Adrian and Family on Board

Sunday 25^th March, 2012

Jamie and Alex were the only ones who slept well!  They slept on the dinette; Adrian and Sandra slept on the main bed while Marion and Robin slept on the sofabed. All the beds were really comfortable but it was a bit cosy, and with six on board there was a lot of condensation on the windows in the morning!

Robin got going down towards Hanwell while Marion made breakfast. It was another beautiful morning and, after breakfast, everyone was up top on lock duty and steering. We stopped for lunch about midday after the first two locks and just before going down the Hanwell flight of six locks. When we started down the flight all the locks were about half against us, they had obviously been left full but a lot of the water had leaked out overnight. Some of the gates were leaking quite badly. The towpath had been re-surfaced over the winter but it appears that nothing had been done to cure the leaking locks. Our “crew” did very well and we went down the flight very quickly.

Below the flight, we travelled a little way downstream before mooring up (the water at the bottom of the flight was shallow, disgusting and reeked so we decided not to spend time there).  However, it was nice to see further down that new allotments had been laid out just next to where we moored and people were busy digging in bags of compost and manure.

We had tea and biscuits (and endless compliments about the boat from passing walkers). Darren of Kingsground would be really proud to know how everyone marvelled at his beautiful paint finish.

Adrian, Sandra and the boys left about 4:00pm. We all walked up to Adrian’s car parked next to the “Fox” pub to see them off.  It was really lovely to have seen them and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.

We tidied up and generally cleaned the boat a bit. Robin cooked supper in the oven and used the oven thermometer that we bought in Maine to check the temperature. The oven does get to temperature eventually (it takes ages) but there is a very big difference between the top and bottom of the oven.

Over dinner, we celebrated with a lovely glass of white wine the fact that it's seven years today since Robin first sent Marion a text message (from Limoges airport) to suggest that we should meet up. Hope he doesn't regret it!!!

The new(ish) moon was in beautiful juxtaposition with Jupiter and Venus; all were mirrored in the water. Quite breathtaking. Fortunately the dusk also obscured the filth in the water; one wouldn’t want to fall in round here! The water bubbles ominously, is black and reeks. Distant recollections of Quatermass spring to mind…

Hours 123.7 total, 7.5 this trip, 4.3 today

13 miles and 11 locks this trip, 7 miles and 8 locks today