Excitement mounting!

This time next week I will finally be on holiday and able to cruise with just Bonny for company - Bliss! So far I have had two cruises this year and both were with friends. It's nice to share the experience with people, but I am aware that lately I have started to feel claustophobic with a prickly sensation of irritation with those around me, which is a sure sign that I have been around people too much and need to retreat for a while.

I have two whole weeks of freedom. I have been very indecisive as to where to cruise and have changed my mind on almost a daily basis. I am currently favouring going up the Trent and Mersey to Stone and then to Tixall Wide on the Staffs and Worcester, before possibly going to the Shropshire Union for a few days. Alternatively I may carry on past Stone and go up the Caldon Canal. Wherever I go, it will be slowly with plenty of stops. I have never been one to try and do a whole ring in a week which entails long days of constant cruising. I much prefer to get an earlyish start and cruise till 1 or 2pm and then stop, have lunch and then explore wherever I have ended up mooring or flop and watch the world go by.
The advantages of this approach is that I actually feel I have had a holiday, rather than to come home exhausted and aching. It also means I can usually moor where I want as most of the cruising public aren't looking to stop till later and so there are plenty of vacant moorings. The disadvantage is that I don't get to travel very far and so, thanks to work only allowing me little bite sized chunks of time, I tend to cover the same territory. Still, when my ship comes in (no pun intended) I will be able to cruise for months and years and go everywhere! Meanwhile both Stone and the Caldon will be new places for me - if I get there!

I know I regularly bemoan the fact that I have to work and would much rather be a full time idler, but recent rumblings at work have made me grateful to still have a job - I just hope that situation continues as being a 50 something female does not make for plentiful job opportunities!