And we are on our own again

 After the disappointing dinner at the Hollybush and a peaceful night, we headed away after I had persuaded Bevan to unload their stuff from the boat before they had breakfast - because we eat after we have moored up at locks while they are filling or emptying, the desire to eat before doing anything else is not in our mindset. So all of their bedding and clothing and food from the fridge was moved from the boat to the motorhome, and it was all aboard the Skylark.

We were aiming for the CRT moorings at Park Lane; Bevan and Mads were coming with us and then walking back to get the motorhome. It wasn't a long trip - a couple of miles and 3 locks. When we moored up, I made an obligatory last batch of cheese scones and the 6 of us had a final morning tea before B&M headed back to the Hollybush and away to Wales.

Of course, no more than 5 minutes after they had walked off into the distance, I opened the washing machine which had done its thing as we travelled, and found Bevan's shirt. Upshot is that we will take it back to NZ for him.

2IJ stayed for a night - the only place available for them on arrival was way down by the former bridge-hole - git gaps galore. Not huge, but cumulatively enough for at least one more and possibly two more boats.

I volunteered to make rhubarb and apple crumble - I had two large cooking apples and Irene had two sticks of rhubarb, and Ian was making veg chilli - after he fixed the porthole window that was leaking near their bed. He is very clever...

I had walked up to their boat for some forgotten reason, when we saw that the boat that had been moored in front of us was on the move. So C-rings undone, ropes on board, tiller on, engine started and off Free Spirit went in reverse - Irene steering, me fending off near the stern, Ian fending off at the bow. She had to get past about 5 boats IIRC. And the guy in front of where we were moving Free Spirit to leaned out of his duck hatch and said 'He'll be annoyed - they were only going up to turn around and come back.' Ooops, too bad, never mind. There was a space that they would fit into where 2IJ had been.

Well, we started a 2 boat trend. The guy who'd spoken to us as we reversed back past him decided he would move back too. So he pulled his boat back about a boat length, using up the git gap left by the turner-arounder. It was all change!

And 30 minutes later (not sure what the turner-arounder did for that time) they came back. There was still a good sized space for them, so no harm done.

And the move meant that I didn't have far to carry the crumble - I had bulked out the apple and rhubarb with sultanas and dried cranberries, and the crumble had pumpkin seeds and flaked almonds plus a little bit of cinnamon. It was very yummy. And Irene doesn't like rhubarb so she was happy the flavour was masked.

And Ian's chilli was excellent - I think David will be emulating it soon!

Last games of cards, lots of laughter and then time for bed. In order to delay the goodbye, I asked them to come for brekkie - they would have to bring the eggs as we were running a bit short. So breakfast was baked beans on toast with a fried egg or two on top. David had HP sauce on top but could not convince them to try it. Don't blame them myself.

Then off they went after multiple hugs. It was sad to see them go. No worries with them about fish and friends. (Look it up - Oscar Wilde.)

Ian, Irene and me wearing Oz hats. I am not sure what style David's is, but I am sure men wear them at the cricket ... Can you see the kereru on my T-shirt? It is most clear in photos amazingly. When looked at with the naked eye, the picture is just a lot of parallel white lines. Pretty cool. I bought it at Zealandia when we went there with Olek back in March.

And off they go. They are dear friends.

I walked along beside 2IJ to the end of the visitor moorings - I wanted to see how long we were officially allowed to stay. However that part of the signage had been removed. So we decided it was most likely to have been 2 days. No evidence, apart from the fact that up close to the services the sign said 24 hours, and had a separate sign (also removed) and an arrow pointing the other way. But even in the 24 hour moorings that gets disregarded - the two yoghurt pots mentioned below have been in situ for well over that timeframe!

We had Ed arriving for what was meant to be his penultimate day with us - we have added to and saved up the list of tasks for him to while we were close by where he lives. And we feel really honoured because he has changed his work focus to fitting solar and their management systems in the last couple of years. And engine servicing etc is no longer a service he offers. But he does it for us and we really appreciate it.

It may be because I always feed him cheese scones and lunch, but I think it's more than that.

On Friday he did 

• a giant clean up of the modifications made to the electrics while the tenant was on board, 
• a complete engine service and renewal of the antifreeze for the engine cooling,
  
• removed one of the additional radiators and all the associated piping (in the bottom of the wardrobes and under the sofa that had been installed while the tenant was living aboard through winters). We took the radiator and piping down to the bins and left them beside them so another boater or home owner could make use of them if desired.
• bled the system and filled up with fresh antifreeze, and showed David how to replace the florescent tubes with LED lights throughout the boat.
  

I sent him home with some kumara and chickpea curry, some cheese scones plus a slice of Irene's banana and walnut cake.

Kumara, pea and chickpea curry

On Saturday it was our turn for the reversing trick - not such a long way, but both boats we were passing by were overstaying yoghurt pots. They don't do well when encountering 16 tonnes of steel. So David was on fending off and I was well over to the other side to minimise the opportunities to play squash. The risk on being too far over to the offside was that I would pick up muck on the prop, but we escaped that fate. And no yoghurt pots were harmed in the manoeuvre.

We had reversed back to do a pump out and to fill with water, as well as emptying the cassette and dumping the rubbish. The radiator and piping were gone - yay!!

I left the engine going all the while we were at the services because I had got some washing going before we left our mooring.

For non-boaters it probably sounds bizarre to be talking about this, but the toilet tank pump out was successful - I was quite proud of myself because the outlets were on the water side not the towpath side - perching on the gunnel while manoeuvering the heavy hose is a bit tricky, as is bending down to open and shut the valve. David was on the control panel: pushing the buttons for the start, the pause, the restart, as well as heading down into the boat to empty a couple of buckets of water into the toilet - the hose for the pump outs would barely reach the shore side of the boat, let alone over it...

There was a young woman sitting by the building, she had a clipboard and pen, and several water bottles beside her. Of course I asked. She was the marshall for a walk for charity (Breast Cancer) and the Park Lane Services area was the halfway point.

So once we were emptied and full in the respective tanks, we had a good wash of our hands and moved off towards Stockton Brook and points south (or east or whatever, but on the way towards Bridge 20).

That is the stretch by the Stoke Boat Club that I 'weeded' with the loppers for 2IJ a few days before.

This is me going the correct way across the roundabout - you can see the blue arrow. I got it right twice, Irene only got it right once ...

At Stockton Brook Top Lock two CRT people had done a sterling job of clearing what looked like at least a cubic metre of reeds and their root systems from the lock. 

At Stockton Top Lock I think, after the crap had been cleared away, and after I had missed out on a pink silicone bracelet ...

There were two women in hi-vis standing on the towpath by the bridge, so given I was aware of the walk for charity, I asked. Yes they were. I went down into the galley and retrieved the little bag of change we had and threw it to them as a donation. One of them threw a pink silicone bracelet to me but over threw it (she won't get a place in the cricket team!) and it landed in the canal on the other side of the boat. It did not float...

If any boater got it around their prop, I want it back, OK?

At a couple of the locks we saw a young mother with her two kids, so I invited them to help David with the gates on the next lock.

This is Sarah and her two little ones. The older one had Gruffalo gumboots - and I want some!

They were delighted to be able to help! I love engaging and involving kids in this adventure. Liz Burnett will remember our doing so down near Berkhamsted back in 2019 - a whole bunch of little ones who helped Barry...

 

And as we started the penultimate lock the rain came down in earnest. I managed to get my coat on but David toughed it out until the last one. It was a short sharp squall, but he got soaked... He was brave!

I had to ask Irene what this derelict but elegant building once was. The pumping station for the Stoke on Trent water supply. I suggested that it would make wonderful apartments and perhaps the four of us should buy it. Ian could do the renovations. Irene thought David could be Ian's helper. I told her that teaboy was a more appropriate role for David and helping Ian was more likely to be me. Irene wanted to be project manager - no chance, that's my job. So I told her she could be David's supervisor and good luck... Trying to keep that man on task is a challenge. Morning tea would probably arrive in time for lunch! So far, we haven't made an offer on the place. Apparently last time it went up for auction with a guide price of £400,000 it was passed in.

Then the lift bridge which I thought would be up but was down, and Lock 4 and Bridge 20. And then one of our favourite moorings of this trip. Lovely clear towpath, Norton in the Moors on the hill across the cut, clear field before the village.

And we haven't moved the boat since then. 

• On Saturday we walked to Milton to go to the Coop for some shopping and to check the best place to moor up to meet Ed for his (meant to be) last visit with us



Some nice homes in Milton on the offside - the weeds are prolific there too. Can't moor across from there though - weeds...

There we are, within sight of Lock 4 and Bridge 20, with  a few of our neighbours, the canada geese. We are finding that they are very interesting to observe across the day, and they act as a community rather than as individuals.




I sat in the shelter of the pramcover with sides up and took advantage of the warmth, I read and drank tea. I may also have eaten chocolate biscuits ...


• Later we walked up and across Lock 4 to see if there was anywhere closer than Milton that Ed could park which didn't involve us moving the boat 
• And cards:



Quiddler: I won on the last hand because David got left with a rockcrusher fistful of high value cards and no vowels to make them into words ...




We decided to try 2 handed Up and Down the River - hilarious because a) tricks can be won on the lowest value cards, b) not being able to have the number of tricks bid equal the number of cards dealt means someone is always going to go down - and in 2 handed  it's often both players.


•  
• Yesterday 
• David walked to Norton in the Moors to the Coop - we had forgotten the port and the sherry - doh!! 
• And he investigated where to meet Ed to bring him down the public path to the farm across from the lock.
• I blogged and slothed for most of the day and did a load of washing while David was away.
• dinner was left over chickpea and kumara curry and rice.

I recognise those two ...

This piece of steel (iron?) protected the bricks from the ropes between the horses and the boats.

The horses would have had to keep their heads down getting under that bridge...

 

This morning after I had mixed a batch of blueberry banana muffins, we walked up to the Coop in Norton in the Moors and got a couple of things - forgot the list so didn't get everything - its the story of our shopping experiences! 

On the way we discussed Quiddler and homonyms. I had to inform David that phonetically spelling a word incorrectly does NOT make it a homonym for the correct spelling - and therefore is not allowable in Quiddler ...

David waited for Ed and I found out where the path was that goes across the fields  and down to the lock. (I asked a young man with his child and his dog - most likely to know, I thought). Found the path and proceeded to get very wet boots and very wet socks very quickly! Long grass will do that. 

Note to self: the very next time my boot are dry I MUST dubbin them!

As I walked down the field the dog with the man a 100 yards or so in front of me came tearing back towards me. What a beautiful animal - the dog, not the man. A huntaway, and I think I was being herded. So the man and I chatted. I am going to find out some info for him re training huntaways - they are working dogs and need to be busy. I am going to ask Linda my former sister in law whose partner Grahame is a former champion sheep dog trailist. His dogs are beautifully trained. I have invited Paul to visit us on the boat over the next couple of days so I can give him the info.

And the walk back was through nettles in parts and I was wearing shorts. Ouch ouch and ouch. But I was brave.

The canal is down there somewhere, well past that hedge

Looking back up to the main road. The huntaway, Bruno, appeared at about this point.What a lovely dog he is!

Ed and David were on the boat when I arrived. I baked the muffins while Ed worked. 

 

He is explaining something to me here about the fuel filter, I think.

 

We walked him back to his van because we had loaded him with:

• the soda stream, bottles and gas cannisters we do not use
  
• the remaining muffins
• a loaf of sourdough out of the freezer.

We thought it was the last time we would see him this year, so we had to have a selfie.

 

Since Ed left David has discovered that the engine battery is overcharging. Dammit!

Ed is coming back tomorrow to replace the regulator on the alternator. I am going to make little cheese tarts for him.

Irene sent this photo to me as proof she had been to the doctor re her infected toe. I had to take it on trust, because where in that photo is there any evidence of a doctor's visit?

Our dinner tonight is going to be stuffed mushrooms (cream cheese and garlic I think - they are from the Coop), potato salad and a lettuce salad. And there was some muffin mix left so I made two ramekin sized puddings. We have custard ...