The rebirth of Vin Rouge and "The Mackerel"

My apologies for the lack of posts this week. My new work has been hectic. I have never seen such a disorganised company but to be fair they TUPE’s across over 200 workers. Im still fighting with myself on the decision to continue as one of the worlds workers heading for a heart , stroke or nervous breakdown, or to retire early without a pension and take things easy for a while. At any rate, this months wages will get my 10 year old car throught its MOT and a few extras for my new toy.

Yip.. This weekend I headed for the Solway Firth and collected my father’s boat ... yeah.

It was a very moving affair trying to move it, knowing that he wrapped it up for winter just before he died. When I took its cover off, all its accessories were neatly stored in the boat exactly as he left them. He named the boat Vin Rouge and it will keep that name, however I will affectionately refer to it as “The Mackerel”

I hope you will enjoy following my metamorphosis from inflatable boat journeying to rigid boat touring during the course of the summer

I wasn’t sure if I could manage the boat on its own as it weights 150kg when empty. Many folks told me I was daft taking it under my wing as it was too heavy for one person to handle. I now agree it is to heavy for one person to move with brawn but given a brain, a man can move a mountain with a lever. I had no problem getting the boat off its rusted launch trolley and onto its road trailer, single handed. I let a winch do the work :-D

So while I get my little red Mackerel ready for the new fishing season, I will resume my tour of Skye