Aberdour (a painted lady on the beach)

Whenever we stay away in a house it reminds us how living on a boat has made us conscious of water and power supply.  For example the apartment we are in this week has a good shower but it needs to run for five minutes before the water is hot enough to use – I couldn’t imagine running water on a boat for five minutes just to see it drain away!

When we arrived in Aberdour for our holiday yesterday it was extremely windy but we went for a walk along the coast.

Karen and Jo getting blown away

Looking back to Aberdour – we are staying in one of the white houses overlooking the beach

It’s still surprisingly mild for the end of September and we were especially reminded of it when we visited the new boat on Friday.  The central heating was being run for a couple of days to test it all out and the boat was so warm that we couldn’t imagine having a stove lit.  Mind you, the current boat has little or no insulation and no central heating so we are going to be really spoilt when we move aboard the new one with insulation, heating and a stove.

When I met up with John and Sue (nb Nuthatch) at Fazeley junction recently we got talking about losing things in the water and I mentioned I had lost an expensive pair of glasses in the Kennet and Avon canal a few years back.  We couldn’t retrieve them with a magnet as they were titanium.   Over the years John admits to losing five pairs of glasses overboard.  It reminded me of this pair that my children rigged up for me to ensure they float if they land in the cut.

Clever use of key floats

Sunday dawned clear and still so we went for another walk along the shore. 

Clouds beginning to roll in but it was lovely and warm

This time we took a ball so Buddy could chase it up and down the beach – he particularly enjoys digging up the sand all around the ball to make it roll into the hole he has made.  Buddy is still very timid about water and it took him ages to retrieve the ball when it went into the water.

Just reached the ball before he was out of his depth

I saw a butterfly flying across the water and realised it was a Painted Lady – see picture I took at the top of the blog.  It must have crossed the Forth – not a great feat as its parents would have flown over from North Africa in the Spring.  

I expect all will be quiet on the blog now until we return home and make the final preparations for moving to the new boat.   I have added a link on the menu at the top called "CHB2" which tracks the progress of the new build.