Nine miles off one thousand!!

When we were travelling around the canals and rivers of Britain writing our blog, we chose not to keep a track of how many miles/locks/swing bridges we were going through.  After a while though, Barry did meticulously update our whereabouts on the google map, which has proven to be a very useful tool!  He's now counted the distance we accomplished and the work involved, and it looks like this:

• 990.6125 miles
• 539 locks
• 99 swing/lift bridges

Damn!  If we'd realised that we'd have taken a little detour somewhere along the way and made sure we'd hit the thousand mile mark!  Maybe we'll do it differently next year?

We've almost paid off our debts from our trip, so just the NZ wedding to pay for and then we'll be down to some serious saving ready for returning around May 2010.  Barry has applied for a seasonal job with one of the local wineries, so fingers crossed that he gets that to work from February to April.  It's going to depend on how much we save as to how long we can get back for to return to Northern Pride and 'do' the south.  We really must do some research into travelling down the Bristol Channel from Sharpness.

I'm very excited that a story I submitted to the Australia/New Zealand Reader's Digest is going to be published in February 2010, along with a photograph of our English wedding - yaay!  It was a story about 'the kindness of strangers' and I wrote about the two narrowboats and their fabulous occupants who came to our rescue and jump started Northern Pride when our battery was flat - our guardian angels.

I have just under three weeks to work in my current role, before I leave and take a holiday for three weeks (again, I know, it's so greedy having so much time off!) over Christmas and New Year, and of course the 'real' wedding.  The material for my wedding dress only arrived this week and is still on the table at the dress-maker's, hopefully it'll be transformed into a stunning creation in the very near future!

Wainui Beach  - shot from our NZ wedding location