Motley Crew hit the Two Boats

Waved goodbye to Matilda Rose this morning, Dave's gone with them to give a hand up the locks - these hydraulic paddles seem so much harder to wind, or is it me getting old?  We've had a few days together in Long Itchington, and some very jolly outings to The Two Boats.    Dave's glass is empty, hence the perplexed expression in the above photo!  We will now be heading west on the Grand Union, and MR heading east.  Very nice to meet in the middle and lovely to catch up after almost a year.  I've been able to upload photos to blogsite for the first time in ages, thanks to Graham's USB extension cable, I can now fix the dongle up to the top window and get an adequate signal, simple when you think about it.

He's going to need a bigger pump.....

Sorry picture of a beautiful old butty above Hillmorton a few days ago.

Long Itchington

We've braved the weather - although it's not as bad as we thought it was going to be - and are now in Long Itchington, where we'll stay for a few days (rain on the way). We had a late start, due to Captain Cat bringing us a present at 4am - a rather fat & feisty mouse. Dave managed to catch it & put it in a container to take outside, but stumbled & mr mouse promptly jumped out of the container and ran behind the fridge. Unfortunately the fridge wouldn’t budge, so went back to bed so as to start dismantling the kitchen in the daylight. Now there's not much room on a boat as you know, so removing the fridge isnt that easy. After struggling for an hour the fridge was free - and so was the mouse - no where to be found. Another hour later, after gingerly moving all furniture round the living room - mr mouse shot out from under the setee with me shouting "there it is, get it get it", not much use to Dave who had his back to me (and the mouse). I missed it, so the search started again. Eventually cornered the mouse, after he tried to make a break for it through the bathroom, and put it outside. At least this mouse didn’t run up Dave's trouser leg, like the last one Captain brought in! Dave was holding up the washing machine at the time to try & look underneath it, so couldn’t do much about it, thankfully it only got to his knee .... but that’s another story.

Boaters Welcome at The Folly, Napton

The Folly at Napton is "under new management", and actively encouraging boaters to visit, with the enticement of free wi-fi internet access, just thought i'd pass this on.....

A Little Detour

Moved from Barby Hill after getting a top up of diesel from Gosty Hill, that'll be the last time we see Iain and Alison till the end of the year (thanks again for getting us out of the mire in Snarestone!) We planned to get to Napton, but with the snow falling and temperatures dropping, Dave decided he'd had enough of looking like a snowman and we stopped in Braunston, with a lovely view of the church. Today - what a lovely day for cruising, so nice infact that Dave decided to travel most of the way on tick-over - what's the rush - we have all day! Tonight we are sampling the "under new management" Folly at Napton, a slight detour we know, but we'll turn here at the bottom of the locks and head on up the Grand Union. As the weather is due to get alot colder over the next few nights, we thought (this time) we'd get frozen in nearer civilisation, and a water tap! Dave always gets nostalgic when we come past Bridge 112 between Wigrams Turn and The Folly, its site of the old Peter Nicholls boat building yard, now derelict, where Sans Souci was built. As for The Folly - its nice, but just not the same now (dotty) Lotty isnt here and the huge fireplace now has a wood burner instead of the open fire. However I am using their wi-fi connection as we've been unable to get a signal at all over the last week, so it can't be all that bad!

Off the Ashby - finally

Beefur boat has finnaly been extracated from the ice of the Ashby Canal and we are on the move, 6 weeks later. I've rejoined Dave on the boat, as most of you know, dad died 2 weeks ago after a long illness and I've been at home with mum for the last few weeks while we all tried to come to terms with the loss of such a wonderful man. Thank you for all the visits, phone calls and cards in their hundreds. The messages contained therein have been very kind, helpful and supportive, thank you again.

We're currently moored near Brinklow where we've got a good tv picture for the weekend's rugby and winter olympics, so won't be moving for a couple of days. Came through Sutton Stop today - we've never seen so many boats moored up there. I think they've all got the same idea - don't move far from facilities, so as not to be caught out again & frozen in for weeks in the middle of nowhere - like we were! Very disappointed in the state of the place - especially the rubbish/recycling area. Rubbish stuffed into all the recyling bins, with the rubbish skips empty. Very fustrating when you've been carefully storing your recycling (not easy on a boat), ready to be disposed of responsibly. BW are trying - why can't us boaters try a bit harder. That's today's moan over, more tomorrow!