Introducing Fandango

Our launch was delayed two days as the wonderful owner of the good ship Fandango in his perfectionist manner wanted the paintwork glistening and the foul weather we have been experiencing (spring - ha) had meant sub standard paintwork to the red roof. So we extended our stay with the wonderful Hampsons, shot down to Hampton Court to visit sister, nieces and great nephews and dined in Cambridge with the parents of Evan's fellow traveller to South America - he should be writing the blog, far more exciting stuff.

And then the handover day arrived. Again the wonderful Hampsons (perhaps the acronym WH is required here for future speed of writing?) took us and all our kit, which was plentiful to say the least, to the marina at Napton.  My first encounter with a narrow boat marina - Cowes it was not with a distinct absence of masts, expensive chandleries or rows of Mercs and BMWs. Instead arranged in a herringbone pattern some 20-30 rows deep either side of a central channel were low lying steel tubes in a variety of colours but all bearing the distinctly narrow boat patterns and decorations many puffing gentle pillars of smoke from their chimneys indicating a "live aboard" - more of them later.

 

We quickly located Fandango out along one of the pontoons which proved to be rather narrow and somewhat alarming to navigate with a trolley full of possessions. And there was the Nick, our owner and I believe Ros' mentor who had been so impressed with her nautical accomplishments that his calls were many and long as the two of them plotted and enthused about our trip and he improved and added to the impressive inventory.

So how is Fandango? 

She's 57 foot long (a critical measurement for officianados like Ros as its the maximum length for some of the older canals in England), 7 foot wide with a black hull, navy blue and burgundy superstructure picked out in white and a red roof. Fully lined in warm honey coloured wood she boasts a Morso coal stove (our new best friend), fully fitted kitchen (no dishwasher or washing machine - what the hell do you think the canal is for?), dinette seating for 4, bathroom with cosey shower and a "double" bedroom.

One thing I'm learning is that the use of normal descriptors such as "double" have a different meaning on narrow boats.  Far more akin to those applied by the Munchkins when describing their homes to a visiting Dorothy and Toto in my opinion. 

So all in all a fine vessel and a bit of a looker in narrow boat circles.

Managing to squeeze the enormous amount of stuff we had brought into our new home we bid farewell to the WHs, completed our initial briefing from the meticulous Nick (MN?) and settled down to our first night aboard. 

And the wind howled, and the temperature fell, and the grey overcast Warwickshire sky threatened, and we blessed the fact that Fandango possessed a central heating system.