The annual guided tour of Olivia Rose

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on April 22^nd 2023.

We’ve arrived! And Olivia hasn’t sunk which is always a relief. We’ve been back four days and it has been a busy time as it takes a while to turn her back into a home again. We drained down the water systems before we left to avoid potential problems with burst pipes and so one of the first jobs is to fill up the water tanks. We decided to give them a good clean first and were slightly taken aback at the amount and colour of the sediment at the bottom of the tank. We don’t drink directly from this tank for that very reason, running our drinking water through a filter, however it is good to know the tanks are now spotless.

As soon as we turned on the water supply we heard the unwelcome sound of water running where it shouldn’t and filling up our otherwise dry bilges. Up came the floor, down went Michael into the engine bay which is where many of the pipes run, and eventually we found the leak. We won’t be surprised if we go through this process again as we work our way round the various systems that allow the boat to function both as a home and as a means of transport. After being left for a winter, there is always something that needs sorting out.

The weather has turned wet, windy and cold and, after the balmy temperatures back at Le Shack, it has been a definite shock to the system. I had hoped to share some pictures of Olivia and the port, but as the rain is coming down in buckets I will give you a short tour of the inside for this week and save the outside for a sunnier day. Apologies in advance if I seem to be getting overly excited in the following video about basic amenities such as washing machines and ovens, but I am sure those of you who are familiar with our lifestyle at Le Shack will understand why!

Some of you have been wondering whether we brought our bikes up with us on the train journey (which went very well by the way), but we decided against this. Not all trains allow you to take bikes, plus full-size bikes are heavy and cumbersome on a boat. As a result we decided to buy a couple of second-hand folding bikes which would then live permanently on the boat. Valenciennes is a large town and we found a couple advertised on Facebook.

Neither of them are electric models and I expect some of you are wondering how I shall fare completely under my own steam. So am I. The only reason I can take this brave step is because we are heading to The Netherlands, via Belgium, and it is flat.

Although we are usually champing at the bit to get out on the water at this stage it is likely we shall stay in the marina for another week. We have a few improvement projects to complete, as well as general maintenance, and it is also time to fill in the annual French tax return. We eventually mastered the paper forms last year, but now we are required to do the process on-line and are already running into questions which have no answers. It looks like a trip to the tax office in person will be needed next week. However, once everything is ticked off my ‘to do’ list, we are only fifteen kilometres from the Belgian border and so our first night away will be in a different country.

I hope to have more photos for you next week, both of the boat and further afield as we have a few day trips planned on the train. If things go to schedule I should also have some exciting news about my new books.

Take care and see you soon.

MJ