Little Venice is a rather posh, but also pretty mooring. Upon arriving, we double moored with another boat, it turned out that our neighbours, Ben & Charlotte had a problem with their engine – it wouldn’t start. It all pointed at ‘dead’ start-up batteries. The good news was: we had the generator and it could finally be put into action! We managed to get the engine going so at least they had hot water for a shower. It turned out as well, that in a few days time it’ll be their wedding and now, beforehand they had to get new batteries… such is the boater life sometimes. Batteries arrived and were installed on time.

And here we go, not quite ‘just married’, but soon to be married: Ben & Charlotte

Natascha went to Switzerland for a short trip and Oliver from Berlin came over to visit Adnan for a few days. They also had to move the boat as in the meantime the seven days were up and we had to move on.

Our next stop was the lovely Meanwhile Community Gardens. The ‘boys’ moored more or less below Trellick Tower, a brutalist style tower block. Natascha once knew somebody who lived there, nowadays it’s a fancy place to live and the flats are sought after properties. During the time we stayed there we kept thinking how it must be to live in the upper part of the building, the view must be breathtaking, the sunsets divine.

But here we are, at the bottom of it, behind the tower and the trees, where the sun soon disappears. Still, it’s a good place to be, soon we have to move on to Uxbridge. The next chapter is ahead of us, Quintessence will soon be taken out of water to have the hull blackened again, then she will get a new lick of paint.

Then the news broke of Adnan having found a fix mooring in Coventry. Not really the most attractive place to live in the UK. But Adnan worked there. So, we thought to give it a go. Better than continuing with cruising every two weeks. This meant though after the paint job we had to cruise up to the Midlands during July.

The soon to be fixed mooring/home.