Back to the future!

The autumn is drawing to a close and the icy chill of winter is around the marina. All done in a wonderful short burst of brown through gold and now the first leaf or two have begun to fall.  Its bonfire night and a few fireworks have been seen already. In a way marking the end of another cruising year and a time to take stock. What were the highlights and what were the low points. What did we learn and what could we have done a little bit better.

The weather has played a very big part in our "on and off" boat activities this year.  Either in curtailing them or creating them. We covered quite a large amount of miles because many places that we would have stayed a bit longer were far too wet and soggy. In other places we had to sit out the weather indoors and wait for levels to allow navigation once more.

The boaters learning curve has become a bit more shallow and our confidence has grown. We have met and made friends with some of the "characters on the cut" As well as being able to dispel the myth of "looking like a grumpy old bugger and being a grumpy old bugger" are two different things. One thing for sure is that the year has passed very quickly. Too quick for my liking. 

As the time for returning to our home area for the winter arrived so did the need to get away again. We began to talk about taking extended winter holidays abroad. Then the penny dropped, we actually prefered the life on Rosie to living within the sedentary confines of bricks and mortar. But even then, there are other challenges that come along. It's not easy to just let go, well not until you are quite sure. 

We have lost a few good friends that we have made over the years. Attending funerals whenever we could which left us sometimes feeling a bit low and dejected. It was that being away meant that we had not seen our late friends for some time. Which came with a twinge of guilt! At the same time we have made quite a few new acquaintances, some that we feel will grow in time to become more established friendships. 

That's the one aspect of a cruising lifestyle that we never anticipated. Because being away cruising for most of the year, means that our friends we  made at home see very little of us. At the same time all the new acquaintances made along the cut are quite fleeting in nature. Its very much like moving to live in a different country.

So what will happen to us next year. 

Short term: More of the same I expect. Hopefully the weather will improve and we have already discussed slowing down our lifestyle afloat even more. We will try and visit new waterways and at the same time spend more time visiting the local attractions of where we happen to be. 

In the longer term: We could even become constant cruisers, ones with no fixed home location. Finding a winter mooring from time to time. We are not sure yet if we will continue to maintain a land base or sell the properties off.  What we would not choose to do is leave the waterways. Though if we do sell up ashore, we would move onto a more spacious vessel. 

Blue Sky Thinking: We are already giving some thought at possibly buying a Dutch Barge on the European mainland and then cruising the waterways in western Europe for a couple of years. Before bringing our home afloat back to Blighty!

Later....