Ricky to the Summit Level.
Sunday 19th May
After a shower and breakfast, I attempted to publish my
blog. Probably because my mobile had no signal, the photographs that I had on
it refused to be picked up by Blogger, so had to be transferred by Bluetooth to
the laptop and then uploaded from the appropriate laptop file – I found it to
be extremely frustrating, but got it completed and published eventually.
I had a stroll
through the stalls and various music arenas. There were far more stalls than at
Cavalcade, but of course there was far more space. All the usual tat of course
and ethnic clothing plus food outlets. It was certainly crowded despite the
amount of space. I spotted John Fevier inside one of the waterway stalls and we
passed the time of day for a while. I had a beer before returning to the boat
for a spot of lunch, after which it was time to dismantle the lights and
bunting, which took all afternoon – is it really worth it?
nb Chedoona won a bottle of prosecco for being the best decorated boat and it was well deserved. Moranwyl Phyllis wanted to move from the inside mooring to the outside for an early getaway in the morning, so a bit of disorganised boat shuffling took place, but at least Stronghold was now on the bankside and I had a spring line out to steady things when other boats passed by.
This boat was named Rose in June, but has been repainted
and totally refitted and is on a mooring by The Pelican.
It was just too far to walk to the pub, so a quiet pint
ensued on board and a period to wind down before having supper.
Monday 20th May
I should be doing an oil change today and stocking up with
food for the next few days to intersperse with the sweet and sour chicken
dishes. The oil change was put on the back burner and I did some M&S
shopping instead and whiled away the afternoon with a book, during which time,
Margaret asked me if I would like to go with a group of boaters to Wetherspoons
for a meal later and of course I jumped at the chance, despite there being a
total of fifteen boaters, most of whom I knew anyway. It was a very enjoyable evening talking to
different people and discussing everything from boat toilets (why does this
always crop up in the conversation even during a meal), to where are you going
next, where is your mooring, and your working life history amongst other
topics. We finally departed the pub at 22.30 and I was flagging, it being long
past my normal bedtime, but I slept extremely well for a change.
During the evening I had a phone call from Chris, who had
said previously that he would come out and crew for me on Tuesday. Despite me
hanging around Ricky all day Monday, he was now possibly going to turn up on
Thursday.
Tuesday 21st May
I was out of bed and ready to move at 8am. I was now moored
next to Zavala closer to the town lock and although Margaret was out walking
the dog, I had to wake Brian by starting the engine to cross over the cut to
Tesco. Unfortunately, Miss Matty passed by while I was there, so no chance of
accompanying them through the locks. I had to stop for water below the lock
anyway and I was in a queue, so it was a long time before I eventually went
through the lock with another boat until they stopped for water at Cassio
Bridge. I continued was caught up by nb
Gerald with Barry and Jenny, who was also at ‘Spoons pub last night, so we did
several more locks together until they stopped just above Hunton Bridge top
lock.
By this time (14.00) I also had done enough for the day and
pulled in on a favourite sunny mooring just north of the bridge for some lunch
and a stop for the day. Now that the
engine was hot it was time to do that oil change. The weather had been
incredibly sunny and warm in the morning, but a breeze sprung up in the
afternoon and the off bank wind made mooring difficult, so I had to be very
quick getting pins in and tying up without getting blown across the other side
of the cut.
Surprisingly there are only two other boats moored within
sight, whereas there have been masses of live aboard boaters moored up along
the banks, which of course necessitates moving at just above tickover speed and
makes progress so much more tedious. Some years ago there was a call for more
offline moorings in purpose built marinas, which would hopefully reduce the
number of online moorings, but the opposite has happened because although they
probably did move to marinas, there are now so many people living on boats and
taking up cheaper online mooring spaces that it is worse than ever before in my
fourteen years of owning a boat. London is the prime example and it is almost
impossible to visit the city any longer on a boat, unless you have a designated
or reserved mooring space.
Wednesday 22nd May
Just after 08.30 nb Enigma came past who had been moored
behind me overnight. I asked if it was OK to accompany him up the locks, which
it was. We got chatting a the first lock and Les enquired about The Pelican pub
in Addlestone, which was one of the Watney’s pubs that he used to deliver to
way back when he worked for Watneys. He
was also a single handed boater as was evident when he approached that lock.
Not only was his sense of humour similar to mine, but he also knew what he was
doing at locks and not only did we get on well, we gelled into a team with no
words spoken. In all we did twelve locks as far as The Three Horseshoes at
Winkwell and went in for a couple of well deserved pints and more chat. His
family are going to Whipsnade at the weekend, so he is stopping here for a while
to meet with them.
In the meantime Chris phoned to find out where I was and agreed to come for a pint too later in the evening, before meeting up closer to
Berko to crew for me tomorrow. Nb Gabriel with James and Hazel also arrived and
moored up and we agreed to leave about nine-ish in the morning to travel
together, so it looks like we will be mob handed for locking tomorrow. It’s not
often I get the chance of a locking crew, so I look forward to that.
Thursday 23rd May
Another sunny day is promised and I was up early to be ready
to let go with nb Gabriel. We let go around 9am and did a few locks, before
Chris came down the towpath to crew for the day, so with James and Chris
working the locks we fairly flew up them as far as Berko, where we moored
briefly to visit Waitrose.
Gabriel stopped there for the night, but we
continued as far as the summit level to moor at Bulbourne, where there was
plenty of space.
About 2ft lower than normal between Dudswell Two Locks.
It was a short walk to The Grand Junction, but to our
surprise the real ales were off and there was no gas for the pressurized stuff
either – a pub with no beer is not good news. Chris decided to fetch his car
from Berko, by catching the train from Tring and then returning to collect me
and go to The Red Lion at Marsworth, where they still had Harvey’s Best Bitter
on tap as last year, which is a regular ale according to the landlord. I
pointed out that Harvey’s only deliver within a 50 mile radius of Lewes, so how
did he manage to get a supply. The reply was that it was delivered by a local
beer wholesaler, which is what I thought might have happened.
It had been a six hour day of travelling and although the
locks were done for me, I certainly had had enough by that time, so another
early night ensued.
Friday 24th May
Another day of sunshine was promised, but it clouded up
later, though still warm. I had a late morning breakfast and decided that I had
enough hot water to do some washing. By now I had got the hang of using this Mickey
Mouse twin tub washing machine that I found last year. Despite this, it still
took me two hours of continual supervision over a hot tub.
I debated later whether to walk down Maffers flight for a
pint at The Anglers Rest, but decided against it hoping that there was beer on
in the local pub by now.
I could see that the Bulbourne workshops were now empty and
fenced off, with many small trees cut down, so some sort of action was
forthcoming. Several of the buildings are Grade II listed, so there is limited
room for redevelopment. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/2676.pdf
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