Well, what an eventful day today turned out to be. It started well enough, with us stopping to fill up with water just before the first of the three locks. As we were doing this so two boats left the lock and we decided it would be a good idea to quickly finish filling the water tank and get into the lock before either someone else did or another boat wanted to come down and therefore started to fill the lock with water.
I started to move the boat towards the lock and then realised that Richard needed to get off it to open the lock gates because unfortunately they had not been left open by the boats coming out. I don’t think they saw us as they probably thought we were just moored alongside. As R edged towards the middle of the boat along the outer edge he found that the ledge he was holding onto disappeared (where we have a side opening) and so he slipped into the water. Managing to swim to the side of the lock he then did not have the energy to actually get out as he was wearing heavy boots and warm clothing. Thankfully for us there was a boat very close by and two strapping men heaved R our of the canal. Meanwhile I tried unsuccessfully to rescue his favourite Aussie hat (now lost and gone forever) and then ran him a bath. We had to secure the boat to the side before he could strip off his sodden clothing and get warmed up. Not liking to think what is in canal water, i dosed him up with neat whisky followed by whisky, cider apple vinegar and hot water. Sounds disgusting but i am hoping it will have helped clean his stomach. Next we sanitized all the clothes as best we could and continued our journey to Leighton Buzzard which was only a short distance away (after of course, going up the three locks) and mooring outside a pub called The Globe. We found a laundrette and then found a really lovely cafe called The Pantry to fortify ourselves with a hearty lunch. We also had to find a phone shop to see if the sim card could be removed from R’s phone and we are still drying it out in rice, hoping that it will work once all the moisture is removed! The highlight was finding a Millets store – I really didnt think they existed anymore and buying R a really good raincoat, which he has since exclaimed over as being super waterproof and light! Supper in the evening was at The Globe where the staff gave us a very warm welcome but I have to say I don’t think I choose well from the menu. Or perhaps we were just tired from the days events because we were in bed by 8.30pm and slept through till nearly 8am! What did we learn from this escapade? More haste less speed and the importance of having a sabbath. I think we were both just over tired and that’s when accidents are more likely to happen. Getting the measure of living more slowly is quite an art.
NarrowboatTLC 