Pitter patter, pitter patter the whole night through – rain gently falling. The slightly annoying intermittent buzz of the bilge pump, attempting to keep the engine bay clear of water (we didn’t erect the stern cover when we moored up!) but I fear the engine bay will still need mopping out. The last engineer to inspect our engine went into great detail as to how to repaint the engine bay – (visions of water tanks flew into my mind) and of course R is too tall for the task – although his long dangly arms might come in useful! Not a future job I am looking forward to!
Two long days of travelling and we have reached our winter destination, which is a great relief. Not only have I been concerned about red boards warning, preventing our progress, I have also spent two days slightly nervous that the engine would falter. So far so good – changing the fuel filter was obviously necessary.
The K&A lives up to its reputation of both beauty and toughness. One lock gate took four people to budge. The weirs can be pretty ferocious, not helped by fast flowing streams due to excessive rainfall, so there’s a knack of aiming the bow into the weir and then at the last minute swinging the bow around to enter the lock. Timing is crucial so that you don’t end up side on to the weir or banging the boat into the lock wall. You have to rev up to counter the pace of the water and be ready to reverse sharply when necessary. All pretty hairy, especially when on the boat alone because your other half is working the lock! Add to that the thought of the engine cutting out at a crucial moment – not all boating is relaxing!!
A fisherman had warned us of two very sharp bends between the pub and the first lock, where many a boat comes a cropper. An advantage of 43ft is that you are less likely to get in a pickle but I was grateful for the heads up as we warily set our early on Monday morning. The bends were sharp, alot of the fauna overgrown, with tree branches obscuring the view. I marvelled that any 70ft widebeams would attempt the cut but they obviously do as we saw a few moored up further upstream.
Another anomaly of the K&A is that it still has two of the original turf locks and we went through both. Shoring up the side of the lock with turf was how locks were formed back in the 18th century. A picture tells a story better than words of explanation!
Monday mornings deadline was to be at Sheffield lock, Theale, by 11am, when we would be assisted through, before the lock was closed for an emergency gate repair. Arriving early, we were amazed to be greeted by old Farnham friends, also waiting to go through the lock! They had very recently purchased a narrowboat and as we were heading in the same direction we then spent two days travelling together. Add in to the mix another couple we had invited for the day, who also knew the Farnham friends – it was party time! One of those God-instances I talk about. I felt far more reassured travelling together with another boat as I was still uncertain as to the reliability of the engine. I was also equipped to feed all six of us a picnic lunch, having walked a mile on Sunday morning to both Lidl and Aldi and got carried away by the choice on offer, so bought enough food to last us all week! It nearly all ended up in the river – R had moored the boat so that there was a gap between us and the edge of the bank (this would deter unwelcome visitors!). He didn’t reckon on his wife’s foot slipping and plop, I was in up to my bottom!! A very soggy Mary greeted sister and hubby who had just arrived for Sunday lunch at the pub with us! How fortunate that the day before we had discovered Reading West service station, a twenty minute walk from the boat, where we had used the outside laundrette and the free, very hot showers. A return trip to the laundrette on Sunday negated having to travel with soaked dungarees – apart from the heat of the stove, we have no drying facilities on the boat.
A disadvantage of not knowing how long you will be holed up in one place due to unforeseen circumstances, is the risk of running out of water and as we spent nearly a week outside The Cunning Man pub owing to the weather, this could have become an issue. Most other eventualities can be worked around, but an empty water tank means no ability to wash yourself or flush the lou! We do have 10 litre containers to refill for drinking and we just have to hope there will be a water tap within walking distance or a friendly household willing to fill us up!
The bus stop to Reading was outside the pub so one day we took ourselves there to explore the town and almost walked the journey home as we found ourselves on the wrong road for the returning bus. We also spent a happy couple of hours getting to know the boaters moored up near to us. They have just started out on a gap year, exploring the waterways. It became obvious they were far more seasoned boaters than we had been when we set out after just one week’s previous experience, a decade before! We found both of us had spent the past six months drastically paring down our possessions in preparation for boating life and downsizing our homes. It was reassuring to find others with a similar outlook!
And to finish – we went into the boat of our friends and I admired the circular cushions hooked on the wall, little realising they were porthole covers. The four on our boat I always assumed were cushions – how wrong I was! At last I know their true function, after many a bottom has sat on them and they have blown into the canal a few times!!
I have to tell you one more thing! Just went to a lock as a boat was coming up and I wanted to ask if we could go through the next three locks with them and who should it be but a friend from home I have not seen in over a decade as she moved away. Now living on a boat!! What a small world it is x
NarrowboatTLC 