Living Aboard Vincent Joseph: 10th Sept

It's been such a busy month since the previous post. Clearing all our belongings off the boat took way longer than anticipated (how did we accumulate SO much stuff?);

Piles on more piles

scrubbing and touching up paintwork was also time-consuming, interspersed with time at the house making a start on settling back in.

From Stockton we made our way over three days to Whilton Marina, a distance of 14 miles, negotiating 16 locks and braving Braunston Tunnel for the final time.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Having given Vincent Joseph a last polish inside and out, we said goodbye and handed over the keys on Wed 17th Sept.

Look at that shine!

Never seen the boat so tidy

We were delighted to receive an offer within a few days, and after the usual haggling and negotiations the sale was completed the following week.

Everything happened so quickly that it hasn't really sunk in that we are no longer boaters : Vincent Joseph now belongs to somebody else, and we wish them as much pleasure from living aboard as we have enjoyed over the last two years. Our plan is to use the money to buy a camper-van - and if there's any left over we may buy a small cruiser ( yes, one of the "plastic yoghurt-pots" that narrowboaters sneer at!) so that we can continue to enjoy a spot of boating, albeit a different style.

So this really is our very last blog entry - our narrowboating odyssey is complete, and we are done with the waterways, at least for the moment.

Meanwhile, to end the blog, some memories from the last two years....