We took both our boat and the long orange carrot from the Black Horse pub to just before the lock at Fenny Stratford on Wednesday. It was quite a palaver filling our boat with water whilst K’s boat was parallel parked and there was an old abandoned semi cruiser moored up at the water point making life difficult for everyone. It looked like it’s been there a while. Another boat arrived for water so we didn’t completely fill our boat as we were in danger of causing quite a log jam. I did manage to rinse my bowl of washing under the water tap so I could spin dry it and hang it up under the cratch cover in the bow to dry. The idyllic life style of living life on the Cut has its downsides, one being the labourious system of washing our clothing but I prefer it to having to constantly be on the lookout for launderettes.
Mooring up at Fenny Stratford, I walked along the towpath and recognised the Red Lion pub from when we had passed through here post lockdown. There was a boat moored nearby with a Boaters Christian Fellowship banner attached to the stern so I went and introduced myself, explaining that we were joining their mission for a day on Friday. I discovered that there was a folk evening going on at the Red Lion pub and we were welcome to join. We had a great evening. The music was good and we met people, not only from BCF, but also from the Waterways Chaplaincy and Canal Ministries. They were a very welcoming bunch with alot more experience of living aboard narrowboats than us and with extensive knowledge of the canal network.
Thursday morning Martin arrived to fix our new Morse Control and to give the engine a once over now that we have travelled a fair distance. One of the fan belts needed tightening and we were low on oil but apart from that all seemed to be in good order. After lunch C and L arrived – R was at college with them a long time ago and as they live near Kidderminster, we hardly ever meet, but they have bought ‘Beryl’, a 1980’s vw campervan and were staying nearby. I love that with old friends you can get together infrequently yet pick up where you left off. We had a great afternoon culminating with more cocktails and supper at The Black Horse before they dropped us back at the boat. We moved it, with them on board, through the Fenny Stratford lock which is unusual because it is only about a foot deep and it has a swing bridge in the middle of it, that has to be moved before boats can enter the lock. It’s a bit fiddly to do, so extra pairs of hands were welcome. We went on to Water Eaton and moored up alongside the boats involved with the Christian Mission. They were doing a variety of things such as offering boat rides, teas and coffees and taking assemblies in the local schools.
Friday we spent getting to know the boaters involved with the Mission and seeing where we might fit in with our ‘Prayer Boat’. We ended the day drinking wine with F and S, the roving waterways chaplains who I had met briefly at Fenny Compton. The weather was warm and balmy and it was so lovely being able to make use of our new stern cover to offer hospitality.
I had a bit of a slimy surprise this morning – I found a slug caught in my hair – yuk!! Reminded me that we are living very close to nature. Hope that doesn’t happen too often.
NarrowboatTLC 