Saturday 24th March, 2012
What a wonderful start to this year's cruising! It was a glorious morning, more like early summer, with predicted
temperatures of 23-24 deg C. We heard the first skylark of the season. It was
strange to have summer-like weather yet
to see the trees still bare of foliage other than the Blackthorn and Pussy
Willow.
We finally departed from Harefield Marina at 11:20 after four
months of "over-wintering". (Hour meter 116.2). We may pass that way again but we doubt whether we
shall have another winter mooring there. It was great fun to have met Bob Blues
and his ‘Dekadance’ Internet Radio station, broadcast from his narrowboat. Sadly, there was no sign of him as we left so we didnt have a chance to say cheerio, although we did see his friend Angela chatting to
someone on the pontoon. It was only as we were about to depart that we discovered that another Kingsground boat called "Reflections" was moored next door but one to us!
The sun and the early warmth had brought out the boats,
walkers and cyclists in equal measure. Even John Betjeman would have agreed
that Slough looks more attractive when bathed in sunshine!
In Denham Deep Lock, we bumped the side of the lock. As a result, the breadboard fell
over and knocked the cafetiere on to the floor. That's the second time we've broken it; last time was on the way up to Harefield in November when we ran aground at Hanwell. So for now, it's just instant coffee. Bother!
We moored up at the Malt Shovel pub (great name!) at Bridge 188 to take on
water. There was a boat already on the water point and they took forever to fill up but we had a Magnum each in the sunshine while waiting, so the time passed happily!
Whereas the other boat had taken over an hour to fill up with water, it only took us
about 25 minutes, thanks to the super-dooper roll-flat hose that Robin
had bought from a company in Australia. The chap in the boat before us must have had a very small
one (hosepipe that is!).
Immediately after taking on water, we went through Cowley Lock. Three
lovely young ladies of Oriental origin were so taken with the boat that Marion
invited them on board for a guided tour. An English narrowboat must have been a complete mystery to them! Shortly after, three coloured ladies asked if they could rent "Many Meetings" from us!
We moored at Packet Boat just after 4:00pm and got ready for
the arrival of Adrian, Sandra, Jamie and Alex.
We were so pleased that they
arrived in daylight (about 4:30). They'd had a long day already as Adrian had to go over to Newport on the Isle of Wight in the morning to pick up the boys from their home over there. We all had tea and biscuits, then Robin and
Adrian went to play musical cars! The two of them drove up to Harefield to pick up the
Polo, drove both cars down to Hanwell and then drove the Polo back to Packet Boat. On the way
back, the traffic came to a complete stop for 40 minutes, so dinner was a bit
late. We all ate in the Water’s Edge pub at the marina – very nice too.
Once back on board, we set up the beds. Six sleeping on board is
an experience! It's rather like camping and it was a bit of a juggling act; a trifle crowded but basically worked well.
Hours 119.4 total, 3.2 today
6 Miles and 3 locks
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