Christchurch

So after waking up on Saturday morning to beautiful sunshine decided to get under way to get the tide up to Christchurch entrance.  Suddenly all these swans turned up..

There are hundreds of beach huts along the shore here opposite Mudeford.

This is the second time we have been here (see Chrystianneinspain.blogspot.com from July last year) and we wanted to go to Splinters Restaurant in the evening, so after contacting Rossiters boatyard for a berth made our way up the Estuary and finally the river to our destination.  We are virtually in the same place as last year.  Booked in, paid up for the night (£25), plugged into the electric and had some breakfast of bacon sandwiches and an egg sandwich as well for Bill. I thin phoned Slinters to reserve a table only to discover that they had Jazz there that night which was an absolute plus for me.  The sun was so warm decided to stay on board sunbathing (and reading) until about 2pm whereas we went and bought a timetable for the local area then into YOGI, the pub.  After a lovely glass of Pinot blush and sitting in their cool courtyard, meandered back to laze on the boat and study the tide tables.  Interesting that there is a second high water nearly 3 hours after the first which is higher on the springs and lower on the neaps.

 

This is a lovely picture looking up the river

After changing into some suitable clothes we made our way to Splinters, we are only about 15 minutes from the town centre where it is near the Church.

We sat outside and had gin and tonics listening to the band who were outside playing very nice smooth jazz.  I ordered lamb and Bill the beef steak.  Both were absolutely delicious washed down with a very nice Spanish White.  I shall now make my lyonnaise potatoes with garlic.  After that I ordered a tasting dessert which was a mixture of 6 small portions of a selection that they do there, although I couldn't finish all of them (I thought I'd have some help) the whole meal is definitely one to go back for.

So up and early the next day to catch the first tide, Bill wants to do some fishing although it was a fruitless pursuit in the end so we ended up in Newtown Creek for the afternoon to wait for the rising tide to take us back to Portsmouth.  Got a take away curry for dinner.  All in all another lovely weekend.

Robinson is safely ashore

We'll we did our deed yesterday and took the mouse ashore to let it find it's new home.

So after a couple of gins decided to eat the pizza I'd made the previous day only to find that the centre hadn't been cooked enough but anyway the flavour was delicious.  We then watched itv3 and watched an episode of Frost.  Very quiet and tranquil, lovely sunset and a bright moon later.

 Water slapping at the bow made it a bit difficult to sleep seeing as this is he first time we've been out and stopped away on the boat this year.  So now have phoned the boatyard in Christchurch to see if we can stop there as we want to go back to Splinters Restaurant where we had a very memorable meal last year.

Studland bay

Having left Portsmouth at 10am with the tide we arrived here bout 3 hours later.  In the meantime we inherited a mouse and 2 mackerel.  The former was found in a cupboard with the tins of soup and beans, god knows how it got there, our cats must have caught it and we must have put something in the cupboard ?? Who knows.....still we didn't have the heart to throw it in the tide so we gave it a little meal of croissant and some fresh water and he will be taken to Brownsea Island in about an hour via the dinghy and let free to make his new home.  Thankfully Bill has offered to inspect the cupboard later to check for droppings and a nest......

Here's the first mackerel :

The views of the  Harry  rock and the surrounding Jurassic coastline are spectacular.

The weather has been glorious this afternoon and a gin and tonic had to be had, whilst we sunbathed in the cockpit of the boat watching the world go by and the occasional irritating jetskier.  Planning to stop at the north end of the island in Poole harbour where the tourists have never been to, to anchor up for the night.  I made a large pizza yesterday which will be our evening meal tonight with some salad.