A week in Rugby - and boats going past slowly

Monday 20th September to Sunday 26th September

14 Miles,  1 Tunnel, 1 Swing Bridge– for this week

Totals: 248 Miles, 289 Locks, 8 Tunnels, 7 Swing Bridges

When you look back on any week that was, it will generally show that there have been particularly bright spots that you recall the picture and the scenery of the time – two of this weeks very bright spots were

Monday – around Bridge 16 I came across Waterway Routes filming as they travelled north – a quick shout and a few words from Paul and it was all over – we will catch up one day.

Tuesday – I was just about finished working for the morning when Del and Al on Derwent 6 went passed – I have been following their blog from day 1, and as they were mooing up just a couple of boat lengths up this was a chance to meet them and have a bit of a chat – which is what I did.

We did have a bit of a chat about a few things – they were just stopping for replenishments before heading further north, but like Waterway Routes we will catch up again.

Still on Tuesday the weather was extremely good – very warm and sunny

There has been no movement for the remainder of the week as on Saturday I have my engine maintenance course, so the action plan was more work indoors on the laptop and some work outside on the boat – Friday was not a particularly great day – in fact rain on and off and very windy as well as being on the colder side, but I needed to get one side the gunnels sanded in preparation for painting sometime next week – so an hour of effort and a job completed.

It is nice to know that there are people reading this blog; I had an email from my little “obnoxious” friend – I know it was him by the language – I am sure that he knows the Queen’s English, I am just not sure that he knows much of the actual language (apart from some words which cannot be repeated). I could not say all of what he had to say regarding what he would do to me if I knocked on the window again and advised for him to slow down – seems that his view is this “the canal is much deeper (in the middle) so (that) boats (can)..pass you quicker”. I feel sorry for him – he will someday find out for himself about the ettiquette that should be followed.

I didn’t much care for being called “old” either.

I can’t say that I would really care if I ever saw you again – at least there would be one less boat speeding past, but I do thank you for the time taken to read the blog.

You know, I have heard it said that “you should never argue with idiots – sometimes people can’t tell the difference” – so I won’t.

I need to make a correction to last week update – I indicated that the lock at Hawkesbury Junction was 300cm – I was a little too eager on the keyboard – it should only be 30cm.

A further note about something that I forgot to say last week – I have been amazed at the number of boats that are travelling at night – when it is completely dark outside – I saw a few boats doing this on various days on the Ashby and now again this week there has been 1 or 2 moving at 10 or 11 at night – pitch black – their lights are on and they are moving slowly, so they haven’t been annoying to anyone, but just not sure why they need to – one theory put to me last week was to evade BW inspecting licences.

Saturday was to be a relatively big day in the week – firstly there was the AFL Grand Final to “watch” – this was restricted to watching it on the net and then only to see the scores changing – in the end it was a draw and with no extra time we will be back there again next Saturday morning at 5:30.

After a small break it was off to the Diesel Engine course at Willow Wren Training – just a 20 minute walk away along the towpath. It was an excellent day and I now feel much more confident about tackling the servicing side for the engine. Steve was excellent and a really nice guy as well with plenty of experience. The other attendees were very friendly and I think we all got along very well. I would recommend this course to anyone who is thinking of doing their own servicing but need a bit of knowledge on how to do it properly.

Sunday was a rather bit more relaxed – a bit of work and some relaxing – the highlight being the weekly phone call from Diane in the morning – this is something that I do look forward to – so only another 7 days until the next one.

Took the boat down a mile and winded and back again – now heading the right way for the get away next week some time.

And the finale to this week is that there has been a great deal of boat traffic throughout the week, all of whom knew the correct speed to pass by moored boats - even all of the hirers - well done to them all !