Getting a buzz just when I need it

18th & 19th May

Just before settling down to do today's blog, I read the latest from Andrew Denny on Granny Buttons, and that led me to Dogsontour by Greygal, who's just done a post about her favourite blogs, and includes this one.

Gosh! A year past January, when I started this blog, I had no idea if anyone would ever read it, and now I get enthusiastic mentions by other dedicated bloggers. I can't say how much difference it makes, especially on a day like today, when I'm cream crackered from trying to get Sanity look presentable for Crick, I've still got the dinner to cook, and it's a blog day.

Getting a plug like that, like the kindly folks who post encouraging comments, makes it all worthwhile. Thanks Greygal.

Meanwhile, back to the (b)log: yesterday was an early start day, as we wanted to get through the tunnel before it got busy and full of smoke. We were boating by 7.15, and up the last two locks and at the tunnel mouth by eight. Rigging the new small wander lamp on the slide makes it so much easier to negotiate the tunnel. You can see exactly where the long axis of the boat is, and it was even possible to steer round some of the worst of the downpours from the ventilation shafts. Blisworth has always been a wet tunnel, and after the recent rain the north end in particular was streaming.

We got through in just 30 minutes, and then spent the rest of the day meeting lots of traffic coming the other way. There's no lack of moorings and marinas around here these days, and a cool but sunny Sunday had brought a lot of weekenders out.

By 11 we were at Stowe Hill, and stopped to fill the water tank and run a washload at the same time. The water point was in great demand – everyone was being good natured about it, though – it just wasn't the kind of day to get worked up about stuff.

We went round the corner to our usual mooring at Weedon by midday, and I nipped into the village to get a loaf of bread. I actually succumbed to the prospect of Cornish pasties. They were your basic mass produced beasts, but still very welcome after a long morning at the tiller.

In the afternoon, we started the process of trying to get Sanity look a bit like she did when we first got her from the yard, i.e. clean and shining. We cleared all the stuff off the roof, and while Sheila sawed up the various bits of wood so that they'd fit into the bread tray or the coal box or down the back of the stove, I washed and rinsed the length of it.

Then we put it all back, and much better it looked for it, even if hawthorn blossom began immediately to blow off the hedge onto the nice clean paintwork.

Today we made a much lazier start, as we wanted to get more fresh stuff from the shop, and a gas cylinder from Whilton Chandlery at the foot of Buckby Locks.

Nevertheless we were boating by half eight, and by half nine getting near to Whilton. Sheila took over the helm so that I could start getting the gas locker sorted to change the bottle. It was just as well that she did, as when I came to lift the bottle out of the locker, it became apparent that it still contained some gas. When changing over bottles the other day, I hadn't quite closed off the stop valve on the empty, and it had slowly filled up a little from the new bottle.

This is a pain, as the only sensible thing to do is to go back to using this bottle until it runs out again, then switch over and change bottles reasonably promptly before the other one runs out. At least we found out before I'd bought the new bottle. Whilton Chandlery, never the cheapest place on the system, is now charging 95 pence per litre for red diesel, so I doubt if their gas would have been the cheapest deal either.

We hung about below the bottom lock to see if a locking partner would turn up. One boat showed in the distance after while, and I turned the lock (two boats having just gone up as we arrived at the bottom) to get ready. The approaching boat then signalled that he wasn't coming up, so after hanging about a bit more, we went up the first lock. No sooner were we well on the way up, than yet another boat appeared.

Accordingly, we waited above the lock. This one proved to be Lady Dilys, who'd been moored near us at Weedon. She was crewed by Brain and Dilys, former "ten pound poms" (beneficiaries of the old assisted passage scheme for British migrants to Oz) from New South Wales, and they made excellent locking partners, good humoured, skilled with the boat and just generally good people to be with.

We stopped in the pound below the top lock, and they went on, but I hope we'll have the chance to boat with them again.

Whilst hanging around at the bottom, I'd bought a Waterways World. It contains the piece we'd written about butchers on the cut, I'm pleased to say, in the Good Grub section at the front.

During the afternoon, Sheila finished the doilies to decorate Kala, the Braidbar showboat, which means she's now able to take a bit more of a risk with her hands. Whilst doing the crochet, she has to try to avoid getting the skin too rough, or she can't handle the cotton properly.

Now she can join in the boat cleaning bit. I've spent the afternoon polishing the starboard cabin side, though I'm not satisfied with it, and I think it'll have to be done again tomorrow. Sheila, meanwhile, heroically started the process of getting the brass of the Houdini hatch clean. The first line of attack is with Astonish paste, then it will have to be polished with Brasso.

I'll get it sealed with Incralac this year if it's the last thing I do.

To Stoke Bruerne in the rain

16th & 17th May

We've now settled down into steady cruise mode, aiming to get to Crick at the end of next week. Yesterday we set off at eight on a damp and cool day which gradually became downright cold. After three hours steady chug through Milton Keynes, we'd reached Wolverton, where a brief stop was made for Bruce to do a bit of shopping, leaving Sheila gratefully on anchor watch. She hates the open iron staircase that leads up from the towpath to the roadside here.

Then we set off again for the last little stretch to Cosgrove, tying below the lock in time for lunch.

In the afternoon we made a start on getting Sanity into something like show condition. We used Astonish paste to clean the starboard portholes, these being the ones that didn't get the Incralac treatment last year. Having done that, it was necessary to wash that side of the boat before retreating inside to the warmth of the Squirrel and a quiet evening.

Today we made another prompt(ish) start. Just as we were getting ready to go before 8.30, we saw another boat doing likewise from just a little further down the towpath. This proved to be Autumn Venture, and we shared up the lock with her before setting off to follow along the pound from Cosgrove to Stoke Bruerne via Yardley Gobion and Grafton Regis. The East Midlands has some of the most amazing village names.

This pound is always either much longer or much shorter than you expect. Today it was in short mode, and well before I was expecting it, the bottom of Stoke flight came into view.

The flight was very busy, and we waited a little while for a couple of boats to come down the bottom lock. The one above was thus with us, but just as I set off to get it open, I saw someone raising the top paddles to turn it. There's no point shouting and screaming in these circs, tempting though it can be, so we just waited until the bottom lock was full and the top gates open before going up to the next.

The boat coming down proved to be a wide beam craft, Tamesis, and by the time Jan off Autumn Venture and I had got there, he'd got the top gates open and the boat was coming into the lock, steered by the woman on board. We were a bit took aback when the bloke shouted to Jan to drop the offside paddles he'd left up, then a bit mollified when he crossed over to help her shut the top gate.

To our complete amazement, he then got back on the boat and left us to work it down the lock.. It does seem a striking piece of chutzpah to not only pinch the lock from in front of you but then expect you to work it for him. In a way it makes it easier to avoid having a fit: such behaviour surely must stem from complete ignorance of canal etiquette (I hope).

Things were much better for the next lock – there were another two boats waiting to come down, but not only did they not turn the lock in front of us, they opened the bottom gates and helped us work up before going in themselves. In the meantime, an Alvechurch boat had come down the lock above, and had to squeeze out onto the lock landing to let us in.

This one was covered with Wey and Arun Canal Trust banners, but her crew didn't seem any more clued up than the typical Alvechurch hirer ( i.e., not totally bemused, but not especially skilled boaters either)

We finished for the day in the long pound below the top two locks, leaving Autumn Venture to carry on by themselves. The weather was again looking a bit gloomy, and by the time we'd had lunch it was raining off and on, so a quiet afternoon on board seemed indicated.

Sheila is still working on doilies for Crick, and I improved the shining hour by washing the port side of the cabin to match the starboard side. This will make it easier to give both a quick wash and then a good polish next week

We ran a washload whilst this was going on, then went for a short walk between showers, just up to the tunnel mouth and back to stretch our legs. I'm currently researching the availability of handheld GPS to improve the variety of walks away from the boat we attempt. I'm tempted by the Garmin eTrex HCx, but almost all of the software is for Windows machines, not Macs. There is some Mac stuff in development, but for Mac OS 10.4 and above, and I've resisted the temptation to upgrade from 10.3.9 so far.

Tomorrow we go on through the tunnel and for a longish plod (the 15 mile pound, even) to Weedon.

Exciting and Inciteful Boating

13th & 14th May

It was an excellent evening the night before last; both John and Nev were in high spirits (provided we stayed off the subject of Watford FC) and we had a high old time. Many classic remarks were passed, most of which had better not be reported on an unrestricted site. A flavour may be had from one by John, commenting on his new mobile internet deal. "I'm so pleased with my new dongle, when I get home I may well get rid of the old Virgin". Shades of the late and much lamented Humphrey Lyttleton, and I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue.

We managed to tear ourselves away in reasonable time, though, which was just as well, as we woke very early the next day, in the way that you do when you know you have to get up early. I'd set the alarm for six, but well before that we were up and about.

One problem swiftly presented itself – I'd taken the new hat to show John and Nev, and had carefully placed it on the step out of Waimaru's saloon so as not to forget it, but John had equally carefully put it out of the way when going to speak to someone outside, and I had duly forgotten it.

Waimaru initially looked all quiet, but as we were starting to get Sanity ready John looked out to hand over the missing article. He'd been kept awake by the passing goods trains for half the night, he said, but I reckon he was consumed by guilt at having hidden my hat.

Then followed a period of hanging about and peering down the cut, but at last the first Incite boat came round the corner at half seven. Rather than Davinia, it was in the charge of one of the other leaders, CJ, but she'd been told to look out for us, and we were soon rising in the lower lock of the Gas 2, whilst the course members urged each other on with merry cries and brandished windlasses.

There followed one of the most sustained bits of boating I've ever done. For seven hours non-stop we went up to the Cowroast, through Tring cutting and down the other side to Leighton. It must have been like this on a Tuesday Night Club cruise. The Incite boats stopped below the Grove for purposes of their own, and we went on to the Tesco mooring for a brief shopping trip before carrying on to moor near the Globe.

I don't know what the Incite Teams courses are like (though the participants clearly enjoy them ) but as a canal escort service they are superb. Many thanks to CJ, Davinia and co for their company and assistance.

Today, after a good, not to say exhausted, night's sleep, we woke at a more reasonable hour, and were boating by eight. The weather has now broken; instead of blazing sun, it was cloudy all day, and started to rain with increasing savagery as the morning went on.

We had to hang about at the top of the Soulbury Three for a bit. They were all against us on arrival, and a boat was just coming into the bottom lock, so we thought we'd give them a chance to come up before going down. They proved to be a sweet old Canadian couple in an enormous Wyvern boat. Seemingly they'd booked a much smaller boat, but on arrival at the yard had been given this beast which must have been 65 foot long.

For any first timers it would have been a bit of a challenge, but these old dears were seriously struggling. We helped them up the flight and saw them on their way before going down ourselves. I must say that, in view of Wyvern boss James Griffin's negative attitude to continuous cruisers, our continuing support and help for his customers is one of the most appealing things about us. That and our modesty, of course.

The weather continued to deteriorate, so I lit the Squirrel in anticipation of Sheila's need to thaw out at the end of her steering session. Just after 11 we got to Fenny Stratford and stopped on the service point to pump out and water. It's not that long since we had the pump out at Cowley Peachey, but we want the tank to be as empty as possible before we arrive at Crick.

It continued to rain at such a pace that one began to peer through it down the cut in expectation of this old guy with a complete set of animals on his boat showing up, but all we got was yet another Wyvern (whose mythical status presumably implies that they missed the original boat). Having completed our tasks, we worked down Fenny Lock, and are now moored on the handy visitor moorings at the bottom. Tomorrow we go through Milton Keynes without stopping, for once, and will probably tie below Cosgrove Lock.

Back up to Berko

12th & 13th May

Yesterday we woke very early, after an early night the evening before. Since it was shaping to be another very hot day, we went over to summer cruising technique, that is, get the boating done before it gets too hot.

We set off at seven in bright sun but with a pleasantly cool breeze. Just after nine, we arrived at the Apsley Sainsbury's mooring, and followed up the shopping with a visit to the water point above the lock. Tank refilled and wash load on the way, we plugged steadily on to Winkwell, Bruce steering and Sheila lock wheeling on the bike.

There were a few boaters about, some of them with odd habits – lots of them seemed to need both gates open to get a single narrowboat out of a broad lock, and one of them, Elidir, perpetrated the most blatant piece of lock stealing we've seen for quite a while.

As Sheila approached from below, she could see a bottom gate standing open. The lock wheeler from Elidir appeared and started to close it. Sheila rang her bell and waved the windlass over her head, but to no avail.

When she got there, the woman had already drawn a top ground paddle. She said "Sorry, I didn't see you there" and wound the gate paddle on that side as well, although the lock had barely started filling, and it would have taken little time to turn the lock back and let Sanity into it. (For those not familiar with waterways etiquette, turning a lock round in the face of an approaching boat is one of the ultimate crimes, as it wastes a lockfull of water that could have been used by that boat).

Despite this, we continued to make good time, and got to Winkwell just on lunchtime. After lunch we did some well earned dozing in the sun – well, I did, so I'm told. Sheila is working hard to finish the porthole doilies for the Braidbar show boat, so kept going through the heat and haze, she says.

A bit later, when it was a shade cooler, I got her to cut my hair, taking it down to half an inch all over, in view of the prevailing weather conditions. It will now, no doubt, cool down.

Winkwell proved a pleasant mooring, though the Three Horseshoes pub on the opposite side had some sort of entertainment going on, with loads of people noisily enjoying the fine evening out on their canal side terrace.

Today, we had a lie in, and didn't start boating until 7.45. The breeze was distinctly cooler, but it was still sunny, and the boating continued to be idyllic, although hard work. It was my turn to bike, and work the locks. Along this stretch are a number of locks whose sidewalls leak so badly that you have to leave them empty no matter which direction you're going in.

This is handy when working uphill, but is a good example of the way in which BW's lack of cash for maintenance leads to increased problems in day to day running. It's fine at this end of the season, when there's plenty of water coming down the rivers which feed this stretch of the canal, but if we have a dry one and the Gade and Bulbourne start running low, throwing away all those lockfulls of water will make no sense at all.

By Bourne End Locks we heard our first cuckoo of the year. They are said to be getting rarer, so it's even more pleasure than usual to hear the familiar two tone call. Either he was a very active bird, or he had a rival, as we could hear the call all the way up to Bottom Side Lock.

Berkhamsted was busy as ever. We managed to find a first mooring under the footbridge that links the main part of the town to the park by the railway, but as this wasn't ideal, I carried on on the bike and found a better spot much further on. It's another good example of the bike earning its keep – just a moment to pedal a bit further on, but it would have been a tedious little trek on foot at the end of the day's boating.

Whilst we were sitting on the bow eating lunch, the Incite boats turned up. We had a cheerful shouted conversation with Davinia, so hopefully we are set up for an early start and assisted passage all the way back to Leighton Buzzard tomorrow.

Later in the day, John and Nev arrived on Waimaru. She looks very smart – John's had some minor mods done to her, and is now very pleased with the arrangements in the engine room.

We're eating with them tonight, a pleasure to be greatly anticipated; I just hope it doesn't make tomorrow's early start too painful. Truly it can be said, this second adolescence is much more fun than the first time around!

Heading out of London

10th & 11th May

The main task for yesterday morning was a trip to central London for Bruce and Michael, so that Michael could get a train for Newark from Kings Cross. I went along to sort out his ticket, and to bring back the Oyster card he was using. This meant a relaxed start, then a warm walk to Uxbridge tube. In less than an hour we were immersed in tourist hordes under Kings Cross, and I saw Michael onto a train ultimately bound for Leeds, but calling at Newark on the way.

I queued briefly in the Underground Ticket Hall to check on the cash left on my Oyster – after four tube trips (one the long one from Uxbridge) and a bus ride, I still had £9.60 left of the £15 I'd put on it. Truly, using an Oyster card is the way to get round London these days.

Back at the boat in time for lunch, we set off for an afternoon's boating for a change. It's noticeable that people are much more reluctant to slow down passing moorings down here on the southern GU. I'm not one of those sad souls who spends his time lurking in the side hatches bawling "SLOW DOWN!" at every passing boat, but it's come to something when our best mooring pin, the one that's an inch in diameter, comes out of the ground slightly bent after one night's duty.

We'd originally planned to go just a short way uphill to above Denham Deep Lock, but it was such a nice day, we carried on to our next planned stop at Rickmansworth Aquadrome, getting there at around five.

This morning was a classic early summer morning – calm, warm and with a slight mist curling up from the surface of the water. We'd woken early, so made the most of it, and were boating by 7.30.

It was a superb morning, getting steadily warmer as the day went on. At Lot Mead Lock at around 8.30, I was joined in my lock operations by a magnificent ginger tom. He was clearly disgusted that his staff hadn't yet surfaced, and spent the whole time the lock was filling standing on the balance beam beside me to be stroked.

When we left the lock, he gave us a look of disgust, as should say "Another broken reed" and stalked off into the undergrowth by the offside.

At the lower Cassio Lock, we had a short wait whilst a couple of BW guys tried to clear an obstruction from behind the offside lower gate. In the end they gave up long enough to let us lock through. It's Ricky Canal Festival next weekend, so they'll be keen to have all the locks as functional as possible.

I commented on them being about on a Sunday morning, but seemingly they now work shifts seven days per week, on a basis of 'contracted overtime': that is, they do the overtime, but don't get paid extra for it.

Further on in Cassio Park we saw a grass snake swimming along, making its elegant S-bends through the water.

By 12 we were approaching King's Langley. For the last half hour, a rattley vibration, which has been coming and going a bit over the last few weeks, seemed to get worse and worse, until, as I approached North Grove Lock, there was a clonk from under my feet and the noise and vibration stopped. The engine continued to run OK, so I waited until we were in the lock to lift the engine boards.

It immediately became apparent that the idler pulley on the TravelPower belt had disappeared. The belt was still running OK, so I left it be. We were stopping just above the lock in any event.

After lunch, and having allowed the engine to cool down a bit, I had a good look. The pulley had come clean off, and rolled to the stern of the engine bilge, out of the way.

Fishing it out, it was apparent why we'd had all this vibe – the bearing was an interesting oval shape. I knew from previous conversations with Beta Marine reps at the shows that they'd had so much trouble with this idler - it's the second one we've had, the first having seized solid after around 1500 hours – that they don't bother fitting it any more. It's supposed to improve the wrap of the belt around the alternator pulley, but the polyvee belt is so effective anyway, it's not really necessary.

I retensioned the belt so that it won't slip under load, and we'll see how the TravelPower performs in the future.

Tomorrow we're going to plod on up the cut, probably finishing near the Three Horseshoes at Winkwell for the night.

Up the Thames and back to Uxbridge

8th & 9th May

The fine weather continued yesterday, although I'd found it prudent to put the legs back on my zip off trousers as my knees were still grumbling about their exposure the day before. We had a leisurely start to the day, having been to The Grapes the night before for an excellent fish dinner; at £40 per head it wasn't cheap, but well worth it.

Free entertainment had previously been obtained by watching the antics of some youths on the far side of the basin. The top of that dock wall is provided with decorative wrought iron posts and chains, and they were amusing themselves by bunny hopping to and fro over the swag of chain, risking falling into the dock if they got it wrong.

What happened, perhaps inevitably, was not that, but one lad misjudged his jump and came down with one leg either side of the chain, at a point where it's about three feet off the ground...

He was rolling and writhing for some minutes, whilst his mates fell about.

With us booked to lock out onto the tideway at 2.15, the morning was spent in various preparatory activities – checking the engine, getting the life jackets out, making sure that everything on the roof was secure.

Mid morning, Mike Fisher (skipper of Nuggler) and I went and saw the lock keeper to confirm that we were still heading out. He told us that we were the only pair going, which was mildly surprising given the handy tide timing and the Cavalcade event the weekend before.

By lunchtime, I was in my usual pre tideway state of wondering why on earth I had thought it a good idea to risk my boat and home on the ocean deep (the Thames is very wide at Limehouse). No matter: at 2.15 the lock lights turned green and we motored in, holding ourselves against the sides with ropes around the vertical sliding poles.

Limehouse is by no means the largest lock we've ever been in, but it still feels pretty huge with just the two narrowboats in it. The gates opened and we set off into the river, sounding one long blast on the horn ("I am entering the fairway") as we did so.

As required, I attempted to raise London VTS, the traffic control system for the tidal Thames, on my VHF, but found that it wasn't powerful enough to reach them. Mike has a properly installed VHF on Nuggler, (rather than Sanity's handheld), with an aerial on the roof, but he was barely able to reach them. With the base being down at Woolwich, they could really use some more repeaters if they want small pleasure craft like ourselves to co-operate with the system.

The river was quite choppy at first; Michael had been sitting on the gunwale of the well deck, rather than get a folding seat out, but as Sanity shouldered her way through a big bit of swell from a passing trip boat, the spray rose up and soaked him to the shoulder, and he found it prudent to retreat a little.

Apart from the swell, conditions were near ideal, with pleasant sun, a bit of breeze occasionally gusting up, and some traffic, but nothing to cause major problems.

By quarter to five we were entering Brentford Creek. The lockie was looking out for us, and had the gates open at both ends of the lock, so that the creek was tidal up to the gauging locks. This gave us an anxious moment under the bridge just below, but we squeaked through, with Michael holding down the radio aerial to save it from being bent hard over.

We found a mooring space on the visitor moorings above the gauging locks, and were joined for dinner by Mike. A convivial evening ensued.

Despite that, we made a good start this morning, getting away at eight, with a good bit of boating to do to get to Uxbridge for tonight. Hanwell flight is a challenge, but with four of us and two boats we made good progress. We were following Orient Express, who was single handing, so Michael spent a fair bit of his time riding ahead on the bike and giving its steerer a hand.

Twelve locks later we reached Bulls Bridge and Tesco. Mike went on in Nuggler, taking her back to her home mooring at Harefield Marina. We shopped, watered, ran a washload and had lunch at Bulls Bridge. The moorings were quite empty today, unlike our previous visit. The patrol craft Verulam was hanging about, which may have had something to do with it.

Chugging on, we had a DIY pump out on the card operated machine at the Packet Boat Marina at Cowley Peachey Junction. This proved to be very good – a powerful machine which got our tank well clean.

Final move of the day was up Cowley Lock to find a mooring at Uxbridge by half four. These moorings are quite cluttered, but we squeezed into a space. Tomorrow, Michael leaves us to visit his cousin Graeme near Lincoln – Elanor is going over there tomorrow as well, so they can have a good generational get together before Michael heads back to Germany.

Ideally, he'd like to spend more time in the UK; that would mean getting a job, of course, so if anyone wants to employ a hard working, computer literate, bilingual guy of eighteen, turn his hand to anything, can steer a narrowboat and work locks, do let me know!

Cavalcade Days 2 and 3, post Cavalcade, Limehouse

4th to 7th May

You can tell we've been busy – neither Sheila nor I have had time to do the regular blog, so this is a catch up.

On Sunday, I spent time with the sparks gang again, firstly checking that all was well on the show site, then assisting Malcolm Bridge to wire a new set of lights to the genny trailer – these are fancy state of the art ones, LED based so that they well take either 12 or 24 volts – no need to change them depending on which vehicle is towing.

It was a reasonably straightforward job for an experienced hobby electrician like Malcolm – the main problem being getting the relevant bits off the trailer.

Meanwhile Sheila was doing the behind the scenes stuff that's not very glamorous but is nonetheless essential, like litter picking and rubbish collection. It makes all the difference to a show if the site remains tidy and presentable throughout.

The show was very busy in warm but rather humid weather – it felt like it might thunder at any time, but never did.

Monday was another day for routine stuff, making for a relaxed start (ie eight o'clock) and pottering round keeping the show going. I spent much of the day driving the little tug we borrow from Wood Hall and Heward, Lenny. Lenny is actually two sterns of Springer narrow boats welded together with a BMC 1.5 under the deck. She's capable of pushing a big pan, but we use her for rubbish collection and the like.

She also took part in the parade of historic boats, carrying three members of the Police presence at the show. The early evening was a case of flinging ourselves back on site, taking down banners, clearing up rubbish and so forth.

Later in the evening, an old colleague of mine, Gethin Griffith, now working at Brunel University, took us out to dinner. We had a very pleasant meal at an Italian place we found not far from Praed Street. It was good to catch up on gossip from Bangor – being still in the groves of academe, he's kept up with their doings much more than I've been able to.

Tuesday was a matter of more of the same, dismantling the last bits of the show structures, sweeping and litter picking and so on. We managed to get Sanity round to the coal and diesel boats Archimedes and Ara to get diesel, before Sheila, Liz and I took Opportunity back to the Laburnum Boat Club, dropping off the market stalls at Camden on the way.

At half six I set off to collect Michael from Stansted Airport. This was one of those logistic exercises which went surprisingly well. In order to get back from Laburnum, I'd got a couple of Oyster cards, the cashless system for paying for tube and bus journeys in London, and I was able to use those to get from Paddington to Liverpool Street Station, to catch the Stansted Express to the airport. The plane was on time, and we were back at the boat by eleven.


Today we set off on our travels again. The weather has been getting hotter and hotter as the week's gone on, and sun block and floppy hats were definitely needed. We had a good trip along the length of the Regent's Canal, arriving at Limehouse by four.

Michael took to lock working as if born to it, Sheila steered ands I ran around making sure everything went to plan ( OK, this is the way I see it). Highlights of the trip:

• A pair of coots mating on a floating plank above St Pancras Lock
• A sunbathing terrapin on another plank a bit later on, below Mile End Lock
• A family of swans sharing Johnson's Lock with us.

We're now tied on the wall at Limehouse, hiding from the sun, getting cool showers and planning to go for a meal in the Grapes tonight. Tomorrow, the Thames.