Our lucky day (except for our colds)

We didn't have a very good night with our colds taking grip, but we still got up early. It was very foggy but we made our way down to the water point.

We topped up with water and got rid of our rubbish, before moving off towards the flight of locks..

 

The first lock was against us but we met a boat coming down at the second, and it was plain sailing to the top..

We then hit the Braunston Tunnel, the first time since we had hit the wall last time, and luckily we didn't meet anything..

Talking of luck, when we came out of the tunnel there was a stack of wood for boaters to feast on.. We loaded Derwent6 right up, knowing we had another cold snap coming up. 

Due to loading up we lost half an hour in time and had to press on. We turned at Norton Junction and headed up the Leicester line to the Watford flight..

Lucky again we had three lock keepers to help us up and they locked the gates behind us.. They seemed bored as they had only seen four boats all day.

We reached the top in record time. We love this part of the canal, and we made our way to the very wet Crick tunnel.

We went through not meeting or seeing anyone till we moored up at Crick..

The first thing we did was wipe down Derwent6 as the water in tunnels marks the paintwork then we managed to get a TV signal, a miracle in Crick, and also we got on the fourteen days... Our luck had to run out.. In the evening our colds got us down a bit so we snuggled by the fire till bed time..

Sniffing to Braunston

We got up early with sore throats and sniffy noses, but felt alright to cruise. We had kept the fire in last night but to be honest we didn't need it as it was quite mild. After cleaning the roof we set off and soon got to Hillmorton Locks..

There was a boat in one of the locks when we arrived but both were in our favour and the guy had opened the other gates for us, nice fella!!
We sailed through the locks and got the other locks ready for him, helping him to the top as he was a single handler..
We then put on the washing machine and cruised for the next two hours towards Braunston. Don't know how this guy is going to turn up here as he won't fit through the single locks..

We love this part of the canal as it gets out into the countryside and is so quiet this time of year, we have only passed two boats... It's even better when you have a lovely hot Mulled wine in one hand and a mince pie in the other, bliss!!!!

We arrived at Braunston at 1.00pm and Al walked up the shop with a card to post, Del did the brasses.

It was nearly dark before she got back due to the fact she bumped into Graham and Jill on n.b. Matilda Rose. We still feel a bit bunged up so we would be watching a bit of telly tonight and going to bed early..

Our first freeze of the winter...

God it was damn cold this morning, welcome home!! We were frozen in and had planned to move today..Oh well it did make it very pretty..

Al wanted to go to Rugby anyway and managed to catch the 10.30am bus. She got some food shopping and started on the Christmas present list..  We had a boat go by which looked like it was in Hillmorton for a paint job, so it broke the ice nicely for us...

In the afternoon she walked up to Tesco's and got this years photo's for our Christmas cards..  The good news was that the ice had disappeared so we may be able to move in the morning. With football in the evening we chilled out for an early start.

Birthday's Weekend



Well we stayed the night at Al's Mum and Dads on the Friday night and was up early to see them.. We then left at 11.00am and went over to Del's cousin Dave as it was his 60th Birthday.. As soon as we got there the drinks started to flow. It was even better as we saw Holly his daughter who was back over from Oz.

We went out for a walk with them and walked to Diane's (Dave's wife) Dads house as it was his 86th Birthday and had a few more drinks.

We walked back to Dave and Diane's and had some birthday cake with a cup of tea and then left for Bernie and Sarah's late in the afternoon. We then had to get changed for the evening.. We were all going to a 25th Wedding Anniversary party which was a suited and booted do with masquerade masks. We arrived at 8.00pm and were greeted by Carl and Diane. It was a fabulous party with great food and entertainment.. We had a Ball!!!!

It was then back to Bernie and Sarah's where we crashed out...
On Sunday morning we were recovering and then it was arranged that we were out at lunchtime.. We had said to Bernie and Sarah that we wanted to take them out for a meal as they had been so good to us this year and we had stayed a lot with them both.. So they picked where they wanted to go and we jumped in the car. We arrived at a place called Smith and Western which is a Country and Western themed place Yeeee Haaaaa.. When we arrived Steve and Erica were at the bar with Tanya, Sam and Zak. David and Hannah were also there..

More cards and presents and great food, and more drink (hair of the dog) we had a great time..

We left at 5.00pm and got back to Bernie and Sarah's tired from too much food and drink and crashed out in front of Strictly, bloated...


Del had some lovely presents and cards, this touched his heart, the envelope of the card from Thomas, Jack, Matthew, Samuel, and Ella and a big thank you to Matty (who was on Derwent6 at the time of the lock incident), for making Uncle Del a lovely sponge cake, you guys rock!!

Fantastic, (in the end)

Thanks guys for all your lovely comments... I had a lovely day thank you IN THE END...
The day started with me waking up without my beloved as she was down in Kent with her Dad as she had to go to another doctors appointment, but the good news was, we were meeting up in London later in the day.... it felt like a date. She had also left a card and a small present to open, the card even had a narrowboat on it, she's brill....

So I then made my way down to the station and when I got there it was packed.. Well it turned out that some selfish git had jumped in front of the train at Milton Keynes and closed the lines down into London.. I had to wait an hour before they let a train run out of Rugby but I managed to get a seat for the mad rush to get on it.. Hmmm well sitting along side me I had a guy who decided to make a phone call (not in English) and he never came off the phone all the way down to London. Thank god for tunnels when he lost his signal and gave me a minutes rest each time!.. Then I had a guy standing in the aisle with his arm holding on to the seat in front so his armpit was right next to me and you guessed it, it stunk!. Behind him was a guy chewing gum and all I could hear over this phone was tick tick tick of his mouth, chewing on the gum, and to top it all I had a guy behind me with his headphones on tapping the back of my seat to the music he was listening to.. Great! It would have been a better trip travelling in a cattle truck, which it what it felt like, and cows don't do phones..
I arrived in Euston and found Al where things got a lot better.

We headed straight for my favorite restaurant Hard Rock Cafe and we went straight in and got a prime seat,  in fact I sat in the seat where Bill Gibbons sat (the lead singer and guitarist from  ZZ Top) last night, with a bunch of guests, and Al was sitting in Frank Beards seat (the drummer in the band). I was facing my favorite wall which was filled with all Queen and Pink Floyd stuff, we felt like royalty.

They even played our favorite music for us, so we had Queen, Pink Floyd, Springsteen, Jackson and of course Bon Jovi. What a great lunch, we were in there three hours and stuffed with food and drink..

We then jumped on the bus to Piccadilly where Eros was in a big snow shaker and then walked to Hamley's to play with all the new toys, and then the apple store to check out the latest gadgets and workshops..

When we came out the Christmas lights were on and we did Oxford street and the Selfridges windows..

They were really good this year and a bit more effort has been made, we enjoyed them

Boots even had lights with real snow coming down from three snow making machines on the roof, lovely.

Then it was the bus to the bar for more drinks and cocktails before heading off back to Al's Mum and Dads where more presents were opened.....

 One present I got from Pam and Alf was a chainsaw chain sharpener which will help out through this cold winter they say we are going to have..and it will save on buying a new chain every time..........

It turned out to be a lovely day, thanks again guys....

Birthday Boy today

Happy Birthday Del, my forever teenager xxxxxxxxx 

 

 



We're Ready

We looked at the weather when we got up and thought it was a good time to move today. We still had a couple of days on the waste tank but thought due to the weather report we should get it emptied. We pulled the pins and moved down to Clifton Wharf and after a bit of hassle we moored alongside two other boats for a pumpout. It always feels good when your tank is empty and your diesel is full, Mmm just water to worry about..

We left the Wharf and headed into Rugby where we passed a quiet Brownsover. We then winded and put Derwent6 on the water point.

Del had spotted a bit more wood so we loaded up with a few sticks to keep us going.. so loaded with wood, coal, water, diesel, and our empty waste tank, bring on the bad weather.. Perhaps we shouldn't have said that..
We had plans to head back to Braunston, but as we pulled round the corner a boat pulled off at Brownsover where we can get telly.. We also had one more thing to do, fill the cupboards with food and with Tesco's just a stone's throw we moored up..

We got the shopping and managed to get all the heavy stuff back to Derwent6 before it rained. So that was it for the day, fire stoked and feeling exhausted we just put our feet up..  we love this life!!!!

Enjoying the peace and quiet

Well we have chilled a bit over the weekend and it has been nice.. We have just been doing all the normal things like locating and chopping wood, and just taking it easy..

We gave Mark a ring on n.b Calisto and he came along on Saturday.. We had his last six bags of Stove Glow due to to the fact a marina had brought the rest for the expected cold snap ahead.. He was loaded with other coal but SG is one of our favourites.. After feeding his dog, and filling us with diesel he left.

To be fair nothing much has happened. Al has been up the shops a couple of times and been down to Kent as she needed the doctors, so we have had a good location here for all the things we need right now..

 We plan to move tomorrow...

Prep work

We woke up to a miserable morning so it was difficult to get out of bed, but as usual we had loads of jobs to do.. Del started on the engine, by checking the levels and greasing the grease points.. Then pumped up the central heating ready for winter.. We are trying to prepare ourselves for this cold snap we are going to have, but I'm sure it will catch us out.. Del then did the porthole liners while Al did some (house) boat-work.. In the afternoon we invited Andy and Irene round for tea and Al had made some date and walnut rock cakes. Irene had brought some gifts as well with some cake and a bottle of Crabbies for us.. We had a laugh in the heat of Derwent6 with its fire blazing in the corner.. In the evening it was a bit of telly for us...
On Tuesday we were up early as it was a nice day and Del cleaned out the bilge and also the rain gutters on the weed hatch. He then started to cut up some more wood so the locker was full.. As we did this we said our goodbyes to Andy and Irene on n.b. Kamili.

We soon had the wood locker full and then went on the hunt for more wood. Al walked up the shops and topped up the fridge (with more chocolate)..

In the evening we just chilled listening to music......

Cake, Cleaning and Cheers!

With the good news we decided to stay put for the weekend like we normally do. At mid morning we were joined by Andy and Irene on n.b Kamili.. They moored up and then walked along to see us..We were having lunch and Al was still in her PJ's but we arranged a chat with them and were invited back to their boat for a cup of tea.. We got round to them at 2.30pm and were greeted with cake, Mmmmm. We had a good catch up talking about the cut and toilets and engine issues.. It was lovely to see them..

We left just as it was getting dark (and Del wanted a wee) as Al had her place booked in front of the telly as Strictly was on.. We had a warm and cosy night on Derwent6..
On Sunday the weather was a lot better and Del was up early doing the brasses and cleaning off the leaves bringing Derwent6 ship shape again.. He finished at 3.00pm just as Andy and Irene were going up the shops... We had planned to go up the pub to watch the football so we arranged to meet them at 4.00pm.. We had a lovely afternoon chatting about how the year had gone and what our winter plans were, with the football in the background and a pint in front of us..heaven!

We left just in time for us to get back to the boats and see strictly and run our engines for a hour.. It has been fun having these guys around this weekend...

Great News!

We were up early again after last night, waiting for a phone call from the hospital, and at 9.30am we got it.. It turned out to be great news that Alf (Al's Dad) has got the all clear on his tumors.. they have receded and the blood supply that was feeding them has been cut off. All that happens now is that he has to have a check up every six weeks... we both fell into tears.. he is still shaking from the news and feeling like a new man...We couldn't have asked for better treatment and care from Kings College in London, and we have had tremendous support all the way.
So our day was made up..Del went and cut a lot more wood while Al went up the shops to set up some treats for us to celebrate.. Nothing will spoil our day today....

To London to Visit the Queen

After a restful day on Tuesday for Del, Al had made her way back to Derwent6 managing to get back in daylight...  but tomorrow, another hectic day was ahead..
We were up early as we had another train to get. We caught the 10.30am train down to London and met up with Bernie and Erica at Victoria station.

From there we went over to Covent Garden where we used our Taste Card in Fire and Stone where we all had lovely pizza's for half price..

Del and Bernie then went in the pub while Al and Erica did some window shopping and we met up again at Tottenham Court road. From there we got the tube to Shepherd Bush and we went into O'Neill's for another couple of pints.. here we were joined by Steve and then we all got in the queue for The Queen Extravaganza, a Queen tribute band picked by the Queen band themselves..

They came on at 8.45pm and started with We will Rock you (we can hear you stamping your feet)

The lead vocalist was just brilliant and sounded just like Freddie in fact when he sung Somebody to Love you couldn't tell the difference when you shut your eyes..

We were sitting close to the real drummer in Queen, Roger Taylor, checking to see if they were getting it right...

So if you ever get the chance to see them you won't be disappointed, you can see them on YouTube. We were clock watching a bit at the end as the last train back to Derwent6 was at 11.30pm but we belted out and made it in good time in the end.. we all had a fantastic time.. and got back to Derwent6 at 1.45am, knackered!