Tuesday 18th May – Clattercote to Lord's Bridge

09.00 - 20.45

24.5 miles, 20 locks

We were a bit late in rising, despite setting alarms. Alarms are brilliant, aren’t they? You can just switch them off and carry on with your dreams…doesn’t work well on work days, but work was far from our minds today!

After a rather tasty breakfast of toast and Marmite, with black pudding and mushrooms, we cast off and began our day’s cruising. We had a lovely clear sky and sunshine to start, although it clouded over by noon, but remained warm and most importantly dry for the rest of the day. With the blistering heat of recent days, it was quite a relief to have a bit of respite. Not that we were complaining though! It was a welcome change from our first trip on PSSCB when it conspired to rain every single day for two whole weeks!

CONFESSIONS OF A HIRE BOATER - OUR 2006 CRUISE DIARY FOR PSSCB

It brought back some great memories reading that again after all this time!

The cruising was uneventful, but also delightful. I’m sure the photo’s of idyllic canal scenes through bridges are boring the pants off everyone, but it really was like that every single day!

Here's a slightly different photo - taken by R.J. with my beloved Olly (Olympus e520)

This kestrel decided to have a break from hovering and perched atop a huge ariel to watch for prey. Considering we were cruising at the time, I think he did really well to capture this. It's a big crop from the original, but it's still better than anything I've managed!

We had an easy trip through the Claydon Flight of locks, and quite a long lock-free section. Well, when I say quite long, it was long for us! There were two and a half pages of our Nicholson’s Guide stretching before us without so much as a lock! Pah! Shouldn’t ought to be allowed! Far too many lock-free miles.

There was one absolute highlight for me, as we were cruising along a stretch of canal with only a narrow channel and bushes on the offside. I’d seen a boat approaching the bridge hole, and judged that they had priority. Well, maybe not, but we weren’t in any hurry and there’s nothing worse than racing for it! We’ve been there, heard and felt the crunch, and we really didn’t like it!

I decided to hang back and give them the benefit of the doubt and waved them on as they seemed to be a little bit undecided. For a while it was stalemate, as it looked as though they had also stopped to let us through! With no signals from them, I thought we were going to be stuck there forever!

Eventually though, they decided to proceed, as I kept PSSCB hovering near the overhanging bushes on the off-side bank and gave frantic hand signals for them to proceed. Just a little bit of forward and reverse was enough to keep her in position, despite the breeze. As they passed, the steerer said to me “Good to see you’re an expert…!! Woo hoo! Someone called me an expert! Unfortunately R.J. wasn’t present to witness this momentous event, as he was busy brushing floors, shaking rugs and generally behaving like a domestic goddess…

The cruising was just great, with plenty of twists and turns for me to do wheelies…yes, a narrowboat can go round a bend on two wheels…well, sort of! You know what I mean…

Upon reaching the Napton flight of locks, we had the opportunity to share with another boat. With us at 34’ and them at 35’, there was plenty of room. There was a Tupperware boat also waiting, but they were very reluctant to share, so we left them to it, and proceeded down the locks in the company of Kay-Tee. They were only travelling a short way before meeting up with friends, so we left them before the bottom lock.

Just before the bottom lock, we were hailed by a rather strange fellow, calling “Have you had your computer fixed yet?” Well, he wasn’t exactly strange, but you tend to get that feeling when someone you don’t know is waving at you and calling you by name! It was another forum member, Graham, who had heard about our plight from Bones. His boat is emblazoned with signs for e-cover products, and by the time we’d reached the bottom of the flight, our washing up liquid bottle had been refilled with environmentally friendly stuff at a most reasonable price – a lot cheaper than buying at the usual stores, and most convenient!

The cruising remained wonderful throughout the day, culminating at just beyond Braunston. No matter how many times I've seen this view, I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing those lovely white painted iron bridges. It means that the fudge shop is just round the corner! It's become a bit of a tradition to purchase a block of fudge from the shop at the first lock, along with souvenirs and postcards. I did buy a postcard to send to the girls at work, but never got round to sending it! Sorry Ruth! I was thinking of you all, honestly I was!

It's a great little shop - always a friendly welcome, and they sell essential groceries as well as a great supply of souvenirs, books, maps and magazines.

We were through Braunston Tunnel in just 17 minutes...

I tend to crawl through tunnels if I’m steering, but R.J. is much better at it than me, having a lot more confidence. I really don’t like tunnels! I tend to bounce from side to side like a pinball machine…ricocheting off the walls and generally buggering it up. HWMBO however, cruises through at full pelt with not a sideways glance and never touches the side. Sounds rather like the way he drinks his Guinness….

It was getting rather late, but the light was still good, the moorings outside the pub were taken, so we took the decision to continue until the light failed, ending up just past Lord’s Bridge for a dinner of pork steaks, new potatoes and one of R.J.’s special salads, washed down with a rather nice bottle of Lindeman Bin 50 Shiraz.

When I say decision, I mean instant decision! If we haven’t got a plan for anywhere specific, it usually involves us looking at each other and saying “now!” as we do our best to get moored up at the place we’ve spotted. We don’t always manage to get exactly where we want, but we’ve never failed to find a delightful spot. It may take us a while, but we get there in the end!

Although I haven’t recorded it in the cruise log, I seem to recall that our dinner was followed by several cups of coffee laced with whisky and the promise of a late start on the following morning…I also have some images of a rather svelte crew member wearing nothing more than a very fetching towel and a smile whilst starting the engine…brmmmmm brmmmm!

However, I didn't take that until tomorrow, so you'll have to wait!

R.J. – I am open to flagrant bribery….