What is Tempranillo?

Well apart from Tempranillo being a grape variety, to us it will be a 51 foot long narrow boat in which Sue and I intend to spend the warmer months of the next few years cruising the 2000 miles or so of UK inland waterways. Tempranillo is being built by Sea Otter Boats up in Staveley, Derbyshire. The hull will be made entirely of aluminium. This means that we can get on with our cruising without having to take the boat out of the water every 3 years and re-black its bottom! This means

• No Anodes
• No Reblacking
• No Replating
• Rust Free Cruising

We will own a boat that will allow us to enjoy as much time as possible using it for what it is intended. And we plan to make the most of it. It is due to be completed at the end of July this year but we should next have physical contact with it on May 4th when the build of the hull and cabin is due to be completed. We shall be checking it out up in Stavevely and will, of course, be taking lots of photos and you will see them here as soon as we return. Please check back here often.

Today is THE day!

To celebrate that today is the day our boat turns from a dream and starts to become a reality, I want to show you what my lovely wife had made for me for Christmas.
Sue found a company to cast the unique Tiller Pin you see below. How good is that?

Tiller Pin for our boat Tempranillo.

TEMPRANILLO

We are so excited. We have just been informed that the building of our new boat will start tomorrow.

She is to be named 'TEMPRANILLO' - The Grape Escape. 

Those of you who enjoy the delights of Rioja wine may know that the Tempranillo grape is the essential ingredient in creating the wine that we most enjoy. This is why we have entitled our Blog Site as shown. Rioja will be one of our essential ingredients on our travels which we hope you may want to follow on this site.

The launch of Tempranillo is not due until July but we will keep you informed of developments from now on.

This is how Tempranillo looks today 5th April 2011....Flat pack!

We look forward to having you 'on board'.