We were all up and ready by 8am to let the davit fitters have full access to both back cabins and the cockpit. And then we took the rib up to Port Hamble to fill up the petrol tank. It was a lovely spin on the river. Apparently there are 3000 yachts on this river. I can believe it!

We then set off through the woodlands for a walk to Hamble le Rice village. With such lovely weather, and being right beside the water you can’t fail to feel happy! Back on the boat Dominic had some MMM phone calls to deal with, and Daniel and I went and looked at the boats in the marina.
We had our meeting regarding the electrics on the boat. Some issues were explained, others not. It was a very frustrating couple of hours. It is stressful that the lovely electrics system we had devised together with the sales people simply isn’t happening. By 4pm the davits still weren’t fitted. The bolt ons were done and they had moved and made good the stern light, but they simply didn’t know how to put the davits up. We decided that enough is enough, and as no-one in charge were around, we said we would go now and come back another time.
With dinghy in tow, we motored out of the Hamble off to Beaulieu River, further along the coast. A lovely, slow journey though it was quite tight over the bar with our 2.25m draught. We caught a perfect mooring buoy halfway up the river overlooking bird havens and oaks growing along the fields. We watched France beat Belgium in the World Cup semi-final while eating a tasty Mexican style meal provided by Daniel, and ended the day sitting outside in the cockpit playing scrabble, sipping on a glass or two, while enjoying the beautiful surroundings and slow evening sunshine. Magic!


