Tuesday, 20th September 2022

Having just written a Thought on ‘Constancy’ I realise I have not been very consistent with my blog during September due to the fact that we have been more off the boat than on! Speaking with other boaters, I realise this is a common hazard – you think you are going to sail away into the sunset and then get thwarted by broken locks, boat repairs, water shortages, family commitments, health issues. You begin to understand that patience and adaptability are two virtues that need to be cultivated if a stress free boating experience is to be maintained. In addition if you write a blog and don’t save it you find yourself having to rewrite it, which is just what has happened to me tonight. This is my second attempt!

We have needed to leave the boat to assist our daughter with her broken foot, which is taking a long time to mend, much to her frustration. Then, eventually, the diesel tank was repaired by the local marina but that meant another few days away from the boat for us. This coincided with a school reunion I had hoped to attend in Ware. Instead I attended virtually on Zoom, only recognising one other lady. Our claim to fame was having Kim Wilde in our year but I had seen in the local Waitrose magazine that she was going on tour from 10th September – the lengths you go to to avoid a school reunion after half a century! Another friend confided wild horses wouldn’t lure her back to ‘that’ school, although I don’t remember it as being too bad. Once the boat was in the marina we couldn’t stay on it so had to return home which was a shame as I liked the idea of turning up at the reunion by boat!

Then this last weekend we went, by car, to Fazeley Junction, the Spaghetti Junction of the canal network, to meet with members of the Boaters Christian Fellowship and to view a house with a mooring for a narrowboat, that is coming up for sale. It’s very tempting to live in the heart of the canal network and to be able to travel in all directions from home. The weekend itself was a joy, meeting some very lovely people. The previous time we had met many of them was when we contracted covid from the pub singalong, so had had to bid a hasty retreat. Mind you, we were not the only ones! Returning to the boat on Sunday evening I have to admit to spending Monday on our bed, having rigged a projector screen at the foot of the bed to watch the Queen’s funeral. I was only going to watch until midday but I got caught up with the procession to Windsor and then the second service, which I did not realise was being televised. R kept me fed and watered, even producing a picnic lunch! I couldn’t help but reflect that Westminster Abbey had the potential to be a super spreader hub – all those people coming together from every corner of the globe. Coming up for air at the end of such an emotional day we walked into Stanstead Abbots, where we called in on friends, made through doing the Ukranian refugee trips. They offered us an impromtu supper, which was most welcome as we have little fresh food aboard partly because the fridge is turned off. Until we start travelling properly again our batteries have to be kept charged by running the engine without us moving. The main drain on the batteries is the fridge so it is preferable to keep it turned off. Our friends have a mooring at the end of their garden, which they offered us to use but as it is on an arm that is very shallow with lots of weeds, we think our boat would go aground. Interestingly the arm was used up until the mid 1950’s to carry malt to the maltings – the boats weighed up to 100 tons!

Although we have not had many days on the boat we have had to keep coming and going in order to move the regulatory distance set by the CRT when you are a continuous cruiser. Unaware until recently that this should be in one direction, we are now on the return route as we reached the end of the navigable river when we went to Hertford. We spent a week or so in Ware and then the boat went into Stanstead Marina, which does not count as part of the CRT regulations. On leaving the marina we decided to go back to Gt Amwell, which sits between Ware and Stanstead Abbots. There is rather a nasty lock with a strong current of water once the paddles are open. I tried to tell R to only open one paddle, but he paid little attention and the next thing I knew I was being tossed like a pingpong ball in a hurricane as the boat hit both sides of the lock walls, displacing one of the stern cover steel poles. I was not best pleased! Fortunately we have already learnt our lesson with the actual stern cover – two holes in the fabric from damage caused by close encounters mean we carefully fold the cover before travelling, tucking it neatly behind the back of the boat. I have had to repair the cover with a sticky patch as I don’t think my sewing machine is up to the job! A thing of beauty lasts but a short time…

I have calculated that in three weeks only 5 nights have been aboard. I’m a bit concerned about our pumpout which usually lasts about three weeks and hasn’t needed emptying since we left Roydon marina at the end of July! The gauge telling us when it is near capacity is still saying nearly empty and I am not sure if that is a true reading, because the cover is broken! We bought a Portapotti in case we ever get caught short, but I was unsure where we would find a place to use it, other than put it above the present lou, in which case I would need a step ladder. Aldi has come to the rescue – they were selling pop up privacy tents, one metre square. I think it just fits on the back stern, so if push comes to shove and our pumpout ever overfills we do have a backup plan!!