Stronghold on Tour 42.

Monday 17^th October.

Although cold, it was a lovely windless day with sun rising and a light mist over the water. We were away by 9am heading for Marsh Lock at Henley, which was manned. Very few boats were moored on the expensive Henley moorings, which may be a sign of contempt for their prices. Strangely, most of the locks were manned today, which saved a lot of walking. Sally steered most of the way and did the necessary at the locks, being a God send to me, who could put his feet up most of the time. We had a close shave at the entrance to the lock cut at Cookham, when she steered towards the weir by mistake; an easy mistake to make as there are five directions to go at that point. Trying to steer away from it, the boat was caught by the current and about to be broadsided by the bow of a large cruiser, but the application of maximum power enabled us to get around it and into the lock cut.

Sally in charge.

Arriving at Baths Island Windsor, we were greeted by my two lovely grand-daughters and driven to their house for a delightful chicken curry and welcome vino.

As soon as we got back to the boat, the bailiff was there with mooring tickets in hand and wanting his £8. He must have been hiding in the bushes for quite a while to collect his dues. This is the first time in ten years that I have ever paid there.

Tuesday 18^th October.

A late start heading for Staines and The Swan Hotel. Surprisingly, all three locks were manned, so the trip was a speedy one. Sure enough there was space on the jetty at The Swan with the Anna, a large centre cockpit cruiser with a banner and empty beer casks on the top. The banner was advertising The Thames Side Brewery, which I discovered later was based at Tims Wharf just a short distance down river. The pub was chock-a-block, which was unusual for a Tuesday evening. I discovered later that it was the official launch of the brewery – see Facebook – Thames Side Brewery. The sad part is that I did not have any of their beer, drinking Fuller’s Red Fox instead, which was a very good pint.

The Swan, Staines. A very well kept pub and hotel.

Wednesday 19th October.

I let go rather earlier this morning, with a view to getting either to my home mooring or to Thames court pub, just above Shepperton Lock, but shortly after letting go from The Swan, I came upon nb Merchant, the fuel boat, moored up at Tims Yard. I stopped off when I saw Chris Iddon look over his gunnel and waving me in. We had a good catch up chat for a while about each others progress during the last two years, when we last met up. Had I need for diesel, now was the time to fill up, but my tanks were full.

Autumn colours on the Thames.

Penton Hook Lock was manned, but Chertsey was not, so with no other boat in sight, it was all down to me. It took me nearly an hour to get through, hobbling from one end of the lock to the other, but by mooring on the right side, I didn’t need to walk all around the lock.

Getting within sight of Thames Court pub, I could see Still Rockin’ moored up outside, so that made up my mind about stopping there. I arranged to meet up with George in the pub later and we had very good craic over a pint.

Thursday 20th October.

Still Rockin' leaves Shepperton to go upstream.

Not far to go now to my Wey mooring, but it took me three hours to do it. Shepperton Lock was unmanned, so as there was a Land and Water tug moored up close, I asked the driver if he would do the lock for me, which he very kindly did, seeing me out the other end.

Getting into Thames Lock on The Wey, I was met by an unknown lock keeper called Dave, who was on relief for Tracy. I mentioned my fuel supply that had been dropped off a couple of weeks before by the Trust boats, which he was aware of and offered to load them on the bow for me, for which I was most grateful. He has a boat moored above Pyrford Lock, so I will almost certainly see him again.

Town Lock was next and not a boat in sight, so it was all up to me. With three crossings of the lower footbridge to be done to open the bottom gates, I decided to try and fill the lock from one paddle once the boat was in the lock. Sure enough, it did the trick and I could now open both gates by crossing on the boat instead of using the bridge twice more. At last, a waterway where I did not have to close the gates behind me.

Trying to get into my home mooring was not easy either, as it had silted up in the six months of no use. However, once tied up, I used the engine in reverse gear to try and dredge it out. Having been successful, I could now tie up tight to the finger jetty as before.

So that was the end of my marathon cruise, but not quite, as I intend summing up with a count of miles and number of locks done in those six months in the final episode.

Stronghold on Tour 41.

Wednesday 12^th October.

A day of rest again for me, with a few odd jobs thrown in, so not a lot to report.

In the evening I decided to have a meal at The Bookies again, as it was so good yesterday. I was early, so there were plenty of vacant tables. Having only a small appetite, I decided to go for two starters and chose soup de poisson with garlic bread and aioli, then moules farcie – a dish that I used to do at home with surplus mussels that I had picked and had to freeze. I must say that both were very rich dishes, the latter swimming in garlic butter, but absolutely delicious. How I wish that this pub was closer to home.

Thursday 13^th October.

Another rude awakening this morning when a fast boat came past and pulled out the mooring pins at the front end. Suddenly the bow was on the other side of the cut. Slipping on trousers and sweater over pyjamas, I hastily took off the centre line and hauled the boat back to the bank, driving the pins back in. OK, so the ground was very soft, but speeding boats again?

The coal boat Dusty right opposite last night, but no one was around this morning until 09.00, when Jock and Kati appeared from home, which is another boat moored in the marina. I hailed them and asked for diesel and a bag of house coal. Although I had Phurnacite on board, it was difficult light from scratch and I thought coal would enable better ignition from the start of a new fire, which proved to be the case.

About midday, I let go for the moorings at Osney, just a short way away on the Thames. Plenty of space there at that time of day. This was where I met up with the Narrow Boat Trust pair of boats about five years ago, so memories were restored of that time.

A short walk to The Punter pub on the corner, which had changed considerably since my last visit, being now very busy in early evening. Beer prices were high though at £4.00 for a pint, so back to London prices it seems. The cheapest of all on this trip was £2.05 – bargain!

Friday 14^th October.

It took me about an hour to prepare for travelling on the Thames. Moving the anchor, chain and cable to the stern end and tying the anchor upright with string, ready to be quickly cut free if necessary. Making sure that the chain is shackled to it and the warp tied to a stern dolly. The longer centre line was attached to the centre tee stud, which enables me to hold the boat on a bollard whilst descending the lock. Most lockies are happy for me to hold the boat in this manner, providing there are no other boats in the lock as there is no turbulence when going down.

I was pleased to see a lady lockie on duty at Osney Lock, that eased my mind at the first hurdle. She also made out a one week licence for the boat, costing £52. Another lockie was on duty at Iffley Lock, but Sandford was unattended, so I filled it and walked back to board Stronghold. Just at that moment a man was seen closing the top gates. I pressed the horn button and then he realised that I was waiting, so opened them again. So then I understood that two boats were waiting to come up, so no need for me to return to close the bottom gates. All good so far. At Abingdon, I could see the lock keeper talking to someone, but I had to water up first – the first time since Banbury. The lockie pointed out a recently vacated mooring, but I was hoping for one on the offside closer to the Town and sure enough, there was one there. So the first day on the Thames had gone well in my favour so far.

Saturday 15^th October.

A late start to the day, but hoping to get to Goring in five hours for a free mooring.  It really was a beautiful day with sun out most of the time, making it feel pleasantly warm.

A I thought, Culham Lock was unmanned, but there was a hire boat coming up, so I asked the steerer if he would see me through the lock and close the gates after me, to which he agreed. It took twenty minutes for the lock to fill and in that time another narrow boat came and moored up behind me – problem solved, as he also had a crew of one to help. I explained my problem and he agreed to help by working the locks ahead, although the next two were manned.

Plenty of these to be seen in the good weather.

An delightful little folly.

On exiting Benson Lock, I was confronted by a narrow boat in the shallows, almost surrounded by green buoys and obviously aground. A man was standing on the bow waving and holding the bow line. Why he was on shallow ground, when it was obviously buoyed to that effect, I never got to know. I offered to tow him off, but the following boat waved me on, as he wanted to let another boat into the lock. He then took the bow line off the stranded boat and tried to tow off in reverse, but ended up in the hedge. Taking the bowline to the stern of his boat was a better solution and he pulled the boat around the green buoys successfully. Why the other boat had gone aground I never found out, but the green buoys were obviously put there to mark it out and he was amongst them. He looked like an experienced boater, so should have know that green means keep them to starboard going upstream.

.

Stemmed up in the shallows being approached by nb Kilgharragh.

Kilgharragh tows forward.

Getting there.

Free at last!

I eventually got to Goring an hour later than planned. There were plenty of moorings at the far end of the bank, but as usual, there were metres of space wasted between boats and there was probably enough room for two or three more boats there. I fail to understand if these people are either selfish or unthinking.

Sunday 16^th October.

My younger daughter was coming out to crew for me today, which was very welcome, except that the rain was lashing down. We set off in the wet, with her taking the helm and giving me a chance to catch up with the blog. Later in the morning, the sun made and appearance and it was really pleasant. We made good progress heading for somewhere beyond Henley. At £9.00 for one nights mooring, it is beyond belief, which I would imagine puts a lot of boaters off stopping there.

Mid-afternoon we stopped off at the Tesco mooring just below Caversham Lock to stock up the wine cellar and adjust the gear control once again. This time the gear was not engaging until the revs were quite high, causing a jolt to the engine with less control. It was a case of fine tuning really to get it just right.

After Shiplake Lock, it was starting to get cold and the sun was about to set, when I spotted a familiar mooring passed by several times in the past, never having stopped there. Just further down was nb Kilgharah, who did the boat rescue a few lock back. Taking my camera down to the boat to show the owner the pics of the rescue, I asked if he would like me to e-mail them to him, which was received with enthusiasm. It appeared that he had had a run in with a Le Boat hire boat earlier, when they insisted on overtaking at full speed on a bend, confronting another boat in the process. Despite warnings made by him and other boaters, they pressed on at full speed and came very close to a head on collision. Why is it that they think they are indestructible by showing such ignorance?

Stronghold on Tour 40.

Saturday 8^th October.

I let go later than intended to get as far as Aynho, stopping on the way at The Pig Place, just above Nell Bridge Lock. I had been here many times before and knew that I could get good home cured bacon from their own pigs. I had a long chat with the lady owner about boating and the Wey Navigation, which she knew quite well from having lived in Surrey at one time. I thought their pork chops might be worth a try too, rather than the usual supermarket lack of variety.

I had had a slight problem with the reverse gear on the boat, so thinking that a connection may have slipped a little, but on checking it all seemed OK. I did make a slight adjustment to the gear box end of the cable, so that the lever moved a little further and was more positive. That seemed to work fine, but returned to the previous condition a little later and I could not reason why.

I took the short walk to the Great Western Arms, which is on my list of the best canal pubs.
However, it appears to be much more of a restaurant nowadays, than a drinkers’ pub. Thinking about it later, it was a Saturday, so would naturally be popular as a place to eat. As I entered, an attractive young lady asked if I had booked a table, assuming that I was going to eat there. When I replied that I just wanted a drink, she pointed out the one and only small table not set with cutlery. The young farmers arriving a little later, had to stand at the bar, as did other drinkers after that.  A good choice of Hooky Ales on tap to chose from and I managed to update this blog, despite the restaurant atmosphere.

I phoned my mate Peter Darch in Kidlington to see if he fancied a boat trip the following day, to which he agreed with enthusiasm. Not only would it be good to see him after a year, but I was hoping he was fit enough to do some locking for me.

Sunday 9^th October.

I had to be up early for a change, as Peter was to arrive at 09.00 and we set off immediately, with him steering. He sold his boat last year, so is like prisoner, so the saying goes. He is still having thoughts about buying another one though. It was good to catch up on things between us and he did a total of seven locks and two lift bridges between Aynho and Thrupp, stopping at The Rock of Gibraltar for a pint on the way, which turned out to be a very good move. Mooring outside close to nb Columbia, Peter guessed that Kevin and Ingrid would be inside and sure enough they were, so a grand reunion took place at the bar, although we had met briefly at the Braunston show in June. Ingrid explained that she had her car there and was only to pleased to give us a lift anywhere. Peter explained that we were stopping at Thrupp and would appreciate a lift back to his house then. In the meantime he had invited me for a Sunday roast, which was an offer I could not refuse. Sure enough, Ingrid arrived at Thrupp and returned us both to Kidlington.

Peter steers Stronghold.

Making the exit from Sommerton Deep Lock.

Peter’s son, Matthew took his dad to collect the car from Aynho, after which he returned me to Stronghold, after a delightful roast beef dinner cooked by Anne, his lovely wife.

Monday 10^th October.

Today was deemed a day of rest after the ten hours cruising yesterday, despite not having to get off the boat. I was up late after another sleepless night and just relaxed watching some day-time TV. A very late breakfast of scrambled eggs done in the micro-wave, which proved just how much of an improvement the new sine wave inverter was over the old one. The engine does not even miss a beat when the load comes on, whereas the old inverter really slowed it down.

I had some washing to rinse out and dry and hoped to complete a long overdue engine oil change, but after writing this, I could only get one item done and as the engine had been run for an hour or two and was hot, that took preference.

I hobbled down to The Boat Inn for a pint later, but it was almost dark when I returned at 7pm – the nights are drawing in.

Tuesday 11^th October.

I did get the washing rinsed out at the service point this morning. Ken Haynes was there watching Dusty take delivery of a load of solid fuel that had been delivered to the wharf side and be loaded onto his boat. Ken now has his boat moored close by and is assistant warden for Thrupp Canal Cruising Club. We had a chat about various things boating, before I spotted Peter Darch back for another session of lock wheeling to Oxford.

We let go immediately and all went well through the four locks and the four lift bridges, except for Kidlington Green Lock where the boat had to thumbline the bottom gate, putting Peter on the ground with his back to the beam. Why is was so stiff, neither of us could work out.

The reverse gear was now engaging fully every time, so there remains another mystery.

After three hours we arrived at Jericho and moored close to the footbridge, being the nearest mooring to The Olde Bookbinders on the offside. After tying up, we walked to the pub, which was unfortunately closed until 4pm. Not to be outdone, as it was my turn to buy Peter a pint, we walked further to the Jericho Inn, which was open. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and Peter walked off to catch the bus back home.

I have to say that his presence eased things considerably down all those single locks and would have taken a lot longer without him. Having sold his boat last year, he considered it a rare opportunity to go boating for two days, but to me he was invaluable.

Early evening I walked to The Bookies as the pub is known locally, and had a dish of Coquilles de fruit de mer au gratin, served red hot on the traditional scallop shell. I was hoping for moules frites, but that is only served on Fridays. I should explain that the proprietor and his son are French chefs and the food is always excellent here.

"The Bookies" in Canal Street.

An unusual feature of the pub, 

which would be more appropriate in Brighton.

Stronghold on Tour 39.

Wednesday 28^th September contd.

Only one hand pump on at The Wharf; rather disappointing as there is usually a wide choice here.

     

Sitting in the back bar, I was nearly at the end of my pint and about to go, when a voice said, “What are you drinking then Ray?” I looked up to see Vic Wadley (Lord Victor John Wadley) standing there with a big smile on his face. I think we were both as surprised as each other. Vic used to have his boat on the same mooring as me, on The Wey Navigation and fitted out his boat from a sailaway about four years ago. We often used to drink in The Pelican at that time and got to know each other pretty well. We chatted about boating in general and where he had been in past four years.

Whilst the chat was going on, I was looking over his shoulder at a man sitting on the sofa with his wife – he looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him, until I walked over on the way to the bar and said, ”I know your face, but can’t think where from.” His wife then piped up with, “Most people know him as ‘Snowy.’” At that point I realised that he worked for Malcolm Burge at Alvecote marina and boatyard. He also lifted the engine into Nuneaton with the digger bucket, which was impossible to do without it.

Thursday 29^th September.

Now travelling south in the direction of Oxford, I came to the five Claydon Locks and pulled into the layby as there were two other boats also waiting to go through the lock. After a few minutes Vic appeared with a windlass in his hand to assist me through; how thoughtful and really appreciated. He warned me of the shallows near Slat Mill Lock and pointed out several boats that had stemmed up there.

After the bottom lock, Vic left in his car, which was parked nearby. Only three locks left to do before Cropredy, where I decided to stay the night, as I was well ahead of my schedule. A continuous cruiser was behind me and helped by drawing the paddles and opening the bottom gates of each lock. At Elkington’s Lock however, he moored on a slack centre line and as he drew the top paddles the stem of his boat got far too close to my stern for comfort. At the next lock, he threw the gear into reverse and hit the bank, bounced off and ploughed into the bushes on the off side. He explained that sometimes that was the only way of stopping. I was now on the alert for him mooring astern of me, so raced ahead and got into Broadmoor Lock before he got to the layby. He complained about the propeller not having the power to stop easily, but I think he was also inexperienced.

This mooring was once connected to the cut, but maybe CRT objected,

 so the guy closed the entrance.

I pulled into a mooring at Cropedy and had a pint at The Red Lion, as I always do there, before returning for a meal and bed.

Friday 30^th October.

No sign of my help today, so I had to cope solo with the four locks into Banbury. All went well, with me bow hauling the boat out each time, closing the gates before getting back on board.

Passing slowly through the outskirts of the town, I passed nb Herbie and gave them a toot on the horn; sure enough Neil poked his head out of the hatch and we made instant arrangements to pay The Olde Rein Deer and visit in Parson’s St. later that evening. I also passed Molly M, Maffi’s boat, but he was not on board, so I texted him about the pub arrangements that evening.

As usual, the mooring for the lift bridge was on the towpath side, but there was a bollard on the off side close to the bridge. I headed for that and slowed to a stop, so as to be able to throw a line over the bollard and get off. Just as I reached for the line, someone opened the top paddles of the lock below, causing a flow towards the lock and the bridge. I managed to keep the bow away from the bridge, but was now too far from the bollard. Seeing my difficulty, a young passer bye offered his help, so passing the windlass across, he was then able to open the lift bridge and I was safely through.

Mooring close to the Tramway Moorings, I did a heavy shop at Morrison’s, resulting in two separate visits to get all I needed, before moving closer to the town below the lock.

A very entertaining evening at the pub with Neil and Cath, but Maffi did not turn up until I was on the point of leaving, as he had been to a Kate Saffin show in Tooleys Dry Dock and got rather side tracked.

Saturday 1^st October.

I had a walk to the town market in the rain, but there was little activity and few stalls. I bought a new switch for the shower pump, which had been faulty for a while and would switch off the main pump without warning.

The afternoon was devoted to training for all the volunteers. The bank crew were all in one boat and the steerers in the other, so we all took turns of steering the “sack of potatoes”, as I call them. They just do not handle like a longer boat and the reverse gear is abysmal, with no power to stop unless the engine is at full revs. I don’t know who made the rules, but the stern line has to be looped over the tiller pin, which is not only dangerous in the event of it dropping in the water and getting wrapped around the blades, but a cardinal sin according to all the old boaters, the IWA, CRT and the Marine Federation, according to Maffi.

Emergency evacuation in case of a fire was put into effect, but no man over board this year, as I understood happened last year. Shortly after winding the boat, Nutfield and Raymond appeared around the corner at speed, but slowed down on approaching the moored boats. Alice Lapworth was steering the butty Raymond and we had brief chat as she passed, telling me that had remembered the David Blagrove books that she previously promised me.

After a couple of beers with Maffi in The Mill, I retired for a nap, before making my way to Tooleys Dry Dock for fish and chips and entertainment at “The Boaters Bash”. I managed until 20.30, before heading back to the boat after quite a tiring day.

Sunday 2^nd October.

Banbury Canal Day.

Another bright day, just like all the preceding Canal Days that I have been to in the past five years. There was no rush for me, as I was not on steering duty until 12.30. Dressed in boaters’ Sunday Best as always, I presented myself a little early and Boat No.3 was at the turn round point in the basin, with Mark Parris on board. We agreed that he should do another trip, which would take 50 mins in total, so in the meantime I went to the lift bridge and had a chat with Graham Scothern and John Boswell, who were in charge of bridge operation.

A tight squeeze with the trip boat.

Packed as always.

Return trip to the basin.

John Boswell operated the lift bridge.

Boat No.3 reappeared at 13.10 and I stepped on board to take my first customers to Sovereign Wharf, where they disembarked for another ten people for the trip to the winding point and back to Sovereign. Another exchange of passengers for the return to the start point, where I made a hash of winding too late and almost wedged the boat across the cut, but that was the first and only time. It was a long afternoon and I did four complete trips, carrying thirty passengers on each, so a count of 120. With four boats operating, that was 480 free trips in the day.

As on previous occasions, the good weather brought the crowds in their thousands, often making it difficult to walk along the wide towpath. The theme of the day was ‘Bubbles’ and a lot of boats were decorated with white balloons. Quite a few children had bubble machines of various types as well, but it was quite a difficult theme to interpret easily.

I retired to the General Foods Social Club with John Boswell and a guy called Andy, who was also helping at the bridge, after leaving the boat in good hands to be moored and closed up after a very successful, but tiring day. A double shift is too long really and in future, I will aim for a split shift of two and a half hours, giving me a break in between.

Monday 3^rd October.

I decided to move up to the town mooring mid-morning, once the majority of boats had moved on. Mooring just ahead of nb Herbie, Neil and Cath came out to help me tie up.

I found the disability shop by the car park and asked for an elbow crutch to assist my walking, but not only did they not have any, they were only sold in pairs so, I bought a walking stick instead. In the shopping mall later, I bumped into Maffi, who said that he had three elbow crutches on board and I was welcome to one or two. I accepted his offer of one and it made things even easier than the stick. Pity I had not asked before, but who is to even think that a friend might have these things?

I had arranged with Neil and Cath to pay a another visit to The Olde Rein Deer after a meal in the evening. Maffi was invited of course, but after a pint and a glass of red wine, I was feeling very uncomfortable with the aching hip and made my excuses to depart. I heard later that they had a very enjoyable time and too much to drink. Perhaps leaving early was appropriate!

Tuesday 4^th October.

Fitting the new inverter now demanded some attention, so the old one was removed and some thought had to be given to how to fit the new one, because these things are never straight forward. Not starting the job until late afternoon, I was considering several ways of fitting the heavy duty battery leads, because the ones already connected were too short to reach the battery. If I could undo the cable clamps, I could then use the existing cables, but undoing the clamps was the problem without the right sized large spanner.

At six pm, I had had enough, so walked up to the social Club for a pint, but it did not open until 7pm, so that was that. I made up a Thai chicken curry, which would probably do five meals in total – far too much; however, if I froze some, I could eke it out over the week, rather than eat it every evening.

Wednesday 5^th October.

Having slept on the problem, I now came up with two solutions. The first was to join the two cables together, with the joint encased in heat shrink sleeving, but that might involve some voltage drop. The second was to beg or borrow a suitable spanner. Maffi was the first port of call and he had an adjustable that I could use.

Knocking on the boat later, he said he couldn’t find it, but the basin wrench in his hand was the correct size and sure enough it pitted perfectly, so now I could connect the original cables and keep the length shorter.

Working in the confined space beneath the back steps was almost a Houdini affair, trying to avoid standing on the plastic water pipes as well as reaching all necessary parts. Eventually it was in place, with just the mains lead to connect to the special plug. However, when the time came to plug into the fixed socket on the bulkhead, the mains lead was too short. Not to be denied this final moment of success, I unscrewed the socket from the bulkhead and could now fit the plug into it – bingo! It worked fine, although there was a last minute panic when all the LEDs came on together. I think that this is an indicator, similar to a car dashboard, where everything illuminates to indicate that all is working. Just need to fit a longer lead now and all will be completed – well almost. The remote switch needs fitting below the instrument panel, which will mean cutting a larger hole in the bulkhead and without a jig saw, it could be time consuming and end up with a ragged hole.

Thursday 6^th October.

Another chilly start to the day, but after a while the sun appeared and cheered things up considerably. I walked into the shopping area and patronised Poundland, which is unusual for me. Then it was off to Robert Dyas for a longer mains lead – 3m this time. The guy who served me said that he had turned off the anti-theft device at the entrance, because the coil of wire would set it off, as well as in other shops – now that was news to me.

On the way back to the mooring, I bumped into Vic again in the market place. He had come by car of course and Lindy Lou was still at Fenny, where we met in the pub.

A boater appeared on the scene the day before, asking if I was leaving tomorrow and if so, would I wait until he brought his boat up from below the lock. The reason being that his engineer would be arriving the next day and need to park his van on that side. We agreed to the arrangement and I moved up to the winding point to turn the boat and then moor up on the other side of the cut, which saved me the walk across the bridge to the shopping centre.

Later in the day, I asked Maffi if he would see me through the lift bridge and then the lock, which he was happy to do. Molly, his dog, came to of course.  

Strange tender to this boat.

I completed wiring the mains lead and fitted it and the plug to the bulkhead, so just the remote to do at a later stage.

This boat owned by an ex teacher and ex civil servant. Last seen two years ago at Rugeley.

Do you know what the initials stand for?

Friday 7^th October.

It was a rude awakening this morning at 05.00, when the local Swan Foundry started up the furnace and associated fans, before continuous hammering of moulding flasks to extract the previous day’s castings. It would seem from their web site, http://www.swangroup.co.uk/news.php?s=british-airways-i360  that Swan have associations with the British Airways i360, that has just been completed in Brighton. Having moored opposite the foundry on previous occasions, the early start was as expected.

A lazy morning doing very little, watching most boats pass me at speed, rattling the boat against the bank, despite yacht fenders and tight lines. About one in ten took it gently, as it should be done. Why are people so bloody inconsiderate?

Time for another food shop at Morrison’s, just to vary my diet of Thai chicken curry over the next few days.