I returned to the boat yesterday after an eventful holiday due to our eldest daughter falling down two steps and breaking her 5th metatarsal in her foot. I’ve been in nursing mode for a week and apparently the considerable pain she is in will continue for a further week or so – amazing how many people have broken that particular bone and can strongly empathize. Meanwhile we delayed our return to the boat (fortunately it was in a marina) and were able to enjoy another few days of glorious weather on the East coast. The sea was the warmest I have ever known – may just be Sizewell B warming it up!
I really am learning not to plan too far in advance because so many unexpected things seem to stop us in our tracks. I have offered to give some boat trips along the River Lee to the Ukrainians who are living nearby but obviously this has been delayed. However R said he was happy to take over nursing duties as mainly Ho needs regular food and drink and plenty of TLC. So yesterday he drove me to the boat en route home, with Ho reclining on the back seat. It was a bit of a squash but we managed to fit us all in and by mid afternoon I was back in boating mode, checking battery levels, refilling the water tank and generally getting the boat ready to move. All my flowers were in great shape because the kind guy in the boat berthed next to mine had watered them every day! Being alone is a bit unexpected and unnerving as I don’t know this area, as far as mooring goes and have no idea what the locks will be like. However the reason for buying a short narrowboat was so that I could manage it alone if need be, so now is as good a time as any to try it out! A lovely chap, who is liaising with me over the boat trips, was fortunately able to come and assist me with the three locks I needed to work in order to get the boat back on the River Lee and nearer to Gt Amwell. I was glad of help because the locks are a bit tricky and take a long time to fill. This is in part due to the force of the water entering the lock – if you open both paddles fully the water whooshes in at such a rate the boat bangs from side to side. There are notices telling you to only open one paddle and until the lock is half full, to only half open the paddle! You can imagine how slow this is so a great deal of patience is needed. On the upside, the River Lee is beautiful and there are reservoirs of water and plenty of bird sanctuaries for twitchers – how I never realised how attractive it all was, I have no idea.
Even more surprising to me is quite how close the River Lee is to my childhood home. After I moored the boat, I walked across a railway line and within a couple of minutes walk, found myself almost at the bottom of the church steps. Why did I never walk there as a child? (My brother told me that was because I never walked unless absolutely necessary. Always had my head in a book!) I vaguely remember the floods of 1966 or thereabouts and my dad going out in a dinghy to help rescue people, resulting in him being seriously ill. I should have realised we lived near a lot of water!
It has been a trip down memory lane. Today began with K, from the long orange boat, arriving with freshly picked blackberries which we shared for breakfast along sitting on a picnic bench located by the towpath. She is minding a gentle labrador for a friend so they both came with me to the morning church service, which was held on the ‘Glebe field’ followed by coffee and lots of homemade cake! Growing up, the field was almost an extension of our vicarage garden. Now there is such a thick hedge you can barely see the house. The ‘new’ village hall (the old one burnt down when I was a child) looked almost the same, with the addition of an outside covered area. Sadly I didn’t recognise anyone, hardly surprising, and a reminder of how many years have quickly passed.
K and I walked into Stanstead Abbots so I could get some food from the small local Co-op and then walked back along the towpath to the boat. The fridge was flashing at me, indicating low batteries, so I am thinking of investing in a solar panel. I had to run the engine to recharge the batteries but I’d rather not have to do this – if we move daily it’s not such a problem but sometimes it’s nice to stay put for a couple of days.
Later on I walked into Ware, partly to see what the mooring is like (pins and gang planks seem the order of the day!) and also to see how the town has developed. Much of it is the same just with different shop fronts – so many restaurants and charity shops. There are some lovely waterside flats – the whole area looks far more attractive than I remember and all within easy commutable distance to London. Overhearing a conversation about football I suddenly remembered the ladies football match between England and Germany – luckily iPlayer on my phone meant I could watch it whilst walking back to the boat!
NarrowboatTLC 