Thursday 13th June 2024

There’s a lot of waiting around on the canals and if you can find it in your inner being to slow down and not mind,  it makes for a much more pleasant journey. Yesterday, we wanted an early start (for us, 0915!) as we had 8 locks ahead of us and about 4 hours travelling time.  Arriving at a popular destination much after midday usually means the good mooring spots will be taken.  Our first lock involved a herd of frisky cows and a swing bridge across the lock,  which had to be opened before we could rise up in the lock chamber. The swing bridge got stuck so I had to climb onto the boat roof and up the ladder to assist R. Just as well as the lock gates kept opening and if R had done all this on his own, he would have been circumnavigating the lock afew times! Fortunately another boat, travelling in our direction arrived,   just as we left the lock, so we agreed to set the lock ahead and wait for them to catch us up.  A wise decision as we then shared all the locks with them,  which halved the workload and shortened our journey time. 

We made use of our extra time by visiting one of the oldest group of almshouses (14th century) in the country,  built as a large quadrangle, around its own chapel.  It was a detour on foot of about half an hour and as we walked along the road we were reminded how close we are to everyday life and yet, travelling the cut oftens feels like the middle of nowhere.  The train line is incredibly close to the canal,  running parallel for large sections.  It gives one a fright when suddenly you hear a loud rumble, the first thought being,  ‘what is wrong with the boat’! It’s also the juxtaposition of the incredibly slow moving,  peaceful, beautiful canal and the noisy,  fast paced mode of train transportation. As time goes on, more and more canal boats are likely to be hybrid or fully electric, which will increase the calm and quiet, with only the bird song as an interruption, which may or may not be appreciated, as currently they are starting at 0430hrs as I know from experience.

We had our first ‘marital’ of the season a couple of days ago. The waste tank needed emptying and R decided sooner rather than later,  even though it involved using a pump out that was the wrong side of the canal for our waste tank outlet.  As the hose was long enough to reach across the boat,  R said he would balance on the side,  holding the nozzle tight so as to form a good seal.  Meanwhile I had to make sure the water hose, at the other end of the boat,  also reached the waste outlet so that I could intermittently swill the tank out with fresh water.  It’s a stressful procedure because you only have about 10minutes to complete the task before the electricity runs out and the pump abruptly dies.  There was a pause button on the pump controls,  so once the waste tank was empty I had to press pause, jump onto the top of the boat with the water hose and aim the fresh water down the hole,  without touching anything.  I certainly didn’t want R touching my clean water hose! Once off the boat roof, I restarted the waste pump for the fresh water to be pumped out.  As we had some time left,  but I didn’t want to jump onto the roof again at speed,  I took the water hose inside and aimed the water into the toilet bowl (again making sure the hose remained clean!) and as I squirted clean water into the bowl,  R simultaneously pumped it out.  The skill is making sure the tank is empty by the time the money runs out and the pump stops pumping! Otherwise, you may half fill the tank with water before you even begin to fill it with waste! So certain was I that all this was a bad idea,  I made R empty his pockets and remove his wallet and mobile, (a measure of his true worth!) just in case he fell in the canal .  He didn’t!

We proceeded on into Hungerford without mishap and had a delightful couple of days exploring the small market town.  It has a fascinating history and the best fruit and veg stall I have ever come across in a country market. A large variety of produce,  some  I had not seen before. Getting carried away,  I now have a surfeit of veg that I really don’t know what to do with – recipes welcome! Otherwise R will be subjected to my mother’s favourite ABC soup recipe – all bits combined!

We were able to moor right outside the parish church.  I think it may be the closest church to a canal in the country.  Both the vicar and his wife are Waterways Chaplains, a fact that was shared with me by a very lovely lady of 93 who chairs a Christian writers forum on Zoom, that I recently joined.  It is coincidental that this lady lives in Hungerford,  so we were able to meet in person rather than just virtually! She gamely came on the boat, no mean feat as this involved walking on our 6ft long gang plank. Moorings without a plank are few and far between on the K&A. My fears increased as she told me a friend recently fell, broke his hip, contracted pneumonia in hospital and then died, so she was wary of having a fall herself. I almost made R carry her off the boat before accompanying her along the uneven towpath to her car.  I didn’t want a broken hip on my conscience! 

Mooring up was the most fun we have had in a while! Everyone who knows the K&A suggested we invest in an extra long gang plank.  All well and good,  but the longer they are,  the heavier they are and more unwieldy to manoeuvre.  Ideally, we need a light aluminium plank, but then they are easy for someone to walk off with! We knew where we wanted to stop but hadn’t taken into account the enormous fauna  between us and the towpath.  Our first attempt,  which also involved cutting back a swathe of jungle,  almost ended in disaster as even R decided the gang plank was ever so slightly precariously balanced.  It landed on the bank side at the bottom of a small steep slope and it proved almost impossible to find a steady footing. The plank on the bow end involved R almost doing a running jump to get aboard as it was so unstable.  We decided to try our luck a little further along the cut,  and managed to fit ourselves closer to the bank just in front of the lock landing stage.  The advantage of a reasonably short narrowboat!  Even so,  we still had to cut back a lot of nettles to make room for the gang plank and avoid too much stinging.

The K&A certainly lives up to its reputation of being a beautiful canal,  thus making all the awkwardness of mooring up worthwhile.  Sadly there don’t seem to be as many ducks as we remember, from travelling along the Oxford canal afew years ago. R was in a lock chamber and heard what he thought was some sort of an alarm but couldn’t work out how that could be as we have no alarms on the boat.  Suddenly he realised he had company – two small ducks were trapped in the lock,  unable to fly out.  One of them was making an ‘alarming’ noise that explained what R heard.  Once the gates opened they went on their way,  but it is an unusual sight to see.