Through rain and wind to Braunston

16th & 17th May

Anyone notice the deliberate (ahem!!) mistake last time? The dateline said 15th & 16th May, but in fact the post covered the 14th and 15th. I'd made the mistake on the notepad I use for a diary of things to mention, and then didn't pick it up, nor did my copy editor when she read it immediately after publication.

Ho hum, disorientated in time, eh? It'll be disorientated in place next, and I really won't know whether I'm coming or going. It's nearly as bad as a certain long term boating friend of mine who has just discovered he's got an extra couple of days in hand in his summer cruising schedule. He'd forgotten which comes first when heading north, Fradley or Fazeley, and had entered them the wrong way round in CanalPlan. So his itinerary as generated by that useful piece of software duly sent him through Fazeley to Fradley, and then back again, and then...

He's probably blaming it on my recent influence, and the good bit is he can't make a rude comment here without letting on who he is.

So, anyway, yesterday morning, that is the 16th of May, we made a relaxed start as we only wanted to water, then work up Hillmorton flight and tie somewhere on the pound between there and Braunston. The tap was running really slowly, giving me time to do the longish walk into the village to get a paper and get back before the tank was full.

When it finally came gushing out of the filler, we realised that I still haven't got the gauge calibration quite right, so it's back to grovelling on the floor with my head and arms stuck under the well deck at some point. It's not the actual adjustment that's a hassle, it's getting the two tiny black cross head screws off the black cover plate on the sender unit, whilst working at full stretch and by the light of a hand lantern that won't stay where you want it.

Also, gents of a certain age, have you noticed that, even with varifocal lenses, Sod's Law says that if your head position is constrained on this sort of job, it always means you can't quite get the work area into focus?

We went up the locks with Nuphar Lutea ascending the parallel set, and then had a windy cruise to the nice bit of campshedding just beyond Bridge 80, the one that's planning to fall into the cut any day now. The morning was enlivened by a hire boat whose steerer was struggling to cope with right/left confusion about the tiller on a day when the wind punished even a slight mistake quite ferociously.

Things improved in the afternoon enough to let us progress the boat cleaning jobs. Sheila gave the Houdini a polish, whilst I used T-cut to remove some scratches and staining from the cabin side paint work. Sanity already looks better for it. All I need now is a long enough period of dry weather to put a coat of black silk on the top bend above the guard, and she'll just need a polish to finish the starboard side. Then we have to do it all again for the port side and we're ready to rumble.

Pity the forecast is so gloomy – at this rate, we might be ready for the IWA National Festival at the end of August, rather than next weekend.

Today we woke amazingly early, as we didn't need to move before nine. No matter, I used the time after breakfast to smarten up the Squirrel stove. Sheila wielded the wet and dry to remove a bit of rust from the top, where some condensation had splashed during the winter, and then I gave the stove and pipe a coat of black stove paint.

Being xylene/toluene based, it stinks, so after I'd lit the stove (to cure the paint) we boated off with the bow doors open. Another windy day, though not so bad as yesterday, and we got to Braunston in around 45 minutes.

We've tied on the first set of moorings on the N Oxford, where there was plenty of space. Indeed, when we took a stroll along the towpath to Butcher's Bridge, on our way to buy a paper, there were loads of spaces along there as well.

We not only bought a paper, but also a copy of Canal Boat, which I'm pleased to say contains an extremely favourable review of Felonious Mongoose, Braidbar 115 and the show boat this year. It also has a good explanation of the hybrid diesel/electric drive she uses. It's going to be an interesting show.

Since we've been back at the boat, it's been raining quite hard on and off, so we've been confined to the cabin, very frustrating. Never mind, tomorrow is another day (thank you, Zebedee).