An introduction, it starts at the beginning

Hello welcome to Honey Ryders, Varekai, Boogie Nights blog, allow me to do the introductions.

I'm Fox, the one with the dreams, hopes, ambitions and often unrealistic ideas. I have a sharp temper and an even sharper tongue. Despite this, the sun shines on me wherever I go. My glass is always full to brimming over. An optimist, an opportunist, spontaneous and not afraid of a challenge.

I've been on and around boats since I was four years old. Either motor boating, dinghy sailing, small yacht sailing, wizzing around in a small engined rib and hopping on to any boat I got the chance to visit.
Starting on the Norfolk broads, I spent the majority of my time around the East coast.
I love cycling, especially fixed wheeling. I also love lots of other outdoor pursuits, including sailing, motorbiking, off-road driving, horse driving, track cycling, motorsports, sewing, dressmaking, playing Ukulele....

Mr X1, (aka Mr Grumpy, Mr Smelly or Mr sometimes-a-bit-happy, Arsehole, miserable cunt etc), he is French, he looks a bit like a hobbit and he's good with canoes. That's all I'm allowed to say about him. To protect his privacy/idiocy he remains anonymous.

Banjo,
He's my dog, he's small, he fits in a rucksack, he looks a bit like a fox and he's a bit reluctant at boating but he travels well.


I had wanted to live on a boat since that first wooden broads cruiser back in 1982. Finally the time came, just 24 years later, that I could try it out. Despite knowing only plastic or wooden boats previously, It was decided that thousands of people choosing to live in narrowboats must be onto something. I'd never been on a narrowboat, I'd never even been within several metres of one before I started looking at them with a view to buying.


The narrowboat------------

After close to six months of searching for "the one" we found it at Penton Hook Marina in Chertsey. An unlikely place to find a narrowboat for sale I grant you, but there you go.

Originally called by the name of someones grandmother, it didn't feel right to keep that name.
We both quite like James Bond films and what better than for our first boat together name it after the first lady of Bond, Honey Ryder.