Laying up: October 2026

It’s been a quiet year with only a few days out sailing or pottering about on the River Deben due to a range of reasons . . . and now it’s time to lay ‘Cachalot’ up for another winter!

Next August will be ten years since we launched ‘Cachalot’ after the long rebuild/restoration and we’ve done quite a bit since then including taking her back to Dunkirk last year, of course. So, back to the present . . . We spent Thursday night to Monday afternoon, 19 October in Woodbridge tidying up and enjoying time with our many friends in the area: a curry night with Paul and Liz, long catch up with Nigel on his new boat ‘Chance’, excellent concert at the Unitarian Meeting House in Ipswich, Sunday lunch with Rick & Iris and fish & chips at the Cumberland Fish Bar.

Driving down in the camper van confirmed our decision to keep it, rather than trade in for an upgrade. We had it professionally cleaned on Monday and spent Wednesday at the NEC for the Motorhome & Caravan Show. On balance, it meets all our requirements, apart from the towbar and being ‘LPG free’. We have plans for addressing both these in due course.

Rick helped with putting on the winter cover which is standing up well to the weather. We’ll keep an eye on the weather forecasts with Storms Austen and Boelo being the first to hit this weekend . . .