Resting at Newbold

12th & 13th May

We had an excellent meal and evening's natter on Waimaru the night before last, and a very relaxed start the next morning (OK, an early start in the Campbells' terms, but that's about different cruising habits.) It was another bright and breezy morning that made getting away from the mooring interesting, but once in the shelter of the Rugby cuttings it was very pleasant.

Passing through Brownsover was an interesting experience, as there were boats tied for quite some distance on both sides of the cut. According to one of the moorers, there had been only three boats there overnight, but all the others had turned up in the course of an hour, drawn by the proximity of Tesco, no doubt.

As we passed Maximus, Terry Rigden popped up to say hi. They are just in process of buying a boat of their own (Maximus is a share boat), to be called Grace. We wish them joy of it, which I'm sure they'll have.

Newbold had loads of space on the visitor moorings when we got there at ten, but it filled up quite considerably as the day went on. We popped down to the handy Co-op here for some foodstuffs and a paper then had lunch.

There's a good T-mobile data signal here, so I've been able to upload the revised version of the website, with a page for Alexander, and some modifications to the sidebar menu to make it more flexible, looking ahead to having lots of pictures of Sanity Again to put up in due course.

I've also made a start on a page of liked and less liked boatyards and marinas. This will be a page to develop as we go. It's very, very much a case of personal opinion (I know Andrew Denny won't agree with me about Streethay, for example), but I have given some indication of why I've chosen to put each place where I have.

After a bit of a walk to wake up, going round the Quarry Nature Park, and climbing its hill to get the view, we came back to the boats for a cup of tea with John and Nev. Looking ahead (fortunately), I put the cordless drill battery on charge, with the aim of using it with a polishing bonnet when we're doing the final prep for Crick.

It's just as well that I did so, as, checking it a few hours later, I noticed that neither the plug/transformer nor the battery were warming up. Trying the battery in the drill, it hadn't taken any charge at all, and is clearly moribund. So the score for this year is: the water pump (twice), the domestic battery bank, the shower pump impeller, the mobile phone battery and now the drill battery.

Research on the web showed that I can get a new 14.4 volt battery for around £45, or I can have an 18 volt drill, in some cases with two batteries, for around £50. No wonder we're a throwaway society. A visit to Wickes tomorrow is indicated, methinks.

Last night we had a good, basic pub meal at The Barley Mow; The Boat is currently closed. Then we retired to Sanity for coffee and a wee dram, in memory of Hamish Leys, an Aberdonian who was a staunch supporter of the OwnerShips show for many years, and who sadly succumbed to cancer earlier this year.

It was a really lazy start this morning, as all we wanted to do was go far enough on to wind, come back and water and then tie up again. This heavy programme we managed by ten o'clock, though the place we chose to turn, the mouth of Lime Farm Marina, was far from ideal. The angle of the entrance and the shallow offside gave Sheila some problems. It would have been better if we'd gone on to the next old arm, which is what we'd have done before the marina was there. You just tend to assume that a marina entrance will also function as a winding hole.

Whilst on the water point, we said goodbye to John and Nev, who are heading for the Northern waterways, including a run down into Liverpool. Since then we've had a quiet day in the boat, browsing the net (me) and doing finance stuff (Sheila).

I've got a couple of BW stories to tell, but I think I'll save them for a day when I'm shorter of material than today.