Well well Reader, lots of news. Most of it non boaty but stick with me.
We left you having returned along the Llangollen canal and popped WaL into Swanley Marina for a long overdue repaint.
I say overdue as when we collected WaL from new after being at the Crick Boat Show in 2012, our boat builders, Fernwood Designs, had said that we'd be looking to repaint her after about seven years. I told David way back then to save £1K a year and all would be fine.
Did he.....? Did he heck, but what he did do or rather say over the years was, not yet, she's fine, maybe next year.
So while WaL was in dock we went home for a summer holiday!
Frequent Flyers to this blog will remember that in August we have a flurry of family birthdays, one of which was my mother's. She was 95 but wasn't frightfully pleased when I told other people so keep it under yer hat.
She has ten great grandchildren and eight were present at her tea party, one was let off as he has a job and the other is in New Zealand, so pretty good excuse and four out of five her grandchildren.
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| We didn't do all the candles due lest we cause a safety incident. |
We also had the two six year olds for the best part of a week, a few days were needed to recover after that, as divine as the children are.
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| A sizzling hot day out for these two divine creatures. |
So that pretty much brings us up to five weeks later and the collection of WaL, it was a bit like Christmas with the excitement building. So over the course of the seven years I (and only I) had been considering a new livery, I have over time, really really liked Kingfisher blue and then cream with navy lines and then all the way back to red again.
So just by way of a reminder her is WaL earlier this summer looking pink, very pink.
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| Here she is, red again |
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| As I said to Amanda, do you like my diamonds? |
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| A grey roof again, we had some fancy design on the roof previously but I had forgotten what it was as it had considerably been worn off. |
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| This is my favourite part I think. Nothing ever again to be put on the hatch David! |
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| A kingfisher and an owl now. |
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| New font and a new compass |
So there we are, I hope you approve Reader, we are thrilled even if it slightly surprising to have it red again and not pink plus the blacking done too.
We set off for our sister marina which is Tattenhall marina, it was about 14:30 but I was kinda confident we could get pretty close to it. It had been a while since David had helmed so I'm not judging but he bumped the first bridge, then a bit of madness struck as he slid all the way down a nasty bush. I didn't need to admonish him as he was a tad upset himself.
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| Anyone got some spare blacking paint? |
Well we made progress with the help of a couple of volunteer lockkies at the Hurleston flight, it was all going so nicely when later on we had a bit of trouble.
It was at The Iron Lock. It's close to the lock before so I walked between the two. I filled the Iron Lock, so called as the sides are lined with sheets of iron, in recent times its become a bit bowed so now the instructions are for single boats only to go through, not that there was another boat around.
So I filled the lock and due to the leaky bottom gates, I heaved and heaved to absolutely no avail. I kept trying as David brought WaL onto the lock landing from mid canal where he had been loitering. He too heaved and heaved and together we got nowhere.
I was ahead of him in my thoughts that we would have to spend the night on the lock landing until the CART staff man would come along in the morning....
At the 11th hour who should come around the corner but a lovely couple out for a walk who lived locally.
They had helped another boater a couple of nights before, but I have to say that even with four of us on the one beam success was not a certainty but at length the gates did open and in went WaL. They asked repeatedly if we were okay I declined further help as I thought all was well.
Then WaL got hooked up on the cil, so Reader although we have been down through this lock this summer without incident, WaL was diagonally across the lock when the hookup occurred, he yelled at me, I ran to close the paddles which are higher up than the average, so winding down was slow.
David told me later that he was on the verge of jumping off when WaL slid off and flolloped into the water again.
Phew.
That was a close one, a really close one. We were both shaked and not stirred.
After all this delay, twilight was coming fast. We just wanted to moor up and relax.
The photo above was the sight that met us when we got in, so that is the entire larder on the floor, several glass breakages, sundried tomatoes in oil, lazy garlic, peanut butter and a jar of pickle. All the unbroken jars and packages had to be washed and the smell was awful.
A bad end to a bad afternoon.
The first place we could get WaL in was just above the last lock landing that we had to do. The next morning was forecast wet so we knew we would be having a lie-in.
But we did get WaL into the marina at lunchtime the next day. Car packed up and away home again. We had to pack for a busman's holiday, we were going on a cruise a day later. I'll save that to bore you with next time.
