Winter Hibernation

Mar 15

Not really hibernation, but a vain attempt as the wet and cold finally arrived. On cue the Kabola boiler decided to play up so we replaced it with the latest all singing and dancing model (at vast cost). All coloured lights and lcd display panels and a lot quieter than the old one.

The Bristol flat sold quickly - so Angie went to back to England to sort out the paperwork. Her first trip by bus for years - not sure it is her preferred transport method! Trying to sell a Leasehold flat from Belgium (even with e-mail) is arduous, not sure it would have happened without a son to do the leg work.

Bristol flat - top floor

Then Angie's sister visited for a few days and we did the 'guided tour' bit again around Brugge - the waffles and a frituur trip seemed to go down well.  Our return trip to Germany for a week in Feb gave us time off the boat. More happy snaps of Brugge

Poertoren (gunpowder storage)

Cloth Hall (market)

Our son and wife came over in early March (who mentioned hibernation) which gave us a chance to declutter the boat a bit pre sale - he bought out a new lift pump for the generator and that is now ready for the cruising Season.

Peter knocked out a simple website for Kotare and couldn't resist spreading the word to friends at least - though Kotare won't formally go on the market till May as we have some painting and lots of cleaning and polishing to do. We had one informal local viewing but they wanted a larger residential 'houseboat'. With the rise in the € exchange rate any local buyers may thin out.

In advance, if anyone wants to escape to a place in the sun (eg on the Midi) or just to escape a coalition Britain see https://sites.google.com/site/kotarebarge/ No idea how the sale will go so have already booked our winter mooring for 2016 (on the Midi) just in case :)

We popped down to recce Ieper (Ypres) where we had planned to do some painting next month,  but all a bit grey and unexciting in the little port. It gave us the opportunity to pop in to Adinkerke on the French border to stock up with wine though.

Ieper

Flandria (the other Brugge port) would be better

A final couple of Brugge snaps

The Coupure has come back to life with lots of boat polishing and last minute jobs being done by the barge crews. Now a week or so to fuel up, dig out the handling ropes and good fenders - sober up from the farewell parties and off to the West. We have enjoyed Brugge (despite the cold and damp) though some of the restaurant bills meant we had to carry a portable defibrillator.