Well that was a quick start to 2018

And where the hell did the end of 2017 go?

Well we're not still on the Thames as per the last blog but Deb will do a 6 month catch up blog, just so we know where we've been.

A lot of blog writers know what a balls ache it can be to keep writing regularly and as Deb is now writing the 300 odd entries on The Pen Maker's Boat Blog I guess it's only fair that I retake the seat at the keyboard on this one.

We had a great Christmas with Jess and Lee and quiet new year (as always) and survived the winds of Dylan and his friend hot on his heels, Eleanor for the first few days of January.

Saturday Trading mid December

Sunday Snowballs

Deep and crisp and even

Berko highstreet

Castle Grounds in Berko

Jess's house for Crimbo

Arne - just about my favourite part of Poole Harbour - North East 

... to South

Stags the size of ponies, 25m from the beech

Our last cruise of 2017 was from Berko to Boxmoor above Fisheries Lock, according to canal plan a journey of

Total distance is 3 miles, 6 furlongs and 10 locks (not counting Fishery Lock No 63) Today's travel includes at least 1 moveable bridge.

This is made up of 3 miles, 6 furlongs of broad canals; 10 broad locks.

This will take 3 hours and 49 minutes.

It was pretty accurate too! On the 1st day of the year with heads fairly clear (we seem to be drinking less and less these days) we walked the 4.2 miles back past Berko to find our trusty (and increasingly useful) Hyundai Getz. Sadly no nice clear crisp morning, the tail end of the storm, a face full of drizzle and a few blown down trees to report to CRT via twitter as soon as the bank holiday was over. We'd intended to stop at the Riser for a quick drink bt it was mid afternoon and they were all enjoying a rest.

Reported to CRT and removed within a couple of a days, we had to climb half way up to the railway tracks to continue - slowed the cyclists down though

New years days Wolf moon shone spectacularly through the Houdini hatch as we finished off new years eve's picky bits for dinner and the skies were still clear (briefly) when I got up to stoke the fire the next day.

Sunrise over Boxmoor

We drove into Hemel on the 3rd for a brief shopping trip for Deb and to pick up our 3 HomeFi router with it's unlimited Netflix and Deezer and also 100gb for other things - more on that next blog as it didn't all turn out quite as well as I hoped.

One of the many things I'd had delivered to Jess's house before Crimbo was some cheap Buck Boost converters from China (£2.39 incl P&P). These little gizmos will let me build some adjustable voltage regulators for some of my low voltage bits on the boat. The aforementioned HomeFi unit runs from expensive 240v but only needs about 8ish volts so the plan is to save lots of wasted energy. In fact, measured on my new clamp meter it only draws 0.6 amps now at 12v.

Just need to house it now

There are loads routes right by the boat to take Dudley for a quick ball chase but we ventured a bit further away at the end of the week, up above the hills of Hemel, which made a nice change from towpaths and parks.

Above HH

We briefly tested out a new piece of workshop kit that we plan on making regular appearances and expanding our sales lines towards the end of the year but much more on that and exciting new developments for The Pen Maker's Boat as they happen.

Dudley says we're gonna need a bigger workshop!

Oh and happy new year etc etc

3.75 miles 10 locks 1 swingbridge