The Galley.

Hi,

This week has been a quiet one for us with hardly any sightseeing at all,we’ve just had a relaxing time for a change.The caravan in Mansfield,where we are now,is just what we hoped for,it’s comfortable and quiet,and we can relax on our own.If you are ever looking for a nice caravan site around this area,whether for a night,a weekend,or longer then we would highly recommend Tall Trees Touring Park .It’s a lovely site,quiet,friendly and the facilities are excellent,being well maintained and spotlessly clean. In some ways being here in the caravan will be similar to the life we will have when our boat hits the water so it’s a handy experience.We went over to the Ashby canal last week to meet up with some friends,Janice and Dai,who live on Jandai, and who inspired us to “go for it” ourselves.They were moored at Shackerstone and after a good gossip we adjourned to the nearby Rising Sun for a little refreshment.Now,anyone who gets onto the Ashby canal,for whatever reason,whether you’re on a boat,visiting the Battlefield line or Bosworth battlefield site,or just in the area,give the Rising Sun at Shackerstone a visit.The food and the beer are excellent and the staff are friendly,helpful and cheerful.

         

     The amenities block at Tall Trees,new,but still kept spotlessly clean.

This week we went over to see Chyandour at Trent Lock to look over the progress that Mick and John are making,and we got our usual surprise at the way things are coming along.I did put a photo’ on my Facebook page of the inside of Chyandour ‘cos you can see a visible difference from only a week ago.The bathroom is now near to completion and the galley is coming together nicely.We talked to John and Mick about our requirements for cupboards and shelving in the galley and the lounge,we would like as much storage as possible,plus somewhere for ornaments and books etc.as well,just to make it as homely as we can.Fortunately,they are both very positive in what can be achieved.

We’ve spent more time looking at bits and pieces we’re going to need for our life afloat,having now chosen the tiles and the soft furnishings.We were in Tamworth and looked in at Elite Furnishings,who are experienced in furniture and curtains for narrowboats.Lisa saw some material she liked,so after mulling things over at the weekend we decided to go ahead.This side of things is definitely a girlie thing so Lisa made the decisions,I must admit to liking her choice though.The tiles we got from Topps tiles,they will look good in the galley and around the hearth where the solid fuel stove will be.Things like a television and a mattress are our next requirements,though we do have a while yet before we will need them.We would like an LCD tv because they use less power,and I see now you can get tv’s with wifi.Haven’t found one in 19 inch yet but we’ll keep looking.We may be able to go up to a 22 inch,John is playing around with the available space to see what he can come up with.The mattress has to be 4 feet by 6 feet 3 inch and which is a bit of a comedown from the Super King we had in Scotland.We have found that prices vary from a bit over £100 to over a grand,I think the lower end will win.

This week also saw us paying a brief visit to Mansfield itself,and it’s very pleasant.Just a walk around the shopping centre and the town that’s all but we will definitely go back after we’ve done a bit of research.There’s a huge viaduct running though the town that I found interesting,and there is a market,unfortunately we got there in the afternoon and most of it had closed.  

       

Lisa took this picture in Mansfield in between the thunderstorms that we experienced on Wednesday.I understand that the Jetstream,that has been responsible for the weather that we have enjoyed for the last few months,has moved.We should now begin to get the sort of weather we are used too at this time of year,i.e. sunshine and showers.Don’t put away the wellies yet folks.

Ok,now for a bit about Chyandour.As I said earlier,we paid a visit on Monday to see her and to go over a few things with John and Mick and of course to take some pictures.Today is Friday and as usual John and Mick have posted some pictures on their blog of the progress to date,so again,I will pinch one or two of theirs,and add them together with some of ours,so you can see how thing are getting along.

        

Above,you can see,before and after pictures of the bathroom,the left hand one I took on Monday and the right hand one was taken today.You can see what I mean when I say the transformation can be quite amazing.John has fitted the shelving and the cupboard door to the left of the shower.We now have somewhere to hide the toilet cassettes and for Lisa to put some towels.

Now a couple of the galley,the ones from Kingfishers Blog are superb.

On the left is one from Monday,the units were in and the pipework for the Hob and Oven had been done,but not the Worktop or the Sink.Now look at the right hand picture,what a difference in a few days,Mick has really been busy.The Worktops are done,the Hob and Sink have been fitted,and so has the Oven.The Oven is off the picture,so if you want too see the Galley from another angle please click on Here and scroll down a bit on the Build Blog to see the other photographs of Chyandour from Kingfishers.For those of you who didn’t see the photo’ I posted on Facebook,then here it is again,compare it to the ones on Kingfishers Blog.

                               

That’s it again for this week folks,I will update again next week after we go to see Chyandour on Monday and hopefully we will get a bit of sightseeing done during the rest of the week.Bye for now.