How many rolls of TP to London?

Friday Sept 21

Its official. Ostinato is down to its final bag of TP that was packed aboard in Shell Point. Bets are being placed on if we will reach London before we reach cardboard on the last roll. I have faith ....but just in case, I think a small reprovisioning may be in order.

Speaking of provisioning, we did pretty good with our original stores. We ate our last Sam's steak last week. It had stowed away in the recesses of the freezer. The vacuum sealer worked really well keeping frozen foods and flours, nuts, etc. while we have purchased some canned vegetables, we still have canned food galore that was part of the original stores. However, it is beginning to get down to the canned fruit, tuna and chicken along with the odd can of cranberry sauce and green chilies. What did we run out of? Hotdogs, one of Kings favorite lunches. Found them in jars in Horta....but something about that is disturbing. It was not a successful substitution. Pretzels. Apparently not a favorite in Ireland or the UK. I got desperate and tried making them. Not an activity I plan to ever repeat. Even Ed wouldn't eat them. English muffins....I think they must be like French fries...speaking of french fries, AKA chips, King is still on his quest to find the best Fish & Chips. For our friends in Ireland, Baltimore Wharf is still the winner to date. I might add that I have dropped out of the tasting panel due to lack of enthusiasm over the main course.

The planning for the last push to arrive in London, give or take, October 1, is complete. Stops will include Brighton, Sovereign, Dover, Ramsgate, River Midway (Thames), and finally, St Katharine's Marina in London, our home until next Spring. The plan is to move daily beginning early in the week. In the mean time, we are sitting out some poor weather using FREE dockage coupons picked up at the boat show.

Ostinato is tied up today at the Royal Clarence Marina dock in Gosport (across the bay from Portsmouth) after 2 days in Cowes. Cowes is a big small boat racing center. No racing for us, we took a more leisure approach and hopped a bus to visit Queen Victoria's stunning summer home. We should all live like that. During our first night in Cowes not one but both heaters decided to go on the fritz. I dove under Ed's birth and pulled out the electric blanket for us, found my long underwear and crawled under the flannel sheets. King, my hero, spent the next morning fixing it up good as new. Tonight is expected to be in the 40s! That's fahrenheit! We are warm and toasty but the water pump has now decided to take its turn seeking King's attention. Oh my.

Portsmouth Harbour

The Royal Clarence Marina is home to the world racing fleet. We are talking BIG boat racing. Directly across from us are boats representing Australia, Finland and London. New York is just a dock over. For £7000 you too can crew one leg of the race next year. On our way into Portsmouth we slid between 4 of these big girls going out for a race.

Sat Sept 22

HMS Victory

Following the repair of the water pump we took the ferry from Gosport to Plymouth to see HMS Victory. Wow. She was pretty cool. It was so top heavy, I cannot imagine how it sailed with the amount of ballast needed to keep it upright. We were allowed to wander the majority of this amazing ship including Nelson's chambers. The Plymouth water front is a upscale shopping center. The best was the kids entertainment including the balls that let you walk on water....kinda. See pic below.

Sun Sept 23
Rainy day with lots of wind. We are staying put. The Internet access is down so maybe a good day to make fudge and read



I really wanted to try this....children only



Captain's quarters on the HMS Victory

Around the World Clipper Race boats home base at Gosport

Victory cannons

Riverfront park at Plymouth

HMS Victory

 

Nelson was rocked to sleep

T