As we passed through Rugby we saw paintings in side the bridge holes instead of the usual graffiti

As we travelled back the lighting in the Newbold tunnel was on.

How much would you have to pay to have a house with a view like this.

Cassie enjoying her walk on the tow path on the Oxford Canal.

Cassie wanting to get on some body elses boat.

The Maisibert at All Oaks Wood.

We are currently moored in All Oaks Wood just outside Rugby.

This is the Hartshill B.W. yard showing the blacksmiths workshop.

We moored at the water point at Hartshill and was lucky to be able to talk to the owner of the Toll house Pictured,

The house is built on a tunnel in the late 17 century where the boats passed through to pay their tolls

The house is currently owned by a musician and use part of the house as a rehearsal room.

Today we thought we saw another Toller on the cut.

Her name is Tess and came from a rescue centre in Durham, she has the characteristics of a Toller

We have turned around at Fazeley Junction and sitting at the top lock Atherstone.

This picture is taken from the back of The Maisibert whilst travelling up the locks at Atherstone.

Cassie and I take time out on canal side just before I re paint some battle scars on the boat.

We have spent the last couple days moored at Fazeley Junction.

We start a slow journey back to meet with friends at the Crick show.

Hail stones causing bubbles on the cut

Edwards restaurant at Crick as we moored opposite the water point.

Cassie on lookout duty.

Cassie believes in safety first and wears her life jacket.

Hilary setting the locks so we can continue the journey up the locks

We sit mid flight at Foxton locks awaiting our turn to complete our journey up the locks.

This photograph is showing Union Quay at night.

This is Union Quay at Market Harborough showing the the empty resturant building and some Canal Time boats on their moorings.

It is now five weeks since returning from our journey from Australia and four weeks since moving on to The Maisibert.

We have spent the last four weeks squeezing in the last few items into their respective storage space with the help of the Velcro,spring clips and hooks.

We travelled from the marina and spent a few days at Weedon before we set of to Market Harborough with the help of Claire,Craig and Matt on the Easter Weekend who made it their target to get us there whilst I shuffled the car.

After spending a few days at Union Quay looking around this wonderful market town we made the return journey to Norton Junction where this weekend our friends Dave and Sue came up and assisted us in getting the boat to Atherstone locks were we are presently moored between locks 5 and 6.

Cassie was very subdued her first few weeks back on the boat as we think she missed Meg and all her friends at Helen's but has now got used to being the ships dog.
Her first birthday is on Thursday and we wish Cassie, her brother and sisters a happy birthday.

I will post some pictures of our trip,Cassie and promise to update the blog site on a regular basis.

"The Story of The Maisibert "

After a life long dream of owning a boat and cottage in Suffolk, we finally realised that we could never afford our dream so we took the decision to buy a narrow boat.We visited narrow boat brokers and looked at many second hand boats but decided that we would go the extra mile and have a boat built to our specification.So the search started for a boat builder and the style of boat, we purchased a canal boating magazine to get idea's and read about a fit out which was very modern and had unique curved galley units.We visited the yard and talked to the owner's of the featured boat and decided that we would like our boat to be of a similar design. We started our research to formulate our specification.We visited boat shows, talked to other boat owners, read books and anybody else that we thought could give us the information we required.On the 5th December 05 we signed the contract with the builder of the featured boat after completing his move to Blisworth. The hull builder laid the base plates in March 06 to start the boat of our dreams.We named the boat after my parents as a tribute to them as their life time of hardwork allowed us to achieve our dream.

The Maisibert has had extra drain holes put in on the roof at the stern end.

The work was carried by Baxters Boat yard in Northampton

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pc5zRAC4O6Q

After many weekends cruising and time with the new puppy I have finally got round to putting a video together of our fourth crew member and you can watch it from the link above.