The last two weeks of our life afloat! From Tamworth we moved on to Marston Junction,
via Atherstone and Nuneaton, where we detoured for a few days to go up the
Ashby Canal.
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| Tony and Roger |
We were joined on successive days by Tony, Jan and grandson Luke,
and then by Jill, taking a break from her own boat to be passenger instead of
captain for a change.
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| Jill on the Ashby |
By the evening of Sat 30th, we were moored at
Sutton Stop/Hawkesbury Junction, when at 11.0pm our peaceful night was
interrupted by Benny deciding, for reasons best known to himself, to take a
plunge into the canal yet again. He
hasn’t fallen in for over a year, and we had become quite relaxed about him
running up and down the gunwales and leaping from deck to towpath – we couldn’t
believe he had fallen in with less than a week to go before moving back to dry
land!
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| A bedraggled Benny |
Locating him in pitch darkness to haul him out of the water wasn’t the
easiest task, but eventually the rescue was accomplished and we (and our
neighbouring boaters) were able to settle down for the night!
On 31
st Aug we moved on to Newbold-on Avon,
Rugby,
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| Lesley, Jean, Dorothy and Peter at Newbold |
accompanied by Roger’s friends Lesley, Peter and Dorothy, and after
retrieving our second car from David’s house near York, it wasn’t long before the
boat was back on familiar territory at Braunston.
We woke on Fri 5
th Sept to the realisation that
this was our last full day on the boat – quite an emotional thought. However,
we were cheered by having Sue and Dave along for the final run to Stockton in
the afternoon, and in the evening the ranks were swelled by the arrival of
Barbara, Karen and Roger – we all drank a toast to Vincent Joseph before
adjourning to the Boat Inn for a meal.
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| A final toast to Vincent Joseph |
Sat 6
th Aug saw the first of many trips between
boat and house with both cars loaded with belongings – it’s unbelievable how
much STUFF one can pack into such a relatively small space as a narrowboat.
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| Unloading the boat |
The
house feels enormous in comparison, and we are revelling in the delights of
washing machine, freezer, internet access, a shower big enough to turn round in
– and the ultimate luxury …a flushing toilet!
It’s been a fabulous two years, and we don’t regret for a
moment making the decision to live on the water for a while.
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| We'll miss pottering the waterways |
We know we will
miss pottering along the waterways, opening the curtains to a different view
every morning, enjoying the wildlife and feeling a part of the changing
seasons.
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| A different view every morning |
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| Local wildlife |
We have covered a lot of miles, and had many wonderful experiences - highlights such as the Pontcysllte Aqueduct, shooting past Big Ben, braving the Nene and the Trent, but also so many low-key, happy days on various canals all over the country.
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| A bridge too far? |
But life moves on, and we’re
ready to begin a new phase - and we hope that Vincent Joseph will go on to give
someone else as much pleasure as us. Our
plan is to do a little sprucing up, then take the boat to a marina to be sold -
so we haven’t quite done with boating yet.
We will post one more blog entry when we’ve completed the final voyage
and said goodbye – and publish a few more photos which didn’t find space on the
blog over the last two years
