Sickly and static at Stoke Hammond

I have been feeling poorly for the last couple of days - sore throat, skin feeling tender all over. This morning I asked David to make sure that I stayed in bed for the day so I can recover. I'm dosing myself with cough medicine in warm water (as suggested by the helpful pharmacist in Netherfield yesterday) and ibuprofen.

Mick just rang a few minutes ago and suggested lemonade and honey. No lemonade on board but we do have lemons and we do have honey - not manuka, but sick beggars can't be choosers! So my next task is to prepare a posset of lemon and honey.

David is taking advantage of a non-boating day to catch up on boatie tasks. In his search for the pliers to sort out the TV aerial cable, he found his never to be found again windlass pouch and his lock gloves (leather gardening ones they are and protect his tender hands). He has sorted the aerial, tidied the cratch lockers, and mopped water from the cabin bilge in the galley - we suspect the washing machine that did get a hammering with three loads the other day. As we fill it with warm water by jug rather than letting it fill on the cycle and get heated, we may have put in too much. Not sure how it overflows, but when Barry and Pauline come to visit, the two guys will pull the machine out and have a look.

His next task is to attach the chain sections to the D rings and then to secure the solar panels to their brackets.

After that it'll be time to prepare dinner. I wonder what culinary delights he will consider fit for a poorly wife? Considering my view is that when sick, a person should be off their food, I do hope he doesn't adhere to the same principle ...

Woughton on the Green to Stoke Hammond

It was a strange sort of a day yesterday. We knew the weather was due to pack up and so we decided to stay put at Woughton on the Green in Milton Keynes. It was a nice mooring the night before last– pretty quiet except for a main road behind the luxury flats overlooking the canal. Of course, as soon as we’ve decided that I start getting antsy and want to move on…

So instead I went off on foot to the Netherfield shops to the Coop and the post office. The best things I can say about Netherfield are:

·      You can get there from the canal on pathways without having to set foot on roads at all

·      The Coop is well stocked and the staff are friendly and helpful

·      The pharmacy staff are friendly and helpful

·      The people in the post office are also friendly and helpful

Apart from that it’s a bit of a sad place. Two people have told me this afternoon that the housing there is what was built as temporary housing for the people building Milton Keynes and that was back in the 50s and 60s, I believe. So it’s loads of scruffy looking flats with no balconies, all in lines. Therefore it’s all council estate. There were lots of working age people at the shopping centre looking unhappy, and I saw the Immigration people there photographing people, looking for illegal immigrants I guess.

I know it’s my prejudice, but I wasn’t keen to stay at the same mooring on a weekend night, in case it got rowdy and a bit obstreperous. So when I got back to the boat with my shopping, we moved on. We had planned to visit Pollards, a hardware shop in Fenny Stratford so we moored up before the lock and set off, with David leaving me to lock the boat while he got rid of the rubbish at the service area. We found Pollards using the mapping function on the phone – that is such a good app! And in we went.

Had either of us brought the measurements for the chain sections we need for securing the solar panels to the brackets? (Nothing will stop the determined thief but we will satisfy the insurance company if we have taken steps to secure them against theft.) Answer: NO

Have either of us brought one of the screws that we need another one of for the slider for the pram cover so we can find the right sized one? Answer: NO

So back David goes and I start on the list with the owner of the shop. Do they have U bolts (called D rings here)? Answer: NO

Do they have a piece of dowelling we can use as a flag pole and clips to hold it on to the swan’s neck of the tiller? Answer: NO to both

Do they have Locktite to ‘glue’ the bolt on the U bolts: Answer: YES, but it’s £15 for more than we could ever use in a lifetime if we’d started back when we were 20. And Yes, they do at £5 for 3ml of the stuff that can be undone using standard handtools – WTF?

Can they supply me with 4 x 450mm of chain? Answer: YES as long as I wait while the woman who had been serving me and the young chap (who came to help me when she got diverted to some other customer who had a list as long as the M1) went back to serve someone else – one length he could do fast – 4 was not a happening thing. I waited a few minutes, but then my patient gene was stretched and snapped. So I texted David that I was coming back to the boat empty handed. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

On we came, through Fenny lock and on to Willowbridge Marina. The rain came down, the sun came out, the wind blew, the sun came out.

We had ordered the filters (fuel and air) from them the day before and a spare alternator belt from a neighbouring auto electricians. So, list in hand, in we went.

·      D rings: YES

·      Chain: YES

·      Screws: Yes

·      Engine oil: YES

·      Filters: YES

·      Tiller extension: YES

Yay!!!

We decided that we would move on and moor above Stoke Hammond Lock even though we were both tired. David fell as he jumped off to take the middle rope when we were due to moor. That gave us both a fright.

The rain started in earnest as we tied up and it was a bit of a struggle to get the pram cover up and secured. As happens (this could be Taranaki in this respect) the rain stopped and the sun then shone brilliantly! Lots of hire boats came past on the way into the lock after we moored – they were not fair weather boaters!

The view from the galley across the cut into the red sky after dinner last night

The lovely grandsons trying on new clothes for our niece's wedding in August

The new caddies I bought at the shop partway down the Buckby flight - just went in for icecreams ...

Very slow progress

Yesterday afternoon we cruised from Cosgrove down to Stantonbury to meet up with Les and Jaq in the evening. 

An obediently following bunch of cygnets

As we approach the aqueduct David decides to adjust the new toys

It's quite a long way down to the valley - the aqueduct was built in 1811

The stuff floating on the water is seed heads from the willows.

We stopped at Wolverton so I could go off and do a shop at Tescos. I took a granny trolley and filled it to capacity and beyond its specified weight limit - 6 bottles of wine and numerous cans of tomatoes are pretty heavy even before the fruit and vege get stacked in ... There were some very helpful teenagers sitting on the seat beside the boat when I was struggling down the steps, having texted David to come and help lift the trolley down - his phone was on silent ... They were nice kids.

The mooring at Wolverton outside a huge set of apartments

Waiting for the paparazzi to photograph one is so time consuming ...

This was the easy part of the trip

The wind at that corner was pretty strong ...

It was very windy coming through Wolverton and a number of boats had trouble pulling in to moor or staying on course as they cruised at that point. 

By the time we got to Stantonbury we were both tired, so we had an early dinner while waiting for Jaq and Les to arrive. Then we had a late night (well, late for me) and I fell asleep in one of their comfy chairs. Jaq does a very nice line in nibbles - a homemade ranch dressing with crudites and a salmon dip with crackers, plus olives, and a chicken and grape salad that I do have to make at some stage very soon.

Our original intention for today had been to get to Stoke Hammond so that tomorrow we could cruise a short distance to Soulbury and walk into the village – a time of nostalgia as it is where my Aunt Daphne lived very happily from her early 50s until she died in 2007. When I first came back to the UK with my mum in 1988 we stayed with Daphne in her semi-detached home in Chapel Hill. The Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire countryside was my first taste of England and I fell in love with it. It was while we were on an outing to Stoke Bruerne that I decided that David and I needed to come to the UK with Tim and Kirsty as soon as we could scrape up the money, and we had to have a narrowboat holiday. Of such small seeds are life changing decisions made …

So, as I said our intention was to get to Stoke Hammond. That aim got modified as our leaving taking from Les and Jaq Biggs was delayed while they gave me the gen on moorings on the way into and out of London – in on the canals, out on the Thames. So we finally left not much before noon, as Les is nothing if not thorough ;-)

David is aware that I suffer from low blood sugar that affects my concentration and, dare I say it, my mood/temper/tolerance. So his mission is to keep me fed little and often during the day. Those of you who know me know that I am not the world’s most patient person, so once we are underway, I just want to keep going till we get to the destination.

However, I am pretty good at revising plans. A good thing too, as it has happened a few times today. The plan to get to Stoke Hammond was abandoned when we stopped for water, and had showers and lunch while the tank was filling – of course the showers empty it faster than the tap fills the tank, so filling took well over half an hour.

At that point we decided we would stop for the day at Fenny Stratford – a lovely long straight of moorings where we moored up last season with Barry and Pauline on board and had dessert with Jaq and Les.

But hey, plans change when conditions change, so we are now moored up just past Woughton Park in Milton Keynes – it’s not the quietest as there is quite a big road not far away, but it is beautifully sunny so the solar panels are having fun, we have the hatch open and I think the wine may come out shortly.

This early stop was precipitated by going at far less than tickover as the last in a line of 4 boats, the lead being a widebeam that necessarily, I guess, has to travel slowly to make sure they don’t hit the sides of bridges or moored boats of which there are a few. I was impressed by the Wyvern hirers who were 2nd and 3rd in the line. More patience than me – but they probably need to be back at Linslade by either tomorrow or Saturday morning.

And it is fortuitous that we have moored here – I have been able to order an air filter, and fuel filter from Willowbridge Marina and an alternator belt from an automotive engineer next door. We can pick them up tomorrow early in the afternoon – that means we can have a lie in. And I think that, at the moment, we will probably get to Soulbury on Saturday.

I took this photo of the heron in the field with the sheep from our mooring near Grafton Regis a couple of days ago.

Also at Grafton Regis - the hawthorn bushes look lovely

The view that morning from the dining table

Friends reunited

I have stolen the post title from Tony and Helen on nb Holderness who used it very recently. It seemed apposite, so I thought plagiarism was OK, just this once.

We came down from Bugbrooke to Grafton Regis on Monday. That involved coming through the Blisworth Tunnel which is about 2800 metres long – about 900m longer than the Braunston Tunnel that we had done the day before. I must be getting used to them as I didn’t feel too stressed about either of them. The fact that they are two-way helps as, when there’s no one coming towards us, we can scoot along speedily in the centre. Through the Braunston we met no one, but we passed three boats in the Blisworth, all creeping along at far less than tickover.  David sits out on deck with me and holds a torch pointing to the side wall so I can count off the hundred metre markers. I like knowing how far we have to go – so I guess my anxiety isn’t all gone …

Almost out of the Blisworth Tunnel. Raincoat required as lots of water pours out of the roof, the ventilation shafts and walls. If you look closely you can see a glimmer of light well back in the darkness - that is a following boat.

 

Mel is back in his rightful place

At Stoke Bruerne we stopped at the top of the locks for water, where the Wyvern hire boat Sovereign was kindly moored on the waterpoint, securely locked with no one aboard. We tied up alongside them and got water anyhow, and while we were waiting for the tank to fill, I went in to the Boat Inn and got a punnet of hot chips for our lunch. Yummy! On leaving, we left a note on nb Sovereign asking them not to moor on waterpoints.

Across to the lock moorings we went, and were just moving gently back to allow space for boats to exit the lock, when I got tooted at by a turning trip boat and told by the arrogant skipper to use my eyes. I was extremely embarrassed at being remonstrated with so publicly by him that I was rather rude in response. Considering he had his own mooring one boat length behind me, I am not sure why he finds it necessary to use the lock landing to turn at, nor why he has to be so damn patronising.

One bonus of that altercation though was that we met Kathryn who lives in one of the cottages beside the museum, skippers nb Leo No 2, and is an NZer – formerly from Nelson. As we chatted while waiting for the lock, her NZ accent got stronger and stronger. Nice woman, as is her neighbour Kate (?) who was also out on the front steps enjoying the sunshine. Check out Kathryn’s blog (look up nb Leo No 2 on google and you will find it) – she has an extremely impressive photo of her boat on the Thames … Kathryn has offered to come with us next time we go through the tunnel and show us the interesting things about it. She said she likes to go through it very early in the morning and stop and look at features on her way.

Breasted up with nb Adelaide - it meant the skipper on the other boat could work the locks with David,  while I steered both boats

And from the front in one of the locks

After coming down the seven locks we stopped at Grafton Regis and, while David cleared the cratch lockers so we no longer have stuff just sitting in the cratch, I made dinner – tuna mousse, salad and new potatoes.

Bucolic scene somewhere on the way

Rape seed field with hawthorn bushes

It had been a tiring day

In the morning we moved on down to Cosgrove to meet Mick and Julia who were coming from Desborough for a day with us. It was only about an hour’s cruise, fine and sunny but a bit breezy and chilly. I started off with fleecy, scarf, jacket and gloves on. David didn’t need those accoutrements as he was boat-bitching inside – sweeping, floor washing, bed-making, bringing in the washing.

A lovely surprise as we came into Cosgrove – there was nb Valerie. Several sharp toots on the horn got Les and Jaq out. They were waiting for a Tesco delivery and then going to head south again. While we filled up with water David had a shower, then I went to the caravan park shop (very well stocked) and then we pulled back off the waterpoint to await Mick and Julia’s arrival.

As soon as they arrived, we were off down the lock, moored up in the sunshine, table and chairs out on the grass by the towpath, tea, coffee, biscuits. Lots of chat and catching up. Then out came the wine, cider, lager, and nibbles on a large tray. Finally, along came Les and Jaq, who stopped for hello hugs and to socialise for a few hours – they did have to bring their own lovely new lime green chairs. Lots of laughs and much chat.

I had made a chicken and vege curry, Bombay potatoes and rice. Jaq cannot abide curry, and Mick was feeling rather delicate so the two of them sat in the saloon while Les, Julia, David and I consumed that. David packed the leftovers for Mick to eat when his constitution had recovered …

Les and Jaq headed away for points south where we will join them tonight. We walked Mick and Julia back to their car, having forgotten to pay them for the Oyster Bay chardonnay they got for me, dammit.

It was such a lovely day – catching up again with old friends, and seeing new ones. We are hoping we will see M&J again this season, so we need to work out if we can coordinate boating plans. Now that I have put their contact details in the address book on the laptop, that will be possible …

Norton Junction to Bugbrooke

Yesterday arvo this family was near our mooring

This morning, Mel was looking askance at the mass of cords on the table. David is on notice that any cords that are out when I get up in the morning will be used to whip him. As he is not into pain, this is a valid threat.

But wait, there's more ...

And more ...

We are moored up just south of Bugbrooke after a fairly busy 5.5 hours of boating - we came down through Buckby Locks breasted up with a bunch of four Australians on a week's hire from Rose Narrowboats in Rugby. They had been told to leave gates open which is an anathema to us, so all gates were closed unless boats were approaching. Is it the new standard practice to leave them open? Doesn't make much sense to us.

The hawthorn blossom looks lovely and smells wonderful

There are some beautiful homes and gardens beside the cut

We were keen to get to Bugbrooke to have a Sunday pub lunch, a la Tom and Jan's pattern (nb Waiouru). We didn't stop to get water so we could get to Bugbrooke in time, and because we arrived at about 1.50pm, we were a bit limited in choice, so we went to The Wharf by Bridge 36. The food was rather disappointing really (£10.95 for a main course) and took over 50 minutes to arrive. A whole heap of meals came out at the same time, so I did wonder if the kitchen staff had had a lunch-break between times ... The chardonnay was pretty good tho as was David's blackcurrant cider (well, it was purple and had blacksomething in it).

Having not got water today, and having had two showers and done two loads of washing since we took on water yesterday at Braunston, we are in conservation mode just in case. Two saucepans have been filled so we at least have enough for drinking purposes. Being clean can wait!
Note to selves: Forget lunch, get water every day!

After lunch we moved about 300m down the cut to a mooring that is less busy and doesn't have dog poo. We are now stopped for the day. David is faffing in a most productive way with the TV aerial having cleaned his new toys, the solar panels. I've hung out some washing, brought in a folded some from yesterday, and am going to blob for the rest of the afternoon. I think I need to have an on-board chardonnay shortly to compare it with the one in the pub ...

Success!

On Thursday, once the solar panels were successfully installed and explained, and we had sullied Tim Davis's green principles with cream donuts, we headed to Hillmorton by car to the Canal Shop with two intentions - first was to sort out about our proposed purchase and fitting of an Airhead toilet (arranged for August-ish), and the second was meet up with Paul and Sally on nb James. Their Airhead was being fitted there, so we took the opportunity to see them and deliver a bottle of Australian red. We had hoped to have time for a boat meeting, but they were heading for Crick and we were still in the marina. It was lovely to meet them properly after reading Paul's newsletters regularly and emailing back and forth over the last 18 months or so.

Paul, David and Charlie and Daisy on board nb James

Sally on board nb James

Well, yesterday was our first day boating for this season, and it ended on a fabulous note. As I mentioned in the previous post, we left a note in Mick and Julia’s letterbox in Desborough, hoping they would get in touch. Last night they did – they had just arrived back from a trip to the US and called us. The smiles on our faces were wider than any seen on a wide mouthed frog.

They are coming to see us on Tuesday!! Yay!! Excitement unlimited indeed. And Mel is very happy too – he has fond memories of being dressed up in the appropriate scarf  and shirt, and dancing on a coffee table with Mick when Leicester City were playing some team at football and winning. Was it Manchester City? Westham?

One relaxing thing was that I could stop rearing up every time I heard an old style boat coming past, now I know M&J are ensconced at their place in Desborough.

It was a lovely day all round. We had a call from Jaq Biggs and will catch up with them during the week too. What a pleasure this life onboard is.

I was going to title this post ‘And the Score is …’ It was a day of nifty happenings and some mess-ups, some of them hilarious and others rather embarrassing.

We had planned to leave Barby early-ish yesterday morning but realised that it would be quicker to do some of the retail tasks while we had a car at our disposal. So we headed to Tescos in Rugby (that is accessible from the cut, but that would have involved an hour or so of boating instead of 5 minutes of driving), then to Halfords to get a fuel pump wrench – of course there were a few games that needed to be purchased for when the grandsons come to visit – Battleships, Connect 4, Monopoly. Then back to Enterprise who dropped us off at the marina.

We (read I) thought it would be a quick job to cast off and leave the marina but of course David wanted to do such tasks as getting the TV aerial down, putting away the gas bottles etc … Then we thought we’d get some diesel before heading out.

My first mess up was nudging the side at the service area before winding to get fuel. David’s was in tying up - he thought it would be a good idea to thread the rope through the pipe bollard rather than wrapping it around it. Not sure where his brain was focused at that point.

Then heading out – a disaster  of such embarrassing proportions that I felt hot and bothered for about half an hour afterwards. On making my way out through the gap, I didn’t get over far enough to be able to swing the stern around to starboard and bow to port. And thoroughly jammed I got. A kind man who moors in Barby saw me stuffing it up and came to assist, getting me to reverse and wind in combination, then taking first my stern rope (not a useful strategy as it reduced my steering to zilch) and then my middle rope to get me pointing in the right direction.

We are underway and I have stopped blushing from embarrassment

The panels have assumed their travelling position for the first day - flat and low to keep them away from low-flying bridges

We decided to moor up early in the afternoon outside Braunston close to Bridge 88 – it was peaceful, no road noise, and black-faced sheep in the ridge and furrow field across the cut were the only critters making any noise.

A game of Battleships ensued after lunch. We used to play it years ago so its purchase was a bit of nostalgia. Well, it was for me…

Clearly David had forgotten how it was set up, how it was played and what the rules were. Considering he remembers every kind of card game that he’s ever played, seen played, read about, watched, his lack of memory of Battleships surprised me.

He started off not recording the calls he made to try to hit my ships, then he started putting the pegs in the board his ships were in in positions that he called to try to hit my boats. Consequently he had a mish-mash of pegs and ships. When that confusion was cleared up, instead of moving the pegs showing positions he’d checked out on my board, he moved his ships – they were then on the top (ie perpendicular) board. Pegs marking the hits I made fell out, then the ships started falling out … At that point, I gave up in hysterics.  
 

This photos is blurred because I was laughing so hard. See David's ships in the lid? See that two of them have fallen off? Nutbar, I say ...

David is showing me how he has things arranged and is asking what is wrong with it. Hysteria stopped play at about this point!

I decided to walk to the chandlers in Braunston to replace the fuel filter Ed had bought - Midland don't stock many genuine parts for Listers so it was a case of trying to find the Fram one that is the same. No luck, so I got a refund, but who should come in as I was at the counter but the guy who’d helped me at Barby. Embarrassment re-visited …

Late in the afternoon, I decided to prepare the plant pots for when I find a variety of lettuce plants. In went last year's rock collection for weighting purposes, followed by vege scraps from dinner prep and, lastly, the potting mix. At the supermarket I had bought small pots of flat and curly parsley and mint so they got planted. Not sure if they will take, given they had been potted for quick use rather than planting out. But we shall see - plenty of pot space, warmth and water could see them get a new lease of life. It worked last year ...

A sneaky shot

Last night's left over dinner - David loved this meal which was incredibly simple: sauteed veges (onion, capsicum, mushrooms, celery, carrot) & mince with a Knorr beef stock cube and a carton of passata, salt and pepper. These leftovers will be transformed tonight into a bastardised version of cassoulet by adding cannellini beans and chorizo.

David and his new toy, the MPPT controller this morning. I thought he was easily distractable before this arrived, but now every task is interspersed with multiple checks of the controller.

Ridges and furrows in the sunshine at 6.30am

 

Peace in the early morning sunshine

We are underway and it has clouded over, so jerseys are on

A sight familiar to almost all narrowboaters is the spire of the church at Braunston.

An early night with a late start this morning, into Braunston, through the locks with a couple of families on a hireboat – that was lots of fun and surprisingly quiet through Braunston – everybody must be at Crick! And then we led the way through the tunnel. Uneventful, no boats coming towards us and it seemed shorter than I remember at just over 1800 metres.

We moored up at 1.30pm-ish well before Norton Junction so there is no traffic or rail noise. David’s heel is sore so we will stay here for the rest of the day and tonight, so he can get ready for the Buckby Locks tomorrow. This is the life - all boating activity over before 2pm! We must be retired.

Maintenance Tuition

Our son Tim won’t believe I am capable of understanding or doing it, but yesterday Ed gave me some instruction in engine maintenance. I asked him after reading Paul Smith’s Living on a Narrowboat newsletter a couple of months ago where he described the tuition he had from Kerry of RCR (River Canal Rescue who we used a couple of times early last season, before we discovered Aqua Narrowboats and then the lovely Ed).

So here’s what I learned (by doing) yesterday:

·      How to change a fuel filter, preparation, doing the job, checking fuel for diesel bug, restoring bits afterwards

·      Then how to bleed the air out of the fuel line via the filter

·      And how to bleed the four fuel injectors

·      Checking the alternator belts for appropriate tautness – I doubt I'll be adjusting the bolts on the alternators though – requires more brute strength than I have to move the alternator, but I will know when to stop at the next engineer’s place and get it done

·      Checking the engine mounts

·      Checking and refilling the PRM gearbox

·      Oil changing process and changing the filter

I know that for most boaters this stuff is easy peasy lemon squeezy, but for us it’s been a bit of a black art. I’ve known it in theory – after all, I am my father’s daughter and you couldn't assist dad in all the stuff** he needed a labourer for without getting the explanations and process discussed and taught – but I've not actually done it before. I did try to change the oil last year, but the manual failed to mention one critical instruction – undo the nut at the bottom of the pumpy thing so the oil can come out of the pump. That time, we decided it was  better to pay someone to do it for us. Now I feel confident that we can do it ourselves. The only issue is whether I can contort myself down into the engine bay and survive the cricks in my neck and back. I am small enough to fit easily, it's just the contortions that left me feeling rather sore yesterday!

** included building a number of jet boats (wood covered with fiassisting David and me in the renovation of our home in Johnsonville .. unless it was fixing a radio or TV or wallpapering he would do the job.

As we are heading for London, we need to be a bit self sufficient and able to identify and eliminate issues if something goes wrong when we are out of reach of the fabulous Ed. It’s a gradual process, this learning about the boat. Steering it has been easy peasy, but learning how it all works, in the cabin, in the electrical department and in the engine bay has taken some time. We will never be able to do the things I read about on the boating forums - I don’t even know what most of them mean or even where to start looking, but we can now manage the basics.

I am feeling quite chuffed!

Today Tim David from Onboard Solar is coming to fit our 4 solar panels and MPPT controller – another thing to learn about, and as it’s electrics, it’s David’s domain.

I have to go to the bank and get the cash, do some food shopping, go to the chandlers and buy some spares (fuel filter, belts, air filter) plus a marine magnet. We’ve had the Webasto on this morning warming the boat (it is a bit chilly in the Midlands at the moment) and heating the water, so now I can have a shower then make brekkie and face the day – it looks like it’s quite sunny – yay! The forecast last night said it was meant to reach a whole 19 deg C today and that the UV rating would be quite high – what are they on about???

PS We met some more antipodeans yesterday – Diane and Malcolm on Idle Jack who’ve just arrived back from Melbourne in Australia and are moored up a couple of boats away before they head off today. They came over for a glass of wine last night – I have to confess I was asleep on the sofa when they arrived, but it was lovely to see them and I hope we see them again on our travels – they are heading in a different direction at first, but maybe as we converge back here later in the year.

Back on-board

Breakfast for the boys before we left - pikelets!

One batch of pikelets is just enough!

After a long wet drive down from St John’s Town of Dalry on Tuesday we arrived at the boat in Barby Moorings in the late afternoon. We had diverted to Desborough to look for our friends Mick and Julia, owners of the beautiful traditional style nb Arch Stanton. We had seen them on our last day of boating last year, had run down the towpath after them, got their address and phone number and then lost it somewhere between the boat and the new house. Dammit!

Mick and Julia weren’t home at the address David had tracked down through various avenues on the Net, but we left a note for them. Hopefully they will be home before too long and get in touch with us! If any readers see the nb Arch Stanton out and about, can you please tell Mick and Julia we desperately want to hear from them and give them my number (07474 247 857).

So back at the boat, it had to be moved from being breasted up with a few other boats to being on a pontoon so we could decant the contents of the rental car into it.

My first brain fade was in not knowing where the ignition keyhole was … The many years of hiring Black Prince boats was foremost in my mind, but Waka Huia’s ignition and electrical workings are not in the same position … David had to show me. My excuse is that I was tired from 6 hours of driving and still suffering from jet lag. But really my mind just went blank.

The engine started first go and then stopped after a few seconds. That was remedied by Penny who did what I should have done first up - pumped fuel around the system - and we had another go. Bingo! We then extricated ourselves from the ties that bind, reversed out, turned around and made it to the pontoon without touching another boat – I was dead pleased, esp as I’d started off not knowing where to place the key … A bit of redemption there.

We had thought, given Ed was due the following morning to give me engine maintenance tuition, that it would be a good idea to reconstruct the pram cover. So while I was unloading the car and toting stuff to the boat, David was assembling the pieces. Cross purposes – I had meant we should do it AFTER we emptied the car.

As I was running on empty, we decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and in the interests of not killing each other, the pram cover should be left until we’d had a good night’s sleep. Excellent decision!

Suitcases in the saloon, bed made, food stowed away, ham salad for dinner with chardonnay and muscato and it was good night from her and good night from him shortly thereafter. I was whacked!

We did wake early but that was fine as we’d retired before it was dark. In the middle of the night I had woken and thought about the pram cover and how it fitted together, and thought how sensible we had been not to tackle it on arrival – if I couldn’t remember where the key went, I also could not remember at that time how that damned thing fitted together either! But in the dark of the night, with my mind cleared of extraneous concerns, it came back.

Even so, it took 1.75 hours to get it back up, and even now I have tied the straps that I couldn’t get the through the cinches. I’ll do them today, standing on my stool so I can reach comfortably and see better, and I’ll use a sharpish knife to encourage them … So a fairly long task made longer by the fact that we hadn’t realised that the pieces were not entirely symmetrical and there are differences between the port and starboard fittings, namely the lugs and their corresponding lugholes that needed to be in the right place for the curved struts to slot into. I have to confess that one of them is not slotted in to a lughole – I lost the will to live over swapping the fittings over as it couldn’t be turned by hand in its cup – I had already dropped David’s favourite screwdriver into the cut, never to be seen again – I got the distinct impression that he expected me to climb in and retrieve it, but, as Marta would say, that’s not going to happen. NOTE TO SELF: MARK THE POLES WITH P&S AS APPROPRIATE SO WE PUT THEM ON THE CORRECT SIDE FIRST UP NEXT TIME.

After brekkie – yes, all that effort took place before we had eaten (well, to be strictly honest, we’d had a banana each) – we started to unpack the wardrobes of the bedding that I had vacuum packed in October to help prevent it getting damp, so we could get the clothing stored. But when I opened two of the forward lockers under the sofa to store said bedding, I saw water on the base. David was called to investigate and discovered the source of the water that had plagued us all last season at the inspection hatch at the stern in the galley – there was a leak in the isolation tap on the pipe from the water tank.  

So Ed’s list was growing. But by the time he arrived, the saloon was impenetrable from the rear – I do wish I had taken photos. The suitcases and half of the sofa were covered in sofa cushions and tat (battery drill, drill bits, children’s games, boat manual case, etc) from the lockers. David had mopped up the water and had the fan heater in one locker drying it off. I continued to sort the bedding into single (re-vacuum packed for storage in the lockers later) and double (folded and stored in a plastic tub under our bed). Then I de-vacuumed packed the clothing I had left on-board, and realised that, apart from the going out stuff, I hadn’t needed to bring anything! I counted 12 short sleeved tops already in situ, 5 long sleeved tops, 4 pairs of shorts and two pairs of jeans, lots of socks and underwear plus plenty of footwear! So a lot of what I trundled over here last week and sweated over the packing of and weighing and 3D jigsaw puzzling has been put back in the suitcase and stowed under the bed to be left to lie quietly until October rolls around. I then started on David’s stuff, and found the same thing. NOTE TO SELF: MAKE A BLOODY INVENTORY BEFORE LEAVING IN OCTOBER!!!

The leaking fitting was replaced, the water filter removed (there is one under the sink so two is a bit of overkill), and after an interval to let the paste dry (paste? On plumbing bits? I ask you!) the tank was refilled for the second time – we know that the tank has been flushed good and proper now. NOTE TO SELF: TANK NEEDS TO BE FULLY DRAINED THIS WINTER AS THESE FITTINGS MAY FREEZE AND SPLIT.

There is more about yesterday, but I will post it separately shortly – right now I need to get some brekkie.