Heading for home and feeling cold

Last evening, another excellent meal and great company made a fitting end to the weekend for us. We managed a seven o’clock start today, on a very cool and clammy morning. A stalwart band will still be there at Braidbar, hopefully managing to take the last of the marquee down.

(There you are Gill, two mentions in two days /wahaha)

It was Sheila’s turn to steer and I spent much of the time lurking below. I wasn’t entirely idle; I did the washing up and pottered about tidying and sorting. I’d have lit the Squirrel, but couldn’t get at the coal box in the bow locker as the well deck was still covered in plant troughs.

We’d taken them off the roof for the exit from the yard, and being tied on the outside of Cala hadn’t been able to do anything with them. In the end, I dug out my grey Guernsey from the drawer and put that on to try and keep warm. It doesn’t help that we both seem to have started colds, with tender throats and a feeling of generalised yuckiness.

The boating was slower than ever, with the bridge holes even more silted up and the vegetation still lurking on both sides. We almost came to a complete stop in Bridge 20, the shallowest on the canal.

As a result it was four hours later that we arrived at Lyme Green (not View – did anyone spot the deliberate mistake?) In contrast to when we were here a few weeks ago, it’s quite busy with moored boats and the towpath is well besmeared with dog poo. Thank you, dog walkers of Lyme Green.

After a cup of soup apiece to warm up, we dumped most of the plants; the surfinias have done really well this year, but are now very bedraggled and won’t last much longer as the nights grow cold.

We’ve managed to plonk them down the right way up in the long grass by the hedge, so they’ll carry on bringing pleasure to passers by for a bit. We’ve also dumped the mint this year; a fresh batch will be planted next Spring. This means we’ve just one trough of pansies on the roof to see us through the winter.

With access clear to the bow locker, I’ve got out the chimney and the coal box and lit the stove, which has made a big difference to the feel of the boat.

A post prandial doze was followed by a walk up to the Co-op for some perishable supplies. On our return we found a nice card of appreciation from Martin and Anna on One Day; they must have passed through whilst we were out. We’re also seeing a steady stream of thanks in the form of emails on the Owners’ Group list, which is very gratifying indeed. You are all very welcome, folks.

 We’ll make another early start tomorrow and plan to be at Buglawton by lunchtime.