Away From Home

We have had a few days away from our boaty home, back in Sussex, with my Mum and Dad.  Ian has had a couple of days work, we had a day out with his Mum and spent time with family and friends.
We took Ian's Mum out from her nursing home on the bus to Greenwich, enjoying the river air and views from the bank this time

and getting up closer to the Cutty Sark. 

You see we just can't keep away from water and boats.
She is a grand old ship, newly restored after a fire in 2007 and now with a fantastic visitor centre built around her.

.

Cutty Sark was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development which came to an end as sailing ships gave way to steam.

The ship was named after Cutty Sark, the nickname of the witch Nannie Dee in Robert Burns'  poem Tam o' Shanter. The ship's figurehead, the original carved by Robert Hellyer of Blackwall, shows Nannie Dee in a stark white carving of a bare-breasted woman with long black hair holding a grey horse's (Maggie's) tail in her hand as recorded in the poem.

One spring brought off her master whole,
But left behind her own grey tail:
The witch caught her by the rump,
And left poor Maggie scarce a stump



We also had a wander around Greenwich Market, pushing the wheelchair across the cobbles gave Mum rather a bumpy ride, or at least an excuse for my bad driving!

After a little time sitting by the river watching the world go by, the black clouds started gathering so we headed back to the bus stop and made our way back. It was a lovely afternoon out in the sun and fresh air for us all.