5
- 10 July 2006
Calcutt to Bridge 98 Grand Union & back
(10 miles, 6 locks, 4.5 engine hours)
Calcutt
to to Old Engine House Arm & back
(8.5 miles, 20 locks, 8.8 engine hours)
Wednesday 5
July 2006
We got up to the boat at about 10pm so that we would be ready bright and
early for friends to join us the following day. The weather had been very
good until now but the forecast for Thursday was not good. I don't quite
know where today went as we were going to get to the boat much earlier;
I hadn't got any shopping done and I needed to get supplies in for the
next few days when we would be having a variety of visitors.
Thursday 6 July 2006
I got up at 5.30am to go shopping at Tesco in Rugby as they were open
24 hours a day (as opposed to Sainsbury at Dunchurch which is open from
8am). I ended up with a trolley full of shopping, about to unload into
the car when the heavens opened. I got thoroughly soaked. Got back to
Per Angusta and sat in the car waiting for the rain to finish - in the
end I gave up and dashed everything on board when the rain weakened a
bit.
Got all the shopping on board and discovered that I had left my notepad either at the checkout or in the shopping trolley - rang Tesco but no-one had handed it in. I was really annoyed with myself, the notebook had lots of notes in it from a couple of Business Link courses I'd been on plus some useful website addresses.
As soon as I got the shopping stowed, I made a batch of muffins - half chocolate chip, half blueberry. They looked great when I took them out of the oven halfway through in order to turn them - until I dropped the whole tray on the floor! Ian had just washed the floor so I put the muffins back on the tray and finished cooking them. A few still looked OK but the rest were a bit flat.
We were expecting John &
Rita at about 9am but they rang to say they were trying to get through
the flooded streets of Banbury. They battled their way through the waters
and finally reached us. Only one thing to do - open a bottle of bubbly.
So we sat inside in the warm, listening to the rain and catching up on
all the news - it was so nice to see John & Rita again.
By about noon, the rain had slowed to a drizzle with some brighter skies in the distance. We decided to take a little trip up Calcutt Locks and then venture down towards Braunston so Rita and John could say they had actually been out on Per Angusta. As it was, the weather improved steadily from then on and we moored up just past Bridge 102 for a late lunch.
We still had masses to chat about and it was early evening by the time we pulled the pins and ventured down towards Bridge 98 to wind the boat (There is a winding hole there which isn't marked on some of the maps). On our way back to Calcutt, I knocked up a batch of fruit scones and managed to cook them with out dropping them.
Back into the marina for some tea and cakes before waving goodbye to John and Rita - a very enjoyable day, somewhat surprisingly given the very unpromising weather at the start of the day.
(10 miles, 6 locks, 4.5 engine hours)
Friday 7 July 2006
The plan for today was to clean the outside of the boat and touch up some
of the paintwork. But the rain didn't let up, so we pottered inside. We
were expecting visitors in the evening - Derek & Sheila from north
of Manchester. Derek got in touch some weeks ago to ask if he and Sheila
could have a look over Per Angusta - they had been reading the website
and also had been in touch with Darren Aldridge regarding him building
a boat for them.
Derek & Sheila made good time and were with us by 7pm, bringing with them two very nice bottles of wine. We spent ages talking with them about all things boating; it was like hearing Ian & me talking 3 years back when we were trying to decide whether or not to buy a boat and who from. I'm not sure Derek & Sheila expected to stay for over 3 and a half hours - luckily, they were going to stay with relatives overnight - but Ian and I thoroughly enjoyed their visit and wish them every success with their boat-building project.
(0 miles, 0 locks, 0 engine hours)
Saturday 8 July 2006
Today was going to be a bit of a mammoth drive - on 4 wheels. We had to
get back home and exchange the 2-seater for the bigger car (always assuming
that it had passed it's MOT), then I was driving down to Kent to pick
up grandson Max, whilst Ian built a new cage for the dogs for the rear
cabin. I would then pick Ian up on the way back to the boat. I shall just
say that I hate the M25 and that we finally got back to the boat at about
4.30pm.
Showed
Max over the boat, got him into his life jacket and away we went - the
start of Max's first trip. We only went up Calcutt Locks and then moored
for the night as Max had to be in bed for 7pm and needed feeding first.
He was very good and settled down to sleep straight away, we were using the rear cabin as a bed for the first time.
(0.5 miles, 3 locks, 0.75 engine hours)
Sunday 9 July 2006
We
were up with Max at about 7am and had our breakfast. The weather again
wasn't that kind to us - a steady drizzle, but it didn't stop us pulling
the pins and cruising up towards Napton. Lots of questions from Max, interspersed
with him educating Nana and Granda about Power Rangers. We stopped by
the Folly Pie for a paper and a colouring book for Max and then entered
the first lock. Through that without a problem. Max was on board helping
Granda steer to the next lock, I was on the towpath walking up to set
the next lock when I heard a shout of 'He's overboard'. Rushed back in
time to see Ian pulling Max out of the canal.
Max had gone off the back of the boat - given that we have rear stools, there wasn't that much space for him to get through - particularly with his life jacket on. Ian said that as soon as Max surfaced he struck out for the boat so all the swimming lessons paid off. We still don't know what happened - Max doesn't know how he ended up 'swimming'.
Ian got the boat to the towpath and I got back on board. Stripped Max off and put him into the shower to warm him up - by that time Max was chatting away happily. Sat him down on the sofa with a hot chocolate and asked him if he wanted to watch a video - Yes please - Rosie & Jim.
Ian had been popping in and out - at one point stripped down to his shorts - and I'd seem him head down the weed hatch. We obviously had some sort of problem and I could hear voices outside. When I went on deck there were several people round our stern - the stern rope had got knocked into the water and seemed to have become wrapped round the prop. But Ian had been down the weedhatch and had a good feel around - the prop was clear. The rope was obviously caught on something but we (and the chaps from 2 or 3 other boats) couldn't work out what. "How to build a narrowboat" and several other reference books were out but to no avail. Ian was just getting to the point where he was going to cut the rope when a wiggle of the tiller and a sharp tug freed the rope.
Ian settled down with Max and a cup of tea to watch the next episode of Rosie and Jim, whilst I went back to get rid of some rubbish. Got talking to the couple on board "Peony" - which had been the Crown Narrowboat exhibit at Crick about 4 boats down from us. In their search for a builder they had visited several of the same builders as us (but not Darren) and had quite different experiences - one firm we had found very 'off' they had found very helpful and vice versa.
Went back on board and fed the family before we set off up the rest of the flight. Max was in clean, dry clothes - luckily the other lifejacket we had on board fitted him. He didn't seem phased by his dunking and was happy as we went up the rest of the locks. The weather had improved and the sun was trying to break though. We went up as far as the Old Engine House Arm, turned the boat and came back through one lock before mooring up for the night. Max and I did some 'fishing' - seeing how many different coloured leaves and petals we could catch - before it was time for tea.
No problems with Max this evening either - ate all his food and went to bed without a murmur. I wondered if he might have trouble sleeping but no, he went straight off and wasn't disturbed by his Granda groaning whilst he watched the World Cup Final.
(4 miles, 8 locks, 4.05 engine hours)
Monday 10 July 2006
Max slept through the night without a problem. Unfortunately, we didn't
- Tris had an upset stomach and needed to go out about every couple of
hours.
It wasn't raining and the sun was trying to get through as we began our return journey. This went without a hitch and we made very good time - stopped just before Calcutt Locks for lunch - Max took time to catch up with his reading, taking after his Granda.
Down through the locks and into the marina to get Max's kit packed up and a quick whiz through the boat - we didn't have to take much off because we would be back on Thursday.
Knowing how bad the M25 had
been when I went down to pick him up, we decided to down the M40 and round
the M25 the other way - it was just as bad and it took us hours to get
Max home. Luckily, he slept most of the way.
Now, we hadn't told Max's Mum & Dad about his dunking - we thought that we would wait until they could see he was OK. When Max was out of earshot we explained what had happened. Later, sitting round over dinner, his Mum asked Max what he had enjoyed most - 'The Swimming' was his answer.
Apart from the one incident, we thoroughly enjoyed having Max on board and hope it won't be too long before he is back on board.
(4 miles, 9 locks, 3.8 engine hours)