Another sunny day. What a difference a bit of natural sunlight makes to both mood and energy. The boat was a bit chilly first thing so I indulged myself with an hour of central heating which also heated the water, but sitting outside was then delightful in the midst of the countryside. I am recognising some landmarks from when we travelled along the canal in the opposite direction but I find that comforting, rather than boring and as I have mentioned before, the change in the season makes a huge difference.
As it’s Monday, mid morning is Baby Breathe on Zoom, which was enjoyable and an hour soon flashed by, chatting away. Not so many mum’s today, unsurprising as the weather was so good. I expect, as most of them also have a toddler, they were out at the park.
The wind was negligible so casting off from the side at midday was easy and with no locks for a couple of miles I could enjoy the meander. I didn’t pass many other boats which was just as well since a couple of the bridges were on really tight corners and it was tricky pulling the boat around without getting entangled in the reeds or worse, stuck in the mud. A bit of reversing occasionally seemed to help free the propellor of debris and slightly altered the trajectory of the boat so I managed to steer myself out of any trouble. I do sometimes look with longing at the 45 – 50ft boats thinking how much easier they would be to manoeuvre but of course you then lose living space so it’s a toss up as to what is more important. I didn’t travel far today as I wanted to stop at the locks at Marston Doles, just before the Napton flight. Tomorrow help is arriving to tackle the 8 locks and as there’s a water tap before entering the first lock I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to top up the tank. On the map there was a mooring sign so I imagined a long stretch of boats all able to use chains to moor up, or better still a few mooring rings along the towpath. As is my habit, I thought it best to briefly moor alongside the water’s edge before deciding where to stop for the evening but the couple of boats already tied up were having to use pins as there was no metal edging. I turned the corner and ahead saw two boats with a space between that looked just long enough for me to slide in between them and they were moored with chains, a great bonus for someone who has yet to successfully bang pins securely into the towpath! I edged my way in without touching the moored boat immediately to my left, which I was pleased about and then was thankful to see the occupant of said boat coming out to help me tie up. I am continually grateful for the kindness of the boating community, offering help without being asked and not expecting anything in return. As it transpired there was only room for three moored boats on chains before bollards on the side indicated mooring only for filling up with water. Then the lock was around the next corner with no space for any further boats. I was so pleased to be able to moor where I did, an advantage of stopping the day’s travelling early. The later you stop for the night the more difficulty you have finding a space. With the canal getting busier travel times are often slower, with queues for locks and the negotiating of safely passing boats on narrow stretches of water, delaying one’s end time for the day.
A bite to eat and then I went for a walk through fields that would bring me back on the towpath, thus a circular route. Neatly marked on my map the footpaths were impossible to spot in reality and even using Google maps I found myself standing in the middle of a field unsure of which direction to walk! R is so good at working out direction from the sun but that doesn’t seem to help me! Eventually I spied a distant bridge and hoped the canal was underneath it, which it was! A beautifully maintained and tidy boat was moored in the sunshine and remarking on their lovely boat, the couple on board said they part owned it and they were the first ones to use it this year. They were in no hurry to move around the network, just wanting some peace and solace after an extremely exhausting year. The lady was a child counsellor of many years standing and had had the busiest of years with more children than ever needing support and not enough trained counsellors to meet the need. Added to the stress of her work last year she had had a full knee replacement. Then her 5 year old grandson, giving her a playful rugby tackle, had broken her shoulder! This was followed by breaking her leg in the autumn whilst on the boat before the second lockdown. She had the presence of mind to look up the best hospital to go to dependent on what the covid situation was like and decided the safest option was the local small one closest to her home town. Before they could reach their car this couple had to turn the boat around in a turning circle which necessitated travelling the flight of locks I am doing tomorrow, turning the boat at the first opportunity and then travelling the flight of locks in the opposite direction to then travel home in their car!! All this took a deal of time as the husband had to do all the locks on his own whilst his wife dosed herself on painkillers and eased the swelling with bags of frozen peas! Apparently they arrived at the hospital at 1930, just before the doors were shut for the night as they didn’t have a 24hr A&E and were taken in, x rayed, boot issued and leg break sorted all within 35 minutes! As if this were not enough a few weeks later she caught Covid so badly that she should have been hospitalised but just managed to stay at home, her symptoms made worse I think by asthma. As a shielded person she had been nowhere and thinks she caught it from opening quite a few parcels that arrived at the same time from the Post Office where a lot of the staff had gone off sick with Covid. She had many stories to tell, such as when she had her knee replacement one night she was only able to take paracetamol because the nurse signed her chart saying she had had a morphine shot, forgot to administer it and then left the shift for the day. Because it looked as though this lady had had her morphine the night staff could not give a ‘second’ dose! And then she said that when her stitches were being removed a nurse, wearing protective gloves, accidentally cut through the glove and their finger, spraying blood over this lady’s wound! What are the chances of that happening! If anyone needed a couple of restorative weeks on the canal it was this lovely couple and it was amazing to hear their stories.
A cup of tea and cake, a chat with R and the night was yet young so I decided to take the rubbish bag to the CRT services at the end of the lock flight. I also wanted to see if The Folly pub was open as it would be a great place for an outdoor lunch tomorrow. Sadly I discovered it’s not reopening until 17th May. Looking at the map the locks looked reasonably close together so I wasn’t expecting the long pounds I encountered! I hadn’t really registered that the two Marston Doles locks are not part of the Napton flight so the distance between them was probably a couple of miles. However it was such a beautiful evening that I didn’t mind the walk, it was just I arrived back at the boat much later than I had anticipated and darkness was falling. The towpath was not particularly safe with many a narrowing and potential danger of inadvertently losing one’s footing down one of the gaps in the path so I knew I needed to arrive home before nightfall.
NarrowboatTLC 