On Schedule !

Week 210

In the three or so weeks since the last page was written the only boat related activity has involved touching up the paintwork after the trip to London. The original intention had been to just do the worst bits and we'd gone some way towards achieving that goal towards the end of the last week that we wrote about.

We then had the unexpected opportunity of putting the boat into the larger of the yard's two poly tunnels for a week and took advantage of that to rub down, prime and paint the top bends - the bits in black below the gunwales. Again the intention had been to just tackle the worst bits but some of the scratches were so deep that we ended up with repairs stretching almost the full length of the boat on both sides so rather than just dab the black paint here and there, R decided that he'd re-coat completely between the extremities of the repair work.

This task took several consecutive days with R returning home at the end of each day rather than stay on the boat. M was away so there was little other work to do around the yard in his absence. The painting was finished on Thursday and the boat returned to its normal mooring at lunch time on Friday and managing to get a couple of scratches in the new paintwork in the process.

R made a number of visits to the boatyard in subsequent weeks but each was to spend time in the office. We also stayed on the boat for a couple of hours during the late afternoon of the first Saturday in November. We'd been to a model railway exhibition during the afternoon and were going out for a meal with M, A and a couple of fellow moorers during the evening so it seemed silly to go home and then go back again.

And that was the sum total of our boating related activity until the third weekend in November when we spent three days on the boat to enable us to partake of the annual autumn cruise.

Friday

We had a few errands to attend to at home before we could set out for the yard so it was eleven o'clock before we arrived at the boat. The kettle went on, the fire got lit and then we turned the power on, all before we started to unload the car.

After morning tea we set about getting the boat organised in readiness for the weekend's trip. The ropes were put out, the engine checked, all the debris from the painting was hidden under the front deck and all this time H was unpacking the few crates that we'd brought with us from home.

After a leisurely lunch R set off to the railway club that he recently joined while H went to post a parcel - this involves a longish walk but even that beats the queues in the Post Office local to home. The evening was spent watching television or reading although the computer did get dragged out for a short while.

Saturday

We were awake bright and early, up and dressed and eating breakfast when we started to see movements of people around the boatyard, all getting themselves ready for the trip. One of the boats was only able to join us on Saturday and would return under their own steam on Monday so R volunteered to collect them from the car park of the pub where we would be eating on Saturday evening and where they would be leaving their car during Saturday.

Back from the taxi service run and boats were starting to move. One boat was turning, another reversing off their mooring, the third (the one only with us on Saturday) were making final preparations to move and our boat was ready to move as soon as we started the engine. M was joining us as a floating crew member primarily to help one boat where the normally fit crew member was recovering from an operation.

Very soon all four boats were through the swing bridge - the first boat had opened it and left it open and H disembarked as we passed by, so that she could close it (something that she would soon learn wasn't as easy as it sounds because of the bridge's lack of maintenance. In fact R was on the verge of returning to the bridge on foot after securing our boat at the top of the nearby lock, when H finally managed to get the bridge to close completely). The leading two boats dropped down through the lock and then assisted by setting the lock to fill for our use.

And so it continued. It was dry, the sun struggled to break through the clouds and occasionally managed it. It wasn't warm but it was November, so no surprise then. We saw several other boats moving in the opposite direction to us and they often appeared at locks between our lead two boats using the lock and the two tail enders arriving. We didn't experience any significant delays.

We stopped for a collective brunch below Slapton lock. The food was largely cooked on one boat but eaten on ours, as the only one with enough space to accommodate nine around two tables, one of which was borrowed for the weekend from H's church. The brunch lasted over 1½ hours, taking advantage of the planned cruise reduction length this year. Previously we have cruised to The Globe, north of Leighton Buzzard. This involves continuing even further north to Old Linslade to turn the boats before returning to the pub to moor for the night. We always seem to end up mooring up after dark!

For 2010 we decided that we'd only go as far as The Grove, the pub at the lock south of Leighton Buzzard. We'd still need to cruise as far as Leighton Buzzard to buy the food for Sunday's dinner but both Saturday and Sunday's cruising time would be reduced, enabling us to stop for longer for our meals.

Two boats managed to turn and moor at The Grove as we headed north, the crew of one boat then joining the other two boats for the short journey into Leighton Buzzard where both boats turned before the town bridge and reversed back onto the mooring outside the supermarket where the majority of the crew went shopping whilst M & R headed into town to buy a recently published magazine.

We returned to our boat slightly in advance of the other shoppers and were soon on our way back to the overnight mooring spot. We moored breasted up to the two boats that we'd left there on our outward journey and sat and read for a while before showering and dressing for the evening. We alerted the crew of one boat around 6pm so that they could join us to watch a television programme - they couldn't get a signal from their satellite dish. Soon a second couple joined us to watch the same programme.

We decamped to the pub for a good meal (and to be the last out of the restaurant) and then returned to the boat that wouldn't be with us on Sunday for teas and coffee. We retired to our own boats around 11.30pm and were in bed shortly after. M's hosts had less space than us so we invited him to sleep on our lounge floor.

Sunday

We woke during the night but managed to stay abed until after 8am. We rose, washed and dressed and then had breakfast. R cleaned the fire, which was on its last legs, and added some small pieces of wood to try to re-ignite it. All that succeeded in doing was to fill the stove and the surrounding sky with columns of smoke and no flames (in the stove) until he realised that he'd left the fire closed up. We opened the fire up and the wood immediately burst into flames.

We set off a few minutes before 10am and were soon through the first lock. We were travelling on our own with the other two boats following on behind. We stopped above Slapton lock with the intent of making tea for all three crews. However, they'd beaten us to it and had already had their tea when they reached the lock so they made us a cup instead of us making them one.

We set off just in front of the other boats and managed to keep well ahead until we stopped at Ivinghoe for the communal dinner. We saw no other moving boats until around midday when a coal boat dropped down through one lock whilst we waited to use it. Then, as we moored for lunch, another pair of boats dropped down through the lock ahead of us.

We'd been moored for several minutes before the other two boats appeared with one mooring alongside us and the other behind. Food was ready about twenty minutes later but in the meantime we were invaded by three crew persons desperate to see the final formula 1 grand prix race of the season as we were the only ones with a decent television signal.

Lunch lasted a few minutes short of three hours, about an hour longer than on previous cruises. The rain that had started a few minutes before we stopped for lunch, abated during lunch and we were able to complete the trip in the dry. Each of the boats returned to their respective mooring at the end of an enjoyable cruise. We quickly set about sorting out which items we wanted to take home for we didn't expect to be staying on the boat again until the Spring of 2011 and didn't want to leave fabric and food that might suffer from the winter if left on the boat. We managed to get three quarters of the stuff in the car, the remainder would be collected by R when he next visited the boatyard.

We arrived home about 5.45pm and unpacked as much as we could before we had our evening snack - we didn't want anything substantial after the full Sunday dinner that we'd had a few hours earlier. R contacted the family, watched a bit of television and then headed upstairs to catch up with mail and write up this page before heading for bed.

Further pages will appear from time to time, whenever there is anything worthwhile to report. The next such page may not appear until the Spring of 2011.

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