Yesterday was another should I or not start, it was raining
first thing, showers, technically I would guess I was on the 48hr moorings,
well 25% of the boat anyway, but wasn’t too bothered by that, I waited to see
what would happen and around 10:15 it looked like it would brighten so I got
ready and moved off around 10:30.
I wanted to stop at the water point (there are 2 side by
side) which is opposite the winding hole ( a turning place) and immediately
before bridge 136A, it was only about 500yards ahead and as I came around the
bend I could see it was clear. I tied up and started filling the tank.
I had only been there 5 minutes when a boat appeared and the
lady asked me if I would be long, so I pointed out that there was another point
right in front of me, she tied up and then another boat appeared through the
bridge wanting water, he asked the lady if he could brest up (tie alongside her
boat) and she said yes, so now there were 3 of us, a couple of minutes later a
boat came down the canal, he held position blocking the canal in that direction(
nothing coming so not a problem), a couple of minutes later another boat
appeared through the bridge, he moved into the winding hole and waited there,
now there were 5 and it was getting crowded, then a few minutes later another
boat appeared through the bridge and waited in the bridge hole, now 6 boats and
we were blocked both ways.
I finished filling and untied the bow holding my rope and
waited to see who was going to make the first move, the chap on the boat
blocking the canal shouted to his wife to tell me to move away so he could get
to the water point even though it wasn’t his turn, I wasn’t moving until I knew
what the boat in the bridge hole was doing because that’s where I wanted to go,
if he came into the winding hole as I moved off it would have been very tight, but
he could come into the winding hole before I moved or reverse back, fortunately
he pulled his boat back clearing the way for me and off I went leaving them to
sort out themselves, all good fun, as I cleared the bridge another boat was
heading towards the water point so I warned him not to rush!
A nice lock free cruise through open countryside followed.
Today the weather looked good, so at 6:40 (no-one around) I
started the engine and did a wash-load, (I have an inverter which converts 12 volt battery power to 240 volts but the washing machine would quickly drain the batteries so the engine needs to run to put back some charge) I then got it dried on the towpath
just before the rain showers started, happy days.
In between the showers I sat
on the towpath reading and the gardener arrived to mow the grass, very considerate,
so it all looks neat now.
Total travel: 8 miles
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