mamores.

View from the summit of Meall Bhalach across Blackwater Reservoir and the Mamores

Looking across Rannoch Moor from Meall Bhalach

When nearing the top, we came across a number of fairly large snow patches, so I just had to sit in the middle of one and get Phil to take a photo (as I said earlier, I have no plans to grow up anytime soon 😊)

Me sitting in the snow on Meall Bhalach

A wider view showing the size of the snow patch

Phil on Meall Bhalach

Phil and I at the summit of Meall Bhalach

We had our packed lunch on the summit, then checked the map to see if there was a better route down the mountain than the one we'd followed on the way up and chose a different route, which brought us down onto the public footpath to Black Corries Lodge.

We were really lucky with the weather. Often, we could see rain on the hills all around us, but we somehow managed to avoid a soaking.

Other than the short shower on our way up the hill, we only had a little bit of hail when we were nearing the top and it started spitting while we were walking the last couple of hundred yards back to the car.

The rain arriving as we headed back to the car

As soon as we got into the car, the heavens opened. Someone must have been on our side for once as we aren’t usually that lucky! 😊

While out, we saw two deer, lots of sheep, lots of frogs, a heron, two grouse and what we think were two ptarmigan.

The total distance showing on the Satmap GPS when we got back was 7.21 miles.

Return to the real world

The weather was beautiful for our drive home and we stopped off briefly in Glencoe to take photographs of Loch Leven.

Boats on Loch Leven at Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands

More boats on Loch Leven

A wider view of Loch Leven looking towards Ballachulish

The Pap of Glencoe

In the past, whenever we reached the end of a holiday, I always said it was time to return to “the real world”.

However, in those days, we were going home to a house and it usually meant I had to go back to work the following Monday.

Returning to the real world is so much easier now our world isn’t really like the real world at all 😊

In fact, most people would consider our version of the real world to be a holiday 😊

And, this time, we thankfully returned home to discover all was well on the boat and the ducks turned up for food soon after we arrived, so at least someone was glad to see us back.

Feeding time for the ducks next to Ravensdale's bow

Back in our real world

I managed to get most of our clothes and self-catering stuff unpacked on Saturday, finishing off putting things away on Sunday morning.

Thankfully, I’d been able to get almost everything we’d worn on holiday washed in the washing machine at the holiday cottage on Friday evening, so it was all clean and ready to go back in the wardrobes, cupboards and drawers.

The only things still needing attention were our walking jackets, waterproof trousers and our walking boots.

Phil washed the jackets and trousers and re-waterproofed the jackets, then cleaned and waxed our walking boots on Sunday ready for our next mountain adventure.

Our walking gear drying on the line while Phil cleans our walking boots

We lifted our prawn pot to discover we’d caught around 20 small crabs, so we took them over to The Aquarium to be fed to the octopuses.

The crabs in a bucket before we took them to The Aquarium

We got chatting to a fisherman we know as we walked back around the harbour and he gave us another prawn pot, so we can either up our catch or keep it as a spare.

The following day we found a dogfish in our prawn pot with 11 more crabs, so we’ll soon have enough to take them to The Aquarium again.

Phil holding the dogfish that got caught in the prawn pot before throwing it back

Next time, I’m planning to take my camera with me and hopefully get some better photos of the exhibits than I took with my phone on our previous visit.

Storage wars and damp under the mattress

We’ve just acquired an extra storage unit at the marina so we’re having another go at trying to sort out our storage situation.

We’re trying to work out what we need to keep on the boat, what we need to keep in our marina storage space and what to take to our small shore-based storage unit that we’re still hoping to get rid of altogether one day.

We lifted our mattress to sort the stuff in the locker under the bed with a view to taking some of it up to the marina storage facility. While in there, Phil lifted the inspection panel in the bottom of the locker to discover that there was water in the bilges.

He pumped it out and cleaned out the cupboard, which had become a bit mouldy.

A piece of Dry-Mat

We also discovered that the wooden surface of the bed under our mattress had become a bit damp and mouldy, despite our bed slats and Dry-Mat – a product that creates an air space between the mattress and the bed base.

We used to lift the mattress regularly to air it but hadn’t got around to doing it for a couple of months.

We’ve also lifted the mattress off the bed while away on previous occasions but didn’t think to do it when we decided to take a trip to Scotland at short notice.

Thankfully the Dry-Mat had only become marked on the underside of the bottom piece of matting (we placed an offcut under the piece we cut to fit to provide extra protection over the water tank, which is located under the bed).

The top layer of Dry-Mat was still dry, as was our mattress.

I checked the washing instructions for the matting online and discovered it was machine washable, so I took it up to the marina laundry to wash it, then dried it on the washing line across Ravensdale’s aft deck in quite a strong wind.

Phil pumping out the water from the bilges under our bed

Phil washed the mouldy surface of the bed, then put the dehumidifier in the cabin on the setting that is supposed to dry washing and shut the bedroom door.

What we didn’t realise was that the mattress had become wedged against the door to the en-suite heads, which I usually prop open during the day to ensure that the dehumidifier in our bedroom also keeps the bathroom dry.

The mattress pushed the heads door back against the wardrobe beside it and its handle prevented the sliding door to our cabin from opening.

We took turns at trying to open it, but it was well and truly stuck.

In the end, Phil used the windlass handle and another stainless steel pole to lever the mattress away a bit while I slid the door along and we were able to get into our bedroom again.

The two doors that became jammed preventing us from entering the bedroom

The damage caused to the door to the en-suite heads

Sadly, this left two small gouges in the surface of the heads door that will have to be repaired, but we’ve learnt never to let the doors become jammed in this way again.

On the plus side, we did manage to move some of the things that had been stored in the locker under the bed into our new marina storage unit. 

Phil delivering some of our stuff to the marina storage container

We now need to go through other lockers to see what can be moved off the boat.

Other boat jobs

The new fastening on Ravensdale's windscreen cover

Phil cleaning the galley carpet

Phil fixed a new bungee clip on Ravensdale’s windscreen cover as the press stud that was meant to hold it in place had become impossible to fasten.

He previously replaced one that had broken at the top on the starboard side and has now put a second one on the bottom corner of the same side.

We bought four, so have two more to go on as and when needed.

He also shampooed the carpets after coffee was spilt on the one in the saloon.

The galley carpet, which we recently replaced, was also looking a bit grubby, so he decided to do that as well while the carpet cleaner was out.

Pontoon repairs

Staff at Maryport Marina have been carrying out repairs to the wooden pontoons over recent weeks. And I couldn’t resist snapping this shot of Ken, the newest member of staff, laying down on the job 😊

Ken repairing one of the pontoons at Maryport Marina

Spring weather in Maryport

The spring weather we’ve had here over the past week hasn’t been very spring-like at all.

Although we came home in lovely warm sunshine on Saturday, we haven’t seen any really decent weather since.

Even when the sun has been out, there’s still been a cold wind.

Sunday and Monday were both dry and bright, but there was a good wind, which made it feel much cooler. On Sunday, we had a northerly wind, with average wind speeds up to 17mph.

Sunshine on Sunday evening at Maryport Marina

Overnight Monday into Tuesday, the temperature went down to 4.1C (39F).

It stayed dry and reasonably bright on Tuesday, with temperatures up to 10C (50F), but it was very windy, with south-south-westerly winds averaging up to 28mph and gusting to 41mph.

We then had a very windy night with average wind speeds up to 30mph, gusting to 46mph, giving us our first really rocky night since we got back from our holiday.

There was a little rain mid-morning on Wednesday and it continued to be windy throughout the day, with temperatures up to 10.1C (50F) mid-afternoon.

It remained fairly windy overnight Wednesday/Thursday with wind speeds of up to 18mph. The lowest temperature recorded during the night was 6.3C (43F).

Yesterday (Thursday) morning started dry and fairly bright, but it soon clouded over and started spitting with rain. We then had light rain on and off for much of the rest of the day. Daytime temperatures peaked at 8.9C (48F), with average wind speeds up to 21mph.

Fishing boats in Maryport Harbour on Thursday afternoon

Last night was mild and not too windy, with temperatures going down to just 8.1C (46F) and a top average wind speed of 17mph. Today (Friday) is dry and bright. So far, the temperature has only risen to 9.6C (49F) and the average wind speed has been 11-15mph. 

Boat versus house – a Scottish holiday encourages us to make the comparison

Me at the helm of Ravensdale - you can't do this in a house 😊

A two-week shore-based holiday set me thinking about what I missed about life on board while away from our boat.

And, although I hate to admit it, I also realised that there are a few things I miss about living in a house now we live on our 43ft cruiser Ravensdale.

But I guess it’s good that it took time spent ashore to remind me of these things – I rarely, if ever, think about them when we’re at home on our Neptunus 133.

Meanwhile, we're really enjoying our holiday in the Scottish Highlands, even if it has rained most of the time w've been here, while most of the rest of the UK (including our home port of Maryport in Cumbria) enjoyed a mini heatwave for the first week we were away. Typical! 😊

Things that are better on a boat

Ravensdale in Maryport Marina, Cumbria, UK at sunrise

1.    The freedom to move our home anywhere we want without the cost and hassle of buying and selling a house. Having said that, we’re well aware that having to feed Ravensdale’s two hungry 300hp Volvo Penta engines means that the cost of diesel will limit how far we can go.

2.    We can take our home out for a spin 😊 If we fancy a change of scenery, we can go for a little cruise or take her out to sea, drop anchor and do a spot of fishing or just enjoy being out on the water.

Ravensdale in the Solway Firth

3.    If we didn’t like our neighbours, we could move - even if that only meant moving to another mooring in the same marina. However, we get on very well with the only person living on a boat near us, so that isn’t an issue at the moment.

4.    The rocking motion of living on water can be very comforting, especially when laying in bed at night. Of course, there are times during high winds and big swells when the rocking couldn’t really be described as comforting, but that just makes life more interesting 😊

5.    The feeling that we’re closer to nature. There’s always some sort of marine life or other wildlife to watch, whether in the marina or out at sea.

A barrel jellyfish that visited the marina last year

6.    The social aspect of life in a marina. If we want to keep ourselves to ourselves, we can do that, but there are also lots of people around to chat to and share a coffee with if we’re in a more sociable mood.

7.    And lastly, a big gain for me has been that the move from a house to a boat has enabled me to retire early, which has made a massive improvement to my life. I am no longer stressed out and my back, which had given me trouble for years, is so much better now I am up and moving around more than when I was sat in an office most of the time. I would say I feel like a new woman, however, every time I say that my husband says he feels the same but sadly he’s stuck with me 😊

Things that are better in a house/cottage/flat

1.    Being able to open the windows and let in some fresh air even when it’s raining. On the boat, the water comes straight in if we dare to open the windows in the rain.Worse still is when we open the windows in fine weather and forget to close them before it rains.

Thankfully we have an island bed on Ravensdale but there's very little room on either side

2.    Space – lots of space. We’ve only been living on a boat for 18 months and already we’ve got used to small space living, even if our Neptunus 133 is larger than the boats that some people live in. Both the holiday cottages we’ve stayed in during this break have been modest two-bedroom properties, but it is so weird having so much room to move around in, particularly while dressing and undressing.

3.    A comfy sofa. If there’s one thing I would love to change about our boat, it’s the seating. I’ve sort of got used to sitting up straight while relaxing and watching TV, but it has been really nice to be able to stretch out on a comfortable sofa, even if it does mean that I fall asleep and miss the end of the film I'm trying to watch 😊

The seating in Ravensdale's saloon

4.    A bathroom that we can use at any time. I’d forgotten what it was like to be able to go to the loo without having to either walk up to the marina facilities, which is a more than 300-step round trip, or use the onboard facilities, which will mean a pump-out will be required sooner. Being able to shower when I get up, without having to dress to walk up to the marina facilities has also been really nice. Yes, we do have a shower on the boat, but we try not to use it except in warm weather, so we don’t make the boat damp.

It’s very comforting to see that, having typed these lists, it seems I think there are almost twice as many good things about living on a boat than there are for living in a shore-based home 😊

Boat jobs

Our lovely welcoming home - hopefully with no nasty surprises

Unsurprisingly, no boat jobs have been undertaken this week – mainly because we haven’t seen our boat, let alone set foot on her for almost a fortnight.

Much as we're enjoying our holiday, we’re looking forward to being back on board on Saturday and sincerely hoping Ravensdale hasn’t have come up with any new jobs for us while we’ve been away 😊

Back in the Scottish Highlands

Before we sold our house, bought a boat and moved onboard in November 2016, we lived in the Highlands for 16 years.

We’re both very happy on our boat, which is currently moored in Maryport Marina, but we miss the wildness of the Scottish landscape and easy access to the mountains.

We’re well aware that, while in Maryport, we have mountains fairly close by in the Lake District, but they seem to be much busier than the hills in the Highlands, particularly when we stay off the popular routes and tracks. And it’s the solitude of the mountains that we enjoy (if it’s even possible for two people to enjoy solitude together 😊).

We’d been missing Scotland over recent months, so we decided to book a cottage at Duror in Argyll for a week. We did so at very short notice and got a really good deal.

Our holiday cottage in Duror, Argyll, Scotland 

It was in a fantastic location, on the shores of Loch Linnhe, which is a large sea loch.

The view across Loch Linnhe from the beach in front of the cottage

The sun was shining when we got there on Saturday, April 14, and we saw an otter swimming in the loch within minutes of our arrival.

An otter on the shore near the cottage

The following day we went for a walk along the beach, taking photos across the loch to the mountains of Ardgour on the far side, then met up with friends in Fort William for lunch followed by a bit of shopping for supplies for our week in self-catering accommodation.

Phil set up his fishing rod on the beach outside the cottage in the evening, despite the fact it had started raining, and we were delighted to discover that he could sit inside the cottage to watch it rather than having to stay out on the beach and get wet.

He also tried fishing around the time of the high tide on two further evenings that week during which time he tried a variety of different types of bait, but never even got a bite so decided he was wasting his time.

Phil fishing in the rain on the beach outside the cottage

The best weather we had that week was on the day we arrived and the day we left, which were both beautiful sunny days, but we still really enjoyed our stay and managed to get a few good walks out in the hills.

These included a 10.2-mile walk during which we reached the peak of an unnamed 2,555ft mountain near the cottage in Argyll, so not too shabby for our first trek out into the hills for many months 😊

The forestry track leading to the hill we climbed in Argyll

We set off from the car and walked out along a good forestry track in reasonable weather, then headed up the hill when we reached the end of the track. 

Me on the way up the Argyll mountain

The views opened up as we climbed higher. 

It was a long time since we’d done anything like it and we were delighted to discover we must still be fitter than we thought as we were nearing the top before we started to feel it in our legs.

On the way up before the rain arrived

We got to the highest point and took photos before finding somewhere out of the wind to sit down to eat our lunch and have a cup of tea.

Phil taking photos on the top of the unnamed Argyll mountain

As we were eating and drinking, we could see the rain coming in across the hills, so we rapidly put everything away and put on our waterproof jackets just as the rain reached us, only it wasn’t rain, it was hailstones – quite large and very heavy hailstones.

The hail storm heading towards us

On the way back down the hill, we had rain, sun, more hail, more rain and thunder and lightning and we got back to the car very wet and very tired, but very happy with our achievement.

We woke up the following morning aching all over, proving that we really need to be getting out doing more serious walks more often.

It took a couple of days for our legs to recover enough to face another good walk, so we spent one of our recovery days visiting Tarbert, a lovely little fishing town in Argyll with an excellent marina.

The weather was much better there than it was when we left the cottage in Duror.

The harbour area looked beautiful and the marina was very busy. 

Tarbert harbour in Argyll, Scotland

It was good to see boats coming and going all the time, compared to Maryport where there’s very little boat movement most of the time.

The fishing dock at Tarbert Harbour in Aryll

This is partly due to the fact that boats can get in and out of Tarbert 24/7, whereas in Maryport the marina gate is only open for two to two and a half hours either side of high tide. Tarbert is also a much busier marina with many more boats moored there.

Part of the busy marina at Tarbert

We were very lucky that the location of our holiday cottage, which was on a working farm, meant we were able to watch lots of wildlife from the comfort of the property when the weather was bad or from the beach when it stopped raining.

We saw otters, a seal, swans, cormorants and lots of other seabirds, bullfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches, siskins and rabbits.

Juvenile swans coming ashore on the beach by our cottage

A beautiful-looking horse called Spencer spent a lot of the time in the field next to the cottage, there were also cows, sheep and lambs, but my favourite animal on the farm was Pedro the llama, kept as a pet by the owners of the farm.

Me getting a kiss from Pedro the llama

Spencer the horse waiting at the gate by our cottage

The weather was a little better on Friday and our legs had recovered so we went for a longer walk along the shore during which we decided we’d like to stay another week, despite the forecast of another week of bad weather.

We went to see the owners of a cottage in which we’d previously stayed at Ballachulish in Lochaber and discovered it was free, so we arranged to go there the following morning.

Saturday was my birthday and we awoke to a lovely sunny day with a clear view of the mountains on the other side of the loch.

The Ardgour mountains across Loch Linnhe just before we left

We packed and cleared up at the cottage in Duror, stopping to photograph an otter that was playing along the shoreline.

As we left, we said goodbye to the owners and to Pedro the llama 😊 

I’m pretty sure we’ll be staying there again as it was a fantastic location and would have been totally amazing if we’d had better weather.

One of the beautiful sunsets we saw while staying in Duror

On the way to the next cottage, we rang our marina asking staff to top up the electricity metre to ensure our fridge, freezer and, more importantly, automatic bilge pump continue to receive power until we return.

We dumped our stuff at the Ballachulish cottage, changed into our walking gear and went for a 7.9-mile walk along part of the West Highland Way in Glen Coe, climbing to 990ft.

The 96-mile West Highland Way is acclaimed as the most walked long-distance trail in Scotland. It attracts about 85,000 people every year, of whom more than 30,000 walk the entire route.

The weather was fantastic all day, with temperatures up to 16.5C, and we had a brilliant walk, even if our legs were still feeling the effects of Tuesday’s trip up the unnamed Argyll mountain.

What a great way to spend my birthday! 😊

Setting off along the West Highland Way in the sunshine

Phil and I were enjoying our lunchbreak when another walker offered to take a photo of us

As usual, I took loads of photographs that kept me busy when the weather forecast proved to be accurate and it rained most of the time.

The West Highland Way between Glencoe and Bridge of Orchy

One of the amazing views from the West Highland Way

Another view from the West Highland Way

The wild beauty of Rannoch Moor

Sadly, the weather forecast was correct. It rained most of Saturday/Sunday night and was still pelting it down when we got up on Sunday, so we decided to make the 30-mile round trip to Fort William to shop for the coming week.

On Monday, we took another walk out along the West Highland Way. We went further this time and, when we got back, we checked the GPS to discover we'd walked more than 10 miles.

The photo opportunities were few and far between as the first couple of times I got my camera out, it got wet and I didn’t want to do that to it too often.

A view from the West Highland Way

The beautiful landscape of Rannoch Moor

One of the many streams that runs under the West Highland Way

Walkers sheltering from the rain behind Blackrock Cottage

Wet walkers on one of the few parts of the West Highland Way that follows the road 

As expected, we got very wet, but still enjoyed being out walking in the Highlands.

One of the chaffinches that shared our lunch

When we stopped on a bridge for lunch a pair of chaffinches came to see if we would share it with them. How could we refuse? They obviously know where the thousands of people who walk the popular route each year tend to stop for breaks 😊

Tuesday morning was wet, followed by a mix of sunshine and showers, but we didn’t want to do anything too strenuous as our legs were still recovering from the previous day’s walk.

We decided to take a drive up to Glen Coe, stopping and getting out at various locations to take photographs between the showers.

Buachaille Etive Mor in Glen Coe

The Three Sisters in Glen Coe

Stob a' Ghlais Choire and Buachaille Etive Mor in Glen Coe

We were planning to tackle another big hill on Wednesday morning, but we had more rain overnight and another wet start to the day, so put our plans on hold while waiting to see if the weather improved, which it didn’t.

Loch Leven at Ballachulish in Lochaber

The River Laroch at Ballachulish

Glencoe looking across Loch Leven from Ballachulish

More rain overnight on Wednesday into this morning (Thursday), which continued for the rest of today led us to decide to have another day off and save our legs for something more strenuous tomorrow (Friday) when better weather is forecast.

The cottage at Ballachulish in Lochaber, Scotland

Even when we've been unable to get out into the hills this week, it's been nice to be able to look at mountains out of the windows of our very comfortable holiday cottage.

The view from the cottage in Ballachulish

And spending more time indoors today (Thursday) enabled me to get most of my photos processed and to get on and write this 😊