Here comes the sun....

Sunday 1^st May to Tuesday 10^th May 2016

Greetings from Los Angeles !

Our northward travels are now at an end for this year and we have put the boat into a marina for a month whilst we head off to the United States to visit Sara and Mitch in LA.

We have managed to get it all done so very well without any problems and as seems to be our usual way, everything was achieved ahead of schedule – just hate being late for the critical timings that catching planes always entails – would rather be an hour early than 5 minutes late.

Once the bags were checked in and we had the boarding passes for both flights I could then relax.

Our itinerary for this first part was Birmingham to Newark (NJ) and then a connecting flight to Los Angeles – with the stopover time it amounted to a 17 hour journey, but we did arrive fairly well refreshed.

It is election time and the race for the White House is on.
We don't have this type of hoopla back in Australia, but
each candidate has the merchandising to go with it.
This we spotted in Newark airport whilst we waited
for our next plane

Mitch met us at LA airport – he wasn’t working that night, but Sara was, so we would see her the following day.

We seemed to have avoided the dreaded jet-lag associated with crossing so many time-zones – now 8 hours behind BST.

Have taken it quite easy whilst we have been here – Sunday was Mothers Day in the US (as it is in Australia) so it was quite fortuitous the timing of the arrival; markets to visit and to get a feeling for LA.

Diane had been here before – last year and I had been here briefly for change of planes in 1981 – this of course was prior to Diane, so in her eyes it didn’t exist.

The very wide streets, plenty of traffic (but not heavy), and a surprising number of oil wells in the general LA area were all new to me and found it interesting.

The cultures of the US (West Coast) and Australia are so very similar that it is difficult not to think that they are very much merged onto a long piece of elastic.

We left behind the beginnings of some summer weather with temperatures due to venture into the 20’s and have arrived with similar weather here, albeit with some cloud.

Like any large world city which is so well known the icons of the place are simply so much more real when viewed directly and so it is here.

The HOLLYWOOD sign, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Oscars, are all part and parcel of this great city – the latter two are within an easy 5 minute walk of Mitch and Sara’s apartment where we have stayed for this initial part of our trip.

You do get a better appreciation of a city when you stay there for a bit and we are starting to see how it is laid out.

Actually it really is a number of different towns/cities all rolled into one locality.

We have been up into the hills to see the Hollywood sign up close.

 

The iconic sign - Sara, Mitch and Diane

Much the same again

The perfect couple - with the newsih car

Son and father - new and old 

Been to see a baseball game at Dodgers Stadium – unfortunately the home team were beaten 4-2 but the atmosphere was great as well as the seats. Excitingly the very first ball pitched was despatched back over the centre-field fence for a home-run.

Diane was at her best impersonating the announcer with the score line, balls and strikes and generally showing off her knowledge of sport.

 

The game started during in the early evening whilst it was still light. The hills
behind give it a different feel to a normal major sporting event

Later as the sun has set the hills show up even more

The pitch, the ball in flight, then it is up to the batter

Baseball under lights - gotta love it

Diane managed to get a photo with one of LA's police officers.
She came back trying to tell me that she had her hand on his gun,
but I thought she said "on his bum" - I think the picture shows that
my hearing was quite correct.

We have been having a wonderful time here, but best of all we have been able to spend time with both Mitch and Sara – they are such a lovely couple and really, for us, they are simply our kids.

The following day we were out early again – just Diane and I – walking around, continuing to take in the area, which in reality is probably a fair bit removed from the average Los Angelean (if that is the correct term).

This is a tourist area and the reasons are pretty well self evident, but we liked wandering around here and enjoy the early morning before everything starts happening.

 

Hollywood's walk of stars - this one is for
Hugh Jackman.
(the photo is for Mick)

Spotted this sign at the market - naturally is was on the back of the "Cheese Van"
But it does sum up Diane's attitudes to salad and cheese

LA is an expensive town in which to be a tourist and I think that Diane was getting
worried about the cash, so she is thinking about another job for me.
Not sure that this would necessarily give us much more money - not with my body

Later on in the morning, once we were all awake we drove down to Santa Monica beach to take it all in there.

We happened upon an “English” pub whilst we were walking and found that they we showing the West Ham v Man United game on live, so naturally we had to stop and have a Guinness and then something to eat, the experience would have satisfied the tourists but not as true a reality as what we know; also not a true reality was that West Ham won – damn those Hammers and damn that last game at the Boleyn ground.

 

Not your typical English pub - for one, there does appear to be sunshine

But the Guinness did taste good

The beach itself is massively wide and with real sand, just like back home, not those pebbly things we have seen for the last few years.

It was a lovely sunny day and just strolling along the pier was simply delightful;; the sight of a seal at the end before it disappeared under the pier was lovely too.

 

Santa Monica pier and a bunch of crazy people

It is also the end of the legendary Route 66 - one day we
will do the full trip

Back in the car we drove further down the coast past Venice Beach (without stopping) before doing battle with the traffic to head to a bar to meet Sara’s brother Luke.

Diane had met Luke last year, but I had not, so Sara was keen to amend that and I was looking forward to it as well.

As with the rest of her family, Luke is a charming and lovable person with a great smile and great personality and such a nice guy to be with, and seems to like Mitch as well, despite Mitch marrying his sister – we had a chance to have a drink and something to eat and also talk, but he his extremely busy at the moment so an hour or so later we said farewell.

 

Someone mentioned that it was Diane's birthday the following day - the waitress
came good with a small birthday cake suddenly arived

Luke - Sara's brother and they are very much alike
- in looks and craziness

Mitch then drove us down to Anaheim, where we were staying for the next few days, something special was about to happen…..

3 Miles, 3 Locks

YTD: 198 Miles (319 km) , 159 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 3993 Miles (6426 km), 2858 Locks, 114 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges....

.....plus there was a few thousand miles flying involved

An Expected Journey - Northwards.

April 2016

Over the last month we have made our way north from Uxbridge; stopping at places that we have not visited before and also at places where we have such nice memories of previous visits.

We have been down a couple of arms that we had promised ourselves that we would get around to exploring and met up with so many lovely people – some of whom we have met before and known for quite a while and some who we have met for the very first time.

At present we are moored up in Rugby but that will not be for too long as we will need to be underway again.

The fishermen (should that read fisherpeople, although we have only seen men with their rods in hand) have been extremely pleasant and very happy – perhaps a sign of the improvement in the weather – a bit of sun on your back will do that to you.

The cyclists have improved in their manners and slowing down – maybe that has something to do with my refusal to jump out of their way quickly and they then have to slow right down – but still we are getting more co-operation with them in sharing the towpath.

The walkers are all back out again in their usual gear and setup – it appears that there must be some code of dress and code of necessary equipment than one must have and carry and be seen with.

Lastly the boaters are all starting to emerge from the winter hibernation that occurs for those who inhabit marinas and/or land-based abodes.

The likelihood of meeting a boat at a bridge during Febraury or March is almost non-existant, but come April-time and you need to be checking through the bridge-hole each and everytime.

Sharing of double-locks is now back in vogue or at least there are enough boats around for it to happen; and the chance to leave a gate or gates open for approaching boats is now more likely than before.

Yes we are emerging into the cruising season and April is just like a hire-boat change-over day; one day they are not there, the next they have appeared from the hedge-rows en-masse.

We called in at Berkhampstead for a couple of days – mooring spots galore – and spring rain to match – but we had always told ourselves that we should try and see a local football match – that we did – on a cold Tuesday night we saw the South Midlands Premier League battle between 4^th placed Hertford Town and 5^th placed Berkhampstead.

Diane did the honours at the gate and managed to get my OAP discount – a smirk on her face as she was pleased to indicate to the gate man that I was now old .

The match was a very competitive match with the home side coming out on top 2-1.

Diane had a stroke of luck with an earlier find of £10 at a lock prior to us mooring up and for her trouble it paid our way into the match.

Gee - they almost look like real teams - Hertford on the left and Berko on the right

Previous travels have taken us through Cowroast without mooring up, so this lovely open area had us for a night – and such a nice quiet place to stop – we really should have made it two nights at least, but our need to carry on overtook the desire to stay.

Sometimes when something special happens, it is as though there is such a thing as fate, and so with our decision to just spend the one night at Cowroast, the cruise the following morning – very early start at about 6:30 – we encountered more Kingfishers in one 3 mile stretch along the Tring summit level than we had seen in total in all of our travels – 10 of the bright blue thunderbolts were darting in and out and there were 2 pairs flitting around together.

What a great way to start the day.

The Aylesbury Arm had beckoned to us for a fair while now and we were not about to just cruise past for another time, so it was back onto some narrow locks for a few days as Diane steered the boat into the top lock.

Apart from a mile stretch where the canal bottom was encroaching on the water surface and we had some slow going, the journey was wonderful; beautiful scenery and a lovely basin at the end with pontoon moorings for 48 hours and 7-day moorings just before.

Coming into the Aylesbury basin - the 7-day moorings on the left and the pontoons
with 48hr moorings at the end on the right

A Waitrose supermarket right there meant that Diane would get her free coffee each day.

The township is very pleasant to wander around and enjoy; be sure to visit The Kings Head and see the story of the history of the pub.

Our pontoon mooring had access to water right there as well as bins for rubbish; across the way the new sanitary station was opened for use just a day or so after we had to leave.

A stop at Wilstone on the way back for Sunday lunch at The Half Moon was good advise acted upon – but you do need to book.

An overnight stop at Slapton did not give us any reason to want to do it again – the pub was closed when we ventured into the village mid-afternoon and some drainage of the pound overnight left us leaning quite a lot and a bit more heaving in the morning allowed us to get off the now shallow side.

One place that we have always stopped at previously was the The Grove Lock public house at Grove Lock was cancelled in preference to an overnight stop to check out The Globe Inn, which was a little further on past Leighton Buzzard and Leighton Lock.

The pub was lovely and we would be glad to stop again – but for those who need TV coverage, then you may be disappointed; we were not so critical on this count.

 

Early mornings in spring are simply magical...

...a bit of mist and a bit of sun and a clear sky

After good days, of which we had had so many since appearing north of the M25 it is reasonable to expect that somewhere along the way there might be a bad one about to happen – but not in this case.

We were pleasantly cruising along; slow past the moored boats; and who do we find but Gary off nb Inca, so we quickly moored up behind and the kettle was on; chatting away for an hour or more until Carolyn returned with Hamish after their walk.

The day was already very sunny and warm but these guys brightened it up even more – can’t wait to catch up with you two again and soon.

Who's a bit of a cheeky boy there Gary?

All good things must end and so we were off again and onto the next lock to where Gary had followed us to show off his skills on operating the lock – sorry mate, but you will need a bit more practice!

 

Sorry Gary, "feet too close together; elbow not at the right angle and your thumbs,
whatever were you thinking" - Craig Revel-Horwood

Along further we encountered Soulbury Locks – WARNING!!! – if you are at these locks early in the morning you will find at least one of the pounds almost dry – as we did – we had been through this before, but it wasn’t long before we were on our way again and then moored up at Fenny Stratford.

This little fellow was interested in us filling the water tank at the bottom
of the Solubury-3

This heron hung around for a while as well...

...before getting bored

A shopping trip to IKEA was on the agenda of the social secretary and as her bag man I was summoned along – to do what? – carry the bags of course!

There was a further reason for stopping here – Diane had her prescriptions sent to the friendly Boots store here and we collected these the following day.

The journey around Milton Keynes can be done one of two ways – quickly, like an endurance course and get it done and out of the way; or slowly and enjoy it – we chose the latter and stopped at Giffard Park where we had a lovely couple of days – the pub was showing all of the football, the Guinness was lovely, we even had a relatively nice Chinese as well.

We did our touristy walking and found the Medieval Vollage of Great Linford; had a very nice lunch and a pint in the pub there (The Nags Head) and, of course, the football was on.

 

Indalo Man - all the way from Mojacar - spotted on a house whilst we were
taking a walk

The old manor house - still around and occupied

We pushed on the following day and made it to Yardley Gobian – again we had never moored there – it is now marked with a great big – DO IT AGAIN – in the Nicholsons – so lovely and quiet – just so peaceful.

 

Not misty, but a beautiful spring sunrise

From there it was through familiar locks again – Stoke Bruerne for one night and then a further night just to the north of Blisworth and then a night just short of Weedon Bec and a chance to visit the renovated pub The Narrow Boat – nice enough but they are looking to attract a more up-market clientele – we sadly missed the boat on that count; but there were lovely views over the canal and countryside past there – and it was just plain nice sitting in the sun with a Guinness in hand.

We paired up with a single-hander to do the Buckby flight; the boats were tied together and Diane took over steering for the last two locks which were quite tricky and she failed to leave any paint on the lock gates or lock walls – another expert display of her helmsmanship (or maybe helmswomanship).

We moored just short of the tunnel and had an early start the following day – managing to do the tunnel and the six locks and be moored up in Braunston within 2 hours – with a little help from a hire boat crew who seemed to be in shock at how efficiently a boat (or rather boats) could move through the locks – just part of their training.

A gathering of boaters was a-coming, well it really had to be – Maffi was already there; Sue and Vic (nb No Problem) were there;we had no sooner moored up when Cathy and Martin (nb Moriarty) appeared; the following day Sue and Andy (nb Festina Lente) moored up and lastly but very importantly for us, Bev and Roly (nb Klara) were there in person as well.

 

Just another boaters meeting - not once did we mention batteries or toilets
From left - Maffie, me, Martin, Cathy, Diane, Sue, Andy, Sue and Vic
photo courtesy of Andy Gicquel (nb Festina Lente)

Over the time that we were there we shared drinks, meals, laughs and plenty of good-hearted boating chatter.

The quote goes something like “there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”, but there is really is nothing so wonderfull lovely as catching up with friends and fellow boaters.

 

On board Ferndale with cuppas all round - Diane suffers from short arms and
is too close to the camera

Andy has a bigger one

But all good things must come to an intermission – we needed to carry on a bit further northwards to Rugby and everyone else – including Maffi – had other places that they needed to be or had things that needed to be done.

Diane had a doctors appointment in Watford and we thought that getting a train down would be the most efficient way – until we saw the cost of hiring a car (from Enterprise) for the weekend –actually cheaper (ignoring fuel costs) so we did that.

In addition, I had had a chat with Steve Vaughan (Willow Wren Training) about a VHF Radio Licence course – “yes” he said – “next Saturday” – the day after our Watford trip – “oh and here is the book that you need to read before then”

The Watford trip went well.

The training course went well, if you completely ignore the worry and angst that I had all week trying to understand it all – by the end of the day it was over and I have a new licence; now to buy a radio and get onto the Thames again.

On the subject of hire cars: in my last blog I recalled some of the problems that we had experienced when hiring from Europcar (in Spain) – I will still advise anyone against hiring from them (based on our experience).

We received a phone call from the people here in England to advise that they had not been able to get any evidence from the Spanish people from Europcar and they would be refunding all of the additional charges made against us – this has now happened – there was profuse apologies, but nothing, absolutely nothing, will make up for their manners; lack of service and understanding, and complete apathy as to our problem with their company.

The credit card is healthier, but then again it should not have been anything other than that – if you get the impression that I do not like them, then you would be correct.

Happiness is ... Guinness and twisties ... and a full refund

One last thing – If you are looking for a boat to buy and live-aboard; even if not planning on living on it all of the time, then get yourself along to see this one – it is well worth your while and you will be assured that Vic and Sue have done a great job on this boat and it runs and works as well as they will advise you about.

Someone should buy it and buy it bloody quickly!! Check it out at Apollo Duck 

nb No Problem in full flight across The Wash 

95 Miles, 117 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 3 Swing Bridges

YTD: 195 Miles (314 km) , 156 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 3990 Miles (6421 km), 2855 Locks, 114 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges

Well, here we are back again!

Friday 1^st January to Thursday 31^st March 2016

Well what have we been up to in the last three months, and has it really been just that long. We seem to have been very busy during a quarter of the year – that is now over.

When we look back on it there is no doubt we have been busy – busy in different ways – but busy none-the-less.

This has been our second year out of a marina-based environment over winter and it has been far different to last winter.

For starters there has been no chance of being “iced-in”, having been south of the midlands – primarily around the London area.

We have taken a bit of a holiday and flown the coop, heading off for a month in Mojacar Playa to catch up with Paul and Elaine and seems that we dragged along Sue and Andy – they are still there – maybe they might take up residency as well.

 

This shot was taken from our bed as we watched the sunrise over the Med.
Not a bad way to wake up each morning

Dear friends - so hard to come by that we want to be with them all of the time

One of the forts along the coast - originally built to ward off the Moor invaders

Whether you like it or not, Spain's culture and heritage has included the "sport"
of bullfighting - we visited the the ring in Vera

It is still used today - although the conditions for the bull are a bit better

One off the bucket list was to visit Granada to see the Alhambra Palace

It lived up to the grandeur and magnificence of the
hype associated with it - combining the best of Moorish
and western architecture 

With hot weather being part of the landscape, cool quiet areas such as this
were in abundance

Water was a central theme as well and whilst it is a beautiful palace
it was also a fortress.
The water supply coming from high in the mountains a few miles away,
through some ingenious engineering

Looking out over Granada

We also took in Cordoba and in the very centre of the city is a magnificent
cathedral, originally built by the Muslim Moors but retained and enhanced
by the later catholic rulers.
We wandered around its interior for a good hour and almost missed....

...a full-sized catholic church in the middle.
The whole building with its entire contents was worth the
the trip on its own

Looking out from Mojacar - the one in the mountains

We have been into Paddington Basin and out again; hovered around places and avoided stoppages; kept our doctors appointments and cruised as well – there seems to be nothing more invigorating that a wee cruise on a cold day with the sun, hopefully, out to provide a bit of inferred warmth on your back.

We have to say that we have found the situation in London a whole lot better than it was when we first came down last year – CRT are doing a great job of making sure that boats are moving and not accumulating in the one area for too long – some may say that they are not doing enough, but the improvement in being able to find mooring spots and also not seeing loads of boats just simply stopping for months in the same spot is to be congratulated.

We know that there will be many (not the majority) who would see this as something infringing on their rights to “squat” in a mooring spot and never move, but most will see it as being fair and reasonable.

Bad luck to the former!!

We have had the chance to catch up with family and really have had an enjoyable time for longer than we have previously managed – when we have been further north; the downside of this is that we have missed seeing many of our wonderful friends as regularly as we would want to do – but life is about making choices and decisions – good and bad with every decision but decisions need to be made and taken.

The boat has been wonderful over the winter – sure there are things that go wrong, but these get fixed and we move on – it has been very cosy on board – our only problem being the recent high winds in Paddington Basin (the “wind tunnel”) – it was so bad that the stove blew out on a few occasions, but we have a solution and that is now done.

We have purchased a new chimney – made to look like an “H” which is used in high wind conditions –predominantly experienced by vessels off-shore, but which can happen to us all.

Our time in London was again pretty good -

 

A walk over Tower Bridge - long on our list of things to do - now crossed off

A visit to the Globe Theatre

A replica of the original Golden Hind - as seen with
Sir Francis Drake and a few "friends" from Spain

The weather seems to have been pretty mild for winter, but then again it isn’t snowing and cold every year – we asked the locals for some verification on this and they agreed; we, of course, buggered off to Spain to escape what might have been a cold spell – it certainly was warmer there and we enjoyed our time immensely – sampling the food and the local customs as well as meeting new friends.

We are contemplating returning there again next winter – but haven’t made a decision as yet – still plenty of time to do so.

We will advise of the only downside of our trip – if someone was to ask us about hiring a car from Europcar (which is the company that we used) we would advise to you (based on our experience) to spend a bit more and go with another company.

In Europcar we found a company that suddenly charges for damages to a car that were not present during our possession of the car (before and after condition was witnessed and photographed); did not want to inspect the car on return; would not provide any proof of said damages, nor will they engage in any communication about it – charge you, not justify it, and then not talk to you.

We are taking action to recover all of the money.

Next time? We will stick with Enterprise.

Lastly for this time we have wandered off to the north of England to catch up with Dot and Gordon who are house sitting for friends in Northumberland – we were here 2 years ago with them as well and have needed to be able to spend some time with them– they are very dear friends and we have been away from them for too long, so we instantly jumped at the chance to come and see them.

At the home of the Marmalade Festival - have never seen so many jars of
different marmalade ever.

Two cheeky fellows there at the back

I think it is a credit to the greater family of boaters and boating friends that you meet over time and then meet and meet again that we have faith in one and another to be able to leave our precious craft in the care of others and know that they will look after it as their own.

In this regard we have such lovely friends in Carol and George (wb Still Rockin’) – for our time in Northumberland they agreed to keep an eye on Ferndale, start the engine every day to charge up the batteries and do a thorough cut’n’polish of all of the paintwork (this last one might not have been discussed, but I am sure that telepathically speaking there was an understanding on my part); we, of course have reciprocated the favour with their travels to catch up with their wide-spread family – on our part it was disappointing not to find a suitable buyer for them for Still Rockin’ but there will be time in the future.

Not just for looking after the boat, but simply for their company we have have a great time with them in Paddington and at Yiewsley as well as at Cowley over this last month or so – it is just simply wonderful to be able to call all of our friends “Our Friends”.

Molly, Carol and George - definitely a highlight of our winter was
dog-sitting Molly whilst Carol and George enjoyed a night out without the "kid"!

Having had the chance to have a bit of a break from the blog I can see that there are still plenty of things to write about and I will be easing back into it from now on – I don’t think that it will be everyday, maybe monthly or a bit more often – I will just have to see what happens.

We have changed plans on the next part of our adventures – we have a trip planned to see our lovely son and equally lovely daughter-in-law in LA coming up so that has an influence on what we can do before then.

In there somewhere was a desire to cruise the Thames from Brentford to Oxford before truning back onto the canal and mooring the boat before heading off.

Trouble is that the recent rain has brought the water levels up along the river and we cannot plan to head that way and still be sure that we can fly-off.

So we will now be heading northwards along the Grand Union and visiting places that we have not otherwise stopped to see before; we will venture down the Aylesbury Arm; see a bit more of Milton Keynes; and other spots as we cruise – maybe places we won’t have a chance to see again.

Later, after our return from the US we will be heading down the South Oxford and onto the Thames heading towards Lechlade and will cruise the Thames heading eastwards, and maybe the Basingstoke as well.

 

Again, I get to finish off with a lovely Kingfisher.
This time as we cruised the Slough Arm at the end of March.

100 Miles, 39 Locks

YTD: 100 Miles (161 km) , 39 Locks

Total: 3898 Miles (6273 km), 2743 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges

Never-ending Xmas

Friday 25^th December to Thursday 31^st December 2015

Our plan was to spend Xmas Day in Apsley and, of course, along with that was Xmas evening and Xmas night – the weather reports indicating rain and not a day conducive to movement.

What I hadn’t planned on was also being awake quite so early on Xmas morning – the first cries of “Santa’s been, Santa’s been!!” came at a little after 3am – the second round was at 4:45am and finally the third and final lot at a little before 7am by which time I relented to stay awake and commence the day and excitement of a 50-something kid.

It was later that she told me that she had first woken at just on 1 am and thought better of waking me then – bloody good call dear!

Traditionally, I like to sleep in on Xmas morning – in the past it was to get the little kids going but now it is to get the big one going. Our son, Mitch, when we spoke to him later in the day, welcomed his mother to his world as an 8-year-old wanting to open presents early but with a father pretending to sleep-in.

Anyway, after I relented, Diane brought the Xmas stocking into bed – yes, there are still stockings done – so that she could find all of the goodies that she could taste before any hint of a proper breakfast – which, in the end, didn’t eventuate anyway.

After that it was getting up and into Xmas clothing to open presents and all of the phone calls – the beauty of Viber these days is that there is no need to worry about the time of the call – so one to Brisbane (Mooloolah); one to Melbourne; and one to Dallas.

After the excitement of the morning and controlling the big kid from playing with all of her “toys” we had a chance to relax a bit – nice and cosy in the boat but coldish and wet outside.

Lunch was an easy affair with not too much to worry about and not needing to eat too early – mid-afternoon was the time, to coincide with Lizzie’s TV appearance; and not a huge plate whereafter you would gladly snooze the rest of the day away – we managed to play a few games before settling down to watch Dr.Who and the Xmas Strictly Show –pretty much after that it was a bit more relaxing and unsurprisingly we were in bed at our normal early time – I say unsurprisingly, but it felt like I had woken up in the middle of the night before and not been allowed to get back to sleep.

 

As usual lunch was simply superb...

...including dessert

Our schedule dictated that we needed to move on Saturday – this time as far as Cassiobury Park, from where we thought we would venture up into Watford for a bit of a walk – did we miss something in our planning – something like Boxing Day Shopping madness – what were we thinking??

We still managed to buy a few things that we actually had needed to buy before high-tailing it back to the boat and safety.

The uncharacteristically mild weather for December was continuing in the London area, but elsewhere it seemed that the island was sinking, with the terrible flooding being experienced in so many areas north of where we were. We watched some you-tube stuff of different scenes and you can only feel so so sorry for the problems that so many are having at what should be a festive time for all.

Sunday and we were on the move again – not far – just a mile or so and a couple of locks.

The Watford family have a couple of days of Xmas gatherings – first at Nikki and Phil’s - an open day with them and Nikki’s family and then the following day with Maggie and Paddy and that side of the family.

We had a really great time on both days without eating or drinking too much at all.

After all of the festivities were finished we decided that we needed to start cruising again – going south yet again towards Uxbridge – the lure of cheap diesel is too much to resist and also we do enjoy that stretch of canal – between Watford and Uxbridge.

 

Xmas cruising - a bit warmer this year...

...but simply great of course

We were sort of under the impression that the marina only closed for a couple of days a year – that not being between Xmas and New Year – alas we were not correct, so it was a few days in Uxbridge which is not such a hard place to take and here it was that we spent a relatively quiet NYE – well… it was very quiet but not for us and as usual we did not make it to the witching hour – bed for us was about 10pm and thus another year has ended.

This will be our last blog for a while – I simply have found it difficult to keep it up to date over the last couple of months and have decided to have a break.

No doubt in the near future it will resume but for now I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to be bored silly with what we have been up to – we look forward to seeing many more places and many more people this coming year.

Our main cruising will be the Thames – this time with a Gold Licence – there will be a couple of breaks during the year as we take some time out to visit friends and family not in the UK.

So goodbye – just for now!!!

 

As a finale, we captured a shot of this fellow - a great way to end the year

3 Miles, 7 Locks

YTD: 890 Miles (1452 km) , 568 Locks, 14 Tunnels, 11 Lift Bridges, 16 Swing Bridges

Total: 3784 Miles (6090 km) , 2689 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges