Well Christmas is over and we are well into one of the coldest winters in decades. We certainly picked a tough year to spend our first winter on board our boat. It has been quite cold and that has posed new challanges for us but we have enjoyed every bit of it.
Just as soon as I decide that I have insulated the boat to a suiable level the temperatures outside drop another few degrees and I find myself ripping out pannelling and adding more and insulation then replacing the panneling.
Here in Briare we have a constant electricity supply and we have an ebersbacher diesel water heater that heats rediators throughout the boat. So we are very coasy. Problems can arise when we need water. The supply to the floating jetties was drained at the end of November to stop it freezing and bursting the pipes. So when we need water we have to organise 150 meters
of hose and take water from a supply tap that the harbour master turns on and off from a tap that’s burried deep below the ground via a manhole.
We went home to Ireland for two weeks and got to see family and friends, well only just. The snow and ice made driving very dificult. We only got to see our son Ben and our granddaughter Kayla once due to the bad weather. They live in Clare and on two occasions we attempted the drive but we had to turn back when the car started doing a salsa on the motorway.
We have settled back into life on the boat now and in the last few days the weather has really improved. It was like a little taist of summer today (17-Jan) and we went for a lovely walk along the banks of the Loire.
Harry & Marion
“Driftwood”