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| Ibis Hotel room |
MWNN had booked us in for two nights at the Ibis Budget Hotel, St Quentin.
We'd not stayed there before, so it came as a surprise to find that the shower and basin are in the bedroom. There is a door into the separate toilet.
The room is spotlessly clean. The checkin staff are on duty 24 hours a day and speak excellent English.
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| Boat exterior is really filthy |
After we'd booked into our rooms on Sunday afternoon, we went to look at the boat. She's looking very sad and is absolutely filthy outside.
We were quite worried about what the inside might be like, but didn't open her up as we knew that the rain-covers over the engine compartment would be unusable once they were removed..
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| MWNN begins removing the rain-covers |
We knew that Monday was going to be a wet day but that the main part of the work was to clear the roof and clean the outside of the boat so that the crane crew could do their work without getting dirty.
MWNN set to, removing the covers in drizzle while I waited in the car.
The inside of the boat was good. No damp, and not much dirt other than dust that had entered through the ventilators. The electrics were working which meant I could give the whole boat a good vacuuming and boil a kettle for tea,
There was a little respite from the rain, allowing MWNN to clear the roof, while I cleared the inside of the boat of spiders (sign of a dry boat), dead insects, and cobwebs. We stopped for lunch, which we'd bought from Monoprix, and we ate in the car.
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| MWNN removes the rain-covers |
After lunch, MWNN worked in heavy rain, cleaning the outside of the boat. I removed anything breakable from shelves and cupboards and packed it all away in boxes on the floor of the boat. There was a lot of rubbish to be dumped. Out-of-date and open food packets and bottles, all the pillows and a sleeping bag, along with lots of leaflets and other no-longer-needed stuff.
By 3.50pm, MWNN was soaked and getting cold and I had backache, so we called it a day. Most of the work is done, just a few things to put on the front deck and rubbish to be dumped before the crane lifts the boat onto the low-loader tomorrow at about noon.
A good day's work.
