A new land base

We've just moved to a land base. 10 years on the boat and we were struggling to carry on fixing her around 5 adult size people, a dog and all our stuff.

The youngest was 4 years old when we moved on board. He learnt his port and starboard and could put his own lifejacket on before he learnt his left and right or how to put on a seat belt. Its been our way of life for a long time.

I was asked the other day what difference moving to land had made to our lives. At the time we had only been in a week, it was Christmas and we had mainly been at work or unpacking so hadn't really had a chance to think about it. It was however, a very good question.

We're missing the sea and living to its rhythm and moods. One morning we didn't realise it was raining and windy until we opened the front door. I haven't watched a sunset since we moved into the house and don't know if we are on springs or neaps. We don't just walk along the waters edge, see the ripples of light on the ceiling or sit through storms just waiting for them to be over. We don't walk on a beach first thing in the morning with no-one else around. 

Above everything is the quiet. We hadn't realised how much the sound of ropes and gulls, of moving water and fish was part of our lives until it stopped. At night particularly the silence is almost complete. Some people dream of living with the sound of waves and we have had moments of feeling home sick for the sea. Tarquilla is still there though, still part of the family and waiting for the next step. 

                  

We've been finding new walks, planning the garden and unpacked lots of boxes. We've got interesting trees, a woodpile and wood burner and can hear the church bells ringing on a Sunday morning. We sometimes try to use the foot pump in the kitchen before realising we don't have one anymore. We have a freezer, park right next to the house and don't have to worry about the next storm. The shower is right here without a quarter of a mile walk but we can only use it one person at a time.

We have more security but less freedom. More space but still pile together. We have a lovely oven but no longer have a five ring hob. Some things are so much better, other things are a compromise. We have fantastic views out of a giant picture window. Something that I didn't realise was so important to us until we started looking at houses - probably a hangover from the views we've had over the last 10 years.

             

Back when we were getting ready to move aboard, several boxes of stuff were packed up for storage. It is a common theme of those becoming liveaboards whether to store anything or get rid of everything. We did expect to unpack these boxes and wonder why we had kept some things but have found very little that is not either useful or has sentimental value. I'm glad we did keep things - and very grateful to my family for storing boxes for us! I know that some people believe that if you have not used something for a year then you may as well get rid of it but there were things that I missed or looked forward to seeing again. It has been fun going through the boxes and rediscovering our old lives.

I will be keeping the blog boat/book/writing/sea related and won't suddenly start going on about gardening or any other random house thing. There will be some boat work updates, South West Coast path stories, a round up of our ten years on the boat, some (hopefully) useful downloads and a couple of other things to come this year. Thanks for following us along so far and fair winds to you all for the new year.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing than simply messing around in boats