The upside of bad weather is that Liz and I don't feel guilty about not working on the boat. Sanding, scraping, priming and painting is on hold today as the weather once again turns as nasty as gangs of opposing football fans meeting head-on in Lille. (Don't you love it when the media provides new analogies almost daily?) And so, with an unusual lightness in our hearts we headed to the supermarche, the bricolage, and the laverie, leaving Liberty languishing in...

Il pleut. Il pleut again tomorrow and the next day. And for six days after that. There's a boat here in the boatyard that resembles an ark, which might not be a bad thing, given the amount of rain France has had in recent weeks and a dismal forecast promising more misery. And all this coinciding with our arrival back in Migennes to work on Liberty to try and get her ready for the Return to the Water. If this rain keeps up she'll soon be afloat whether she's read...

The difference between English roads and French roads is that English roads are unsuitable for traffic yet are at maximum capacity, while French roads are eminently suited to beaucoup de transport and yet are relatively empty. I know which I prefer. Especially after missing the ferry to France thanks to a long delay on the M6, traffic regularly slowing to a crawl for no apparent reason on that lovely London roundabout, the M25, and then having to tackle rush ho...

Hi all! Just a brief update because we are, after all this time, back on board Liberty! Yay! No...boo, because the boat is still propped up on dry land at Migennes, a couple of hours south of Paris, and we aren't going anywhere. But that's OK; we have come to the boat to give it some long-overdue TLC. Since ending the adventure last September, Liberty has been on the hard in the boatyard here at Migennes. We were relieved to arrive and find that no, there wasn't...

Well! After a whole year we finally made it onto TV! Not the production company's fault; they supply Channel 4 with a whole bunch of programmes, and it's Ch. 4 who does the scheduling. Anyway, we're not complaining. The programme screened last Sunday, and if you're out of the UK you can watch it now on Ch. 4's 'On Demand' website here. It doesn't tell the whole story - and certainly not the way we told it - but that's always the way with TV programmes; so much ...