Happy Easter to anyone reading this blog! For us, it has been a bit strange. None of our children to celebrate it with and yet, quite a busy sociable day.
We started the day walking to a lovely church just along the canal where we participated in an outside Holy Communion and were even permitted to sing. The familiarity of the words of the service and the act of Communion which I had not partaken in since Christmas was very special and though we were strangers, we were made to feel very welcome. It was a small gathering, 30 max I would say but there were a few children so the service ended with an Easter Egg hunt. I was reminded of a similar hunt approximately 25 years ago when we celebrated Easter in Scotland and the sun was so hot, it melted all the chocolate eggs!
The hot weather continued throughout the day so we sat out beside the boat and spoke to many people walking by. Thrupp is obviously a very popular place to walk and enjoy an outdoor coffee at ‘Annie’s’. We chatted to all the people in the boats near to ours as they were walking on the towpath and there was a very convivial atmosphere which served to make us feel less lonely.
At 5pm various family members, from both sides of the family, joined a Zoom for a ten minute Esster service, at the request of our youngest son. Considering how quickly it was cobbled together I think it went OK although the singing left a bit to be desired. We decided to unmute and all sing our hearts out with a lovely rousing hymn, ‘Oh Lord my God when I in awesome wonder’. I think God must have listened with awesome wonder at the cacophony of sound!! It was lovely to see so many of the family gathered together and of course it was chaos, as Zoom always is when a quantity of people are involved, unsupervised!
A Zoom with more friends followed and also with two of our children individually, so supper consisted of doritos and hummous. Even though I had planned more, I realised R had retired to bed mid conversation, so no doubt will be awake hungry in the middle of the night!
Such a novelty to have a car to hand! We took advantage and went to the local shops where there was an outdoor market alongside a well stocked Coop so we arrived back on board with lots of fruit, vegetables and alcohol! The latter was in preparation for our first outdoor gathering later in the day.
Great excitement. At 3.30pm two of our oldest friends arrived at the boat armed with a box of wood for the fire, homemade cake, freshly laid eggs, homegrown rhubarb and fresh herbs. A cornucopia of delight! The day which had started out quite chilly began to warm up, as we set off on the same walk I had done yesterday with Ra and C. Safe in the knowledge that I shouldn’t have forgotten it less than a day later, we were able to chat nineteen to the dozen without having to concentrate too hard on the route! By the time we were back to Wind Rose we all needed hot cross buns and cherry cake to refuel. Just as we finished enjoying tea, our other local friends, O and S arrived for 6 o’clock drinks. We cracked open the bubbly, such a novelty and luxury it was to be able to have six of us together! It deserved celebrating. It was fun reuniting our two sets of friends as two of them had grown up near to one another and their parents had been friends. Not only that but the reason I know them is through our siblings. We each had/have a brother a decade older than ourselves and they were good friends and that’s how we three met half a century ago, Scottish dancing! The last time our friends had met each other, they thought, was probably at our wedding. We chatted until the chill got to us all and even the rugs over our legs, making us feel even more ancient, were not enough to stop the hands turning blue!
We wanted to watch a complete film, rather than a series so browsed Netflix’s offerings and happened on a 1990s film called Sleepers. If I had looked more closely at the synopsis we probably would have passed it by because it turned out to be a story, based on truth, revolving around child abuse in an American juvenile detention centre. Some of it I could not bear to watch so we fast forwarded, but the film itself was sobering and thought provoking. The child abuse was, to my mind, so horrific that it caused me to reflect on the blog I have just written on forgiveness. Would I be able to forgive someone who committed those acts on a child of mine? Conversely, if I didn’t forgive, how would that play out on me for the rest of my life? How would I deal with the feelings of anger and hatred – would they become all consuming. I think I came to the same conclusion as in my blog – that in order to heal and let go of the past, so that I could contemplate an hopeful future, I would have to find it in me to forgive. This would probably be impossible without using God’s strength to help me and also to recognise that true forgiveness may take a very long time, even a lifetime, to achieve.
As if that film were not enough for one night, we suddenly remembered we had not seen the final episode of ‘Unforgotten’, of which I cannot say much, as I do not want to spoil it for those of you who are a bit behind! Suffice to say, I eventually retired to bed emotionally exhausted!
Still quite cold on the boat overnight. Missing my human hotwater bottle! Really strange to see R, looking very serious, on a Zoom prayer meeting first thing – he in our kitchen at home and me back under the duvet in the boat! His relaxed face, since his accident, does have a rather severe look, so I often have to remind him to smile. He reassures me that although at times he might look miserable that is not necessarily how he feels. It just takes more effort to keep up a happy expression. Had a few chores to do in anticipation of daughter C arriving at midday with her husband, Ra. Also attended a Zoom Good Friday service which was really meaningful – it wasn’t my usual church – they had a live service in the churchyard in the afternoon.
I was so excited to see C and Ra – December was our last meetup. I took them first to Annie’s cafe and treated them to hot chocolate with all the toppings! Then we had a picnic lunch followed by a beautiful walk recommended by S in the boat next door. Returning to the boat in time for hot cross buns, we offered to toast one for our neighbour. He was delighted to hear it was a traditional hot cross bun, rather than a faddy taste, such as ‘chocolate and orange’. He had to slather it in butter himself as I have run out of butter and just have R’s cholesterol free spread on board.
Managed to get the fire lit. R had left it primed and ready to go but it still required abit of tlc. Ra and C were not impressed that after 5 months on the boat, I had never observed how R tended the fire! It really has been a ‘blue’ job. Needs must and I managed to get it going without too much smoke filling the cabin and by the time R arrived back at the boat it was pumping out a fair bit of heat. He arrived laden with some summer clothes for me (ever hopeful), post, including some welcome Easter cards and a few parcels. He’d managed to work the washing machine but failed to notice his new woollen jumper required 30° not 40° so it had shrunk just enough to fit me better than him! In the shrinking process the knit has almost felted so it is now extremely warm and a welcome addition to my wardrobe! Unusually for us, we didn’t watch a film. We actually had quite a lot to talk about, catching up on each other’s week and who we had seen and where we had been. R was also fairly exhausted having mown our lawn twice in three days with a heavy, petrol driven, push along lawnmower. It requires brute strength and determination! Coupled with then driving here and the concentration required when you haven’t driven for five months, we were both up for an early night.
Set the alarm to put the heating on, just so that I could have a hot bath before going to the water tap later this morning. Thought an hour would be long enough, so was disappointed when the water was lukewarm. Three kettle fulls of water and 2 saucepans boiled up did the trick of making it warm enough to just make it an enjoyable, though speedy, experience! Now here’s a joy of boating those of you with copious amounts of hot water may turn your nose up at. Once out of the bath I took a bucketful of the water, added detergent and the few clothes I wanted to wash (nowhere near a washing machine at present so trying to keep enough smalls clean!) and left them to soak. It’s the rinsing out that seems to take alot of changes of water so I still try and double up water usage when possible to eek out the tank. Once the boat is running I can spin them in the washing machine. I have given up any attempt to wash clothes in it – you can put hardly anything in weight wise and it takes 3 and a half hours to process. That’s a ‘quick’ wash at the recommended 30°! Even a sparse bucketful of clothes needs to be spun in two loads or the spin won’t work.
Had to empty the dreaded Elsan – no R to do it for me! Cost all of £2.50 as at a private boatyard. They sold beer so I got a bottle for BBT to enjoy as he assisted me at the locks. He’d already been to Thrupp to assess the mooing situation and found three spaces vacant at that moment. A narrowboat was being blackened under the bridge near to me, before the water point, so I did wonder if that would hold me us as there was no room to pass. However the job didn’t take too long so at just past midday I took my courage in both hands and moved the boat alone – a first time for everything! I was slightly nervous, especially as the wind was ‘moderate’ but I got round that by alighting under the bridge and, using the midrope, walked the boat the remaining short distance to the watertap. Remembered to empty the rubbish (R usually does that) and then went to meet BBT off the train. We planned to head to Thrupp confident that one of the three spaces would still be available. Otherwise am not sure how R could find me. It’s easy to forget that the canal does not necessarily follow a road or anywhere you can easily find parking so just stopping the boat canalside is not always a good option!
BBT
We set off with 5 locks ahead of us and quite a lot of meandering along the canal, at times making slow progress because there were quite a few moored boats that need to be passed ‘on tickover’. It took 4 hours and then BBT had to walk back to his car, so a long day for him. It all went smoothly although there was one lock that was hexagonal in shape, like the one at Aynho, and it proved tricky to fill as the bottom gate didn’t shut properly. It only had to rise 12″. A ‘first’ for me was taking the boat on the river – BBT said it reminded him of the Mississippi whereas in reality it was the Cherwell! Still it was a good river to cut my teeth on as the tide was not too strong so I didn’t feel out of control and I managed to moor up OK. Another of the locks had so much debris in the water I got hold of my windlass, like I’ve seen R do countless times and hauled a great big pile of it out of the canal. There’s even a picture of it, so pleased was I with my effort!
When we arrived in Thrupp we had to go through an electric bridge at a right angle so that took a bit of navigating and on the other side I was relieved to find BBTs sighting of the mooring earlier in the day still available. Thrupp consists of a length of canal that is chocca with boats and I felt blessed to find anyway to moor. Usually you can only stay on the moorings for a limited time but in lockdown boats have been allowed to stay indefinitely so the popular places have filled up and remained static. There’s a really great looking pub very nearby but sadly that remains closed until the 16th apparently. But there’s also parking which will be great for R’s return.
I felt pretty tired and was glad to find leftovers in the fridge to heat together – reminded me a bit of my mum’s ABC soup – all bit’s combined! I had a phonecall from my mother in law, very unusual. R had been allowed to see her today and she’d given him a bag of her old clothes to bin. However she thought he hadn’t paid attention so was letting me know what I had to do when I found a strange bag of clothes in the car. I asked how she thought he looked and quick as a flash the word ‘dreadful’ came out, meaning she hated his longer hair! Mother’s never change. I hardly ever got a compliment about my hair from my mum. She was firmly of the opinion all hair should be curly and tried for years to get me to perm mine. It was always a great disappointment to her that I had straight boring hair!
Finished the evening watching two series I just don’t think will appeal to R. ‘Line of Duty’ and ‘Behind her Eyes’, the latter having been recently recommended although I have to say psychological thrillers leave me feeling anxious so am not sure I will finish the course on that one!
Awake at 4am I spent two hours writing before falling back to sleep until 0930. The trains kept me company – some of them are so long they take 20seconds to pass by and that’s going at speed! This weekend there will be night work on the railway right next to our boat with bright lighting so tomorrow I plan to move the boat. A friend is coming to help as he can stay outside as the weather is set to be fair.
After my weekly Wednesday Zoom I sat on the bow of the boat awaiting the arrival of a very long standing friend, who lives close by. Just before her arrival a very young chatty Polish guy stopped by, making himself comfortable on the grass and mid talk S arrived so we had a lively discussion on conspiracy theories as it was obvious this guy was convinced by them. After he had gone on his way S and I settled down for a long catchup. We had planned on a walk but S’s knee was rather painful so we thought that might do more damage. Just sitting in the sun on the towpath, watching the world go by, was blissful and felt so normal! S suggested I visit Rousham Garden less than a mile from the boat so after a quick lunch I did just that, taking a thermos with me. I had to pay an entry fee of £8 which will probably surprise my siblings who know gardens are not usually my thing! However, it was a beautiful afternoon and the garden was worth every penny. Absolutely stunning location and amazing garden, lovingly tended for, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I had a relaxing meander around the extensive and varied grounds and then found a bench to sit on, overlooking a circular pond with tadpoles jumping around. Enjoying my thermos of tea, like in the olden days, I reflected there was no cafe because the gardens have been kept deliberately free of anything commercial. In addition, no children under the age of 15 allowed in, so very peaceful! There is some sad tradegy attached to the house which is why children are not allowed on the premises. The house is open to the public by arrangement only. I am not sure it is even lived in but it is owned by the same family who lived there in the 17th century. For interest to the garden enthusiasts, the garden was landscaped by William Kent (1685-1748) and remains almost as he left it!
Returning to the boat I picked up a log I had spied on the way to the house. I think it is the biggest I have carried so far and I am hopeful R will be very pleased with my ability to forage! He may not be saying that as he saws his way through it!!
The weather was so warm I sat on the bow in our picnic chair and listened first to the familiar sound of tennis being played and then a jolly garden supper, followed by the same funny games I used to play with my friends – obviously, they were a group of young men, (no female voices!) just enjoying the pleasure of being together on a relatively warm March evening.
It was also our lent group and the only way I could connect was by sitting outside, without my Zoom video, so I was a disembodied voice which must have been a bit odd for the others who could all see each other. It was interesting though – all about the films and TV we watch, looking at them from the prospective of what conversations they might spark with those who are searching for the meaning of their life and what else might there be in the unseen realm and beyond this world. Christians are encouraged not to live in their own bubble, but to engage with all that is going on around them and try to communicate the relevance of their faith in the hear and now.
Meanwhile R, back at home, was enjoying an outdoor supper, (apparently trying out our friends new patio heaters!) and a picture whatsapped to me, showed a very relaxed man, obviously happy to have a bit of civilization and a proper meal cooked for him! A small cheroot spied between his fingers led me to suspect he had conveniently forgotten it was still lent and I don’t think he realised J would take a picture to send me! What a snitch!! As lockdown eases, a bit of FOMO may set in. It’s been easy on the boat knowing everyone else has been at home without socialising. A true test for me will be how I feel once everyone is able to get together – will I still prefer the joys of being on the boat or will I yearn to be back home! Only time will tell. As it was, last night I had an early night, retreating under the duvet before the cold set in, which I am sure was good for me!
First day of waking up on the boat alone and after a restless night. I was surprisingly cold overnight with quite severe muscle ache in my inner thighs which could be the result of my jab or my long walk yesterday. Or just old age creeping into my creaking bones! I got up too late for breakfast so a quick cup of tea sufficed as I washed my hair in bowlfuls of cold water with the chill taken off by adding hot water from the kettle! It was far too warm a day to justify turning on the heating, or the engine for that matter, just so that I could wash my hair! I then took the opportunity of giving the boat, especially the bathroom, a very good clean which left me feeling virtuous! Having emptied nearly all our water bottles I set off to the nearby water tap to refill about 15 litres which were quite a weight on the return journey! Arriving at the tap I realised I would have to wait as another boater was filling his tank. He suggested I disconnect his hose, fill my bottles and then reconnect his hose, as he was expecting his fillup to take over an hour! Apparently this water tap is one of the slowest on record. We fell into a lengthy chat as had been living aboard over a decade (must have taken very early retirement!) and at this longterm mooring for five years. His idea of a holiday was pootling to Leighton Buzzard or some such! His boat was so full of LPs and books that it listed to one side until he took an ‘essential’ journey to Thrupp, where they have an outside book bank under a shelter and he managed to offload a quantity of books. I quizzed him about taking the boat into Oxford, which he thought a very bad idea as absolutely no mooring spaces available. They all got filled up during lockdown, as noone should be moving unnecessarily and moorings that are usually, in Oxford, for 24hrs have had the same boats on for months on end. He felt Banbury was a far better option. Less likelihood of drunks walking over your boat late at night! He also gave me suggestions of where my internet might be improved which was helpful of him. By the time we finished chatting it was almost time for my sister and husband to arrive. Great excitement for me to have family visiting – think I last saw C in early October, sorting out mum’s belongings. As the weather was so glorious we had arranged to have a picnic beside the boat and it was lovely to do something that felt so normal and a relief not to feel we were breaking any rules. We took the opportunity to walk around the village after lunch and it really is very picture postcard pretty.
One of the suggestions for internet signal was a few boats along from my mooring so I wandered along and stopped alongside a boat where a man was in his bow. We got chatting and it took me about 20minutes to extricate myself. I think my sister must have thought I’d got lost or fallen in the canal! The man came along the towpath as we were indulging in hot cross buns and tea, so another long chat ensued. I really like hearing the stories of the other boaters. He then recommend I stand in the middle of the railway bridge for signal so after C and N left, I did just that, to no avail. Eventually arriving back on the boat I found stronger signal there than anywhere else, although not strong enough to upload any pictures onto my blog. Enough to watch episode 1 of the new Line of Duty. Not R’s Cup of tea so am indulging whilst home alone! Spoke to R who had found all my online purchases and will bring them with him at the weekend. He didn’t seem too fazed! Having mowed the lawn he was exhausted and ready for an early night. I cobbled together something to eat and retired to bed, hopeful of a better night.
Apologies for the lack of pictures in yesterday’s blog. I shall upload them when I have better internet. It is a sign of the times that one of our basic necessities on the boat appears to be signal strength! To that end I ended up doing a 12 mile walk this afternoon but more of that later.
The day started at a leisurely pace. After last night’s frustrations with finding signal we abandoned Monday morning Zoom prayers and I even managed to get out of bed first to make R some breakfast although it turned out to be a rather strange porridge with a lot of small broken up Brazil nuts. R ate the entire bowlful imagining part of his tooth had broken off! When he had his facial trauma with his bike accident miraculously his teeth survived but I think they were weakened and he is having payback now as problems emerge, such as bits of his teeth chipping. It doesn’t help when I feed him al dente vegetables and nuts.
Baby Breathe mid morning was delightful but frustrating because even though I sat outside, the internet came and went so it must have been rather annoying for the others on Zoom. I got my fix of seeing some cute babies and then in the early afternoon my day was made when our friends N and T arrived on the towpath with their 3 children under 3, the baby being just 9 days old. She was so tiny and beautiful and it was a joy to be with a young family after so long on our own. The two toddlers were adorable and so good. Always a slight worry having the young so near to water but they kept away from the edge of the canal and there were no near mishaps! We all walked with R to the station platform, which took all of three minutes and waved him off. Three changes of train to get home but when he rang me later he said it went like clockwork.
Meanwhile after our friends left I set off along the towpath to find our next mooring which will hopefully have better signal as I would like to join the Zoom services for Holy week on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Ideally Thrupp would be my next destination but it was a bit too far to walk. As it was, my round trip started at 4pm and I staggered back to the boat at 8pm, just as darkness was falling. I realised I had to put on an extra burst of speed if I was to arrive home before dark so the walk did feel like a workout! I had taken an external phone battery charger with me so I was able to talk at length to a couple of friends and my eldest daughter and then, to help speed me home, I put on my Spotify playlist of fast walking songs. In the first lockdown when I didn’t leave the house at all, instead of outside exercise I found an exercise video that was based on walking four miles an hour. The beat and speed of the music ensured you kept to time and I loved it for its simplicity. Interspersed with the walking steps were extra moves to keep the body moving in different directions. Once I had mastered the moves I found my own favourite music and was able to do my own thing. The music came in handy today to keep me motivated. It was the most beautiful walk as the sun was shining and the reflections on the water at times were stunning. I only met a couple of other walkers on the entire walk, probably another reason I wanted to be back by dark. It did feel rather isolated in parts with no boats moored and obviously, due to the excess murder mysteries R and I have partaken off over the last few months, my imagination was working overtime!
R had rung me en route to say he had arrived home. I still at that point had another hour’s walk ahead of me but I was keen to know if all the parcels had safely arrived with things I have been busy ordering recently, mainly from bargain sites, such as Approved Foods and Brandalley. I also had ordered a treat for R. He is rather partial to the hot fresh fruit infusions that my nephew has developed in preference to dried teas, such as lemon and honey or mixed berry. Known as Tea Rex, the infusions are made using fresh ingredients such as lemon, turmeric and black pepper. They taste amazing and we had run out of a supply on the boat so I reordered last week in order for R to enjoy them now he’s home. He has got a couple of errands to do for me, one being the collection of my mother’s ashes and a memory stick with her service on, from the undertakers. I just hope they haven’t thought we have forgotten all about her as her funeral was 6 months ago!
I tried an interesting take on a pancake a la Joe Wicks. An egg, a banana and a spoon of peanut butter all mixed up and then fried as a batter. They were OK, a bit too eggy for my taste but a great use of overripe bananas. Off to bed early as the boat cooled. R has laid up a fire for me to light but I’m just as happy snuggling under the duvet and leaving the stove for another day.
Well, I’ve learnt a lot about wind today and I think I prefer the rain! We started the day with our Zoom church and planned to journey to Lower Heyford, where there’s a train station. The wind was moderate at midday and not due to lessen so we decided to stick to our timing rather than delay. To explain, we have chains that loop round the bar on the steel shutterings on the towpath side and once the boat ropes are free of the chain, you then have to unloop the chain before you can hop onto the boat. The plan was to attach the mid rope to a tree stump on the towpath and then R would untie the bow rope and get our chain free before I untied the stern rope, got the chain and then jumped aboard to helm. However the wind was so strong where we were moored that every time R tried to unleash the bow rope the bow immediately swung across the canal. There was no way the two of us had the strength and weight to pull it back. Just as we were despairing about what to do next the man from the only other moored boat ran up to help us, like a heaven sent angel. His intention had been to walk his dog but he spied our distress and immediately offered his assistance. Younger and stronger, he was able to hold the midrope firmly enough whilst R and I undid our ropes and chains and jumped on board simultaneously. Not only that, but he knew we would encounter difficulty with a drawbridge a mile further along and so he went ahead of us on foot to raise and then lower it once we had passed through. The kindness of strangers – he certainly met us in our hour of need! Under normal circumstances we would not have chosen to move today but had little choice. No wonder a sound bit of advice given to us before we embarked on this trip has proven true – try not to make plans set in stone as you never know what hazards are ahead of you! Certainly the wind today hampered our progress and it was very hard work to avoid being beached on a shallow flat bank and keeping the boat on a straight course, avoiding moored boats. There were three locks to go through, the first being the second deepest on the network of single locks, at 12ft. Not one to attempt alone and I couldn’t even raise one of the paddles on my own – it just would not budge for me! Then I couldn’t shut that particular gate once R had left the deep chamber and so he had to come and assist. Meanwhile we hoped the boat would stay where he left it on the exit from the lock, as we were in a narrow archway that happened to be quite long. All quite exciting and tiring. The remaining locks I managed alone with R at the helm to assist. I felt I had proved my lock abilities yesterday so didn’t need a repeat performance!
We moored at Lower Heyford in, it seemed to me the only available mooring, so congested with boats was the canal. I fear we will have difficulty all the way through to Oxford with moorings, which might deter us from taking the boat so far along. We had no choice with our internet connection and it has to be said, it is poor. In order to watch Endeavour without constant buffering R must have repositioned the phone at least 20 times. Eventually he balanced it above the doorway, high enough for us to have to crane our necks and so far away that we, with our old eyesight, could only just identify the characters. Luckily we are set for a warm week if the forecast is correct, so I shall have to find some good coverage outside, hopefully even on the boat bow.
The train station is literally next door, sharing the towpath with us. Although not particularly busy as a passenger station, quite a few freight trains are passing through at regular intervals so I can’tsay it is the most peaceful of places to be!
After five months on the boat with R, today was like a continuous assessment examination – at least that’s how it felt as we started out from Banbury and I did everything as though R wasn’t on the boat (in fairness, when we stopped at the facilities he did the Elsan but I’ve had plenty of practice over the months so I don’t think that needs testing!). This is in preparation for when he goes back and forth home to mow the lawn and sort paperwork etc. Originally we were due to leave the boat at the end of March because another couple were booked to take it, but plans have changed and it’s available now until mid June. It always seemed sad that we would miss the change of season, the trees blossoming and the wild spring flowers bursting forth with unexpected colour on the towpath verges. Not to mention, we hope, warmer sunny weather, although that is never a given in Britain! So R and I came to a compromise that means we are now leaving the boat at the end of April.
Which brings me back to the continuous assessment! I wanted to prove to myself I was capable of handling the boat on my own if for any reason I need to move it. I didn’t want to feel trapped in one place because I was uncertain of how to operate a lock on my own, or moor up the boat. Funnily enough the latter proved the most tricky, but more of that later! Over the months teamwork has been key and we have devised ways of doing things which naturally fall into two roles. So I have never done everything alone and certainly, when working the locks, you need to be systematic or you can end up in a right old pickle. The midrope is a case in point. If you don’t think ahead as to which side of the roof you are going to have to grab it from it’s pretty useless to you, especially when ‘walking’ the boat out of the lock chamber. It needs to be quick and easy to grab hold of. It’s also vital to loosely tie the mid rope to a bollard in the lock so that when the boat lowers down and no one is on it, it’s possible to keep the boat steady. There’s a sill on the lock gate that if the boat gets caught on, will tip the boat and cause a lot of damage. Easy with two of you – one keeps an eye whilst on the helm and moves the boat back and forth as necessary.
What I had to battle with today was a moderate wind, which made handling the boat a bit more tricky as it felt like it has a mind of its own. Just going slowly past the moored boats along a narrow stretch of canal, meant that our boat was veering sideways rather than moving forward and I thought I would scrape the moored boats . Once at the lock I had to moor up; leave the boat to fill the chamber by opening the paddles (problem if too stiff and hard to move but luckily not in this instance); open the gate (can be easier said than done!); return to the boat, unmoor being careful not to trail the rope in the water where it could get tangled with the propellor; look ahead to see which side the bollards in the lock are on so that I put rope same side on roof; manoeuvre boat very slowly into lock reversing slightly to halt its progress forward; jump off boat and shut gate and lower paddles; secure rope to bollard but loosely to cut enough slack as the boat lowers down; open front paddles to let the water out, then take hold of rope to steady boat in chamber; open gate, remembering to lower paddles; walk boat out of chamber or throw rope onto towpath side of roof and then lower myself down slippery ladder to the helm of boat and steer it out of chamber; moor up on bollards and return to lock to shut the gate (or gates – if there are two there’s a lot of extra walking, remembering the lock is 70ft in length!); return to boat, thinking ahead as to where the midrope should be placed for next mooring up; push off from the side at the front of the boat to get into the middle of the canal but quickly return to the other end of boat to jump aboard before that end leaves the water’s edge! What a palaver on ones own – it takes twice as long and requires concentration as well as muscle power. Pulling the boat into the side is hardwork at the best of times but with a wind as well, it requires a lot of strength and weight. Up till now R has always done it and I had never fully appreciated how hard he has worked – a 60ft boat with approx 12 tons of weight to move.
I think I did 4 locks (lost count!) so felt quite proficient by the end! One was very strange – it was hexagonal in shape so can fit up to 4 boats. A boat on its own has to be secured so as not to drift into the middle of the chamber and it was very tricky ‘walking’ it out. It is a ‘wier lock’ and if the river is running too fast into the canal there’s a warning board which means you are not allowed to enter the lock and have to wait until the weather improves. Luckily for us that wasn’t a problem today.
What was a problem was my mooring up for the night! We found a lovely stretch of water with few trees and a beautiful view across flat fields so I assumed I could move the boat parallel to the canal side, jump off midrope in hand, pull the boat close alongside and secure midrope. Then secure fore and aft ropes. I hadn’t factored in the wind, nor the fact that there were no trees to act as a natural wind break. The one available tree I tried to use as a bollard to secure the midrope around, but try as I might, I could not pull the bow of the boat in – it kept veering into the centre of the canal. Eventually I decided to hop back on board and try to steer the front round but all I succeeded in doing was drifting the entire boat to the muddy side of the canal and getting stuck (meanwhile R was watching helplessness from the towpath!). I tried to pushoff using the boat pole but didn’t have the strength to make a difference. Eventually by reversing hard I freed the boat from the mud but then heard a plop – the pole was floating (luckily it didn’t sink!) in the canal. So I went to the bow and found the grabber stick we use for picking up rubbish, walked along the outside edge of the boat where the pole was parallel and quite closely, managed to grab it, haul it up side of boat into my hand whilst still holding onto boat with other hand. Amazing what you do when you have to! Safely back at the helm, pole secured, I reversed the boat back to the towpath and threw R the midrope. I just couldn’t do it on my own. So what did I learn? It may look picturesque to moor the boat with no windbreak and a beautiful view but actually if it is windy, find a sheltered mooring!!
After all the excitement of the day I was pleasantly tired but luckily still had energy to cook the planned supper I had deliberately bought all the ingredients for. It was a Joe Wicks vegetarian cottage pie, using diced cauliflower (should have been blitzed but I don’t have food processor) instead of potato mash, with grated cheese on top. The beauty of it on the boat was that I didn’t need to use the oven. You assemble the pie hot, top with cheese and grill. It was delicious and well worth the effort.
Started watching The Crown, series 4, but I must say I wasn’t gripped and when R asked if I wanted to see the next episode I declined. Maybe I was just tired from the day’s excursions or maybe its not so gripping watching events you remember. Whatever the reason I took myself off to bed and was asleep almost as my head hit the pillow. Did then awake at 0330, which is now 0430 and wrote up the blog, in the hopes I will drift off to sleep again before daylight. There’s something banging on the roof due to the wind which is very irritating but I can’t bring myself to investigate outside in the dark!
Thinking ahead, I am probably not going to have access to much of a food shop next week so I need to make sure I have enough of the basics. To that end I did a stocktake of all the food on board and then, finding every conceivable empty container on the boat, I set off for the ‘zerowaste’ shop I passed yesterday. A cornucopia of delight! I really hope we will see many more springing up over the country. I had great fun making my own peanut butter to the crunchiness I desired and then I ground my decaf coffee so that its suitable for the Italian stove top coffeemaker we have – R really likes using it over a cafetiere. I liked that I could choose how much of anything I wanted without the quantities being preset. The only treat I brought pre packaged were some small 100% chocolate Easter eggs filled with peanut butter! Delicious I am sure. As R doesn’t buy Easter eggs I bought this for him to give to me!! The shop had so many environmental friendly products, from bamboo toothbrushes and socks, to beeswax covers and aluminium free deodorant sticks! They even had metal straws and very thin brushes to clean them thoroughly. It has always worried me how you clean a straw properly! I’m not too sure on how covid secure it is to touch the same scoops as everyone else but there was plenty of hand sanitizer and I really like the principle of reusing empty containers, especially as we have a lot of the plastic ones you seem to get with an Indian takeaway. Ideal on the boat and in our small freezer as they stack so neatly together.
R had been practising his accordian whilst I was out and writing a few postcards. The rain poured down and we were grateful that we hadn’t planned on moving the boat today – I thought I might have been feeling a bit ropey but actually I felt pretty normal. We went walking in the afternoon when the weather was improved and continued to be amazed at the extent of Banbury’s industrial parks and estates. There is an all pervading smell of bread, more specifically donuts, along the towpath, from a large bakery – it really made me feel very hungry! There was so much traffic out and about. I imagine the town gets pretty gridlocked frequently.
Had a lovely long telephone chat with my cousin’s husband and caught up on all the news, whilst R went off to chop wood on a nearby bench. We had a tatty blue plastic box that he used to store the wood and he couldn’t find it anywhere. There really is nowhere to lose anything! Eventually he concluded he got distracted yesterday and left it by the bench whilst returning to the boat with some larger logs. Someone must have walked off with it. Their gain!
Another Friday, another Zoom. I can’t believe how quickly Friday comes around. We chat for an hour and a half and the time speeds by, but I can’t remember half of what we talk about! It is just so nice to see friends and feel connected.
Watched a new episode of Midsomer Murders to ring the changes, all based around bees, but still got a fix of young Morse after. Then I read a sad WhatsApp from my eldest daughter, H, who is now really struggling with lockdown. As she said, who would have thought at 33 she would be all alone for a year not seeing her friends or able to build new relationships. I just feel so sad for our young people and the isolation so many of them are facing. Conversely for those in a relationship that also has its stresses as a couple is totally thrown together without the usual additional friendship groups around. That’s not age related – ask R!
NarrowboatTLC 