Gin, clearly gin has taken over the UK and tea is drunk, mostly as a break from gin. Gin in all flavors and colors and makers. I even brought a very small bottle of Rhubarb Gin home for a friend.
The biggest mistake we made when across the pond was not buying Seville Orange Gin. We had some…we loved it…we can’t get it now. Oh, it was so good…with a bit of orange in it….we thought we’d find it here…not so.
We’d done so well on much of our other shopping…
How could we have known, that the best gin ever would be so hard to procure? Ah…such is our luck, which brings me back to the saga of traveling by narrow boat...
We motored past Holywell, toward another lock, which would lead us into St. Ives. Three expensive cabin cruisers motor past us. We wave, because that is what ‘one’ does. They were 3 couples in 3 boats, friends traveling together. The wives all sort of looked alike and the guys had fancy radio watches to talk to one another as they cruised. Their lead boat got through the lock and sped away to St. Ives to look for moorings for the group. The other two cruisers were in the lock with us. The ‘word’ from the lead boat was, that moorings were slim, but there were 2, that the 3 of them could share. Bad British Word, it was not looking good for us. We were very discouraged.
You can just barely see the three white cabin cruisers in the photo. We follow them into St. Ives, dejected and not sure what to do, but keep on full steam (4 mph) ahead.
We see a lot more boats moored up outside the town. Some of these moorings seem far from town and we’re not sure what to do. We motor on for another hour, until we get to another lock. It is small, there is a line for it and beyond this we’re told are many more locks. We’re a big old boat on a small river. The weather is beautiful and we’ve not many choices. We decide to turn around, while My Loving Spouse can still get Sun around in the river.
We have an unrealistic hope, that we’ll find something in St. Ives, as we pass through again. We pass the moorings outside the town, planning to take the only one we see. It is big enough for Sun, but right in the middle of the mooring is a couple with a ‘blow up’ kayak and an eight inch grill bar-be-queuing hot dogs, taking ‘our’ mooring. We motor on to the town and I hope that this ridiculous loss means that there will be a miracle mooring site for us in St. Ives. As we pass under the bridge, we see a mooring!
“Will we fit?”, My Loving Spouse hollers to me.
‘Yes, pull into it and pull the back end out.’
The truth is, we were creatively trying to fit a 72 foot long boat into a 66 foot mooring. Can you say ‘determined’? We were going to stay in St. Ives, even if the back part of the boat stuck out a bit. Out of nowhere, our three Cabin Cruiser ‘friends’ appeared, grabbing lines and helping to pull the long, narrow boat into a mooring, that might not have been pretty, but it worked. The Cabin Cruiser guys are now my favorite, as they tie Sun up to the wall.
We are beyond grateful to be in St. Ives. Happy to be able to explore the town and to have a mooring, even if it does mean clamoring up and over the wall every time I get on or off of the boat.
We head straight over to the Riverside Cafe.
I think we ordered some lunch…
I wish I could say, that all the time on the river was fun and frolic. However, it was quite hard on My Loving Spouse, so although we did have a good time together, it was not what we had hoped…however, we made the best of it for sure. Getting into St. Ives saved the adventure indeed. We enjoy sitting along the quay watching the odd duck go by.
St. Ives is a lovely town, just what I was hoping for. Sunday morning we put on our best travel clothes and went to church. I love going to church when we travel, worshiping our God wherever we are with whomever we’re with is priceless.
…and we are grateful and indeed blessed.
Looks like a kayak trip on steroids 😉 Sounds like someone is going to have to make a return trip, just to get a bottle of the comparision standard for the new business.
I wish, it was in Arizona, so you could bring me some!
Hi Walton’s,
From my perspective here in “wet old Washington state”, your good weather Holiday on the “Sun” makes for some GREAT memories from across the pond! Thank you for sharing them with us all.
Rob
(One of the Seattle cousins)
Thank you, Handy Cousin, glad we had them to share. I hope you are all well, Kevin especially.
So – you have an extremely good business opportunity! The gin you clearly think is the bees knees is not available across the pond! Oh dear! So why not make it yourselves? You have a huge manufacturing place (the barn) with no additional overheads. Look up gin manufacture – it is so easy! Get the gin you want to replicate somehow and experiment if necessary. Seville oranges are the ones (normally) used in marmalade and are usually available for a short time early in the year. ‘ Red Barn Seville Orange Gin’ …I can see it now…
Good luck
Richard
Richard, great idea! My Loving Spouse took one taste of Brown Sugar Bourbon and started making it. I’ll put him on it!
Lovely! 🙂 Isn’t that what the British say with tongue in cheek?
Lovely and brilliant!
A quick internet search confirms that the Phoenix area is not holding any of your favored gin either. You can make your own Seville Orange Gin… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9xOs0HXOE I am enjoying the lovely pictures of your trip!
Thank you, Kathy! I appreciate your checking and I am glad you like the photos!