As Rosie & Brian prepare to leave Holyhead for a live-aboard life in the Med, Rosie describes the final preparations.

We are getting to know a few people on the marina. Not least Mike and Lesley of Sherlock Foams who we see most weekends. Mike has fixed down our spray hood and regaled us with many tales of sailing and motorboating, and this weekend we took delivery of our smart new cockpit cushions – even down to a curved one for the helmsman’s seat. Other faces become more familiar as we pass them on the pontoons and we have now worked out who owns what and where! Sue in the office knows us well now, especially as some of our purchases are delivered there for collection at our next visit.

When we arrive on Thursdays the marina is very quiet and we can get prime position in the carpark for unloading. I have now learnt that it is polite to move the car round to the back once we have finished. Mostly just the charter fishing boat people are around to nod to. The weekend sailors start arriving around lunchtime on Friday. Depending on the weather we see people doing their boatly chores and preparing for weekend, possibly even going out for a short sail on Friday afternoon. Then it gets very busy with lots of sailing on Saturday, then Saturday night is socialising night, with the spacious motor cruisers hosting parties. Sunday morning stays quiet for some time! Then everyone packs up and leaves, so we have the marina back to ourselves on Monday morning – we generally depart mid morning ready for a few days administration, updating the list of things to do and house clearance.

We have had a few visitors and have taken a couple of them out on Alixora for a morning or afternoon sail – fortunately their visits have coincided with good weather. Our friends from Glossop were very impressed. They had never been on a sailing boat before, and Chris was thrilled to helm all morning with a bit of guidance – but he seemed to take to it instinctively. They may well pay us a visit when we reach the Med.

Our village has organised a going away party at the local pub on Wednesday, and Brian’s leaving lunchtime do is this Tuesday. All this social intercourse will be most unusual for us!

Things on the boat are really moving and it is almost finished. We had bought a Rutland 913 wind generator and after a couple of weekends thinking about how to put it up we managed to complete that this weekend. Home made U-bolts and the old horseshoe MOB light fixing have it fixed to the pushpit. We managed to put a threaded bar across to the rear mast stay from the generator with a bit of innovation with dinghy rope guides and nuts & bolts and that works really well. It is not quite as professional as some installations we have seen, but it definitely won’t blow away. If it did it would take the whole port pushpit with it (including the outboard!) The local rigging man is now booked to come and put in a couple of stays to take the strain off the pushpit – replacing our temporary rope fixings.

Last weekend was so miserable that after doing all the indoor jobs (fixing up shelves mainly) we decided to get another load of belongings from home and bring them back. This weeks trip was the last with our estate car assuming I can sell it, and there remains very little to bring. Our new bookshelves in the forepeak cabin are now stuffed – it is like sleeping in a library and very cosy. I hope bookswaps like science fiction although we will be loathe to part with the selection we have made! The galley storage under the sink has been improved by rerouting of the waste pipe, so we can get more pots and pans stowed away there.

The EPIRB (auto release, GPS etc) will go on the coach roof once I have received its registration, a new powerful spotlight is wired up for the 12V outlets on the deck. The lazy jack bag will be installed this week, and I hope the repaired autohelm (Simrad Wheelpilot WP30) will arrive too. Finally we need to check the head waste pipe seacock which might be a bit tricky but when you close it it doesn’t seem to stop being able to pump out – possibly a problem to be fixed.

The last few weeks at home have been a crescendo of getting finances sorted out, making lists of contacts and circulating them, and ensuring all eventualities have been thought through, arranging dentist and doctor’s appointments and so on. A tenant for the house has been found to our delight. The garage is clear and cleaned – even the windows! The cellar workshop is nearly clear. The boiler is being serviced and the garden has been cleared and is looking very tidy. The cars have been put up on ebay, and one of them seems bound to be sold. The other I can sell to a dealer if I can’t do it any other way.

Of all the things that we didn’t want to happen, just before we left for Holyhead this week, a bird fell down the chimney and got stuck above our wood burning stove. The chimney was too narrow for it to fly out again. So we had to dismantle the big fireproof chimney plate and left it open. The bird didn’t come out overnight, so on Thursday morning I scattered some cheese on the top of the stove. This did the trick, a big jackdaw fluttered out and I managed to catch it with a sheet and let it go. Then the chimney plate broke in two, so we have that to fix before we go. Of course all the spare materials that we might have used have now gone to the tip – life’s little trials….