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Turning onto the River Stort from the River Lea on Sunday morning,  we immediately encountered many bends in the River and one seasoned boater did later remark to me that he travels most of the Stort on ‘tickover’ – slowly and with caution! Before we took the boat along the river we walked the towpath to locate Roydon Marina, our destination for Monday. There were one or two suitable mooring places,  although a plank would still be necessary and we discovered the actual entrance to the marina was via a lock. Having decided where to moor overnight we were en route back to the boat when we came across a 60ft narrowboat straddling the canal. It had lost power and the couple aboard were trying to work out how they could reach the towpath. Throwing us some ropes we hauled them into the bank but because of the shallow waters they had to take a bit of a leap to land ashore. All in a days boating! We discovered, once moored ourselves, that the internet was patchy so it made for watching a disjointed mens singles final but exciting nonetheless.

We planned to arrive early at the marina as we had much to do before the arrival of our daughter, Ho, in the afternoon. She is on the boat whilst we go to the seaside so I wanted to do some cleaning, fill the boat with water etc. I even made R immediately strip off his clothes before jumping in the marina showers, so I could get everything washed and then dried under our stern cover, as it was a very hot day! Ho arrived and we had to teach her the ropes of the boat although she won’t be taking it out of the marina. Getting cold feet that the toilet might need a pumpout because I don’t really trust the indicator that tells us how full it is, we got up this morning and decided to empty it. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than it over filling in this heat and with Ho on board who had no idea how to get the job done! There were two upsides – it cost £16 rather than the £24 we were previously charged and it meant Ho could steer the boat around the large marina basin. Returning the boat to its mooring was fairly tricky and hopefully allayed Ho’s disappointment at us not wanting her to leave the marina. It took a bit of careful manoeuvring to avoid the other boats and we were fortunate to have R giving directions from the shoreline because he’s far better at anticipating where the boat will go, especially in reverse!

Ho has got a colourful neighbour for the week. I don’t think he has an ‘on/off’ switch, so if she gets cornered not only will she hear his life story in full but she will hear it more than once. He is very kind and is growing some wonderful flowers on his boat (he says his sister keeps giving them to him and he mustn’t kill them, so waters them religiously!) but I think he is also a little lonely and I imagine a few of the other boaters give him a wide berth because they don’t want to be delayed too long from their daily tasks. It’s a great marina with lots of people around, a cafe and all the facilities you need. I was a bit sad to leave it!

My great excitement of the last few days is what I call one of my ‘God instances’. Knowing that if we had been at home we would probably have asked to host a Ukrainian family, I thought instead we might be able to offer a few hours of peace and tranquillity on our boat. I mentioned this to my friend who we saw unexpectedly on Saturday and on Sunday she sent me a message saying that a friend of her sister, living in Stanstead Abbots (right next to where we are on the boat and the next door small town to Gt Amwell where we are headed) has a Ukrainian refugee with a 4yr old son. Apparently ever since he arrived and saw all the boats on the river, he has been asking to go on a boat trip! This friend of a friend thought it miraculous when she heard what I wanted to do and we will hopefully be able to give lifts to lots of Ukrainian visitors because there are many in the area. It’s also fortuitous that the route between Stanstead Abbots and Hertford runs parallel to the train so very easy for people to do a one way trip. As there are only four locks along the route, it does not require too much hard work either. Each time I wonder what our journey is about and question what it is God wants us to do, something happens that really speaks to me that God is involved – we just need to be open minded and on the alert for what he wants of us because the answers are not always what we think they will be! A life lesson I think for each of us – who knows where our journey will go if we trust and let go a little, without looking too far forward.

Feels very strange arriving so close to where I grew up by boat, because the vista is new to me and yet the place names are so familiar and evocative of so many memories. My granny lived in London in her final years. Growing up in Orkney, you would have thought that would be the last place she would want to be and yet she loved the buzz of the city and much preferred it to village life. I remember frequent trips into London as a child, travelling by car along the A10 to visit her, the journey seeming interminably long and boring! The A10, in my mind’s eye, was just a mass of tightly packed houses, lining the road, all rather dull, as we passed through Cheshunt, Enfield and then the outskirts of London itself. Even back then we would be delayed in traffic jams, especially on the North Circular and the building of the M25 was a major event in my teenage years.

My brother, 14 years older than me, worked near Cheshunt in his late twenties so returned home to live and I can still remember the frustration of my mother never really knowing if he would be home for supper or if he would have made a last minute decision to spend his evening in London – he had the best of both worlds! Then Broxbourne was where we got the fast train link to London so many a time my long suffering father would drive us there or collect us from Broxbourne so that we didn’t have to wait an extra half an hour for the less frequent train to our local station, St Margaret’s. Hoddesdon was where we went to the doctor and slightly better shopping than Ware. I think it was also where the secondary modern school was, so if you didn’t get into Ware or Hertford grammar, that was the alternative. Rye House was known for its power station and infact that’s where we travelled to find a mooring. The best guides for mooring information are the Pearson’s maps but sadly no one has written one for the River Lee and Stort so mooring is guess work!

We left Waltham Town shortly before 0930 and came across regular locks, all fairly heavy going and time consuming to fill. The first lock already had a narrowboat coming down, with a delightful retired couple who were moving their boat to Godalming for a couple of years, having spent the last two years at a marina in Hertford. They were almost on a reverse journey to ours, although I don’t think I want to spend quite so long on the Lee and Stort! I would like to go on the River Wey at some point and as it’s owned by the National Trust, you don’t have to pay fees to the CRT. So, although mooring fees may be more costly, the licence fee is less expensive – I learnt all this in a five minute exchange of information as we waited for the lock to empty and our boats passed one another!

I was impressed by how green and lush the fauna alongside the river looked with many wild flowers adorning the banks and adjacent fields and marshes. As we travelled further along so the River widened out and we were passed by quite a few small electric boats, hired out on an hourly basis. One in particular didn’t seem to be moving out of our path and then I spied a paddle and rightly deduced that their power had failed and they were on their mobiles trying to get some assistance. I did offer to tow them but fortunately they did not think that was necessary!

As we travelled through Broxbourne I was reminded of friends of ours who live near Farnham but grew up locally to here and infact were married by my dad at Gt Amwell church. We haven’t seen them since covid struck but I sent them a message telling them where we were. Strangely, they were returning from a trip to Cambridge and so we met at a pub in Hoddesdon where we moored up and they could easily park! The Fish & Eels looked to be doing a roaring trade. As we hadn’t pre-booked they couldn’t offer us food but we could have a drink with them in the garden, alongside our boat. The weather was idyllic and so we spent an hour or so enjoying an unexpected encounter with our long standing friends.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay on the pub mooring overnight so reluctantly continued our journey, even though the moorings, according to the satellite view on Google maps, looked few and far between. The river was beautiful as it meandered along but there was little opportunity to moor as the banks were overgrown with weeds and too shallow to allow the boat to get close to the towpath. We passed the power station at Rye Park and R suggested we moor before the next lock. Easier said than done. Our first attempt banked us onto rocks which then entailed alot of reversing to regain the deeper centerline of the river. As we turned a corner, the lock immediately visible, there were a few boats moored on the right but it was obviously private mooring. On the left we decided we could just fit behind a narrowboat that looked rather abandoned and gingerly headed towards the bank. Somehow R managed to alight and then wanted me to attach our plank between the stern and the towpath but it wasn’t long enough. However we were able to fit the plank at the bow end, to my mind in a very precarious position. R said this would be good practice for when we travel the Kennett & Avon as the banks there are notoriously unkempt! Having walked the plank onto the boat I have no intention of using it again unless absolutely necessary!

Leaving Colebrook Row in Islington at midday on Wednesday, I couldn’t resist returning to the Amazon Fresh store first thing, to pick up some delicious looking pastries as R’s cousin and his toddler were visiting us mid morning. I managed to find some colouring pens and paper to keep De occupied whilst we compared the pros and cons of living on a canal boat compared to a motorhome. Pe, who has three children, bought his parents campervan  when they upgraded to a newer model. He has spent many years holidaying in a mobile home so understands water issues and toilets!  As there was a water tap around the corner we moved the boat to top up the tank. It amazes me how long it takes considering we had only had a couple of showers and a few bowls of washing up water since the previous fill up.  The first lock of the day was immediately ahead so we did that with Pe and De and then our son in law’s mother arrived to travel with us towards Hackney Wick. After bidding farewell to our morning guests,  it was then fun spending time with Ja. We really appreciated the extra help with half a dozen locks, that were not the easiest to work.  Fortifying her with an alfresco lunch, seated on our stern, Ja then took the train back into town. We had entered the Hertford canal at an inauspicious left turn which, if not concentrating, would have been easy to miss and it was noticeably shallower with lots of weeds.  A further left turn and we were on the River Lea and continued on to Hackney Marsh where we moored for the night. We decided to check the weed hatch, my least favourite job, but I was grateful that we did because there was a lot of weeds, including plastic bags, attached to the propellor. It required quite a bit of effort to remove the debris and I was grateful for R’s longer arms and tenacity! Replacing the hatch cover is always a little nerve wracking as no one wants the boat to flood but I  think I am getting the hang of it and increasing in confidence.

We were surprised that our canal planner suggested it would only take a couple of hours to travel on to Ponders End lock because it took us considerably more time. Perhaps not helped by the confusion of approaching unexpected dual locks, one being electric and one manual. I am not sure how single handed boaters are supposed to manage the locks. There are limited bollards on the approaching towpath, often with boats moored extremely close to the lock entrance. Getting back on the boat after exiting the lock is no easy feat and perhaps explains why we found many lock gates left open. That increases the time it takes to work the lock because before you can begin to empty or fill it you need to walk around the lock perimeter closing gates. The locks took a long time to fill, partly because we had to let the water in slowly to prevent the boat bashing the sides of the chamber with the force of the water. In addition, the number of moored boats along the towpath slowed our speed considerably as you are meant to pass them on tickover. We did find an excellent cafe at Stonebridge lock, close to Tottenham Hale, where we enjoyed the best sandwiches I have eaten for a long time!

I was also intrigued to pass the boat ‘Genesis’ which is a floating church and has a roof that raises up. Sadly it was in the collapsed position but it was still interesting to see.

I was also amused to see a boat called ‘Mrs Drummond’ as that’s my brother’s name, a trifle unusual!

Travelling today was equally slow with  the lock at Rammey Marsh incredibly hard to work. We rewarded ourselves with a shared plate of smashed avocado and two fried eggs on toast, at the waterside cafe near to the lock, so even though the canal is not the easiest to travel along, nor the prettiest, the cafes alongside are worth the trouble! We have moored at Waltham Abbey, on the Essex, Hertfordshire border, a small town boasting alot of history. The Abbey itself closed at 4pm and is apparently well worth a visit, but we will have to save that treat for our return as it was past 4 when we walked into town. The heat was intense, one of the few occasions this year when I have felt just too hot to want to do anything or go anywhere. However T K Maxx happened to be the nearest shop to where we are moored so I didn’t miss an opportunity to see what they had on offer and the air conditioning cooled us down considerably! A useful pair of leather open toed sandals means I no longer have to wear socks and trainers, a blessing in this heat!

Our friends who traveled with us on Monday took some great pictures, which I have uploaded to Instagram and Facebook – I thought they were a step too far for me to manage but I have decided it is the easiest way of showing our journey in picture form, without overloading the blog. If you want a more picture driven account of our travels just browse through the Instagram, found either on MaryH or narrowboattlc.

A decade ago R and I visited some english friends, living at the time near New York and a highlight of our trip was being taken on their speedboat to see the Statue of Liberty. It was one of those memories that never quite leaves you! Living now in London, we invited them to join us on Naomhòg as we journeyed yesterday from Paddington Basin to Colebrook Row in Islington. Not quite as speedy but equally interesting as we travelled through Little Venice, Regent’s Park, London Zoo, Camden Market, Kings Cross, on a sunny July day. How different London looks viewing it from the water and once again I was struck by the diversity of people who enjoy walking/cycling the towpath or living the boaters life, some in expensive, top of the range widebeams and some in boats that seem barely afloat. Such a kind community of people, mostly keen to look out for one another and offer helpful advice for visitors, such as us, just passing through and wanting to make the most of our stay at the Angel.

Wi and Lu and their dog, joined us at Paddington Basin at midday and we were delighted to also welcome their Ukrainian visitor, Ly, who has been staying with them for five weeks. With limited english I thought communication might be an issue but somehow we all managed to understand one another and I was touched when Ly told me, at the end of the day, how much she had enjoyed herself and how, for a few hours, she had been able to forget her troubles and relax. Certainly it was a new experience for her and, windlass in hand, she helped me work the three locks en route. The first lock we came to was right in the centre of Camden market, buzzing with people and onlookers, many watching us from eateries along the waterfront. It was like being on ‘candid camera’ and especially embarrassing when I found myself trying to shut a lock gate that was just too heavy for one person, not helped by the precarious positioning of one’s feet. There was no room to pull the gate shut without risking slipping one way or another into the canal and I found myself unable to budge the gate. When eventually it moved, there was applause all round and I found myself taking a bow, feeling hugely self conscious!

Wi had made a picnic lunch so we moored up, but with no mooring rings and just a concrete edge, Lu sat on a chair on the towpath, wrapping the midrope around the legs to serve as a bollard. As we only had four chairs between five of us, I clambered on to the roof (getting off is always a bit of a challenge!) and it was like sitting on a heated car seat!

We had pre-booked an eco-mooring just by the Angel and fortunately no one had overstayed their booking so we were able to moor in our allotted space, which entailed ‘double mooring’. Slightly complicated because you have to attach yourself to the adjacent boat and walk across either their bow or stern to reach the towpath. Fortunately the boat we are tied alongside has a very tidy stern making it easy to get on and off our boat. I set off to find the launderette, only five minutes from the boat, so extremely convenient and a snip at £4! Having no 50p coins I couldn’t make use of the tumble dryer, but hanging the wet washing under our stern cover, it has dried perfectly well and helped save the planet!

Meandering around the back streets of the Angel has been a joy. We found a beautiful community garden, that R sat in whilst I went exploring the quirky and individual shops in Camden Passage. Chapel Market was folding up as we arrived but still had a few interesting stalls. The revelation to us was coming across an ‘Amazon Fresh’ supermarket, available for Amazon Prime customers, with an introductory offer of 25% off your shopping (excluding booze!). You just need the Amazon shopping app on your smartphone and an active card payment method. You enter a QRcode on arrival and as you pick items off the shelves and place them in your bag a sensor on the ceiling records your purchases. On leaving the store, you are sent a receipt electronically for the items. No checkouts, just a couple of staff who helpfully explain the system to people like me who can’t quite get their head around this surreal shopping experience!

Coming across a small shop selling some beautiful leather bags, the owner, Chr, asked me the origin of my gold necklace, that had caught his attention. It is in the shape of what I call a ‘quirky cross’ which I loosely designed in my head and then a group of friends had it made for me for my 60th birthday. It’s my only jewellery on the boat and I wear it constantly so I was pleased it sparked a conversation about christianity and spirituality. Sadly I didn’t buy a bag – I couldn’t quite justify its space on the boat! I did however treat myself on Sunday, to a very sharp Japanese knife, on finding a knife store in Baker Street. Every time our daughter in law comes to stay I am embarrassed by the bluntness of all the knives in my kitchen (she’s a professional cook!). This knife is so sharp I have already nicked myself so R says it can only be used by me and Mi! It even has its own magnetic knife holder. I am so excited to actually be able to thinly slice through anything, although we were warned it was not to be used for cutting through hard objects, such as ice and avocado stones!

The joy of watching the tennis at Wimbledon has not abated. It’s great that you can, on iPlayer, restart the match so it doesn’t matter when you join it. We’ve also discovered a new, to us, detective series that will keep us entertained. Called ‘New Tricks’ we have actually watched a few episodes ad hoc over recent months. However today I discovered we could start from Series 1, episode 1, so we have gone right back to the beginning and learning the back story, puts the whole series into context. It made us laugh so I imagine we will be working our way through the numerous series, similar to our Vera addiction!

Cannot quite believe we are sitting in Merchant Square, right next to our boat in Paddington Basin, watching Wimbledon on a big outdoor screen!! Our friend K in the long orange carrot boat is moored at Kings Cross and said that when she arrived, she took her boat right through a Wimbledon outdoor screening!! It’s such fun being right in the heart of London and arriving in the capital on the boat felt incredibly exciting.

The members of the Hillingdon boat club were very welcoming and we enjoyed a fun club evening with them. Ji was particularly helpful, setting me up with electricity and showing me the ropes. When he realised the issue I had with my bent stern strut he offered to try straightening it in the workshop along with the bent coupling. Both he managed to do, thus saving me the necessity of returning the strut to Melton Mowbray for replacement and then having to collect it from there a few days later. A logistical nightmare without the car! Discovering Ji had a passion for milk chocolate with caramel I set off to find both a sweetie shop and a shop selling mattress toppers as Ho suggested the dinette bed would benefit from one. Four miles later, a couple of downpours and I was back at the boat with my purchases, so relieved to see the pram cover looking shipshape!

I enjoyed being at the HBC so much I stayed an extra night, forgetting that it would take between 6 and 7 hours to arrive at Paddington Basin. It meant leaving before 7am on Friday morning and getting daughter Ho out of bed in order to work the only lock en route, which was shortly after we started the journey. Ho was keen to see how it was done as she has charge of the boat next week. It was a fine morning and traveling along the cut after turning left at Bulls Bridge, I was amazed at how much open countryside there is. 

Arriving at Alperton, we were joined by my neice, over from Japan and her toddler, our youngest guest to date. I was thankful for the canvas barrier we now have in place encircling the stern, but even so we all had to keep a careful watch on Ka. We were drawing straws as to who would jump in after Ka, should he end up in the water. I said I was too old, his mum is expecting a baby,  so it was Ho who was designated as lifesaver! Fortunately no such drama arose and we were all fascinated at seeing London from a canal perspective. There was a lot of wall art which cheered up many of the concrete expanses lining the canalside. Arriving in the basin itself I was cheered to see how attractive it was, thinking that it may have looked tired and run down. We are moored directly outside an M&S food store and there are numerous eateries, many of them afloat.

The reason for our timed arrival was our younger daughter’s birthday party which she was combining with a screen showing of a short film she has recently produced. Sprucing ourselves up, Ho and I set off for a bus that would take us all the way to Bow, a journey of an hour and a half and we appreciated the sights of London from the top of the double decker! Returning later on the bus with R we discovered many of the gates into Paddington Basin were locked at 11pm so it took a while to relocate the boat!

Yesterday we walked to family near Regent’s Park for brunch and then to Pall Mall for tea with R’s school friend who emigrated to Australia many years ago. A frequent visitor to the UK, this was his first visit home since covid so it was very special catching up with him. We hadn’t appreciated there would be an enormous gay pride march walking through Picadilly as we tried to make our way on foot to Pall Mall. It was quite complicated finding back streets that would get us past the march and with R’s knee still giving him pain I didn’t want him to walk further than necessary. Even if we had wanted to take the tube, that was also closed. I am sure for many, the atmosphere of crowds supporting their passion of a worthy cause make for an exciting day out, but personally I feel intimidated in that situation and was mightily relieved when we managed to reach our end destination. By the time we left, the march was over and although still busy, we were able to easily walk back to the boat. Mi came with us and we went on a short trip before darkness fell and then shared a venison casserole I had cooked previously in my non electric Ecopot slow cooker. I was relieved that it had actually worked!!

So today, a day of rest, watching Wimbledon outside on a big screen. It’s fairly nerve wracking as I’m watching Cameron Norrie, the last remaining Brit in the draw. Thus, I don’t feel particularly relaxed but it’s a great way to spend the afternoon!

Relaxing at the Uxbridge Boat Club, watching Wimbledon, after a few intense days of boating. First we travelled from Water Eaton to Berkhamsted and then in two days did what we took three weeks to do in Windrose, our narrowboat in 2020. R needed to get back home and the weekend was when K was also available to journey with us. Two boats in a wide lock makes more sense as there is a risk of damaging a single boat as it can bang from side to side unless you control the water flow  very carefully. K and I didn’t want to have to do too many of the heavy locks alone, hence the urgency of getting as near into London as we could before R left us. Even two boats with three people is tiring so a fourth pair of hands is always welcome – how delighted we were when BBT arrived, windless in hand, early on Saturday morning and  helped us through seventeen locks! Whilst K collected him from Kings Langley (train strike meant he couldn’t just hop on the train to Berk) R and I worked the three locks through the town to catch up with K’s Orange carrot, moored further along than us because she hadn’t been able to find a long mooring spot. Coincidentally she had moored at exactly the same spot as when we had Windrose for a whole month in Berkhamsted in lockdown 2020. A super fit young man, new to boating, was also travelling in our direction so we shared the three locks with him which lightened the load somewhat. He then went on ahead of us and such was his agility, it didn’t seem to take him long to do the whole lock procedure on his own, because it wasn’t until much later in the day we met up with him again.

K was just walking along the towpath with BBT as we moored up alongside her so perfect timing. Knowing the single boater was ahead of us we paused for a cuppa to give him time to get well ahead of us, but unfortunately two boats then snuck in front of us and we realised we’d be in a queue all day! Not unusual as it was Saturday, a busy day on the canals with lots of hire boats also moving about. It surprised us that we didn’t see many boats travelling in the opposite direction which meant every time we arrived at a lock we had to fill it up, which is both a waste of water and time! I love it when we manage to co-ordinate with a boat traveling in the opposite direction. Infact as we were making our way through Hemel Hempstead a boat was about to exit the lock and I recognised the boater as being the daughter of our best man at our wedding! I knew she was somewhere on the GUC but our timing was impeccable! My only sadness was that we did not have time for a proper chat – we realised that we were equidistant from where we were both headed as she had come from our end point and was heading to our starting point, both of us having left four hours previously! It was rather sobering realising we still had four hours ahead of us – we had little choice as BBT had to get back to his car, so no slacking off early. We had actually been delayed by a swing bridge at Winkworth that decided to stop working as we arrived. Locals told us it was often playing up and we could be hanging around a long time for the CRT to come and sort. There was nothing for it than to make use of the hostelry next to the bridge and BBT settled down to eat his lunch, which he had thought he would have to consume as we were going along, as I had said there was no lunch break factored into the day. Little did I know!! What we are discovering is that the best laid plans of mice and men hold no sway on the canals. You can never fully plan as you just don’t know what might go awry. The timings written in our Pearson maps are perfect if you are the only boat on the canal, all the locks are set in your favour and there are no unforeseen adverse circumstances.

Our forced stoppage gave us a second wind and by the time we arrived at the outskirts of Kings Langley BBT was happy to travel further and walk back to his car after working another couple of locks. It made such a difference to our starting point on Sunday morning, one of the benefits being, that we got ahead of the two boats that we had slowly followed all the way on Saturday – every lock we had to wait for them to go through and then we had to refill the lock before we could proceed. As there were two boats following us, we couldn’t even moor up to give ourselves a bit of space from the boats ahead, as we would just have ended up behind them as well!

How BBT had the energy to not only walk back to his car but then drive home I do not know! He and I had done most of the lock operation and it was like a day long workout! Some of the gates required heavy pushing to open them. R was helming due to his knee being very painful and I didn’t want it made it worse by his hopping on and off the boat all day. K needed to helm her boat so that left BBT and me to work the windlesses. Luckily the promised rain did not materialize so, apart from tiredness, it was a great day and we fell into bed exhausted!

Awaking on Sunday, without BBTs help, the day ahead looked rather daunting and so it was! Setting off early we had no visible boats ahead of us. We were on the lookout for a marina to refuel with diesel as we were unsure as to how much fuel we had actually used in the last month and didn’t want to be in the embarrassing position of running out. Up ahead I spied a fuel boat which was great on two fronts. One, they tend to be cheaper and two, they come alongside your boat so no need for any complicated manoeuvres into marinas. The fuel man made the very sensible suggestion of us marking off a dip stick that would show how full the tank was. That would give a good indication of when a refuel was necessary and remove the guess work. Simple but effective – why didn’t I think of it!

We arrived in Rickmansworth at lunchtime and moored on the Tesco moorings, benefitting from restocking on heavy items as the shop was so close to the boat! Having travelled for four hours we took a break, setting off again about 4pm, just as a boat passed by and we realised we would, yet again, be in a queue! Arriving at Quarry lock there was a jammed gate and we were told to prepare for the worse – the CRT would probably take two days to fix it, so once again it looked like our plans of getting as far south as possible would not materialize. K meanwhile got her boat stuck in the mud and was unable to alight! Resigning ourselves for a long wait I was just about to have a shower (plenty of hot water as the engine has been running!) when I heard shouts of joy – a couple of boats had arrived to come up the lock and there were a few youngsters who were not going to be defeated by a jammed gate. Suffice to say they sorted the problem by managing to remove the obstacle trapping the gate and we were all able to continue onwards once K freed herself from the mud bank.

It was another long day of boating with about a dozen locks in all, but eventually we arrived at Harefield and moored up alongside a beautiful reservoir, where we were able to enjoy the setting sun and use our firepit as a BBQ.

Monday morning arrived damp and rainy so we set forth with our waterproofs and took extra care at the locks because they were wet and slippery. Grateful indeed that we had covered so much ground in the dry weather and only had a short distance and three locks to go. By 1130, when our final destination came into view, the sun shone and we were able to moor up in the dry. R erected the stern cover only to find that one of the struts had been dented on one of the manoeuvres into the locks over the weekend. A thing of beauty lasts but a short time…… Unfortunately the cover no longer fits properly so we are going to have to dismantle the frame and return the bent strut to Melton Mowbray for a replacement to be made. A lesson learned that we really need to take more care when manoeuvring close to other boats!

We took both our boat and the long orange carrot from the Black Horse pub to just before the lock at Fenny Stratford on Wednesday. It was quite a palaver filling our boat with water whilst K’s boat was parallel parked and there was an old abandoned semi cruiser moored up at the water point making life difficult for everyone. It looked like it’s been there a while. Another boat arrived for water so we didn’t completely fill our boat as we were in danger of causing quite a log jam. I did manage to rinse my bowl of washing under the water tap so I could spin dry it and hang it up under the cratch cover in the bow to dry. The idyllic life style of living life on the Cut has its downsides, one being the labourious system of washing our clothing but I prefer it to having to constantly be on the lookout for launderettes.

Mooring up at Fenny Stratford, I walked along the towpath and recognised the Red Lion pub from when we had passed through here post lockdown. There was a boat moored nearby with a Boaters Christian Fellowship banner attached to the stern so I went and introduced myself, explaining that we were joining their mission for a day on Friday. I discovered that there was a folk evening going on at the Red Lion pub and we were welcome to join. We had a great evening. The music was good and we met people, not only from BCF, but also from the Waterways Chaplaincy and Canal Ministries. They were a very welcoming bunch with alot more experience of living aboard narrowboats than us and with extensive knowledge of the canal network.

Thursday morning Martin arrived to fix our new Morse Control and to give the engine a once over now that we have travelled a fair distance. One of the fan belts needed tightening and we were low on oil but apart from that all seemed to be in good order. After lunch C and L arrived – R was at college with them a long time ago and as they live near Kidderminster, we hardly ever meet, but they have bought ‘Beryl’, a 1980’s vw campervan and were staying nearby. I love that with old friends you can get together infrequently yet pick up where you left off. We had a great afternoon culminating with more cocktails and supper at The Black Horse before they dropped us back at the boat. We moved it, with them on board, through the Fenny Stratford lock which is unusual because it is only about a foot deep and it has a swing bridge in the middle of it, that has to be moved before boats can enter the lock. It’s a bit fiddly to do, so extra pairs of hands were welcome. We went on to Water Eaton and moored up alongside the boats involved with the Christian Mission. They were doing a variety of things such as offering boat rides, teas and coffees and taking assemblies in the local schools.

Friday we spent getting to know the boaters involved with the Mission and seeing where we might fit in with our ‘Prayer Boat’. We ended the day drinking wine with F and S, the roving waterways chaplains who I had met briefly at Fenny Compton. The weather was warm and balmy and it was so lovely being able to make use of our new stern cover to offer hospitality.

I had a bit of a slimy surprise this morning – I found a slug caught in my hair – yuk!! Reminded me that we are living very close to nature. Hope that doesn’t happen too often.

…. and fifteen hours later I removed the phone from its rice nest, stowed in a warm place on the boat, and all was well. The condensation had completely disappeared from behind the lens but it was also completely devoid of battery and had gone into ‘super power saving mode’. All I could do was emergency calls, so I thought water had corrupted the phone further in the interim – amazing how the mind can over react!

R kindly swept and mopped the deck inside whilst I went and stocked up on some groceries – Wolverton is well catered for with Asda, Lidl and Tesco but the High St itself looks a little tired and basic in its provision. With the enormous shopping precinct at Milton Keynes a stone’s throw away I suppose this is unsurprising.

Food stashed away, it’s always a challenge finding space for a full shop, we set off in tandem towards The Black Horse pub at Gt Linford. R enjoyed the experience of helming a very different boat to ours. Just it’s length is a challenge in itself as you go round tight corners, invariably with an angled and low arched bridge to contend with. You really have to work the tiller hard so it’s quite physically tiring. Fortunately we only had to travel for an hour, so it was a very pleasant trip with the sun shining and warm on our backs. I had to make sure I didn’t get too close behind R or I risked bumping his boat if it slowed to take an unforseen corner. All went to plan and by 3pm we were moored outside the pub and able to have a chilled evening including taking advantage of their ‘two cocktails for £12’ offer Mon – Thursday. The pub is extensive and the food looked great but supper was already cooking in the pot for us. I did suggest returning for a nightcap of two espresso martini’s but as I had infact consumed much of R’s negroni as well as my own (the two cocktails had to be the same) I decided this was not such a good idea and we settled for an evening of Netflix and an early night!

We’ve been on a few skiing holidays in our time and the most recent ones I start by saying to R, “I just want to ski for a couple of hours a day” which he knows is rubbish because once o amn the slopes I am hooked! It seems to be a recurring theme…

So much for an idyllic pace of 3hrs boating a day! Our recent delays have meant we  need to get a move on if we are going to get to London by July 1st but even I was surprised by how much we accomplished yesterday – numerous locks between Braunston and Stoke Bruerne and two of the longer tunnels on the canal network, taking 30 and 45 mins respectively. Dark, wet, narrow. Perfectly OK if you have the tunnel to yourself but meeting boats coming in the opposite direction is a bit hairy. Not only do you have to cope with the blinding light of the oncoming boat, you also have to get very close to the tunnel wall and it can be difficult to then recentre the boat without pushing away using your hands from the dank, slimy walls.

Eleven hours later, having stopped an hour for lunch in the lovely cafe at Wilton marina (great to be able to visit it without having to wear a mask, as on the previous two occasions) we arrived in the picturesque village of Stoke Bruerne, infamous for two lovely canalside pubs and the canal museum. The museum was closed but The Boat Inn was so welcoming we stopped in for supper. Being Sunday, I asked for a sherry, which in my lethargy I managed to knock over before I’d even had a proper taste – the very kind barmaid replaced it without charge, which I thought was really kind of her.

An early start today in order to get to Wolverton by lunchtime so that K could get a train and bus back to her car to then bring it the moored boats (a round journey of four hours!) We were helped at the locks by an early morning walker, who also happened to be a boater. He and his wife rented out their house two years ago to live on a boat as he needed to give up his job to become her carer. She has been in constant pain for seventeen years which has only just been properly diagnosed as a trapped nerve. Slowly she is recovering and fortunately they are pleased with the decision they had to make to embrace boat life.

What drama! Having completed all bar one of the locks we needed to do we stopped for coffee three miles from our end destination of Wolverton. As K would like R to occasionally move her boat he decided to travel with her to learn it’s quirks as it can be temperamental. Relieved that the locks were behind us, they jauntily set off and left me to follow on. Setting up a podcast on my phone and putting it in my pocket, I realised the fender was caught, so I lent over to release it and PLOP. The inevitable happened – only a few hours ago R was berating me for not being more careful with my phone!! Sure enough it had gone in the water. Slightly panicking I rushed to get the magnet we have for such disasters as this but lowering it into the canal (amazingly my head phones had caught in the stinging nettles so I had a very good idea of where the phone must have entered the water) I realised the phone case would probably block the magnet from picking the phone up. In desperation I threw off my outer layers and in just my bra lowered my entire arm into the canal. How blessed was I that I could reach the bottom and as I fished about I felt the case and retrieved the phone. It still worked and I was one very relieved Mary!

Reconnecting with R and K, they already had been made aware of my saga, by a passing boat, who had witnessed me as I removed my top and plunged my arm in the murky depths! The only other mishap was my failure to pick up our magnet which I had forgotten all about in my excitement! A six mile walk after we moored up in Wolverton was my penance and it was worth the effort because there in the long grass lay my magnet, not as shiny after a few dips in the canal, so left unnoticed by passersby.

Returning to the boat, I tried to take some photos en route and realised, other than selfies, they were all blurred because of moisture behind  the camera lens. I left the phone submerged in dry rice in a warm place overnight and hoped for the best! This blog entry had to be done on R’s phone!

What a great 36 hours! At last we are on the move again with Martin having arrived yesterday lunchtime to check over the engine. Not all good news. The ‘morse controller’ (a lever that automatically combines acceleration and engaging a gear, similar to an automatic car) has got increasingly stiff and is now unable to permanently select neutral when revving the engine, so we need to replace it. The gear box sounds a little slack which means it probably will need replacing in due course although Martin said it could last a year or five, so we just have to wait and see. K (in the ‘orange carrot boat’) wants to travel to London in convoy and we will share the wide locks which accommodate two narrowboats together. Martin is fitting solar panels on her roof but some of the parts are delayed so he has agreed to meet up with us on the GUC next week, and replace our Morse at the same time as finishing her solar panels. Very kind of him as he’s based at Stratford upon Avon and we hope to be just north of Milton Keynes by then.

We set off towards the Napton flight, meandering through beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, with many twists and turns and travelled for a good two hours before arriving at the Marston locks. I remember them well as last year the paddle broke in the lock just before I was due to descend and I, along with quite a few other boats moored up behind me, had to wait 6 hours for the repair to be completed. It was slightly disappointing as a friend had come from home to help me do the flight of locks and had to return home after only operating half of them. Today however started 0730, the first task being to straighten K’s boat that was stradling the canal as a boat arrived travelling in the opposite direction. Her boat has a permanent oil leak which cannot be fixed at the moment so she has to pour litres of oil into the engine daily. This morning initially her boat wouldn’t start so R left me to help her and as I traveled ahead of them I thought I had left our windlas on the towpath so I rang them to ask R to look for it. By then K’s boat was moving so R jumped back onto the towpath to look for the windlas and then had to walk to the next lock, which didn’t help his knee, so I felt rather bad when I discovered the windlas on the boat, having been tidied away by R earlier. What a start to a long day. I let K go ahead of us in the lock I had prepared whilst waiting for R to catch me up and then found all the locks were in her favour because a boat was coming up the flight as she went down, but none were in our favour! Still, it was better for her because as a single boater, the locks are really hard work and you appreciate all the help you can get! We narrowly missed ruining our new stern cover frame which was neatly folded at the rear of the boat – as I was shutting the lock gates I caught the frame and one of the poles popped out of position. Fortunately R was able to fix it but it was a reminder of more haste less speed! The flight took us about two hours after which we moored up for breakfast before continuing on to Braunston, a further three hours of lock free boating. However we had to travel fairly slowly at times because K in her 70ft boat had to manoeuvre carefully around some very tight bends, not knowing who she might meet coming towards her. I kept well back in case of any unforeseen collisions but all went well and I admired how at ease she was single handedly handling such a long boat. We really are like little and large – there’s about 27ft difference in length between us!

We managed to moor opposite the pub in Braunston, the same place we stopped on our last visit. This time it got progressively noisier, first as a large 60th birthday boat moored opposite us and then as a very long boat pulled up with at least ten very drunk men aboard. One of them promptly fell into the canal, between the boat and the concrete siding and no-one offered to help pull him out, nor did they think to switch off the engine. It didn’t end in disaster but you can see how bad accidents happen. Excessive alcohol and moving boats really shouldn’t mix. They were a jolly bunch though and retired to the pub for yet more alcohol. We decided they wouldn’t actually disturb us later by being too rowdy because they would be flat out asleep within minutes, as they were!

R and I both enjoyed a couple of very hot showers and I took the opportunity to scrub clean all our dirty clothes. It was a short trek to the water tap but worth the effort to rinse all the clothes there without further depleting out water tank. I did wonder what the boaters made of it who were sitting in the bow of their boat drinking wine and leisurely passing the time of day. By the time I returned to the boat, set up the spin drier and spun the clothes, then hung them out to dry, I did briefly wonder if it was worth all the effort or should I just find a launderette somewhere. Then I thought it was equivalent to a workout and much more fun! We had a BBQ using our firepit on the stern, as the towpath was too narrow. We had to be extra vigilant for obvious safety reasons and it was just as well we hadn’t put the stern cover up! The food cooked really well and K joined us, bringing bananas and chocolate, which we baked in foil parcels. Delicious! She said one of the tastiest pizza’s you can have is a banana one!! Add to a regular cheese and tomato pizza, slices of banana, fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I may try it sometime – I am not convinced!!