We wake up refreshed and glad to be having a day off. There is little wind in the shelter of the river and not a mosquito in sight although the cruising notes say they are a problem in the summer.
Having had a recommendation for breakfast at the Ballyhoo Restaurant, we decide to go over although we have quite a circuitous route to get there. First we have to cross Lady Ev VI, then another boat that she is rafted to (we are three deep). Then it’s up a ladder to the wooden quay. Ah yes, the quay. If I say it has seen better days, it’s an understatement. If I say it’s made of wood, it’s an exaggeration. It’s a wide area of rotten planks, with holes big enough for an elephant to sink it’s leg through. It is all cordoned off with flimsy red and white plastic to stop the unwary public killing themselves on it but if you are coming off a boat there is no other way but to cross some of it. Then we have to clamber up a small wall, round the plastic fence (careful that you don’t fall into the strangely placed bath tub) and, hurray, along the concrete road to the restaurant.
Breakfast is worth it though. We have a sneak preview at the meals put in front of the guys from Lady Ev and order a feast for ourselves. Mike goes with the Skippers’ breakfast (what else?) which consists of bacon, scrambled eggs, tomato, sausage and minced beef and I have the pancake breakfast. This is made up of three very filling pancakes layered with cheese, bacon, onions and mushrooms. Both come with a large pile of toast. Just what we need. The crew from Lady Ev are going on a tour up the Buffalo River and invite us along but to be honest, I’ve had quite enough of water for a while and the view up river doesn’t look very inviting from where we are sitting so we decline.
Having taken my computer with me we find that there is no internet service to be had anywhere, not even a paid for service which is very disappointing.
Heaving our fat little bellies back with us, we run the gauntlet of the rotten quay, do our ladder and boat clambering activities, strip off and go back to bed for a little snooze.
Mike does some routine boat jobs (engine oil check and top up and fan belt tightening type stuff) while I just hang around and read.
Later in the afternoon he goes over to Lady Ev to fix Jorg’s PC again (I don’t know what he does with it but it seems to have continual problems) and one PC fix turns into three as some of the other guys produce theirs to ‘saviour’ Mike.
At 6.45 pm I start to make our curry and at 8 pm I eat mine alone as Mike is still not back. I am tempted to shout over that his dinner is in the dog but we haven’t got one so just inform him that it’s going cold and go to bed to read.
Not a very exciting day but at least the grib files indicate that we should be able to leave in the morning although it looks like we’ll be doing a lot of motoring.
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