We had moored up next to a boat that was leaving at 0630 to go through the tunnel before anyone else was up and about. Quite sensible since the dark tunnel doesn’t know the time! The owner was a very chatty middle aged man, who lived on the boat with his partner and 10 year old daughter whom they were home educating. He had become disallusioned with the life he had been leading, which had led him to high blood pressure and a couple of strokes. Taking himself in hand, he had shed a lot of weight and now, by living on the canals and engaging in a much more relaxed lifestyle, he had got his blood pressure down and was no longer on medication.
We walked into Daventry, which took about 45 minutes and picked up provisions and necessities, like a washing up bowl (never thought I’d think that was a necessity!) and got our free newspaper from Waitrose. Not sure when we will get one of those again. I only really want to do the codeword – Ellen, our lodger at home, can’t understand why I don’t just buy a book of them and be done with it! It certainly concentrates your mind as to what you actually need when you have to carry it home and then find a place to put it all. Luckily this boat seems to have adequate storage for me to squirrel things away!
The afternoon saw us travelling along seven more locks at Buckby. Again Richard did the honours whilst I got chatting to the young girl at the helm of the boat we shared the chamber with (its not such hard work if you can find another boat going in the same direction at the same time!). It transpired she was at a school called Christ Hospital in Horsham which was of interest to me because my dad had been chaplain of Christ Hospital for many years, when the girls’ school had been situated at Hertford. It’s now a massive Tesco, but I can remember going with my dad to services from a very young age. Part of the purpose of this trip is to engage with as many people as we can, to hear their stories and give them time, since that is what we currently have. In doing so, if it seems right, we also would like to offer to pray with them or for them. It is so easy to be too busy to smile at a passerby and yet a smile and a cheery greeting can often help brighten a day. Sometimes when I am travelling along, concentrating at the helm, I reflect on how my facial expression is probably rather severe – a frown on my forehead as I narrowly miss an oncoming vessel. Perhaps, I think, that is why the expression on the faces of those helming their boats may be the same. So I smile and say hallo and often get a cheery greeting back.
One of the problems I have found in doing a flight of locks is that the distance between each lock is very short. So when you leave one lock and have to wait for the other one to be prepared the boat is at the mercy of the flow. I think, I shall wait patiently near the side until the lock gate opens. Next minute I see the boat has swung across the canal blocking the path of any oncoming boat. If I reverse there is no steerage. If I go forward I am too near to the lock gate. Helpfully after one such scenario when I go the boat into a right pickle (remember I am on my own because R is off with his windlass!) a weathered boatman on the water’s edge pulled me in by my center rope and explained that the center rope is the best one to use to keep the boat straight. I should hop off the boat whilst waiting to go through a lock and keep the boat pulled alongside the water’s edge using the central rope. What a great tip. I really am a total novice when it comes to boats. I have yet to learn how to throw one properly and as for my knots….. (having said that, about a year ago we had a great trip on a boat with friends who did try to teach me rope throwing and knots – alas, i have forgotten all I learnt!).
We moored up at Whilton Marina, with the intention of potty duty (you don’t need to know too many details except to say it probably is the most unpleasant of canal living duties. Most boats have a pump out system for such waste but we have a cassette which is rather more basic and has to be sorted manually) but were 6 minutes too late to use their facilities as they closed at 5pm. So we decided to stay over and again got cosy with our woodburning stove aglow.
NarrowboatTLC 