Today was the day that we’ve been aiming for when we left London. We needed to be in Crick today to do a handover of our lovely yellow boat Lillian to her new owners

After a week and a day of her being on the ABNB website we had an offer come in, a little under the asking price, but a very reasonable offer. We decided to accept it as they seemed keen. Everyone then had to wait until after Crick Boat Show for her to have a survey done. There were only a couple of questions after this, the main one being how to turn the power on to the fridge. The prospective purchasers then wanted to come and have another look after they’d heard back from the surveyor. Our friend Viv who works for ABNB called us on 11th June to say that all was well and ask if we could do a handover today. We wondered why such a wait, when we bought Lillian we signed our contracts the day of the survey and were cruising away with her the following Saturday. But not everyone can do such things and already have a weeks holiday booked to move her. As we were going to be heading north anyway we could make the slight detour up to Crick and it wouldn’t hold us up.

At 2pm today we picked up keys for Lillian and climbed aboard our yellow boat for the last time. We opened up all the doors and side hatch to let some fresh air in. Wiped away some huge cobwebs where the spiders had collected quite a feast on the stern. Mick turned the key in the ignition and she started up straight away, as ever. She was just how we’d left her although a bit dustier and she’d acquired a couple of mugs. We now just had to wait for the prospective new owners to arrive.

Tim arrived first with George their Alsatian, Pah a woofer, on my boat! Elizabeth followed soon afterwards. We gave them a full walk through, Mick concentrating on the technical aspects and me on the more homely side of things like washing of curtains, what we’ve used in the toilet and how to make the sofa bed up (which was a little bit tricksy). Gosh there seemed to be a lot to take in and we were there for what felt like hours, but hopefully everything will be useful to them.

We locked her back up and said farewell for the last time before heading back over to the office to do the paperwork. A few signatures and bank details were dealt with and the final thing to do was a hand shake and hand over Lillian’s keys to her new owners. They headed off to start unpacking their cars and making her their own.

Lillian has been a great home to us and served us well. Elizabeth and Tim have hired boats quite a few times and will move Lillian to a marina in the area. They plan to use her for weekends and holidays exploring this part of the country. She may move further north in years to come as they live in Pontefract. Suspect she’s going to have a bit of a rest from her life with us. It was lovely to be able to meet up with her new owners and show them round. We wish them a happy, bright yellow future with her. If you see them please give them a wave and say hello, they are a lovely couple. Even Tilly has eventually approved of a dog on her old boat.

Whilst at the office we cancelled our C&RT licence, so we should now get a refund for nine months. We’d taken out a three month extension on her insurance which runs out at the end of Monday. Now all there was to do was wait for the money to be transferred. Crick being Crick didn’t help with this! Mick stood outside the office looking to see if the payment had reached our account, only to be told that we’d first receive a payment of £1. Once this showed in our account, we should let them know and the remainder of the money would be forwarded too our account. As we walked back to Oleanna Mick was trying to check if we’d received £1 before 5pm so that we could get the rest of the money today. But it didn’t show in the account until after the office had closed, so at the moment we’ve sold Lillian for just £1!!!! The remainder isn’t likely to reach our account until Monday. In this day and age this seems very slow. Elizabeth and Tim have their boat and we have just £1. Hmmmm!.

This evening we have met up with Lizzie and Gary from NB Panda to celebrate our £1 with a Red Lion steak and a few beers. It was a lovely evening catching up on the news from around Crick, lots has happened whilst we’ve been away. Noel the harbourmaster has now retired and is cruising, we may see him as we head northwards. Andy and Irene from NB Kamili are out on a short cruise (we think they may have passed us on the day we were in Scarborough). It seems that we shall have extra help through the locks tomorrow as Lizzie is going to join us for a jolly down to the junction.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 day waiting,  3470 yellow miles, 2366 yellow locks, 3977 yellow engine hours, 1 final goodbye, 2 new owners, 2 big grins, 1 large woofer! 2 fingers crossed, 4 steak and chips, 8 pints, 2 glasses wine, 1 jam rolypoly pud, 2 chilled medications, 1 chocolate and caramel stack, £1!