A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

 For a couple who have spent what seems an inordinate amount of their lives messing around on the sea in sailing vessels, it has always amused me that we have never taken to cruising. There are times when, despite our reservations, it is a very obvious way to travel to see somewhere. Having completed three of these affairs, all with different companies in ships of varying sizes, I might almost regard myself as an expert in reasons for trepidation when voyaging aboard one. On the last occasion, 4 years ago now, I listed many of the pitfalls. Give cruise companies their due though, their marketing is good and some of them do their very best to tempt you back. After all, it's not all bad, living on a floating hotel and going from port to port without breaking into a sweat lugging a suitcase. Next year, it will be 40 years since Mister E struck out into the Atlantic in his own little boat making it to and from the Azores, he and the yacht, in one piece. There's nothing like an anni...

 I don't know how everyone else manages but there are occasions when I just find retirement so exhausting. Take travel for instance: following the trip to Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland we had a 2 night sojourn before making a 6 hour dash by road up to Oban to prepare the retirement project for lifting-out ready for winter onshore.  We followed two nights there with a long drive home for a pit stop before setting off next morning to explore parts of Yorkshire that we are less familiar with, staying over in Ilkley and then venturing to Saltaire the next day. The Rivers Wharfe and Aire may not be quite up to David Livingstone standards but exploration and discovery enliven even when they are just round the corner, so to speak. Salts Mill and the village surrounding it were particularly fascinating and lived up to their designation by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Visiting so many places in such a short period of time, however, might get the blood and energy flow...

  Mister E and I seem to have found ourselves in a strange love triangle. There's nothing weird going on, as the other party to this 3 way tryst is none other than the NHS. Hardly has my seat in the waiting area of our local hospital had a chance to cool down than it seems I'm back to warm it up again. I understand that as we age our need for health care can increase but for two relatively fit, healthy people Mister E and I are certainly surprising ourselves of late. The latest visit found us seeking emergency treatment alongside various parents with children who had clearly injured themselves falling out of trees, participating in sport or undertaking something equally as imprudent. The adult patients (evidently retired too) had injured themselves with garden equipment or fallen badly whilst hurrying for a bus. All self-inflicted wounds and doing little to help determine whether you become more or less foolish as you grow older. On this occasion I had gone along purely to give...

We returned today from a long weekend in Crinan, the home of our retirement project . In light of the sub zero temperatures predicted by the weather forecast we set off with neither hope nor optimisim for conditions suitable for painting and varnishing. However, with a meeting scheduled with the lady who is going to reupholster the saloon cabin it was still important that we made the trip. Our pessimism as to the temperature was requited when, reaching Loch Fyne, it was apparent that the fresh water cascading from the streams was forming frozen ice floes on the surface of the seawater. Nor were we surprised when arriving at the converted barn in Crinan where we have stayed regularly this year and despite turning the heating on full blast, it was at least two hours before I ventured to remove my coat and even then I was still clutching two hot water bottles. Call it nostalgia but all those memories of  childhood winter evenings huddled in front of a fireplace, came flo...

We returned to tend to the retirement project at the weekend. Up at Crinan, autumn is very much in evidence as the trees that hang onto the hills around the loch begin to turn brown and shed their leaves. We did at least manage to get out onto the water for what we anticipate will be the final time this season. I even made a mighty effort to assist Mister E in removing and bagging the sails, so that he cannot be tempted to plot otherwise. With the sails in hibernation, he must now wait until next year. Of course, we'll be back to continue the electrical work and varnishing, once she's lifted ashore for the winter and then we're talking about returning to marina living in 2020. Rowing a dinghy backwards and forwards just to remove our bedding for instance is a major operation, especially when it involves planning around the wind direction and rain showers. We have come up against the harsh reality of comfort versus stamina when tied to a mooring buoy. In...

Sultry Scotland is a little like Sweltering Yorkshire; neither sounds completely convincing. Nevertheless, between all the cooler spells and torrents of rain, we have experienced them both and have trekked from one to the other following the sun and inevitably ending up with thundery showers. In Scotland where the temperature on the sea loch was 26 degrees at 9.30pm one evening we have made some more progress with the retirement project: installing the 12 volt plugs and replacing a foot operated sink pump and buttons for the cushions in the saloon berth, the inners of which had literally rusted into dust. At the moment, however, we are awaiting the manufacture of new mattresses for the forward cabin. For the time being two consecutive nights aboard is proving to be the maximum length of our fortitude as, not only are the current beds playing havoc with our sleep patterns, but we are waking with aching backs and, of course, by Day 3 it is generally pouring down anyway...

  Duntrune Castle on the North Shore of Lake Crinan, visible from the mooring Even in retirement, I still like my activities to be purposeful. It's over five years since I took the plunge and I still find it hard to simply savour "down" time. Historically there has been a series of sailing boats to provide good boltholes from the stresses of office life, especially when in days of yore the prospect of a mobile phone reception was extremely limited. Now, however, the need to escape the dreaded ringtone, text or e-mail has faded although by a quirk of fate the boat's mooring does seem to provide solace from connectivity. We were back on board last week. Yes the first experience of cooking and sleeping overnight on our retirement project. What can I say? Conditions were more primitive than we are working towards but we live to tell the tale. It was hard work with no running water, only one light operating, and what seemed like a myriad of essentials to c...

We have just taken advantage of a short spell of excellent weather to pay another visit to Crinan and our restoration project . However, as we undertook very limited, if any, restoration on this occasion, I have refrained from adding this blog post to the list of those dealing with the somewhat drawn out process that we have embarked upon. To get to Crinan we drive through the "Arrochar Alps" And also thorugh Inveraray  Driving up and for the first three days of our trip the weather was absolutely glorious with the temperature on deck hitting 29 degrees and even 27 in the cabin below. We don't  very often get those conditions in Scotland, least of all with a warm breeze too, enabling us to try out the new suit of sails. The last time we were so spoiled was probably back in 2014 not long after we had retired, the years in between being spoiled by an excess of wind or in the case of last year the boat being laid up whilst its new engine and windows were fi...

Yes, our restoration project bobs on water! Logically we knew she would (after all the boat yard commissioned the engine at sea in September) but based on the premise that "seeing is believing," apprehension was certainly building until she was launched off and tied to a pontoon ready for us to board her on Wednesday. The new heads (toilet), gas piping , rewiring, and heating all work too. The replacement window seals and forehatch as well as sea cocks all appear water tight and that newly installed engine and propeller mean she positively glides through the water, although the intention is, of course, to use sail power. On the down side, the connection at the top of the mast leading from the wind vane to the cable connecting it to the instrument display appears to have corroded worse than was thought, preventing an electronic reading of the wind speed and direction. It looks like that might be yet another rewiring job to add to the list.  Ther...

  There's just something about Highland Cattle I may not have made a recent blog post about our somewhat overwhelming retirement project but I can confirm that it continues regardless. Indeed we returned today from another trip to Scotland, the aim being to complete the necessary work to get the boat launched off next month. The prospect of denying Mister E a second season's sailing really doesn't feature especially with designated crewman, the eldest, returning from New Zealand for a month. Hence it's been all hands on deck in a desperate attempt to finish. I confess however that on this visit "all hands" for the most part meant just Mister E's as sub ten degree temperatures severely hindered my ability to paint inside lockers although I did manage to complete those in the forward cabin. Hopefully we'll find an opportune week to spend in a marina over the summer to paint and varnish whilst leaving the installation of some of the elec...