There was frost forming on the grass when I took Macc out at 5am, another new sensation for him. Later in the morning, my sister and my two nieces came to visit us. Well, they came to meet Macc really, although it was also their first time seeing the new boat. They have a new puppy themselves, Islay, a black lab, so they were fascinated by how tiny Macc was in comparison.
Macc was pretty sleepy when they arrived, which meant there were lots of lap cuddles and dozing.
Macc then had a sleep in his crate while we all talked, then when he woke up we took him out onto the marina bank, where he looks even tinier. Once our visitors had gone we had a quick lunch and got ready to head out of the marina. We are playing a bit of a juggling game at the moment: we want to make sure Macc gets used to the motion and the noise of the boat as soon as possible, and he also needs to learn to go to the toilet in many different places; but he’s only had his first vaccination so we need to be careful about where he goes and what he comes into contact with. There was no wind at all as we reversed out of our berth, and then went backwards up the marina and turned out onto the canal. The marina basin had some thin ice, but there was none outside. I did the first bit on electric, then switched to the diesel engine, mostly because we need to run it in. Macc reacted to the noise but just put his head down again. We moored in a space on The Deeps, but the towpath was in a terrible state, with huge puddles and mud.
Half an hour after we’d left the marina, a couple of Amazon deliveries had arrived, so I went back to get them. One was a sling so we take take Macc out without him being on the ground.
We’d contacted Donna at Braidbar to see if she wanted a Macc introduction too, so she came down to say hello.
He was very snuggly to begin with, then after I’d taken him out for a wee he had a mad ten minutes getting all his toys out, zooming up and down the boat, and generally being entertaining. Not only was the mooring on The Deeps very muddy, there was also very little grass, so I’d had to carry Macc all the way down to the playing field which wasn’t ideal. Donna said we could use the Braidbar mooring tonight, as long as we go at a reasonable time tomorrow because the next shell is being launched. So at about 5 we made the short hop through the bridge to a mooring with a tarmac path and access to better toilet spots.
1 mile, 0 locks.