A lovely gift

Late yesterday afternoon there was a knock on the outside of the boat and it was Nigel who had brought gifts for me - a bottle of chardonnay (how did he know?), and a lovely bouquet of flowers from him and Liz.

Thank you both so much - the flowers are just beautiful! The chardonnay is carefully stored in the locker - but not for long, I am sure! Both gifts are much appreciated!

Roses, gerberas, chrysanthemums (white and green), carnations, and cornflowers. Aren't they beautiful?

They sit on the table when we are stationary, and I place the vase in the sink when travelling so they do not tip over.

When I did yesterday's post, I included Lyndon's photos from his facebook page, but didn't put in any of my own. So here they are:

Only one bottle required a corkscrew and it took two goes to get it out - in 2 pieces ... To be fair, my corkscrew is an attachment on the pocket knife, so it's not the most effective appliance!

The piss off mints brought on an epidemic of peeing outside the boat - strange how these epidemics only attack chaps, innit then?

I needed to look away from the peeing - it was a la la la moment for the eyes, so I thought the cooling towers would be a distraction ... That's Derby Boat Club moorings on the offside - the boats are not very long so they don't intrude into the channel.

I did manage to stay up a bit longer after the team left and take this photo of dusk across the cut to the marina (big boats: narrowboats and a smattering of widebeams and larger yoghurt pots)

We'd had brunch at the Marina Cafe at noon, then cheese scones at the Lockies in the afternoon, chippies (crisps to those people of English extraction) and piss off chocolate mints onboard Waka Huia; so dinner was not required. However David decreed that dessert was obligatory, so he heated the leftover custard, shared out the leftover ginger cake and the leftover blueberries, and brought mine to me in bed. See Julia - the supplies are going down!

Yesterday was an extremely blobby day - David didn't get up until the afternoon, and I was out of bed, sitting at the dining table still in my dressing gown. However I did make pikelets for lunch, and I baked bread. David got up when I said I thought it was time we went across for a pumpout as we wanted to head away by 8am today.

I said I wouldn't take down the pram cover as it wasn't windy. Bad mistake!! Note to self: Never travel with the sides up on the pram cover - it totally restricts access to the middle ropes, as well as making traversing the gunwales very dodgy while moving as there are no secure handholds.

We reversed back to the pumpout jetty, and that did work well, apart from the scary bits when I had to get the pram cover sides off while in motion to be able to reach the ropes. Good thing there were no other boats moving at the same time!

Then it was forwards, heading back over to the towpath to fill with water, and then pulling forward to the place we'd been moored since Friday. It is the 48 hour moorings, but there was no contention for space so I didn't feel guilty about overstaying. If stacks of people had come along wanting to moor, I would have moved down the locks - honest, I would!

And the moonlit shot across the cut to the marina later last night - taken by me just before I went to bed - when it was DARK!!

Still life on the water - taken this morning before we left at 8am

This morning, it was down the lock with Kevin and Pam on nb Stamford, out on to the Trent, a right turn on to the Soar, three locks done and now we are moored at Zouch. There is an A road nearby but it is pretty quiet.

Heading down the Trent - a beautiful morning!

We walked across the fields to Sutton Donington this arvo to go to the convenience store - we were out of butter and milk was running low. David did sneak chocolate digestives in to the basket and I managed to secrete a Mars bar and a couple of choccy treats in as well ...

Marinated pork strips are in the oven, coleslaw is made, rice will go on soon. I'd like a chardonnay, but I won't have one - I do need more than one day off the alcohol ...

The Lockkepers Rest and the crew

We had breakfast at the Marina cafe on Sunday - midday by the time we were served, but it was a pleasure sitting and chatting with the variety of people at the table.

Karen, Carol and me, Derek (who lived in Invercargill in his teens), David, Nigel, Liz, Dwayne, Chris and the trouble-making Lyndon. At this point, we were still hungry ...

I am having an alcohol free day today and possibly for a few days to come - far too much chardonnay was consumed over the weekend. And I blame Lyndon.

He looks like a trouble maker, doesn't he?

He labelled this photo 'My new sheila' on his fb page. As if I am from austraya. I purposely wore my NZ top so there would be no confusion! So I don't think his understanding of NZ symbols is very strong.

The cheese scones went down a treat at the Lockies, and I am sure it was useful for me to have them to soak up some of the alcohol.

When we left the Lockkeepers Rest well after closing time, it didn't seem right to end the fun. So we asked Nigel and Liz, Karen and Lyndon to come on board Waka Huia for a good bye drink. Out came all of the cider and wine from the locker. I didn't bring out the gin and rum, as who knows when we would all have got to bed and it's a work day today for Lyndon and Karen.

Karen and me

Liz and Nigel

David and I are on the stools on our fabulous false floor

Rest assured that not all of that wine was consumed, but 2 reds were, plus the Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc, and part of the chardonnay. Lyndon is only half there - and that's probably close to the truth ... Mukka, L&K's neighbour's dog, was under the table. Lovely wee jack russell.

When Mukka's owner rang asking where his dog was and when he was coming home, the party broke up. And channelling Adrian and Errol from Wellington NZ, we brought out the 'piss off' After 8 chocolate mints. They were rapidly scoffed and then it was goodbye.

It has been wonderful spending time with them, and I am fairly sure we have made the following arrangements:

1. mid summer kiwi xmas next year will involve this team of reprobates plus our other team of reprobates, Mick and Julia;
2. Liz and Nigel are going to come to NZ for a holiday at the end of 2020 and early 2021;
3. Lyndon and Karen will come to NZ when they retire - so only 7 years to wait, poor buggers!

Sawley

Thursday night's dinner was scrumptious - roast beef, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, carrots and peas were followed by ginger cake with custard. Well, Tim and David had pudding, but I knew my stomach would not cope, so refrained and went to bed, leaving them to do dishes and chat - so I didn't have to listen, I listened to podcasts. Actually, I dozed off while the podcasts were underway. And I cannot do that if there is a conversation going on - I have to participate. Ssshhh - no comments required on that, thanks!

See, Julia? Evidence that the peas have been finished.

And so has the crystallised ginger

It went into this cake - it's a BBC Good Food recipe that I add the crystallised ginger too.

And then at about 3.05am and again at 3.30am Tim's phone beeped loudly - impossible for me to go back to sleep after that, dammit, so I was awake enough to get up at 5.15 and sort his lunch and a cup of tea for David and me. And what were the offending texts? Notification from NZ Rugby about team selection for North Harbour - gggrrr!!!

Tim left before 6am (for the last of his overnight stays with the parents), and travelled with roast beef sandwiches, a piece of ginger cake and fruit for his lunch, plus a chocolate brownie for the boys who are with him this weekend, and the meat scraps for Kai (OUR boat dog) from the braised steak I made for dinner with the Grangers earlier in the week at Burton upon Trent.

Back to bed and to sleep for us, but we did get up earlier than David wanted, as the forecast said rain later. And off we went to Shardlow accompanied down the locks by Alan and Sue on nb Augustus. We had locked with them the previous day too. It is always good to work the locks with efficient companions! At Aston Lock a boat was coming out as we approached, but the guy closed the gate. He said to me as he passed that he hadn't seen us. Mmm, it was a Canal Ministries boat - so he can see his imaginary friend, but not a 16 tonne boat?

We left Alan and Sue at Shardlow and came on to Sawley - the visitor moorings weren't anywhere near full, the state in which I always like to see them. Too nerve-wracking wondering if a space will be available.

We had arranged to meet Mike and Julia in Sawley. (We had met Mike way back in 2014 on our first visit to Mercia Marina when we had the electrical blowout. He had come over and introduced himself and he was a most welcome and welcoming person at a time we were feeling a bit fragile about the boat.)

As David hadn't had breakfast, we went to the cafe at the marina and Mike arrived, followed not long after by Julia who had been at work. We repaired to the boat where I fed them beef sandwiches on home-made bread, followed by cheese scones that I made while they were eating their sandwiches.

I am not sure why David thought Mike needed a penis extension - maybe he is getting him ready for the catheter for surgery day?

I was far more respectful

Mike is due for a knee replacement on 24 September - it had to be postponed last year after he had a heart attack while on volunteer lock duty at Stenson - good thing he wasn't crossing the lock gates at that time ...

His knee replacement will be done under local anaesthetic so he'll hear all the cracking and sawing and hammering ... Lucky chap! It'll do his heart good, I reckon 😚😏

A nana nap was required after the disturbed night's sleep, so we didn't go to the Lockkeeper's Rest on Friday. I did get up at one point and take a sunset photo back towards the flood lock.

Now doesn't that look lovely? You'd never believe that the M1 is a few hundred metres beyond that ...

However last night, after getting the oil change done, we showered to get ready to go to the Lockies. David had hot water, I had lukewarm water - I was brave and didn't moan, but water that feels fine on the face and hands is a bit of a shock on the body ...

David decanting used oil into a spare container. Note that he is sensibly wearing goggles.

Nigel and Liz collected us on their way, and Lyndon and Karen arrived not long after. It was lovely to see David the publican again and he had got some chardonnay in for me - special man!

I did not need to be brought back to the boat in a wheelbarrow (David's plan - but not sure where he would have sourced one though) and was almost fully compos mentis on arrival - to the extent that I was able to coherently text Mick and Julia (not to be confused with Mike and Julia, OK?)

This morning I made scones to take to the Lockies this afternoon, after we go to brekkie at the marina cafe with some of the residents. First batch is out of the oven, second batch is receiving the heat treatment now.

All done - these ones rose higher and the bottoms cooked better. I think it's because I did them in two batches and there was plenty of space for air to move around them.

We had intended to head off down the Soar at least a little way today, but will leave tomorrow instead. I need to make sure the rain jacket and hi-viz trousers are close by as it is meant to rain all day. But we will have done our 48 hours here by this lunchtime, so staying another two full days over that would be taking the piss. So we will be brave and move on.

Thwarted intention

The post that I published about 2 minutes ago (actually 2 days ago now) was text ready a couple of days before that, but I could not load photos or save the text on Blogger. Not the programme's fault, but an issue with not enough time to get it done at Burton upon Trent on Tuesday and then no decent internet service at Willington the day before yesterday - I had to copy and save the text in Word as I couldn't save it on Blogger without decent service, and I had to wait to insert the photos on Thursday at Weston Lock.

Our trip down to Burton upon Trent on Tuesday was fine apart from being in the 5th lane of the A38 pretty much all of the way! To combat or cope with the noise I listened to podcasts - first Rachel Maddow and then Lawrence O'Donnell, both from MSNBC. David still listens to them both daily, but I have largely given up on them - not because they are not good and informative listening but because I was getting depressed by the continuous information coming about the dumpster and his idiocy. But, such is the ghastliness of the A38, that the podcasts were a very welcome relief!

On the river section below Alrewas again - just David and me this time. I wanted to photograph the cows on Sunday but was chatting with Marta instead.

The barrier at the weir

That's the A38  just the other side of the trees! See what I mean about being in the 5th lane?

We arrived at Shobnall Fields early in the afternoon and were soon joined by the lovely Mick and Julia who had travelled that morning from Sawley - when I tell you that we are making our way to Sawley and taking 3 days to do so, you will know how far and fast the two of them travel!

We did not expect Tim until later on as he'd said he had a long day's work to do, so we went out to find a good place for him to park the van. The nearest street did not look promising as at 4pm there were already lots of cars parked, so we went over the canal footbridge and found the next closest street. A really nice couple offered for Tim to park in their driveway - how kind is that!?

Waka Huia and Unknown No 3 moored nose to nose at Shobnall Fields - a good morning.

Dinner was cooking and we were not planning on waiting for Tim to arrive, when all of a sudden he turned up - at least an hour earlier than he'd said. Yay!!!

It was great having Mick and Julia and Tim with us. The weather had turned to crap, and dinner was a success: comfort food is such a boon when it is chilly and wet. I made braised steak and onions, with mashed potatoes, carrots, broccoli and peas, and dessert was a ginger cake with custard. The cake could so easily have been a disaster though: the recipe called for the butter and golden syrup to be boiled together and the remaining ingredients (flour, milk, spices, egg, milk) mixed together with the syrup mixture added last. I carefully cut baking paper to fit the silicon cake tin, poured the mixture in, adding some yummy crystallised ginger, and put it in the oven. Then David came down the stairs and said 'what is this for?' pointing to the saucepan ... AAARRRGGGHHH!!! So I quickly pulled the tin out of the oven, scraped the mixture off the baking paper and back into the mixing bowl. I wondered if the syrup mixture would be too hot to be added but couldn't really wait, so in it went while Mick made a new baking paper lining. Then back into the tin and the oven. I watched anxiously, but no need - it came out fine and tasted great!

There were leftovers of braised steak and of cake and, using offspring privilege which has greater currency than parent privilege, Tim claimed them for his lunch for the following day. However in the morning he ceded them to David, citing needing to not feel too full while he was working.

Mick and Julia left by 6.30am and we got up to have hugs goodbye - it is possibly the last time we see them this year. Tim left shortly after them and we went back to bed. Well, it was raining! And breakfast in bed was in part comprised of the leftover cake with custard. Important to note that Garfield says life is uncertain (and boy, is that true here in the UK at the moment!!) and we should eat dessert first. It may be decadent, but makes very good sense!

And off they went in the early morning light - a bit damp as well.

We decided on Willington for that day's mooring as it would be an easy place for Tim to park - lovely Co-op there, but the goods trains go through all night, and as the railway is up high on an embankment, the noise penetrates everywhere. It was the first time I've worn earplugs in ages!

Tim was up and away early the next morning from Willington - he left by 6.30 and called about 15 minutes later to say he was pleased he had done so as there had been an accident on the A38 coming south - a car overturned into the wooded area (Branston Park, I think, from the map he sent later) and 3 ambulances racing towards it. Someone's day well and truly ruined, unfortunately.

When we saw them recently, Del and Al on Derwent 6 showed us their special mooring hook, so we bought a C ring and made one for ourselves. This is my first go at splicing - I looked up Splicing for dummies on google, watched the video that appeared right through once, and then followed the instructions watching it a second time and pausing it as required.

And the finished article. Not too shabby for a first go! We tried it out this afternoon and it works as long as I have almost stopped the boat  by the time I step off to insert the C ring in the armco. And accomplishing that is harder than you'd think ...

While we've had Tim coming to stay, which has been such a pleasure, I've been being a good mum - cooking dinners (apart from Wednesday night which was an Aldi chicken, ham and leek pie) and getting up early to make sandwiches for Tim's lunches. And one day last week, when we were moored at Polesworth, I cooked cheese scones for Tim to take to share with the other guys on the site.

So now it's almost time to put the roast of beef into the oven for tonight's dinner and prepare the veges (David) and the yorkshires (me). I think I will make another ginger cake - there is crystallised ginger to use up and Julia tells me I have to start emptying the cupboards, given we only have a month of boating left this season. That may mean I also need to make a chocolate brownie for Tim to take home tomorrow for the grandsons.

Today we have moved on down to Weston Lock, the site of the blown master-switch on our first day out onboard Waka Huia back in 2014 when I turned off the engine without realising I had to turn off the washing machine too.  Read about it here. That was our introduction to Justin at Aqua Narrowboats in Mercia Marina, to Ian and Lyndon who worked there, and subsequently to Ed Shiers. Feels such a long time ago!

Family aboard

One drama we had to overcome last week was the replacement of eyedrops for David's left eye. Before we left NZ David had a script filled for the three sets of drops, one for his right eye and two for his left. One of the latter keeps his pupil dilated (not sure why; that eye looks like a startled owl's wide pupil 😜) and the other keeps the pressure down. The pharmacist in Waikanae had one fewer bottles of the Dortimopt than the script called for. And David didn't set him the task of sourcing the other one before we left ... Doh!
So suddenly over the Bank holiday weekend, we realised that the Dortimopt was almost run out, and more needed to be sourced pretty much immediately - we don't know how long he could go without them before his pressure would rise again, but it's not a risk to be lightly taken.

So I made a call to an optometrist in Coventry, but they don't have a prescribing practitioner and suggested the NHS Walk-in Centre there. So I threw David off the boat at Hawkesbury Junction (well, I dispatched him with impatience and grumpiness, as he was being a total pain about getting himself sorted for the process of getting there and back - how long does it need to take to get your phone, earphones, ipad, wallet, specs, prescriptions, current drops, NHI card, passport into a backpack? And how much mental preparation does it take to do so? AAARRRGGGHHH!!!)

I had decided not to wait at the junction, but to carry on. There are no locks after the junction for ages, so I was confident I would manage. I did the stop lock at the junction which was easy because it's only about a foot drop and I didn't have to climb down the ladder and slime myself along the lock wall, and a hire boat was coming along behind me so they closed up for me.

I got around the 180 degree turn out of the basin into the Coventry Canal without touching anything - first time I have accomplished that and David wasn't there to see it, dammit!

When I rang the Walk in Centre before David left the boat, they had said the wait at that time was 1.5 hours. Well, in the end he waited about 4 hours, then 20 minutes for the script to be filled. But it was all free, and he was very pleased with the service, as well as relieved to have the UK version of the Dortimopt to tide him over till we get home.

In the meantime I had boated along such a pretty part of the canal network (it's a shame David missed it really), and then I moored up (middle rope only) across from Springwood Haven Marina to have lunch before moving over for a pumpout. I'd decided that with 3 guests over a 3 day weekend, it was a wise prepatory move ...

Tim called about then and said he was on his way to us from work, and decided he would go and fetch David, so I carried on, finally mooring up at Hartshill. I was very kindly assisted by the man on the boat in front of where I wanted to moor - I'd almost gone past his two matching lilac and white boats when I made the decision, and he came out and helped with the middle rope as I reversed back into place. Lovely place to moor and a good parking area by the bridge. There were a few boats moored and the people were very friendly. I saw Neil who had painted the inspection hatch with rust-proofing gunk a couple of years back when we were on Tixall Wide, and a guy on nb Isabella Grace with whom I had a lovely conversation as I walked back from sending Tim a pin for the parking area - Tim and David can't have been far away as they appeared on the towpath mid chat.

The thing I learned about solo boating that day was how well you have to be prepared with all the accoutrements for the number of hours you expect to be cruising - drinks, tissues, sunglasses, hat, jersey in case it gets cold, sunscreen in case it gets hot ... Because there are no opportunities to go down into the boat to collect things unless you pull over and tie up, and who wants to do that just because the hat is still sitting on the bed?

As Waka Huia is a reverse layout, I was able go down into the galley and quickly fill the water bottle if I went into neutral on a very straight section; but there was no toilet stop until I moored up opposite Springwood Haven Marina for lunch ... (I think I told David later how I realised that he does a lot of fetching stuff for me - in case I didn't, I will tell him now 😙😏)

We are now in Alrewas having arrived here on Saturday arvo complete with Olek and Karol and their mum Marta who had trained down from Scotland to Tamworth and cabbed it to Fazeley on Thursday night.

They'd travelled a couple of hundred miles on Thursday evening while we had travelled from Polesworth on Thursday (2 locks and 7 miles), having done the Atherstone flight of locks on Wednesday 6 miles and 11 locks) to be in the right place to meet them! We did also do a 1.6 mile walk to Asda at Tamworth - does that count as journey time?

On Friday we headed out early - no pikelets for breakfast, to Karol's disappointment - but a stop at Hopwas for football in a field. First task was to pump up the ball David and I bought in Argos at Milton Keynes. David tells me that Karol is a natural as a goalkeeper.

We fetched up for the day in Willington still with the engine running as the batteries hadn't got up to 100% - originally we moored up quite close (much too close!) to the road and rail, so rather than ask for opinions, Olek and I looked a bit further down the towpath and found that it was good. So he guarded the desired spot and I came back and quietly untied and moved the boat. Marta and David came racing up out of the boat concerned 😖 😖 that the boat was just floating free by itself - they had not heard me untying or putting fenders on the roof ... Sneaky, eh? 😝😛

After lunch we did a circular walk to the pub, in the general direction of away from it, along the towpath to the next bridge, through cornfields, on to a road near the marina and, eventually, the pub - imperative to sneak up on it from behind, you know ... Karol hadn't wanted to go for a walk, but was persuaded by crisps and a drink: so he was temporarily miffed to discover on the way back using the direct route, that we were only about 400 metres from it. 😏😏😏

Saturday morning was deemed pikelet breakfast but as the boys were still asleep and David was still in bed when I felt like getting going, I got us set up for cruising and off we went. Apparently the engine wakes people up - who knew? So the boys appeared not long after, and we stopped for breakfast about a mile short of Fradley Junction. Lovely place to moor. Pikelets, bacon, banana and syrup - I know there is maple syrup in the cupboard somewhere, but I was content for Karol just to find the golden syrup. Yummy!

At the junction we re-filled with water and then David, Marta and Olek went on to the rubbish disposal and lock. Karol was in charge of the swing bridge and I asked if he wanted to get onboard. No, he said, he'd go to the lock. So off he goes and off I go, him to the right, me to the left. Much yelling and calling from two grandsons and a husband - wrong way, Marilyn!!

I am not sure what was in my head - probably nothing but fresh air - David and I had been speaking for days about getting to Fradley and turning right, but in my head I saw Shadehouse Lock so of course, I turned left. So a reverse and a turn to the right while the volunteer lock-keeper looked on in an amused way. Fortunately there were no other boaters waiting ...

The boys are excellent on the locks - Olek has been a star for some time and Karol, although little, is strong and determined. If his big brother can do it, he wants to emulate him. (That, of course, does not extend to doing dishes without complaining ...) Their granddad has taught them well - they always put the windlass down at the end of the rainbow (the arc of the gate) and they are careful with winding down the paddle gear, they know to rock or give a lift to the gate if it is hard to move.

So as David and Marta walked the long-ish lock pounds, the boys and I cruised the short distance to Alrewas. We moored on the 14 day moorings - great place to be with plenty of sun for the solars which needed it with the short days' cruising we'd been doing.

Off to the nearby park they all went (a couple of times) after Marta's dad arrived from Chipping Norton to stay the night. Rain interrupted play but they were all happily busy.

Olek and Marta

Karol on dishes after breakfast

The butterfly was savings its energy by hitching a ride - and widening its genetic spread too, I guess. Beautiful markings.

When we have guests on board, their bedding gets rolled up and placed on our bed. Here Olek is doing a Kai impression burrowing in the pillows and then looking surprised at being disturbed ...

Olek was sitting on the galley steps and I had the felt pen at hand ...

Then he named them - no idea of the significance of the names. He wrote upside down and I thought it was pretty tidy considering - perhaps he could become a teacher, as I remember a key skill was being able to print upside down. Second thoughts, NO! Go for something less stressful, I say!

On Sunday, as they were all leaving after lunch, we had a short cruise down through the river section to Wynchnor Lock and return.

The boys at Alrewas Lock on Sunday morning

Working, Grammy, working!

Two grandfathers watching two grandsons working

Closing Wynchnor Lock behind me at the end of the river section

Olek steered into Wynchnor Lock on the way back (first time - didn't touch the sides) and then steered the river section and worked the lock for me, then he took over steering again, and came up and winded (first time - beautifully done) and brought us in to moor in exactly the same spot we'd left a few hours before.

And here we are back at Alrewas Lock

Karol had a new pad and pens so drawing was the order of the day once lock work was done.

And here we are but not for much longer - David and I stayed here yesterday and had Ed here replacing the heat exchanger on the Webasto, replacing the water/anti-freeze in the radiators, and changing the toilet seals. Tim arrived mid-afternoon (in time for a late lunch of cheese scones) and got on with his tasks; and by the time he finished, it was 8.30pm and we still hadn't had dinner although most of it was ready to go. We were having fillet steak from Coates the butcher here in Alrewas, so that was quickly cooked, potatoes mashed with lashings of butter, and the coleslaw had been made hours before. Gu puddings followed.

Dinner for Tim one night last week - lamb shanks, cooked with onions and lemons. Yum

Tim at work - he clearly knows what he is doing, but I have no idea.. David does though, so at least one of of living on board understands electricity.

And then a Skype call to leave a happy birthday singing message for Kirsty who turns 42 today - my dad always said it was no accident that her birthday was on the anniversary of the day war broke out. What could he mean? She rang back later when I was in bed. Just lovely to talk to her.

So here we are. Shortly we will get up and get going to Burton upon Trent. We are meeting Mick and Julia there today and Tim will be joining us again. I have tempted M&J with braised steak and onions for dinner - food as the enticer to friendship ...

The first load of laundry is in ready to go, David has to vacuum the galley this morning as Tim created a few metal slivers yesterday as he cut a rectangle out of the cover plate of the switchboard, and I am not keen to have them in my feet or food.

I am going to take earplugs with me as we will be in the 5th lane of the A38 for most of the cruise today and it is noisy!

Socialising in Braunston and at points along the way

After chips and shandies at the  Admiral Nelson, and before Neil and Neill left and before Lizzie and Barry headed off on their speedy trip back to Dritwich Spa Marina, we had Wendi around for dinner. You will remember Wendi - she is the NZ woman we met at Campbell Park on our way down to Berkhamsted. That day she was very sad as in the afternoon she was having her old dog Bessie put down. Bessie  had trouble with her back legs, could hardly walk and couldn't get up and down the stairs, plus she was incontinent.

When Wendi told us about what was coming up that afternoon, I asked if she'd like a cup of tea. No cup of tea required. So I asked if she'd like a hug. Yes please. So in an instant a friendship among us was born, and she was invited for dinner on our return.

As we couldn't coordinate with her work schedule as we came back through Milton Keynes, Wendi came to Braunston. With Maggie the fox terrier who, however old she is (4, I think) is still very bouncy in a Tigger-ish kind of way.

While she was with us, Maggie managed to:

• make friends with Kai and Enzo 
• climb on the table
• race up and down inside the boat, playing chasing with Kai, with the two of them very nearly bowling Enzo over in the rush. Did you know dogs find it hard to stop when running flat out on vinyl flooring?
• fall in the canal off the towpath where the grass overhangs the cut and has no solid footing below ...
• sit at the table with Wendi along with Enzo sitting with N&N during dinner... Kai stayed down in the saloon, even when David took away the barrier - who's the best dog, then?
• avoid getting in the car when Wendi left - she's black and white, so not easy to see in the darkness of a carpark ;-)

For some reason I don't have any photos of Wendi, but there are photos of dogs ...

We must have fed them something - dog treats I think. Maggie has her bum to the camera ...

Neil has scooped Enzo up and off the table, and it appears we do have a partial photo of Wendi - her hand removing Maggie from the table! So who is the best dog who does not feature on or at the table?

Dinner was lovely - little Neill made a yummy chicken dish that had chorizo, potatoes, lemons and tumeric. I made a chocolate brownie; and there was wine and there were nibbles. No one went to bed hungry.

The following morning, before we scattered to the four winds, we had a shared breakfast with L&B, N&N. Then N&N departed - Big Neil had a practice session for the sea rowing (it has a proper name but I don't know it) that he does and he wanted to be home in time for that. L&B and we did the last couple of locks together, we moored next to the marina and they pulled in the have a final hug goodbye. Sadness ...

The last of Lizzie's selfies

And off they go - sadness.

It has been great boating with them.

And on our own again - we still have the dog though ...

We did laundry at the marina as there were 2 pairs of sheets, several towels and lots of clothes to be done. It was faster to do it there, but I did have to have a lie down when David told me it was £11 for washing and drying one load. And we did 3 ...

That day, Tim called to say he was coming to collect Kai. So more sadness as he drove away with our boat dog. We were being deserted by everyone!

Our beautiful boat dog - ours, I say!!

As it had been a pretty hectic few days getting from Berkhamsted to Braunston, we decided to give ourselves a day off and have a blobbing day. We started it by walking up to the Admiral Nelson for dinner - very nice even though the chardonnay had no oak.

On our way up, we made the mistake of being over helpful to a couple of hirers coming through the bottom lock - too much information provided and they started smiling at each other over our heads (we are short, they were tall). I noticed and hauled David away before we were both embarrassed...

We had never noticed these lovely gardens at the locks near the Admiral Nelson before

And we saw that they were planted and maintained by Neil Wolfe who trades from his boat selling wood. Aren't they fabulous?

We blobbed about in the morning, until Tim called to say he'd arrived - when collecting Kai the previous day, he'd asked if it was OK to spend the nights with us while he was working on a job in Birmingham which is not that far away.

I am not sure what David was doing when Tim arrived, so I went to meet him to help bring his stuff down to the boat. He was not impressed that I turned up with the granny trolley ... But it did come in handy for carrying his foam mattress, and Tim even towed it without loss of testicles.

We moved on that afternoon, and while we filled with water and went to the chandlers, Tim drove on towards Bridge 85, parked the van and biked back along the towpath to meet us.

We managed to moor pretty much nose to nose with nb Muleless just through Bridge 85 - it's a good mooring spot. Della and Gary used to blog so we had to have a chat as well as a cuddle and tummy tickle with their 4 month old staffie, Echo. He's lovely - a beautiful soft but deep grey.

We sent Tim off to work in the morning and we got ready for the day's boating to and through the Hillmorton Locks. While untying from the mooring, we were being come up upon by the CRT contract workers doing mowing and strimming. I signalled at them to pause while I was untying, and they did. But David didn't signal them and they kept on approaching him, mowing and strimming. They moved around him, still with mowers and strimmers going!!!

He was crouched down untying the rope and releasing the chain, and thought they would stop. But no! Maybe they thought that as a chap he would be able to cope - unlike his wimpy wife. Stupid arses! If any stones or sticks had been flicked out, David could have copped them in the face. And we have paid lots of money to have his right eye fixed - I'd have been ultra-pissed off if it was damaged or lost because of their carelessness.

Surprisingly David has not talked to CRT to report what is actually very dangerous behaviour and very likely is against the code of practice that CRT has with the contracting firm.

After the locks, while we were watering up, I walked ahead to see what the mooring situation was. I found a nice place and walked back. As I did I realised I had failed boat tying up - the stern was drifting out into the middle of the cut and the tail of the rope was about to slide into the water. A mad dash to rescue it, and a simultaneous shout to David to come and help. Disaster averted. Well, it wouldn't have been too bad, but it certainly would have been embarrassing ...

I read Al and Del's Derwent 6 blog that day and saw they were somewhere nearby, so messaged Al, and an arrangement was made to meet the next morning. To make sure they wanted to see us, I offered scones. Well, sometimes, it's important to make sure of your welcome, isn't it?

So I was up in the morning baking before we headed all of a mile and a half down the cut. But boy was that trip slow. Before we left, I waited for a boat to pass us. BAD mistake. It was the slowest boat on the network (seriously, I checked - honest 😆 ...). What I had taken as their politeness in travelling past moored boats at tickover, was their constant speed. The guy knew he was slow because he kept looking back at us. I was alternately in tickover and neutral. I would have signalled requesting to overtake, but as it was only a mile and a half, I decided to practise patience. I practised it and failed, as I haven't got either the knack or the gene for it.

And I failed mooring up, as we arrived behind Derwent 6.  I got the boat all over the place instead of tidily to the shore, dammit!

Del guarding the scones

Guard duty required more assistance ...

Del and Al in the middle - cheese scones in 4 tummies.

And we were off again. Boat is lower in the water due to scone loading ...

After scones and tea (all 12 scones downed by the four of us) and a sight-see though Derwent 6 and a sight-see through Waka Huia, we left them and headed off to Rugby.

We found a mooring in the shade - it was very very hot, and I wasn't feeling too well. David was dispatched (actually he volunteered) to the shops while I had a nana nap. It was valiant of David to volunteer to go shopping, as in spite of his eyes being improved, he still struggles in supermarkets - it's the trying to find stuff in an unfamiliar shop, so it takes him a lot longer than it takes me. It's not that I am always familiar with product placement, so to speak, but my eyes are sharper, I am more practised at shopping and I will always ask shop assistants or other shoppers where things are. While I fail at mooring and tying up, I very rarely fail at shopping ...

The next day, after a second shopping trip by David, we moved on to All Oaks Wood and got one of the last spots, which was a bit of a rumpty mooring with hidden holes and no armco. In went 6 pins, 3 sets doubled. Out came the plank - just as well, as if we hadn't used it this season, I am sure David would have wanted to give it away or leave it beside the cut somewhere ... We pinned it down on the towpath and tied it on the boat as there was plenty of movement with lots of passing boats, some slower than others.

When the people behind us moved on about 8 in the morning, we took their space (with armco) : David got dressed for the task, but I worked in my nightie and dressing gown - I was going back to bed, so why get dressed unnecessarily!?

And it was HOT, HOT, HOT that day, as it had been the previous day. And even though it was hot, we walked in the non shade into Brinklow for the Scarecrow Festival. Some excellent exhibits and people had obviously put in lots of thought and effort.

OK, that was Sunday. It is now the following Monday (2 Sept). I still have not caught up, dammit!!