It's supposed to rain tomorrow so after a visit from DD and the grandchildren we moved on.
First of all we had to wind, and we did it the oldfashioned way.
CHS started the engine so he could use it if the boat went off course.
I stood on the bank hanging on to a rope attached to the stern, CHS pushed the prow out and the wind blew steadily.
Within a very short time the boat was pointing the other way and off we went.
We've stopped at Thatcham, there are visitor moorings with rings and a nice pub, The Swan, nearby.
If the forecast rain arrives tomorrow, we will sit tight.
Scrimping and saving, ranting and raving. Past retirement age but still working, permanently knackered. Trying to manage on a reduced wage, living the dream.
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Tuesday, 14 August 2018
Newbury
We have arrived in Newbury, there is a fair on at Victoria park so we moored further along towards the dry dock.
It's six miles and nine locks, but as we went on to get water and then turned round in a winding hole we went through an extra lock.
Today CHS met a boater after his own heart. He is doing 12 hour days and his crew work to military precision whilst the skipper shouts instructions like a regimental sergeant major.
It's six miles and nine locks, but as we went on to get water and then turned round in a winding hole we went through an extra lock.
Today CHS met a boater after his own heart. He is doing 12 hour days and his crew work to military precision whilst the skipper shouts instructions like a regimental sergeant major.
My daughter has her own butler
I phoned my daughter yesterday and a very young person answered the phone.
I said hello, who is that?
'It is I Joshua Jones' my four year old grandson replied.
DD2 says he rushes to answer the phone and open the door, it's just like having a butler.
I said hello, who is that?
'It is I Joshua Jones' my four year old grandson replied.
DD2 says he rushes to answer the phone and open the door, it's just like having a butler.
Monday, 13 August 2018
Back to civilisation
Apologies for the lack of blogging, I'm too tired as I'm working lots of locks each day.
We rushed to Devizes as CHS had arranged to meet friends there, we were supposed to be travelling back slowly, but CHS's is impatient, so we are travelling back at speed too.
We were the first boat into the bottom lock of the Caen Hill Flight on our journey home. We were in the lock by 8:10, we buddied up with a hire boat and we did the flight in 2 hours 10 minutes. We moored at the top for a couple of hours and went to the local shop for supplies, mainly beer and tinned food, they don't sell meat.
We then buddied up with a different hire boat to do the top six locks. We then had a long, lock free trip which gave me chance to recover. Buddying up is good as it means more people to work the locks with me, but sometimes I find it hard to keep up with the other crews when they are in their 40's and I'm considerably older.
We had hoped to moor at Wilcot, but the cut was too shallow there, so we moved on to Wooton Rivers.
The next day we moved on to Crofton, nine locks and a tunnel, we visited the Crofton Beam Engineers Café and bought a slice of coffee and walnut cake each. We moored overnight and were able to get rid of our rubbish there.
We'd hoped to moor at Great Bedwyn but there was no room so we carried on, we found a mooring just after bridge 91 where there was a long stretch of unpopulated Armco.
CHS wanted to carry on but I'd done nine locks and was knackered.
It seemed to be a bit of a black hole, we had no phone signal, no TV signal and no Wifi.
This wouldn't normally be a problem but my kindle chose Saturday to throw a hissy fit, CHS insisted I hadn't charged it, like that's a possibility!
The following day we pressed on to Hungerford, a nearby boater came and helped me open the swing bridge by Hungerford church and asked if he could share the lock with us. He asked me to show his wife how to work the lock, she's been on the boat for eight years and couldn't do it. I showed her how, talked her through what to do. He pointed us in the direction of some moorings that were just at the back of Tesco's. We moored up and went shopping as by now we were running low on supplies and some of our meals were a little random.
We stayed overnight and moved on this morning three miles and three locks to Kintbury, again CHS wanted to travel further towards Newbury, but I only slept for two hours last night and needed to rest.
Tomorrow we will fill up with water and move on to Newbury.
We rushed to Devizes as CHS had arranged to meet friends there, we were supposed to be travelling back slowly, but CHS's is impatient, so we are travelling back at speed too.
We were the first boat into the bottom lock of the Caen Hill Flight on our journey home. We were in the lock by 8:10, we buddied up with a hire boat and we did the flight in 2 hours 10 minutes. We moored at the top for a couple of hours and went to the local shop for supplies, mainly beer and tinned food, they don't sell meat.
We then buddied up with a different hire boat to do the top six locks. We then had a long, lock free trip which gave me chance to recover. Buddying up is good as it means more people to work the locks with me, but sometimes I find it hard to keep up with the other crews when they are in their 40's and I'm considerably older.
We had hoped to moor at Wilcot, but the cut was too shallow there, so we moved on to Wooton Rivers.
The next day we moved on to Crofton, nine locks and a tunnel, we visited the Crofton Beam Engineers Café and bought a slice of coffee and walnut cake each. We moored overnight and were able to get rid of our rubbish there.
We'd hoped to moor at Great Bedwyn but there was no room so we carried on, we found a mooring just after bridge 91 where there was a long stretch of unpopulated Armco.
CHS wanted to carry on but I'd done nine locks and was knackered.
It seemed to be a bit of a black hole, we had no phone signal, no TV signal and no Wifi.
This wouldn't normally be a problem but my kindle chose Saturday to throw a hissy fit, CHS insisted I hadn't charged it, like that's a possibility!
The following day we pressed on to Hungerford, a nearby boater came and helped me open the swing bridge by Hungerford church and asked if he could share the lock with us. He asked me to show his wife how to work the lock, she's been on the boat for eight years and couldn't do it. I showed her how, talked her through what to do. He pointed us in the direction of some moorings that were just at the back of Tesco's. We moored up and went shopping as by now we were running low on supplies and some of our meals were a little random.
We stayed overnight and moved on this morning three miles and three locks to Kintbury, again CHS wanted to travel further towards Newbury, but I only slept for two hours last night and needed to rest.
Tomorrow we will fill up with water and move on to Newbury.
Monday, 6 August 2018
A grumpy landlady
We moored in Sells Green at the weekend, we met up with friends and went to the Three Magpies for a meal.
The food was good but the landlady was extremely rude.
Unfortunately we had also arranged to meet another set of friends at the same pub on Sunday 5th.
The landlady was, if possible, even ruder.
Below is a copy of the email I sent to the brewery!
We visited The Three Magpies on Friday 3rd August, the food was good but the landlady's attitude was appalling, she was rude and abrupt. She brought food to the garden and was rude to people who didn't hear their name called.
She also snatched some advertisements out of my hand that I had been given by a nearby business. Unfortunately we had arranged to meet friends there again on Sunday, the landlady's attitude had not improved, we were moved from table to table as she couldn't decide where to place us. She seemed to feel this was our fault. We were treated as though we were an inconvenience rather than paying customers. Suffice it to say that we will not be visiting this establishment again!
The food was good but the landlady was extremely rude.
Unfortunately we had also arranged to meet another set of friends at the same pub on Sunday 5th.
The landlady was, if possible, even ruder.
Below is a copy of the email I sent to the brewery!
We visited The Three Magpies on Friday 3rd August, the food was good but the landlady's attitude was appalling, she was rude and abrupt. She brought food to the garden and was rude to people who didn't hear their name called.
She also snatched some advertisements out of my hand that I had been given by a nearby business. Unfortunately we had arranged to meet friends there again on Sunday, the landlady's attitude had not improved, we were moved from table to table as she couldn't decide where to place us. She seemed to feel this was our fault. We were treated as though we were an inconvenience rather than paying customers. Suffice it to say that we will not be visiting this establishment again!
Convoy
We set off this morning towards the Caen Hill Flight, lots of hire boats were returning to Foxhangers.
We ended up in a convoy of 7 boats.
Once past Foxhangers we buddied up with a hire boat from a different company, they carried on up the flight, we moored up and will start the flight at sparrowfart o'clock tomorrow morning.
We ended up in a convoy of 7 boats.
Once past Foxhangers we buddied up with a hire boat from a different company, they carried on up the flight, we moored up and will start the flight at sparrowfart o'clock tomorrow morning.
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Thatcham
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