The Crick Show part II

Sunday 27 May

Our anxiety about the weather proved well founded. In six years of helping at the OwnerShips Show at Braunston on the first weekend of February, I can't recall it as bad as it was today. Mostly it was raining, with a steady northerly wind behind it. The rain itself was cold, and of course the wind made it worse.

There were far fewer people waiting to come into the show this morning, but we had a full schedule of appointments and kept very busy. Life was made more complicated by the fact that we couldn't now ask people to leave by the stern doors. Since Braidbar is 70 feet long, she overhung the jetty by about 10 feet. Yesterday we'd asked all the reasonably fit punters to walk the short stretch of gunwale from the stern to the jetty, but that was out of the question in these conditions. There was therefore much to-ing and fro-ing inside the boat, and it was often necessary to demonstrate that it was possible to get three bodies inside a Braidbar corridor bathroom.

We had planned a meeting of the Braidbar Owners Group in the gazebo at one o'clock to drink a toast to Braidbar 100, but since the rain was blowing sideways through it, we held the meeting in the bar instead. This in turn meant that Iain and Luisa couldn't be there, as the appointments ran straight through lunchtime. Nonetheless we managed to get the owners of eight boats along: Sanity, Shimshams, Sebeq, Autumn Years, Farne, Nuggler, Scarweather and Priscilla were all represented.

We shut up shop at half five and went back to Sanity where I was due to provide the food. Stuart meanwhile had got himself committed to taking part in a phone-in on Radio 5 Live. He'd responded to a piece earlier in the day about his experience of having his chip and pin card cloned, and needed to be available at twenty past seven. I just managed to get some frozen chilli con carne defrosted and served it with brown rice in time for him to finish eating before his deadline.

He sat in the cratch which we'd lowered against the weather, and Elanor went in the bedroom with the radio on in there. He was asked for two contributions, at the beginning and towards the end of the prog, and did just fine.

Monday 28 May

It didn't seem possible, but the weather was if anything even worse this morning, but still people came to see Braidbar. We'd been asking folks to go and vote in the poll for best boat in show all weekend, and we began to think that we might be in with a chance. Several of the other exhibitors had expressed admiration for her, and during the morning we had a signal from the poll organisers, the finance companies RoyScotLarch and Collidge and Co, that we were in contention.


The pressure built up as the morning went on, and then at 1.45 we heard - we'd won. This made a great climax to a successful show for Iain, Luisa and Maria, and was a well deserved outcome. The next challenge was to get the three of them to the relevant stand for 2.30, but in the event a rep from BW came over and escorted them across. We all went over too, and I took some pictures on the phone.

Now it was winding down time. Stuart had already gone, and at 3 Graeme and Cathy turned up to take Sheila away. Cathy is very nearly due to present us with our first grandchild, and Sheila is to stay with her for the rest of this week as Graeme is on a training course - very inconvenient, but that's the Army for you.

No sooner had they set off than Elanor packed and went. With all the rain we'd been uneasy about getting cars out of the quagmire that was the car park, but as it turned out all went well. Elanor and Stuart in particular have through wrg much experience of these situations, and had taken care to move their vehicles to spaces right next to the trackway as soon as the problem became apparent.

I called in at Braidbar to collect some stuff - the laptop had ended up over there, and we'd got a 230V AC pump out pump from Lee San, and it had made it as far as Braidbar. Goodbyes said, I lugged this lot back to Sanity (the pump weighs just over 15 kilos).

What was needed now was a way of occupying my time that required very little effort from me, and certainly no talking. With this in mind, I'd made my arrangements, and sat down and watched the first three episodes on the DVD set of the first series of Blakes 7 I'd bought from Amazon during the time at Poynton. (For readers outside the UK, Blakes 7 was a 1970's sci fi series on the BBC noted for its high quality acting, neat plotlines and very shaky sets. Oh, and the fact that most extra terrestrial planets were represented by various bits of an old quarry somewhere in Hertfordshire.)

Tuesday 29 May

Despite waking early, I lay in bed and dozed over a cup of tea whilst listening to Sarah Kennedy drivel on. After breakfast I ambled into the village to do some shopping, and discovered that Crick has its own Health Centre. Since my elbow was no better, I went in and got a fit in appointment as a temporary resident for this afternoon.

Back at the boat, in marginally better weather, I spent some time sorting out the new pump, fitting rubber feet to it and putting a blue waterproof 16 amp plug on it. A certain amount of juggling of stuff in the various cubby holes in the engine room made room for it to go away, and I also put away the other bits and bobs like filters and spare drive belts we'd acquired at the show or been brought for us by the Brycelands.

This was mostly done by lunchtime, and some email checking and other boat tidying took me through to 3 o'clock. I got back to the Health Centre just before appointment time, and went straight in. A very competent and business like GP confirmed my provisional diagnosis - it was an oecranol bursitis, or as he put it, housemaids knee on the elbow. He drained it - it doesn't look infected - and sent me on my way in ten minutes. If it comes back over the next few days, I'll have to go in again, have it drained again, and a steroid shot to clear the inflammation.

Back at the boat, I treated myself to another episode of Blakes 7 before going out for a meal with Graham and Carolann on Autumn Years. This turned into a predictably merry evening, and I staggered back to the boat quite late on. For some reason, a cup of soup seemed a good idea, so I made that and drank it in bed before falling asleep (or passing out).

Getting ready for the show, and Day 1

There's so much to cover, since I've not been able to find time to post over the weekend, that I'm going to do it in two bites, one today and hopefully one tomorrow.

Thursday 24 May

This business of waking early is getting almost tedious - we were up and about by 6.30 again. To fill in time before the shops opened, I checked the state of the internet connection. At first I got a GPRS connection on T-mobile - later in the day that disappeared, and I had to pay Orange another quid. This proved to be the pattern all the time we were at Crick - must just be a very weak T-mobile signal here, and of course the show puts a lot of demand on all the mobile signals.

Sheila did the washing up while I walked into the village to get a paper and some bread. We polished the port side of Sanity and her stern bulkhead, on the same basis as we did the starboard side. That is, I used my left hand to wash the dust off, and to do some polishing off, while Sheila did the tough bit putting the polish on, thus sparing my right arm. While we were doing this, Fair Fa' came past with Pat and Sheila Campbell on board.

To our surprise, the next boat past was Waimaru - apparently John and Nev have decided to come to the show.

I set off to walk up the towpath to help John and Nev moor, and in fact caught up with Fair Fa'. There were a lot of moored boats by now, all the way to Bridge 15, about 20 minutes walk away from the footbridge into the marina. We made an attempt to moor Fair Fa' just through the bridge, but she couldn't get close enough, and Pat and Sheila decided to go on to Yelvertoft. Because the canal bends round so much, it's feasible to moor there and walk back over Crack's Hill, along the bowstring of the curve, as it were.

Meanwhile, Waimaru had managed to squeeze into a space just before Bridge 15. After a chat with John and Nev there, they walked back to Sanity with me for a cup of tea, and to see Sheila, who had been steadily boat cleaning all the while.

After dinner we went to have a drink on Autumn Years with Graham and Carolann, and their friends John and Jo off Acen. This took up the rest of the evening - in fact it was gone midnight before got back to Sanity.

Friday 25 May

We woke feeling remarkably well, considering the late night - a bit dehydrated perhaps, but nothing worse. We both went to the Co-op to stock up in anticipation of being busy over the weekend. When we'd got back to the boat last night, I'd missed a call from Chris on Shimshams, the other Braidbar that is joining us for the show. He'd been moored with yet another Braidbar, Farne, who hadn't got a booked mooring, and they were wondering how bad it was. I gave him the glad tidings, though in fact Farne had already left.

Back at the boat we cleaned and sorted the inside, with some reorganisation of cupboards so that we can now store the beer out of sight - until now it's been living behind my chair in the saloon, which did look a bit debauched. The weather was cloudy but reasonably warm though the forecast for Sunday and Monday is a bit worrying.

Braidbar arrived just before lunch. She looks absolutely beautiful. We had a bit of bother getting her into her berth, as there was a squatter on it, but he moved off soon enough and Iain demonstrated his boat handling skills pulling her back out of the slot he'd used temporarily, turning through 90 degrees and slipping into the right one.

There followed an afternoon of polishing everything in sight, starting with the outside of the boat - waxing the paintwork and then polishing the brass, then moving inside. The Gardner 2LW in the engine 'ole looks splendid, but has lots of copper and brass to be dealt with. All this hard work was constantly interrupted by folks stopping by to see the boat, so it was a good session.

After dinner we went over to the bar for a drink with Chris and Lizzie off Shimshams and Des of Farne. Elanor and then Stuart turned up, and we took them back to the boat to get them sorted.

Saturday 26 May

Up early, of course, and a quick trip into the village to get the paper, which I was able to do at the PO, which is nearer the canal than the Co-op in Crick. The temporary bridge into the show site was still locked up, which was a bit of a problem as Stuart needed to get to his car in the traders car park to get some things he'd brought for breakfast. Being a wrgie, this wasn't a mega problem, however - he climbed up the side of the crowd barrier and so onto the bridge.

We did the same thing at 8.30 to get to Braidbar and give her a quick final polish. The forecast is that this is to be the last decent day, weather wise, so we're expecting lots of folk. The Brycelands had booked a space for a gazebo, which we'd erected yesterday, but the allocated slot was round a corner out of sight of the boat, and useless. In the end, we got permission to move it, and so we had to half dismantle it, lug it round and put it all back up again.

Because of the length of the queues, the organisers opened the show early at 9.30. You can do without this sort of thing as an exhibitor, but fortunately we were ready in time.

There followed several hours of non-stop talking and walking through the boat. The high spot for me came in the afternoon. I was showing a couple of blokes through, one of whom was already a boat owner, and the other was a prospective buyer. It was only as I finished that the penny dropped that this was Johnnie Walker, the Radio 2 DJ. He came and had a look at Sanity as well. He'd been seriously impressed by Braidbar, as pretty well everyone has been. In fact he said to Iain "You are the Bruce Springsteen of boat builders" (I'm not absolutely sure how Iain took this - he's more like a Crowded House man)

Elanor and Stuart had done a brilliant job of getting Sanity ready to show, and were sitting reading when we got there. After I'd finished, Stuart said to me "Do you know who that was?" - I think he was more excited than I was, and had been the only one of us to recognise the guy from his voice.

We kept busy until six, when we closed the doors on the boat and had a well earned glass of wine. The wind was starting to get up, so we secured everything as best we could, taking down the chairs and table in the gazebo and so forth.

Sheila and I crawled back to Sanity, where Elanor and Stuart cooked us a meal - spaghetti carbonara and steamed green veg, which was delicious.

To be continued....

and so to Crick

Here at Crick we've got only a limited access compared to the luxury of the high speed T-mobile connection we've had recently. In particular, the T-mobile signal is feeble and slow. I'm posting this one via the Orange one day at a time account, so I'll keep it rather briefer than usual. It'll be difficult to keep a full account going whilst we're working quite hard at the show in any event - I'll post when I can, and the full service will be resumed next week.

Monday 21 May

After the excitement of the 4.15 duck, we woke early. I walked up to the village for a paper, and came back to find Sheila sorting the filing and generally tidying the office area.

After lunch, I checked out the batteries, which seemed to be fine - the odd cell needed topping up, but there was no sign of failure in any of them. The odd behaviour of the inverter charger can't be put down to that it seems.

It was a quiet day in general - a case of dealing with email, doing the blog, and otherwise relaxing before the trip to Crick and the exertions of next weekend. We heard from John and Nev that their problems with Waimaru continue, such that they won't be taking her to Crick as a show boat after all - there is still no resolution of her electrical problems, and she still needs some paintwork sorting out. Not a good advertisement for Ben Harp, I fear.

Tuesday 22 May

We woke early again to a fine day. We decided to go to the top of Braunston flight today, up Watford flight tomorrow, and then to the show site at Crick on Thursday.

We boated along to below the bottom lock and settled to wait to see if a partner would turn up. The Braunston flight, being on the Grand Union main line, are broad locks capable of taking two narrowboats at once. As such, it's much more comfortable going up with a partner, as there is much less problem with the boat being bounced about in the chamber.

After a bit of a wait, Sheila discovered that there was a hire boat waiting above the first lock, so we agreed to work up number one on our own, then share up the remaining five with Jasmin. This worked well - Jasmin was being crewed by some very pleasant Canadians from Vancouver, ex-deep sea fishermen in fact.

We got to the top in nice time for lunch, and a little after were joined by old friends Ivor and Beryl Caplan, on their new boat, Brandywine. Beryl has a nursing background, and after one look at my elbow, produced some Tubigrip and fitted me up with it, so that it at least felt much more comfortable.

If Braunston is a bit tricky for mobile phones, the top of the flight is impossible. We now have Vodafone, Orange and T-mobile phones on board, and none of them had a signal. By standing on the bridge at the tail of the top lock, I could get enough Orange signal to text people to say we were out of range.

We spent part of the afternoon helping another couple of hirers to work down the flight - they were elderly, but in a 65 foot boat. They'd planned to wind after the tunnel, but the winding hole there is only 50 feet or so, and they were a bit down in the mouth at the thought of working another six locks.

After our good deed for the day, we had a quiet afternoon in the sun. We also took the opportunity to look over Brandywine, a very nice boat from MGM Boatbuilders.

Wednesday 23 May

Yet another early start - this is getting to be a habit, but the sunny mornings are so very encouraging. I had a good walk back to the village for the paper, setting off at 7.45 and getting back by 8.15, by which time some boats were already moving up the flight. We set off straight away, and were through Braunston tunnel by 8.45, for once not meeting anyone coming the other way.

It was a glorious day for boating, especially along the Leicester Section of the GU that leads from the main line at Norton Junction to (guess what) Leicester and the Soar Navigation.We got to the bottom of the Watford flight (it's not far from Watford Gap Services on the M1) at 10.10, to find a queue of two boats below the first lock, one between the first and second lock, and one, Brandywine, between the second lock and the four lock staircase that forms the interesting bit of the flight. Brandywine had set off an hour before us, but that's boating for you.

For those not familiar with the idea of staircase locks, there's a bit about them here (thanks Jim).

We took the opportunity to fill up with water while waiting, and were up the flight by 12.30. The only problem was that the Sanity's bow fender got caught as she was rising in the first lock. To avoid disaster in such a situation, it has a rope strop in the fixing, so this duly parted and allowed the bow to bob up again. It means that the fender dropped down, but that just gives me a job to do next week, making a new strop. (In fairness to Sheila, who'd been working the top paddle and didn't notice the fender catching, she commented that strop was the appropriate term for it in view of my reaction when it first happened.)

We tied at the top for lunch, and did a running repair to the bow fender. On the way up the flight, the lockie had said that the reserved moorings at Crick were already cleared, so we decided to carry on and not stop for the night as we'd planned. This meant another tunnel, Crick, which proved to be very wet - I was steering, and at one point had steam rising in clouds from the water hitting the hot roof in front of me.

At Crick we found our mooring with no bother, then went and found Graham and Carolann on Autumn Years for a couple of beers and a lot of talk. We invited them for dinner, and a great night was had by all.

Braunston for the weekend

Saturday 19 May

We wanted to get to Braunston about mid morning, and it always takes longer than you think to get there from Hillmorton. So we made a very early start, and were boating by 7. By half seven we'd cleared the flight (all three locks) - there were a lot of boats about quite soon after we'd set off, and the nearer we got to Braunston, the busier it got.

We tied on the first visitor moorings you come to from the North, just through Bridge 89. There's a path up the fields from there to the village - a steep pull, but then all accesses to the village from the towpath are steep in Braunston.

Our stuff for the Crick Show had arrived at the Post Office already, comprising the mooring permit, a mooring chart, and our wrist bands, all sent there from Braidbar by Maria. One of the things that makes our lifestyle possible is the continuing existence of the Poste Restante service to POs, and the current discussion about reducing the number of rural ones is a worry to us.

Braunston has a good butcher, not as good as Alrewas, but much better than average. We popped in and bought some sausages, bread and chicken fillets. When we got back to the boat, the one behind, a shortish boat called Errol, had gone, making it look as if we had moored very inconveniently, so we pulled back to make the best of the available space. Later in the day, and for the next day, boats kept coming and going, so in the end we gave up and let people think what they liked about our mooring. Otherwise, we'd have been hauling the boat about every hour or two.

After lunch it was internet time again. I did the blog, and played around further with the modem, getting a report of a very fast speed from the McAfee site, better than 2 Mbps, which seems incredible. Other sites gave readings around 700 kbps, which seems more likely. Considering Braunston is a well known black spot for mobile communication, this is very encouraging.

I was feeling lazy about cooking, so we went to the Old Plough for dinner. Of the various pubs in Braunston, this is our favourite. We got there before 6, which is when they start serving food in the evening, and it was as well we did so, as most of the tables were booked.

We had a good meal, and were back at the boat by 8.

Sunday 20 May

After the exertions of yesterday, we had a lie in, and a generally leisurely start. I've had a strange, painless, wobbly swelling appear on the tip of my right elbow, which is, apparently, a case of olecranon bursitis according to the BBC doctor's website. It probably started with a knock, and then all the polishing and stuff has exacerbated it. Anyway, Sheila decreed that it must be rested, so she did the lion's share of the housework on the boat, while I ambled up the hill to get a paper.

I was allowed to help with the cleaning a bit, and the day was enlivened by large amounts of passing traffic, it being a fine weekend at Braunston. For those not familiar with the midlands canals of England, Braunston is a key hub, and always an exciting place to be. There's a website about it here.

After lunch we went for an amble along the towpath, to see if we knew anyone moored here, but didn't spot anyone to speak to. We popped into Wharf House Chandlery, and bought some green toilet chemical, and two new type paint brushes, shaped foam rather than hair - they were quite cheap, so worth trying out for odd touching in jobs.

Back at the boat we drank a cup of tea on the bow, the weather having really warmed up, and thought we spotted a hobby falcon circling above us. Even with the glasses it was hard to be sure, it was very high, and looked very dark against a bright sky. It was too small, and the wrong wing shape for a buzzard, but too large, and not hovering enough to be a kestrel.

The evening was enlivened by more roof dancing ducks. At one point I went out and growled at the duck, who was prancing about on the roof, and at the drake who was circling in the water off the bow. Just as I really got into my stride, woofing away, I looked up to see someone walking along the towpath towards me. Probably thought I was bonkers, but the name of the boat does give people fair warning of this.

The duck had the last laugh, returning for more roof work at 4.15 the next morning.

IT stuff and water point etiquette

Thursday 17 May

The plan for today was for me to catch the bus to Rugby to visit the T-mobile shop, while Sheila stayed home on the boat doing more crochet. Having finished the crochet for Braidbar 100, she's now doing a new set of porthole doilies for Sanity. The existing ones are a bit stained from condensation mould, and the new ones will take the new method of fitting them into the windows using synthetic whale bone, as previously described.

I caught the 9 o'clock bus. The fare has gone up - it's now a swinging GBP1.60 for the 15 minute journey.

The staff at T-mobile were very helpful, and said that they'd sold a lot of these new USB modems. I explained that the recent article in Waterways World which emphasised the good value of the T-mobile Web 'n Walk deal might have something to do with it. I did a few other bits and pieces of shopping, caught the bus back to Newbold and was back on the boat by 10.30.

After a coffee break, I set up the modem. With a Windows machine it would be a case of just plugging it in - the necessary software is on the modem - and then going through some installation wizards. With the Apple Mac, there was a CD that provided both an install manual and the needed drivers.

I quite quickly (10 minutes max) had the thing up and running. The modem found a G3 connection and off we went. As with all mobile internet connections, the speed depends first of all on the signal quality, and then on how many other users are are on-line at the time. Measuring the speed at lunchtime gave figures of 60 - 90 kbps - much faster than the GPRS connection, or a domestic dial up modem, but not lightning fast. Later in the afternoon, I got up to 200 kbps.

This means it's still worth using the OnSpeed accelerator for web access. It'll be interesting to see what sort of numbers I get at other locations, especially Braunston in a few days, Braunston being a notorious blackspot for mobile connections.

After lunch I spent most of the afternoon playing with the new toy. Well, it was cold and wet out, and these things repay familiarisation. Later on, the weather did improve enough to open the side hatches.

Friday 18 May

We wanted to get a lot of shopping at Tesco on our way to Hillmorton for the night, so we made an early start, 7.30, and were at Tesco by 8. The Rugby Tesco is open 24 hours anyway, so it was already quite busy. We did a large shopping, since this is the last supermarket we'll see for a couple of weeks. We half filled a big trolley, then pushed it to the edge of the car park nearest the canal. We filled both daysacks, and had a few carrier bags too. In addition, we'd bought some potting compost, but hadn't found any plants for the new planter.

After lugging all this back to the boat, I wanted to see if we could find the Curry's store I'd glimpsed from the boat as we came in to moor. I've been backing up the laptop's data to a 20 Gbyte portable hard drive, but there's now so much of it (photos and music, mostly, as well as this deathless prose, of course) that 20 gig isn't enough.

Initially we went round the wrong retail park. This did mean we found the plants we wanted, at a Homebase, so it wasn't wasted effort. Sheila took those back to the boat, while I slogged on, finally tracking down the Curry's in another park. It's amazing how far you have to walk to get from one of these places to another - they are all designed for the motorist, of course, another way in which we persist in emulating American trends.

The guy in Curry's was very helpful, though he couldn't quite suppress a smile when I said I was thinking of something like an 80 gig drive. Seems they just don't make them that small any more. In the end I bought a 400 gig drive for GBP85.

Back at the boat we set off again, Sheila steering while I played with the latest toy. By the time we got to Hillmorton, I'd partitioned this huge (to me) disk into three, and cloned the entire laptop drive onto one of the partitions. My disaster recovery logic goes like this. I use the MacOS X clone feature to make a total copy of the main drive every month or so. Then, on a weekly basis, I do an incremental back up of the data files. This means that if I lost the entire hard drive on the laptop, I can replace it, clone the copy back onto it, and then bring the data up to date from the incremental back up.

This still leaves a huge amount of this new disk spare, of course, so I'll use it to store archives of stuff that's no longer likely to be needed.

By now, we'd arrived at Hillmorton, half an hour before lunch. Sheila planted out the surfinias we'd bought, and we watered. At Hillmorton, there is a long length of visitor mooring, then a good length of mooring for the double water point. Both of these were in use, but the VM just before them was free, so we tied there, and when the boat in front had finished, ran our hose out to the tap and filled up.

Just after we'd eaten, another privateer arrived and tried to get onto the water point in the now empty space in front of us. The wind was now strong enough to be a problem, so I popped out and gave them a hand, assuming that they wanted to water. What they did was tie up with three lines, and proceed to eat lunch. It soon became apparent that they were planning to spend the rest of the day there.

This is, of course, very poor boating, unless there's really no other option (ie it's last thing at night, and all the other moorings are full.) They seemed to be comparatively new boaters, so we didn't interfere - the other water point was free after all. A bit later, a boat we know well turned up - Michael and Val Lee on Thistle. We were still busy in the cabin, so it took a while to realise that Mike was busy organising the first boat to pull right back onto us, so the our bow fenders were overlapped. Meanwhile, he went and moored at the far end of the water point length, leaving a bare boat's width between the two boats for anyone who actually wanted to use the water point for its intended purpose.

Since there was now a bit of space (30 feet, maybe) behind us, we pulled Sanity back out of the way. Out of curiosity, I walked back down the length of the VM, thinking it must have filled right up, but no, there was a load of space back there. I'd hardly got back to the boat, when Mike was up and about again, making this poor chap in front of us pull back onto us again. All this rather than back up to the empty VM himself, a feat of which I know he is quite capable. Oh well, it takes all sorts, I guess.

Meantime, we polished brass and got on with our lives, which are too short for picking fights. Meanwhile, for the record, I'm getting a GPRS connection here at the foot of Hillmorton, so not as fast as at Newbold.

Boating in the rain

Tuesday 15 May

By 8 o'clock we were on the water point, which proved to have very good pressure indeed, such that, despite having a pretty empty tank, by 8.30 we were on our way again in the rain. As usual for this stretch, we planned to make a good day of it, going right through Nuneaton and round Hawkesbury Junction to the mooring near Brinklow called All Oaks Wood.

Nuneaton isn't the most exciting of canal venues, and not somewhere we'd personally stop overnight, but it does have this amazing great hole in the ground, a quarry, still in use as far as I can see, whose bottom you just can't see from the deck or even the roof of the boat.

Just after we'd passed The Hargreaves, the disabled trip boat, loading by Bridge 19, Sanity suddenly heeled over to one side and slowed dramatically. I dropped the engine revs to tickover, and we slid slowly on, suddenly coming right again. Either it was a very large trolley reef, or something else is lurking in the cut there. Perhaps the next BCN clean up should be in Nuneaton.

After passing Marston Junction (turn left for the Ashby), we got to Hawkesbury (Sutton's Stop) at about midday. Though I say it myself, Sanity's passage through the 180 degree turn went particularly well - I didn't have to use reverse at all, judging it just right for once, so that she swung round in an elegant curve avoiding all the sides and edges. It is nice to get it right for once.

After eating lunch on the move, we arrived at All Oaks Wood in a mixture of sunshine and showers - we really seem to be having April's weather in May, having had June's weather in April. Checking the Environment Agency website revealed that they are now taking bookings for the Salter's Lode to Denver Sluice passage we'll need to make in July, on our way to work at the IWA National, and then again in reverse afterwards.

I promptly tried to call the number, and after 30 minutes of repeated redialling and engaged tones, got through. A very helpful woman dealt with our booking most efficiently - we're going onto the Great Ouse on 14 July, and coming back on the 1 September. Recent info from IWA suggests that about 230 boats at least will be doing this. According to the chart on the website, there are an average of 5 slots each day for the five weeks preceding and five weeks following the National. 5 x 7 x 5 = 175 by my calculation. Some boats are planning to avoid the passage by crossing the Wash from Boston to King's Lynn, but the current story is that dredging attempts to improve the situation at Denver have led to a big bar at King's Lynn, making passage there very doubtful.

Go figure as they say. EA may have improved the situation enough to create more slots, but if you are planning to go to the National from the main system this year, I'd call 01733 464071 as soon as possible. The website info about it is here.

We took a walk to Brinklow in the afternoon, and I bought a paper. When we got back, the moorings were filling up, and we had a nice chat to Keith and Roberta from Ashling. In particular, Roberta took a great interest in Sheila's cabin crochet.

The night was mostly quiet, except for a pair of woofing dogs on the boat behind.

Wednesday 16 May

With only a short run to Newbold to do, we had a relaxed start to the day's cruising, seeing lots of pied and grey wagtails on the way. We got to Newbold just after 10. I was pleased to see that the remarkable coloured lights in Newbold Tunnel are being maintained - I'm not sure what the point of them is, but all too often, councils put this sort of thing in to brighten up the canalscape, but don't then have the will or the budget to maintain them.

As we moored, the boat following turned out to be Dalliance, another Braidbar we last saw at Bugsworth Basin at the SOW protest in November. Once again, it started to rain as we tied up, and continued thus for the rest of the day, off and mostly on.

I had another session on the net, exploring the possibility of the T-mobile internet deal using a USB modem. If it works for a Mac, it will be even better value than the Orange GPRS deal I'm using at the moment, as it's G3/HSDPA (ie very fast) for only GBP29 per month. By the end of the afternoon, the omens were looking good enough to suggest that a trip by bus into Rugby tomorrow might be worthwhile.

The only other thing of note in a quiet afternoon and evening was the sound of enthusiastic construction from one of the gardens by the moorings. Is someone building a boat down there?

The Atherstone Pump Out Mystery

Sunday 13 May

After a very peaceful night, we made an early start. We followed a Canaltime, Angel's Payment (all Canaltimes have seriously weird names), up the first two locks, 11 and 10. They were novices, but very willing to learn, and got so worried about holding us up that they insisted we pass them above 10 ("loosed us by" in the canal jargon). This just goes to show that a friendly approach to beginners on the system often pays dividends. Lots of habitual canal users curse the likes of Canaltime, but in our experience, many privateers who only leave their marina once or twice a year are just as badly behaved and as unskilled as novice hirers, and often more arrogant - after all, they are boat owners, not mere hirers.

As usual, we moored above Lock 6 to use the Co-op supermarket nearby. We set off again by 11 and went on to the water point at the top. Here we found an example of the mystery of BW's approach to self pump out. Officially, you can pump out at sanitary stations which are on the mains, but not at ones which use a septic tank. However, we know of several examples which don't fit this rule, and the station at Atherstone Top is one, as the photo shows. What could be behind this particular prohibition? The fact that Tony Wright MBE, the lockkeeper, takes great pride in the appearance of his flight, perhaps?



By the time we'd watered it was gone 12, so we lunched on the way, with the rain getting steadily heavier. By one o'clock we'd reached Hartshill and moored on the first available spot. There followed a quiet afternoon, in continuing rain. We lit the fire, and I spent some time on the net, doing a blog and browsing around. The connection became very slow and erratic at 4, presumably because the return of the local teenagers from school and college had increased the demand on the system.

Monday 14 May

We woke early to the sound of yet more rain. Confirming my suspicion of the day before, the internet connection was now working fine. As I was working at the desk, I saw a boat side sliding by with an elegant piece of scroll work on the side. "Looks like an Andy Russell paint job", thought I (Andy paints all the Braidbar boats) and sure enough, it proved to be Bessie Surtees, Braidbar number 92.

Our main task of the day was a trip to Dobbies Garden Centre, which is about 10 minutes walk from the Hartshill mooring. It's one of those places which is much more than just a place that sells plants and spades. It has a farm shop, a branch of Julian Graves, and an up market country clothing store, as well as all sorts of other stuff in the main store. In fact, we did most of our Christmas shopping there last year.

This time, we bought some supplies from the farm shop, including some wicked sounding garlic relish (17% garlic), a container to grow plants in on the roof, so that the boat will look pretty at the St Ives National in August, and a load of dried fruit and muesli ingredients from Julian Graves. Then we lugged it all back to the boat, which strangely was now more like 20 minutes walk away.

After lunch, it was back on the net while it was still reasonably quick. I added a Google search box to the blog site, and researched the T-mobile internet deal. I think I've said previously that I currently use the Orange PAYG one pound a day feature, but it's only a GPRS connection, so you have to be pretty patient at times. T-Mobile offer a fast G3 connection via a USB modem for GBP29 per month. As long as the modem can be persuaded to work with my Macintosh iBook, it would be a better deal.

In the end, I emailed Ross Barkham via his Taniwah site - Ross is a guru for those of us connecting to the net with Macs. I also took time to improve the home page and sidebar of my main site, and then at 4.15, sure enough everything slowed down again and I knocked off.

We had a quiet night (apart from the delightful clock on the Hartshill Maintenance Yard building striking the hour), except that at 4.30 am, a boat motored past. Some people are just too keen for our good.

A Peeping Tom at Polesworth

Friday 11 May

After a very wet night I made a quick and early trip to Sainsbury's and we boated round to the Fazeley water point by the BW office. There were distinct sounds of movement, so there is someone still alive in there - they are just not very good at answering emails (I still haven't had a substantive response to my complaint in March).

We started the washing machine, as usual, with the aim of finishing the heat cycle by the time we'd filled the tank, but the water pressure was too good, and we had to set off with the machine switched off. While it's heating the water, we need the engine to be doing 1000 rpm or better, and tick over, necessary for passing moored boats and the like, is only 850. By 9.30 we were on our way, going straight on at the junction to head for the Glascote 2. This is the first time we've been on this route since the autumn, so it's good to have the change of scene.

By 11.50 we were at Polesworth, which is a nice village with good moorings - we've stayed there lots of times without trouble (cue for later excitement)

After lunch we cleaned the port side of the boat, and I tightened the screws that hold the galley prism together, which seems to have cured the leak. I took some recycling to the bins in the car park and we settled down for a quiet evening.

Just as we were going to bed, in fact I was cleaning my teeth and Sheila was about to put her nightie on, she looked up to see a face peering at her through the Houdini hatch over the bed. She shouted and banged the hatch, and the face disappeared. I shot through to the bow door, but by the time I'd got it open, and it being dark, there was nothing to see, just the sound of running footsteps disappearing into the night.

In these circs, the most troublesome thing is how long it takes to calm down again. Sheila was, of course, both shocked and angry, whilst I was just furious. Sheila managed to get to sleep remarkably quickly, but it was gone 2 in the morning before I dropped off. My mind was full of revenge fantasies - it's a good job I didn't have a chance to catch him.

Saturday 12 May

We woke in rather a bleary state. There isn't a police presence in Polesworth, but we thought we should still report our peeping tom, since although there's no chance of catching him, it's good for the police and BW to have an idea of whether there's a problem in a particular place.

Accordingly, we used a useful bit of Graham Keens' website that lists all the non-emergency numbers of the police forces. Sheila gritted her teeth to ring up, and was glad she did. She had a very helpful conversation with a copper who said he'd pass it on to their intelligence section to collate with other, similar reports. We noticed that the Info board by the moorings had had the words "Watch out for thieves" added, so perhaps care needs to be taken when mooring in Polesworth at the moment.

After all this and a quick trip into the village for supplies, we boated to the foot of Atherstone Locks. We had planned to go up two locks to a quiet bit of mooring between 10 and 9, but since it was getting windy, we decided to stop on the moorings just below the bottom lock.

After lunch, I did an oil and filter change, while Sheila spent some time on the web, researching possibilities for this tax year's ISA investment. I also logged our incident on the NABO site, from where it will be passed to BW.

I made a beef tikka masala for dinner, and we had an early night.

Cruising Schedule for rest of May

Subject to change without notice!

Fri 11 Polesworth
Sat 12 Atherstone flight

Sun 13 Hartshill
Mon 14 Hartshill
Tues 15 All Oaks Wood (Brinklow)
Weds 16 Newbold
Thurs 17 Newbold
Fri 18 Hillmorton
Sat 19 Braunston

Sun 20 Braunston
Mon 21 Braunston Top
Tues 22 Above Watford Flight
Weds 23 Crick
Thursday 24 - Tues 29 Crick

Staying out for the summer

Wednesday 9 May

Having fulfilled commitments in Alrewas, today we set off for Crick and the summer's cruising. First off, we dropped down Alrewas Lock, went through the river section to the Wychnor moorings and, in view of the still day and low river flow, decided to wind at the short winding hole in the moorings rather than go on down Wychnor Lock and wind in the full length one below.

Sheila achieved this without much hassle and we were soon back on the water point at Alrewas. I nipped into the village to get a paper and, the bread not having arrived, some pasties from the butcher. I got back to the boat just after the tank had filled, and got on the bike to lockwheel up to Fradley.

As we worked up Bagnall Lock, the Coors Shire Horse box turned up, and they led a fully harnessed horse across the lock tail bridge to a field they use on the other side, where they harnessed it to a dray and started driving it round and round. Coors Shire Horses just don't sound the same as Bass Shire Horses, somehow.

We carried on up to Fradley, following the Shakespeare boat Juliet, crewed by (I think) some very pleasant Canadians. Between the first and second locks on the way up, Hunt's and Keeper's, there was a narrowboat stopped on the lock mooring, apparently struggling to take down a wheelhouse structure. Presumably they were concerned that it wouldn't fit under the very low lock tail bridge at Keeper's.

First Juliet and then ourselves passed this boat as her crew struggled on. As I closed the gates behind Sanity, I could see that the steerer had got out a saw, and was now sawing off the uprights of the wheelhouse.

We moored on the visitor moorings opposite the Information Centre at Fradley just before lunchtime. Although it was threatening to rain seriously, we spent part of the afternoon clearing the roof, washing and rinsing it, and then doing the same to the starboard side. The whole boat was covered in fine dirt, a legacy partly of the spray from the pressure washer at Stone, and partly from the dusty towpath at Alrewas.

We'd just about finished when it did indeed start to rain, but at least it meant that there were no mucky rainwater tracks through the dust. Less good was the fact that one of the prisms in the galley ceiling started to leak, as did the frame of the Houdini hatch in the bedroom. We could only take palliative measures at the time - the cause will need to be investigated when it's a bit drier.

Elanor came round for dinner (I'm not telling what we had, as she says this blog is becoming food obsessed. Oh, all right then, it was spag bol). She brought the new batch of books, and took away the pressure washer.

Thursday 10 May

We made an early start, and were soon chugging along the Coventry Canal. At Hademore House Bridge we saw a charming sight - a family of swans swimming along with no less than four of the cygnets hitching a ride on their parent's back. We've seen one or two doing this before, but never so many as four.

The toilet tank indicator light had been amber for just over a week, indicating that it was more than half full, and we'd planned to pump out and diesel at Fazeley Mill Marina. However, it went red, meaning completely full, this morning, so we decided to pump out at Streethay Wharf instead. This location has been featuring in the Granny Buttons blog of late, and as reported by Andrew there, they now have an extended and much better services mooring. The only problem was that we were pointing the wrong way to use it, as the pump out point is on the port gunwale, and the wharf would be on our starboard side.

Streethay does have a huge lagoon mooring, but it was looking very crowded, with boats moored two abreast on the towpath. Nonetheless, I managed to wind without banging into anything, and despite a variable breeze. The young guy who came to serve us was very friendly, but I have to say didn't score top marks in the Napier listing of service skills. He was very casual with the diesel pump, so that some went over the stern deck, and some dribbled down the nice freshly painted tunnel bands on the stern. Rinsing the toilet tank was with a bucket and funnel, and since the funnel wouldn't fit in the rinse out hole, he put it down the pump out aperture. This never gets the base of the tank properly rinsed, and in fact when he'd finished the indicator had only gone back to yellow, rather than the green that means completely empty.

This may sound like a bit of a whinge, but when you are shelling out GBP14 for the job, it would be nice to have it done properly. With a bit of a struggle, we managed to wind again, with Sheila getting off onto the towpath with the bowline to help her round, and then we were away - having got the diesel tank full and the toilet empty, there was a distinct sense of the start of the summer's cruising.

The trip to the Tamworth shopping mooring went uneventfully, though there was a fair bit of traffic in the opposite direction. The highlight was seen in one of the canalside gardens in Hopwas. A bird table on a pole was occupied by a sleeping ginger tom, creating a distinct Garfield effect - we fantasised that a little earlier he'd been lying on his back with a piece of bread in his mouth, and was now fully fed and dozy.

We got to Tamworth just at lunchtime, and just as the heavens opened. After lunch, we made two trips to the shops, one for stuff like more crochet cotton and the oil for the nearly due oil change, and the second to Sainsbury's.

The Houdini has stopped leaking, but the galley prism continues to drip - must look at it as soon as we get some dry weather when not boating.

In the evening we sorted out a rough cruising schedule for the next two weeks, which I'll post separately.

Last time in Alrewas for a bit

Monday 7 May

Sheila was concerned that we should get to Alrewas at the right time to get a mooring in the village, so with this in mind we made a prompt start and I backed Sanity across onto the water point at 8. This water point is not fast, and it took a good half hour to fill the tank.

Then off we went, with Sheila on the bike and me steering down the locks. In the longer pound from Common Lock to Bagnall, Sheila was able to get so far ahead that she was able to go on down into Alrewas and discover that, although we were early (the optimum is between 10 and 11, and this was barely past 9.30), there were plenty of spaces on the towpath to moor.

We worked down Bagnall Lock, and Sheila went off ahead again. She stopped to signal that first one, then two boats were approaching the blind, tree hung bend that makes Alrewas such an interesting place to boat through. In fact this turned out to be a pair, with names not visible, so I was very glad to be forewarned and able to hang back before the bend. We were tidily moored by 10 and settling down to a cup of coffee and the paper by 10.30.

After lunch we gave the boat its clean through inside for the week - normally this gets done on Sundays, but chatting to the Priscillas had put the kibosh on that yesterday. In this context, it's very noticeable what an active social life we have on the cut - in the past few weeks, we seem to have been meeting people we know at least every other day, and often making new friends in the interim. Before we moved on board, there were the work relationships, of course, but we were often too tired or stressed out to do much socialising in the evenings or weekends.

I spent some time in the late afternoon browsing other boaters' blogs - there's a good few out there, the most detailed and informative about waterways issues in general being grannybuttons, but they all have their interest and amusing aspects.

It was cool enough in the evening to justify lighting the fire, though as often at this time of year the problem was to keep the thing small enough - we ended up sitting in the boat in t-shirts with the bow doors open, it having got so warm on just one piece of wood and a few lumps of coal.

Tuesday 8 May

As I've said earlier, our main reason for coming back into Alrewas was to take part in the Tuesday morning Willie Walk, which we duly did today. First, since we weren't in any rush to get up, we woke early. We did a trip to the shops got a paper and things, and Sheila was able to get a hair appointment for the end of this afternoon, so we will be able to set off on our travels again tomorrow morning, instead of hanging about here for another day.

There was a lot of email exchange on the canals list about BW's new proposal to deal with the lack of moorings for all these new boats that are still being built. Their latest idea is to suspend the current waiting lists and instead offer mooring contracts for vacant moorings on the basis of a tendering process. BW insists that this isn't an auction, but some of us are struggling with the difference between a closed tendering process and a sealed bid auction.

The effect will be to ensure that BW gets the best price possible for the mooring, of course, but at the cost of making it very difficult for those on limited incomes to afford one at all. As continuous cruisers, it doesn't affect us directly, but we still have concerns about the way in which the steadily rising cost of boating is making it a preserve for the well heeled in shiny boats, rather than the rich mix of all kinds and conditions that we know and love.

After a great walk, we had our usual pub lunch with Jane Howarth, Will Chapman not being around today as he's off boating to Birmingham in Quidditch.

The afternoon (remains of) was spent quietly on the boat and net. Sheila went off and got her hair cut, getting back just before Elanor called in with our post. We gave her a load of our books to take away, and a list of the ones we'd like back from her when she comes for dinner tomorrow.

Heading South

Saturday 5 May

First a couple of things I missed out last time. On our way from Stone to the overnight mooring at Wolseley, we saw our first cygnets of the year - in fact, it was even better than that - the pen was still on the nest, with two cygnets beside her, and some eggs still visible underneath her, so they must just have been hatching.

The other thing is for the techies - I took the opportunity while able to get at all of Sanity's hull to check her measurements, including the draught - even after blacking, you can tell where the waterline is by the change in the surface. This enables you to work out the volume of water displaced, and hence, courtesy of that nice Mr Archimedes, the weight of the boat. Our boat manual gives a displacement of 16.5 tonnes, but my calculations come out at 17.1 tonnes. This explains why, if you get the approach speed wrong when mooring, you end up doing the towpath canter, swinging on the centreline, and plaintively uttering the boater's cry "Stop, you cow!"

Back to today: after an exceptionally good night's sleep, we were up and off by 8.15. An hour later found us mooring at Rugeley to do some shopping, including buying a new padlock for the fuel filler security device, the one supplied having seized up, fortunately while it was undone, or we'd have been in a pretty pickle next time we needed to fill up.

We then had a very pleasant boat to the top 0f Woodend lock, though the passage through the narrow sections around Armitage were made exciting by the numbers of boats coming the other way.

After lunch and some phone calls from Elanor (she's down with Stuart in Sussex, pondering her options for buying a new car) we polished brass, and I caught up with the blog.

All was calm and peaceful, with the occasional boat working through the lock as the afternoon faded into the evening. This was interrupted by another sight we'd not seen before on the cut. A plastic cruiser, Carpe Diem, worked up the lock and stopped just in front of us, on the end of the lock mooring. I thought at first, looking out through the bow window, that they were planning to moor for the night, but no. Leaving his female crew holding the mooring lines, and standing by his boat facing us, the gent concerned unzipped the fly of his shorts and relieved himself into the grass by the mooring bollard.

Then he zipped up, they got back on the boat and went off again. If I'd thought a bit faster, I should have asked "What was wrong with the hedge?" but there you go.

Checking email in the evening, we hear that John and Nev continue to have some problems with Waimaru, their new boat. Apparently the shoreline connection doesn't work, and John feels that the fore and aft trim is wrong, with the bow too high and the stern too deep. We just hope that they can get it all sorted out in good time - she's the Ben Harp show boat at Crick at the end of this month.

Sunday 6 May

It actually rained a bit overnight, though not enough to mark the brass, so can't have been much. We made an 8.30 start, planning to lock down to the visitor moorings at Fradley, so we wanted to be there at about 10 or 10.30, after the overnighters had moved off, but before the lunchtime boats had arrived.

Sheila went ahead on the bike, and it proved to be an easy run, so that we actually got there earlier than intended, locking down through some Spring showers, but all was well, and we had no problem finding a mooring space at 9.30.

I then took over the bike and rode into Alrewas down the towpath in order to buy a paper.

I got back by 11, and the next challenge was to fill in time before lunch at 12.

Not long after lunch, Graham and Beryl Johnson on Priscilla, Braidbar 46, turned up, on their way back to their mooring in Barton Turns marina. They were able to tie near us and came in for a cup of tea and chat until 4.

The day ended with a veggie pasta, and we were seized with the munchies last thing, so I made some toast despite the time this takes on the grill.

Doing the Black Bottom

Sunday 29 April

The short run from Weston to Stone was finished by 11.30, and we tied on the visitor moorings at the foot of the lock flight. A quick trip to Morrisons got a paper and some bits and bobs for lunch. During the afternoon, Braidbar number 51, Cedar, turned up with Vic and Margaret on board. We had a good natter, and then set off ourselves to work up the two locks to the pound outside the boatyard.

There were what seemed to be a lot of boats waiting around outside the three docks that the yard has, and this exposed the downside of the generally laid back approach of your average canal yard. We'd booked our docking some months before, and Sheila had rung last week to confirm and check that it was all right to have mail sent to us there, but we had nothing in writing, nor even an email to cross check that we had the right week or that they were expecting us.

There being nothing we could do about it, we went to bed.

Monday 30 April

We were up and about by 7.45, as last time we went into the dock between 8 and 8.30. This time, nothing at all happened before 8.45, so we just hung about, treating our anxiety as best we could. When there were signs of life, I went into the yard to say we were there and ready, and got told, "Sure, fine - don't rush us, it's Monday morning".

By 9.15, one of the other boats had been moved into the other dry dock, and it was our turn to replace the boat which was waiting to come out of the small dock. This dock is one of the original features of the canal, Stone having been the headquarters of the Trent and Mersey Canal Company, and it's a Grade II listed building.

The top couple of the four stop planks holding the water out of the dock were removed, and the water poured into the dock. Soon, the other two planks could be taken out, the walkway across the front of the dock taken away, and the boat drifted out to be manoeuvred out of the way. I reversed Sanity across the cut, and gently inserted her stern into the mouth of the dock. Then the engine was switched off, and we worked her slowly in until she suddenly stopped.

There wasn't enough depth of water under her to float the lowest point of the hull, the skeg, over the bostocks. (These are the little walls with wooden beams on top that the boat rests on when the dock is empty of water.) I had to go to the bow, to join Sheila and Charlie, one of the workers. This lifted the back just enough to get her over the bostock, and we drifted back again.

Eventually, she was right in the dock, and I was able to go back to the stern, and, gripping the roof beams, work her round so the she was lying square in the dock. Then the stop planks were put back in, and the chain winch that opens a trap in the bottom of the dock was worked to start the water draining out. It goes round the side of the lock immediately by the dock, and into the canal lower down.

Sanity slowly settled as the water level fell, until she was resting safely on the bostocks.

By 9.30, we were ready to start work. The first job was to rig the pressure washer and clean off all the weed and loose blacking. This took most of the morning, but is quite enjoyable, bringing the hull into view, and removing a fine crop of fresh water mussels from various nooks and crannies.

Steel boats like Sanity have to have sacrificial anodes attached to the hull. These stop minor impurities in the steel from forming little electrolytic cells which would tunnel through the steel. Instead, the anodes form part of the cell, and slowly dissolve. We'd taken the precaution of getting some replacements from Braidbar in the winter, but an inspection of the existing ones showed that there was enough left of them to do another couple of years.

Whilst I was washing away, and Sheila had popped out to get a paper, I heard a cheerful cry from the lock outside. I looked up, and there, of all people, were Luisa and Iain Bryceland on their semi-converted Josher, Badger. They were taking a weekend off to take her to Great Haywood, on her way to Braunston for a rally later in the summer. There was just time for a quick chat as they worked down, then it was back to washing the boat.

This was all done by lunch, and I used the afternoon to get an overdue haircut - 5 quid for a 6 on top and 4 down the sides that will a) not attract the Comastic blacking tomorrow, and b) see me through the start of the summer. After the excitement of the day, it was a meal from the freezer and an early night.

Tuesday 1 May

May Day found us slapping Comastic onto the hull to the sound of church bells ringing in the town. Comastic is very good blacking, going on thickly, and it can be applied directly to the steel, but it has two drawbacks. The first is that it is very nasty stuff, health and safety wise. Its xylene solvent base is one of the more potent carcinogens, requiring careful covering up, latex gloves and so on. Also, its very thickness makes it tiring to apply, and sixty feet is a long way under these circs.

The other theme for the next couple of days was the anxiety, typically, "have we got enough Comastic?" Last time we bought three tins and used two and a little bit. This time, we got through a tin and a half on the first day, perhaps because the hull was a bit rougher and so took up more. The stuff costs £40 a tin, so you don't buy lots extra just in case.

We'd finished by 11, and I was able to start repainting the coloured bands that form part of the stern decoration.

Wednesday 2 May

Today was largely a repeat of yesterday, with the addition that we were very stiff getting started. The Comastic supply just made it, so at least we won't have a spare tin to lug round for the next two years. I finished painting in the other colours - just the band of Black Sheen that goes right round the above the top rubbing strake to do tomorrow.

Thursday 3 May

Today Sheila was able to concentrate on finishing the crochet she's doing for the show boat, Braidbar no 100, while I did the final painting. This involved the application of large amounts of masking tape along the hull above where I was going to paint, and then using a mini roller to do the deed, which is again quite fun. I particularly enjoy pulling off the tape afterwards and admiring the neat line thus exposed.

By now we were feeling very well exercised indeed, and had promised ourselves a take away meal. Up until now, we'd been eating previously prepared and frozen stuff, but a complete night off felt like a good idea. First of all we sat out in the sun on the bit of grass outside the dock and had a beer. Then I set off to find a carry out. There proved to be a number all clustered together, and I chose one called Eastern Delight. This was a fusion type fast food shop, offering balti curries, burgers, kebabs, pizzas and fried chicken. For example, those in need of serious carbs could have a (large) naan bread filled with chips, with curry sauce on top.

I ordered what I thought would be a rather more modest meal - a tandoori mixed grill, a king prawn balti and a couple of pullao rice, one mushroom and one garlic. It took a little time to prepare, and the guy then produced a large cardboard box, full of boxes and tubs, and presented me with 1.5 litres of Coke as a lagniappe. He insisted this was all for me.

I staggered back to the boat where we unpacked this feast. There were, in addition to what I expected, three poppadoms, a huge naan, three tubs containing chutney, raita and chopped onion, a big box of salad and a big container of veg curry to go with the tandoori meat.

We tried, we really tried to eat it all, and by the end, you could indeed see bits of the table and the two stools on which we'd set it out, but it was no good, we had to give up. Keeping the remains of the poppadoms to nibble later, and the rest of the salad for lunch sarnies tomorrow, we sadly and slowly packed the rest into the cardboard box and I took it to the skip, waddling slightly. If you buy a carry out in Stone, make sure you're seriously hungry.

Friday 4 May

At last, the day we can leave the dock. Once again we were ready in good time, but not a lot happened for quite a while. We were a bit worried, as there seemed to be less water in the canal outside the dock than at the beginning of the week.

Eventually, by 10 o'clock, the stop planks were taken out and Sanity stirred and began to float again. It's a strange sensation walking around in the boat when she's on the dock, as you keep expecting her to move and she doesn't. Now she was alive again, but stuck on the first bostock very quickly. One of the yard guys had been sent up to the lock above to run some water down, so we waited for a bit, and then all foregathered on the bow. By the finish we had Sheila, myself, two boatyard people, the steerer from the boat waiting to come in, and a guy who'd looked in to buy a gas regulator, who was told, "we can help you in a minute, but meanwhile just come and stand here, will you".

Eventually, grudgingly, she slid out, stopping at every one of the four bostocks for a rest. Unfortunately, she also leant on the side wall of the mouth of the dock, scraping off some of the beautiful new blacking. At last we were out, and able to work down the two locks to the visitor mooring we'd left on Sunday. We watered, then boated gently on for most of the day, lunching on the way and finishing below Colwich Lock at Wolseley for the night.

Job done but gosh we're weary

Hi folks

We've completed the blacking and got safely back off the dock (eventually). We've just done what feels like a long day's boating from Stone to Wolseley below Colwich, and I'm too tired to do justice to writing up the week's events, which concluded with a mega carry out meal last night.

I'll do a detailed account tomorrow, and then hopefully get back to my every other day pattern.