Murdering Cat

When we were contemplating moving onto a narrowboat we had to consider how our 2 cats Poppy & Soona would cope with life on board & we are generally ( read on for the but!) delighted with the way they have settled in.
They seem to enjoy their new life & are not even phased when we are out cruising & just settle down for a sleep - although when we had our 1st ( & only !) trip out we were not brave enough to let them out when we moored up.

Soona, after scaring us on her 1st time off the boat by disappearing for the day, usually has a couple of wanders outside during the day, not going very far, does a few circuits of the boat by gunwhale then spends rest of her time snoozing on the sofa.

Here's the but - When Poppy was back in Hull she enjoyed being outside but, probably due to the lack of available wildlife, never brought any 'trophies' back & was a very affectionate cat. Now she seems to have undergone a personality change.
She is out & about in the marina most of the day just popping back to the boat for an afternoon snooze. Since she has discovered the great outdoors ( & its wildlife) she has become less of an affectionate pet & more a hunter (who keeps bringing the results of her forays back to the boat!) Mmmm.... I am not too impressed.

Next week Mark has a couple of weeks off so we are going to head up onto the Leeds & Liverpool, our destination is Skipton but nothing is set in stone so we shall see where we end up.

I have been getting some bits & bobs that we need before setting off like a hosepipe - (up to now we have been able to use the marina's ) getting a horn fitted & another leisure battery connected.

I'm hoping the washing machine will work okay as my research prior to buying the boat led me to believe that we needed a 3000w inverter to run a washer. Poppy ( boat not cat!) is fitted with a 1500w inverter & I have been given differing advice as to whether washing machine will work or not - general consensus seems to be that it should work fine so long as engine is running but I am not convinced.
It is easy to get complacent about a power supply when you're plugged in to shore power! . Mark firmly believes we should get a generator but they seem to be a noisy & smelly option - I think we will have a better idea when we have done some more cruising & it will be a good test of our set up while we are away.

Last Sunday we decided to do another walk in the Isle of Axholme as it is not far to drive & lots of footpaths to explore. This time we parked up near village of Belton & walked down to Epworth & then back by Carrhouse, I didn't work out the mileage but we were out 5 hours so reckon probably 6 or 7 miles. Weather a bit cooler than last week ( thank goodness!) & we had one short shower so waterproofs on just long enough to get them damp.


The wild flowers are looking splendid just now, this pic doesn't do this corner justice & the poppies are in full bloom
Poppies are one of my favourite wild flowers so hence the boat's name- it's not just after our cat Poppy - who maybe should be renamed something more appropriate now she's taken to terrorising the local wildlife.