Saturday and Sunday in Newark

I'm getting very behind with this blog-posting business! Sorry!

So, we had a lazy weekend. Lie-ins (or is it lies-in?) till 9:00(!), reading, catching up (ish) with emails, washing, all very relaxed. The river was very busy, though. All of the yacht and cruiser brigade were out in force, parading their craft, some of them very large and expensive, for all to see. All of the nearby moorings were taken, so we were doubly glad we'd moored where we were. It wasn't in view of the castle as we had been on Friday, and it was less picturesque, but it was a quiet, secure place to be. 

We spent another couple of hours in the early evening with Dave and Sandy from San Fairy Ann, and there was a lot of laughs and stories told. We're pretty sure that we actually had a look at their boat before they bought it, when we were looking for one ourselves. It was called Blue Jewel then. 

Grace and I had a walk around the Sensory Garden down by the Town Lock. It smelled beautiful as we approached, but it turned out that the roses we were smelling were almost over for the season, and there was little else to smell. It all needed a lot of TLC, and hadn't had any for a long time. A great shame.

Useful tip for boaters. If you get a very tight knot in a mooring rope (as I did when a simple tangle got pulled very tight between the boat and a mooring dolly) pour washing-up liquid into the knot, and leave it for ten minutes before getting to work with a screwdriver or similar to prise the knot open. It worked a treat for me.