Waiting Out Winter & Schengen Exile

We usually spend winter on the boat, as we can normally make plans to travel on Red Roo to a country with no restrictions on our visiting times, but with Red Roo firmly land locked in France and our Schengen visa time (time in Europe) all used up, where were “we” (humans) going to go until we could return to Red Roo?  

Doing the sums, our minimum time away was three months (90 days), but that put us back to the boat & canals smack bang in the middle of winter, when the canals are almost impossible to navigate due to scheduled maintenance in the off season, and also the canals often close due to flooding and dangerous flow rates from alpine mountain snow melts. So our exile more realistically looked like Oct – March inclusive, we needed to fill in a whole six months!

We felt like we had only just returned from Australia, and also it is so far away, and so expensive to fly there and back. England (the UK) is close, just a train ride away, and we are allowed to stay for six months.  The problem now is accommodation – six months is going to seriously hurt the budget.  The solution came thanks to friends and family in Australia who are successful users of various house and pet sitting websites.  Free accommodation in return for caring for animal and home whilst the owners go away for a holiday.  Our great friends in Newcastle Heather and Richard often use this service when travelling overseas, leaving someone in their house to care for the property and cat, and have even done entire house swaps with families in Europe.  Phil’s sister Sandi and her husband Steve have also completed Pet Sits in Australia, enjoying the experience and opportunity to holiday whilst doing it.

It seemed to be the perfect solution.  We signed up, searched for our dream sits (filtering by location, pet type, and duration – long stays) and applied for 4 different sits over the 6 months, then we crossed our fingers and toes.  It was only a matter of days and we had responses from each of the 4 home owners.  We lined up video call chats (interviews) and within the week we had secured each of our preferred sits.

We were to be spending 3 weeks in a cottage in Yorkshire with a Greyhound named Oonagh.  

Next was 17 days with Louis in Looe (Cornwall), Louis being a Golden Retriever.  

Following that we had 9 weeks in Epping Forest (North London) with a rescue dog Luna (a smallish black Labrador type).  

Then our final sit was 5 weeks in Scotland with Paddy the Springer Spaniel.  

We were thrilled and very grateful to be chosen by each family.  Our planning had worked well allowing about a week between each sit to visit with family and friends in the UK.

So that’s how we spent winter, exploring each place with daily dog walks in the forest, villages, moors, beaches and rivers.  Along with a fantastic road trip around the United Kingdom including visits to lots of National Trust properties (over 30 estates) and seeing a lot of the country. Each of the dogs took to us immediately and the families made us so welcome in their homes. 

To see more pictures and read short paragraphs of our road trip check out the following page: https://www.polarsteps.com/RedRoo/22986848-winter-in-united-kingdom-2025-2026?s=00a70221-108a-4224-bcae-9c6199e3b78e&referral=true

It was also fantastic to spend time with family whom live in the UK and visiting our great friends, many whom we have met sailing over the last 10 years, and caught up with some of our favourite Australians whom visited London whilst we were there.

Further more we had Phil’s sister Sandi join us in London and on a road trip north to Scotland, via Suffolk, Hadrians Wall, Glasgow, Isle of Skye and to Aberdeen – she stayed with us for a month all up, we really enjoyed our time together, wine was consumed, and during our time in Scotland we sampled a few we drams of whisky, enjoyed a few meals of haggis and even ate a deep fried mars bar.  We also managed a few selfies – it was always a laugh trying to fit our three faces in the camera. 

How did Red Roo fare left alone in France for the winter?  She did just fine.  We put in a lot of hard work prior to leaving her, fully winterising the boat which included changing the engine oil and filters, changing the engine coolant, emptying the water tanks and all water lines, filling the engine raw water lines and bilge pump lines with anti freeze, filling the fuel tanks, stowing the dingy on deck, installing tarpaulins to cover the boat (to shed snow), isolate all electrics and disconnect all batteries.  We also packed all clothes, books, bedding and soft furnishings into vacuum bags to protect from potential moisture/mould.  The inside of the boat got a full bleach/vinegar wipe down to remove any potential mould spores (and removed a whole heap of dust), and finally we left containers of kitty litter in each room to absorb any stray moisture or condensation and ensure the boat stayed dry.  It all paid off, as we returned to a safe, dry and well rested Red Roo, she didn’t even smell inside – lovely.

She was in a small harbour in Auxonne (near Dijon), with Peter, the winter port captain who kept a good eye on her for us, however we also had the ability to check in on her anytime via live webcam.  Check out some of the images we saw whilst we were away:

7 January 2026 – The water in the harbour had frozen over (about 4 cm thick) for 5 days and this picture shows snow sitting on top of the ice.

18 February 2026 – The River Saône in flood, which impacted the harbour (cut it off from land access)

25 February 2026 – Normal river conditions and marina (for perspective with flood image)

And now (as I write this in August 2026) the canals and rivers of France are closed due to drought and no water!!