Happy 18th Birthday

Happy 18th Birthday Hannah Winter

We left this morning to go down to Kent, leaving Derwent6 in the good hand of local friends. We got the train down at lunchtime to get together with Al's mum and dad where they had there first daffodil in there garden in January, We then left there to arrive just in time to meet up with out goddaughter Hannah who is eighteen today and just got in from her studies...it was a nice surprise for her!!! We all went out in the evening to a local pub where she brought her first round of drinks (and long may it continue....) We then all had food and we went on till late into the evening, I'm sure she will be out with all her mates in the local town of Maidstone over the weekend and probably won't want another drink after that... We stayed the night at her mum and dads.

Buses, Kindling, Brasses and a Pub

We were up early as Al was going on the 9.45am bus to the Rugby big Sainsbury's with all the girls here at Hillmorton. After they had left Del got cracking on pallets we had, making two big bags of kindling. This is ideal for when we go back on wood in the spring. The girls arrived back at around 1.00pm and we had some lunch. Then Del did the brasses in the afternoon... In the evening we met up with Keith & Ann off n.b Oakfield and Paul & Lynne of n.b. Piston Broke at 6.15pm. We all walked up to the the Stag and Pheasant where we had a few pints and a lovely meal. It was good fun catching up with all the local gossip and taking the mickey out of each other. We managed to get back at 10.00pm just before it started to rain.

Well needed rain

We woke up to the sound of heavy rain which here on the canals we are pleased about due to the lack of water everywhere. After breakfast we decided to do a bit more spring cleaning. (Anything we haven't used for three months comes off.)

It's surprising how much you collect and how much you don't actually use, but we managed to get five big bags of rubbish. After the rain had stopped, Del then walked them down to Hillmorton Whalf and popped in there to see if he could get the part he needed for the manual pump out. Well even though there was a sign saying it was open it clearly wasn't. A guy came over and tried to help and after a lot of hassle he found the keys to the shop, he had a good look around for the part, but we couldn't find one. Al read her book all afternoon and Del carried on on a circular walk back to Derwent6. We just chilled in the evening with the footy.........

Cruising with lots of nice people about!!

It was a lovely morning and a good day for cruising we thought... So Al walked down to top up our wine quoter before we set off. We soon got to Clifton Cruisers where we needed that pumpout we wanted yesterday. We were greated by the two lovely dogs they have. We were the first boat they had seen for a few days and were open arms to help us. We trickled up the canal till we got to the locks soaking up the scenery, sitting on our new seats on the stern. The locks were in our favour and we soon made our way through them. Someone had left these nice little memento's tied to the lock gates, there are some nice people about...... At the next lock BW helped us through as they were working on the lock next door. The guy helping turned out to be the nice lock keeper who used to manage Foxton Locks, so we stopped for a chat. We got to the top and thought we would soak up some of the sunshine, we had also caught up with n.b Oakfield and n.b Piston Broke, so we moored up just in front of them. We had our lunch out on our new cratch seats and were met by the girls Ann and Lynne walking the dogs. We just chilled in the afternoon in the quiet of the countryside and the sun beaming through the portholes till the sun went down.

Plan B

Plan A was to go up and turn today and then get water and then do a manual pump out at Brownsover..Ummmm wrong!!!! All was going so well, turned OK (even in strong winds) got water, (even though it was flooded round the water point) and got in OK at the elsan at Brownsover. Then the pipe broke which fits on the stern of Derwent6 to drain into our container. Hmm .. We tried super glue and managed to get one container out before we had to stop.With Clifton Cruisers closed on Sunday (which we thought would be one of their busiest days) we decided to stay put and try and get a replacement one in Wickes ( it's got our name on it). Well not in this case as they didn't have one... So Plan B is to stay here till Monday and go along to Clifton in the hope we can get a pumpout there and pick up the new part we require at Hillmorton. It was a good job really as the wind had got up even more and it would have made the locks tricky.

We moored up on the other side of the canal again as we get a good TV signal here. Al was pleased as she wanted to see Dancing on Ice and Desperate Housewives in the evening!

Cushions collected

We had the threat of rain again with black clouds looming up on us, so we got up early as Al wanted a walk round the shops and Del walked to his secret stash of pallets for Kindling nearby, and quickly broke them up before it rained. We had a call yesterday saying our cushions were ready so we got the bus into Rugby and collected them. Chris (the guy who made them) kindly gave us a lift back to Derwent6 in his van, so we didn't have far to walk with them. We are so pleased with the outcome, and he did some other cushions as well for us. The weather was iffy all afternoon, and we wanted to move on, but the wind just got worse so we sat tight. Del wanted to get a new Antifreeze tester and they have a good little one in Halfords for just £1.99. So we listened to the radio in the late afternoon and chilled with a film in the evening.

Wet lazy day

It was a horrible yucky morning so it was hard to get out of bed. We got a phone call saying our cushions were ready from Chris at Manor Upholstery, at least this got us out of bed. The weather just wasn't good enough for us to go and pick them up and we ended up agreeing we would pick them up tomorrow. We couldn't get them in the morning anyway as Gosty was expected at midday, and he arrived bang on schedule, bringing heavy rain with him.....we got soaked!!!. We bought five bags of coal, something we had never done before as we try to use wood when we can. I guess we have just got a bit lazy!! That's why we had one of those lazy days, reading and gaming... Good fun really!.........and we do need the rain!