Contentment
So what is the meaning of contentment…….We have stayed in Braunston this weekend because it has been the weekend of the ” Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally” and I think that this has been pretty close to my idea of contentment. Friday night George received a message off Mike which said ” I am in the beer tent and I owe you a pint”. George knows Mike through work but I had never met his wife Jane, who turned out to be great company, so Friday night was great fun. Saturday there was a lot of rain so we hung around the boat but Sunday was a different kettle of fish altogether. I was cooking breakfast and there was a knock on the boat. It turned out to be Lesley and Joe who were the people who commissioned and designed “Caxton”. I love our boat so I really admire Lesley and Joe and it was lovely to meet them.
Sunday was hot and sunny so we met up with Mike and Jane again and enjoyed sunshine, wine and great company while sitting outside the beer tent. It is now 7.30 and we are now sitting in the conservatory..aka cratch, enjoying the sunshine while drinking wine and beer….
Singing in the rain
It’s the weekend of the Braunston Historic Boat Rally so we moved on to Caxton on Wednesday evening, stopping off at The Boathouse for dinner. We could see that there was some sort of private function going on in one of the marquees but otherwise it was quiet.
On Thursday morning I got up and went to work in Coventry for the day. It was gone five o’clock when I returned to the marina and I could immediately see how Sue had spent her day, the port side of Caxton reflected light like a mirror, it looks like the Greased Lightning product is as good as its reviews.
I got changed and then turned Caxton around on its mooring, a tricky move but it was executed beautifully and of course there was not one single person around to witness it. Once we had re-tied, I gave the starboard side of Caxton a good clean down ready for a coat of Greased Lightning.
We had dinner and then walked over to the beer tent to watch the play, a production call “The Bad Pennies”, performed by the Day Star Theatre Company. It was a very good show as usual but we were pretty tired and were glad to return to Caxton once it was finished.
I awoke briefly at 2.30 to the sound of torential rain battering on the roof of the boat but by the time my alarm went off at 6am, it was dry again. I went to work in Coventry again and despite my best efforts, didn’t manage to escape any earlier than normal. It had rained for most of the day so Caxton’s starboard side remained un-polished. We had dinner and then walked over to the beer tent where we met up with Mike, Jane, two of their three children and Jane’s dad, John. Mike and Jane live in the building that was once the Braunston bakery (it is the house with the Hovis sign on it for those who know Braunston). We had a drink then gave them a tour of Caxton before returning to the beer tent where we listened to the band playing there. The heavens opened again and the tent quickly filled with revellers from outside escaping from the rain. We all had a good singalong with the band until they had to stop at half past eleven.
It was overcast but dry when we got up on Saturday so I got up and emptied the cassettes before too many visitors arrived. We filled the water tank before we got ready and ventured out just after ten o’clock. There didn’t seem to be as many traders this year and there definitely wasn’t as many artists displaying their works. We returned to Caxton where Sue cooked some bacon and sandwiched it in a couple of bread buns that she had baked the day before. We took up our position in the cratch where we could watch the parade and shelter from the rain.
It absolutely hammered down for the duration of the parade and as the time went on, the crowds just dwindled and dwindled until there was only a handful of stalwarts left on the bridge. Like the number of traders, there seemed to be far fewer boats on parade than in previous years at this event. Within minutes of the parade ending, the rain stopped and shortly afterwards the sun came out. We watched the second parade with the cratch covers rolled up but it wasn’t too long before the rain came again so we called it a draw and retreated to the comfort of Caxton’s lounge where we just dossed for a while before we watched the Brazil v Chile match on television.
We knew that this year, the Mikron theatre group were performing in the beer tent at five o’clock and assumed that there would be some sort of musical act following on into the evening. The group turned out to be a very noisy tribute band. We didn’t go to listen to them, we didn’t need to, we could hear every word from inside the boat. I walked over to see what was going on at about nine o’clock, the noise was unbelievable and the tent was nowhere near as full as I would have expected.
On returning to Caxton I did a bit of boater’s blog reading and saw that our boat’s original owners, Joe and Lesley were at Flecknoe and heading towards Braunston. I left a comment on their blog to the effect that their old boat was in the marina and that if they were passing on Sunday, maybe they could stop by and say hello. I neglected to mention this to Sue so she was rather surprised on Sunday morning when there was a knock on the side of the boat, the penny dropped quickly when she saw Lesley and recognised her from pictures on their blog. We chatted to them and to their two friends who were with them for a little while and then said our farewells and let them go and enjoy the boat rally.
The weather had greatly improved by comparison to the day before so we just spent the morning looking at the boats before walking along the towpath to Braunston turn. This of course is where the rally boats have to turn around so we lingered for a while and watched the action from on top of one of the twin iron bridges that span the junction. All that was left to do was to call in at Midland Chandlers to buy a new chimney and a cartridge for the water filter. This done, we stopped off at the Boathouse for a refreshment or two before making our way back to the marina. We spotted Mike, Jane, Olivia and John who were sitting in the sunshine having a drink. We joined them and listened to the live music until everything finished at five thirty. That was it, the Historic Boat Rally was over for another year so we wandered back to Caxton and sat in the cratch, faced the west and took in the beautiful evening sunshine.
Chips and beer.
George went off to work at 7 o’clock this morning and I turned over and went back to sleep because I am a lazy bugger. I dragged myself from my pit at 9.20 and ground some coffee beans for my cafetiere which I drank in my conservatory..aka cratch. About one hour later I got myself cleaned up and dressed and decided that I had better do some work to justify being a stay at home housewife or domestic goddess as I prefer to be known. I made some multi grain bread rolls by hand, dusted the inside of the boat, sorted the clothes in the wardrobes, cleaned the windows and put the pots in the dishwasher and sat down in my conservatory again because that is enough work for one day in my opinion.
The boats have begun to arrive today for tomorrows parade of ” Braunstons Historic Narrowboat Rally ” and we will have a great view of it because I am a nag. When we brought Caxton back to Braunston we were shoved at the back of the marina in a dingy hidden mooring because we were told that there was not another mooring available for a boat of 68 feet, so for several weeks I went to the marina office and nagged and nagged and now we have a super mooring right near to the marina entrance with a full view of the parade as it passes through the marina, plus we are only about 25 yards from the chip van which suits me and 100 yards from the beer tent which suits George.
Later in the day.
I polished the side of the boat this morning and the product works because it looks lovely.
Everyone seems to be very busy here in Braunston getting ready for the boat show and I have made my preparations too because I have been up to the butchers to buy a piece of shoulder of pork. I know that you are thinking ” What has a piece of pork got to do with the boat show”!!!!! well I will explain. When we visited the boat show two years ago we went to a stall called “Smithy’s”…named and shamed…to buy two hot pork rolls. The girl made them up and then said ” That will be £10 please”….I was well and truly gobsmacked at the price but it gets worse. We sat near the stall eating the rolls and the girl had a break. She smoked her ciggy, picked some dried mud from the bottom of her shoes and then went back to serve people without washing her hands.
I now make our pork rolls as a tradition every boat show and they are much tastier and I know that my personal hygeine is good too.
Rise and shine.
Sue here again.
When George had gone to work, I got up and put the bed away. Caxton has a crossways bed which is brilliant for space because it is about five feet wide and is very easy to put away. I like the cross bed because it gives the look of a proper bedroom too because there is a bedside cabinet each side of the bed. You have a compromise however because the length of the bed is dictated by the internal width of the boat minus the gunwales. George is six feet tall so it is a bit short for him but he said that he finds it really comfy and we both prefer the extra width and if you see us out on the system you will understand why.
Yippee.
I am excited today because we are going to the boat this afternoon for four days. George is going to travel to work from the boat on Thursday and Friday. Tonight we will wash one side of the boat and then I am going to polish it tomorrow while George is at work and then we will turn her round Tomorrow night and do the same on the other side. I have bought a product called ” Grease Lightning Showroom Shine ” from Amazon. It has rave reviews stating that “You just spray it on and polish it off and the shine it leaves is amazing, and it also stays cleaner for longer”. At £34.99 for 3.8 litres it had better be bloody good. I will let you know tomorrow. Sue xxx
The Road to Hell
Is paved with good intentions, or so they say.
Our intention this weekend had been to stay in the marina so that we could wash and polish Caxton. We changed our minds and decided to go out and take advantage of the warm, sunny weather. We arrived at Braunston just after four o’clock and emerged on to the cut less than an hour later.
The weather was absolutely glorious and perfect for boating. The Boathouse looked busy as we passed by but once again the pub moorings were completely empty, very strange. As we turned left at the junction, a Napton boat was just passing under the other bridge, heading north on the Oxford – or so we thought. The boat went straight across so that the bow rested on the opposite bank where a crew member jumped off and started wrestling with the bow line. Perhaps they had intended turning towards the locks and taken the junction like a road junction? We’ll never know because neither they nor the boat that had been travelling towards the turn from the north appeared under the arches of the cast iron bridges by the time they were out of view to us.
We plodded on until we reached the spot where we had moored the previous Saturday. We soon located the rings and secured Caxton’s mooring lines to them. We ate dinner in the cratch and enjoyed the evening sun until it disappeared and the air became chilly.
Saturday, the longest day of the year dawned and as the sun rose, the boat started to warm up so we got up and dressed and then prepared for our departure. In contrast to the stillness of Friday, a welcome breeze accompanied us as we journeyed towards Wigrams turn. Sue made me a nice bit of bacon and egg and then took over the steering while I sat down to eat, a good Captain knows how to get the best out of her crew!
The top lock at Calcutt was full and as we descended, two boats left the middle lock heading up so we made easy passage. The same thing happened for us in the middle lock, one of the boats ascending was a Willow Wren training boat but we didn’t get a chance to witness any instruction. We had to close the bottom gate of the third lock as there was nothing approaching it but we had been lucky and despite having no other boat to partner us through the locks, we had passed through very quickly.
Once we were clear of the last lock, Sue took the opportunity to stretch her legs with a walk to the next bridge where I picked her up again. We motored on until we reached the recently renovated Nelson’s wharf and the home of Willow Wren Training. We made use of the wharf, winding Caxton and then reversing to the nearest available mooring spot with an unobstructed view of the canal. We sat in the cratch, partially shaded from the strong sun, listening to music and just basically lazing the afternoon away. At six o’clock with the fierce heat of the sun having subsided, we wandered down to the Blue Lias and had dinner in the beer garden there. On returning to Caxton, I crashed out on the settee and that was it for me for the night. I did wake a couple of hours later and drag myself into bed!
After a good thirteen hours asleep, I awoke refreshed. As Sue said, I must have needed the sleep. We got up, got showered and got dressed before having a cooked breakfast on the front deck in the mid morning sunshine.
Shortly after eleven we decided that we should probably make a start on the four hour trip back to Braunston so we untied and set off. These are the sort of days that we all imagine when we think of boating, blue skies and gentle breezes. It took us about an hour to reach Calcutt and we shared the first two locks with a couple who moor in the marina there, they were going for diesel so we let them leave the middle lock first and waited while they manouevered into position. We swapped over with a pair of boats leaving the top lock and because there was a day hire boat waiting to come in, our ascent of the three locks had been as quick and easy as our descent had been the day before. A small Sea Otter boat arrived, decided that they didn’t fancy bouncing around in the lock with the similarly sized day boat and so turned around. We had a bit of lighthearted banter with them about chickening out and creating a “plan B” and we all had a good laugh. They followed us for a short while and then turned again back towards the lock, presumably to try again with a different boat to partner them.
We soon reached the junction and held back as an American crewed Viking boat took a very wide sweep. As they passed, the steerer commented on how tough the turn was until Sue pointed out that the Kate boat following them had executed the turn much tighter.
We turned left at Wigrams and started on the very familiar route back to the marina. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of boats on the move and we eventually found ourselves in the middle of a convoy which broke up when we reached Braunston turn. We reached our berth in the marina just after three o’clock, driving in rather than reversing so that when we return on Wednesday we can wash and polish the port side of Caxton. It will then simply be a matter of turning the boat around so that we can clean the other side and have Caxton in the perfect position to view the Historic boat parade at the weekend.
Lovely Day
Sue here
It has been a gorgeous day today, sunny and hot. We set off from the marina at about 4.30 after filling the water tank.I have a love for this boat that I did not think was possible and miss her terribly whenever we go back to the house. We both feel the same way about her, which is good. We are sitting here in the cratch chilling out while watching the sun go down. Tomorrow we are going to travel to Long Itchington.
Bridge 102 G.U.
We’ve tied up in exactly the same place as we did last Saturday and here is the view from the cratch. First the scenic view, then the not so scenic view.
Scenic View
Not so scenic!!!
Flecknoe
After yet another busy week travelling, we went to Braunston on thursday evening. It was quite late when we arrived but we unpacked the few bits that we had and then went shopping in Daventry. It was after nine when we got back from Tesco so not much else got done that day.
It was an early start for me as I had to drive to Basingstoke, I usually avoid travelling on Fridays, the morning traffic is normally alright but the afternoon can be problematic. This trip had to be done so I was hoping for good fortune, I’m not superstitious so the fact that it was Friday the thirteenth didn’t bother me.
Maybe it should have bothered me! The drive down took me just 90 minutes, the drive back? 4 hours! As I left Basingstoke at 1.30, I learned of a serious accident which had closed part of the M40 so I decided to try the M3/M25/M1 route but that was just as bad. Congestion on the M25 and then a big accident on the M1 forced me into the decision to leave the motorway and try the cross country route. Driving up past places like Wendover and Aylesbury took my interest but it’s a long slog and by the time I eventually reached Braunston I was knackered! Average speed – 30mph!
We decided to spend another night in the marina and let Saturday take care of itself. I should point out that Sue hadn’t been idle while I had been away, she had once again cleaned the inside from end to end. She had also been in to see Paul in the marina shop so we now know that we have a leaving date of October 20th.
It was warm but overcast when we got up on Saturday, we had coffee as usual, made our preparations and then weaved our way between the pontoons until we reached the exit on to the Grand Union. We had a slow chug past all of the boats moored between the marina and the twin bridges at the junction. Once we were round the turn, we made reasonable progress to our destination near Flecknoe at bridge 102.
We spent most of the day in the cratch with the covers up, occasionally having to close them to fend off the rain showers. There was a steady stream of boat traffic in both directions and with the bridge only a hundred yards in front, we were entertained throughout the afternoon.
We had eaten a tasty “brunch” at eleven so it was gone five before the need to eat returned, Sue producing a Caesar salad – just the job on a summer afternoon.
After dinner we locked up and took a walk up to the village of Flecknoe where we had a short refreshment stop at the Old Olive Bush.
Sue took a few photos along the way, you can see them here.
Back at the boat we just chilled for a few hours as we waited for the football to start at eleven.
We were a little bit later in waking up after our late night. We showered and had lunch before setting off and finding space to turn at Bridge 107. We were a bit concerned with so many boats around and with the bridge sitting between two blind bends but we were fortunate in having experienced boaters in front and behind us. After turning, we started our short journey back to the marina. Despite it being cool, breezy and overcast, the trip was both pleasant and uneventful and we were back on our pontoon for half past two. I completed a couple of small jobs before we gathered the very few bits that we needed to take from the boat, dropped them in the car and drove home. Next week we plan to wash and polish Caxton ready for the following weekend and the historic boat rally.