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Debs

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Debs last won the day on August 13 2017

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Epsom, surrey
  • Interests
    Life
  • Occupation
    London Underground worker
  • Boat Name
    Dipper
  • Boat Location
    River Wey

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  1. Thank you so much. That really is very kind. I won't be out again until next year now but I'm hoping to retire next year so there will be a lot more to write about. xx
  2. Thank you very much. It's been extremely enjoyable but, unfortunately, I'm now back in the real world of work, washing and ironing. Xxx
  3. As predicted, today was a stunning day! I woke up early basically because I was being kicked out of bed! If there is one downside about being on board a narrowboat it's the size of the bed! Maybe we should both go on a diet before we go on our next adventure. So, let us recap! We started off leaving the Wey Navigation at Weybridge and made our way to Teddington to catch the tide. After travelling through the tidal Thames we met up with the Grand Union Canal at Brentford. From there we travelled through some of the nicest and not so nice places along the canal. Eventually, we hung a left onto the South Oxford Canal. This is very much a rural canal. Set in amazing countryside with open fields and hills, this is a very pretty canal however, when it's blowing a gale and the rain is pissisting down, it can be a little bit bleak. From the South Oxford Canal we turned right onto the Thames where we spent the night at Farmoor moorings. We then went back onto the Canal and travelled through Jericho as we'd never done it before. We then spent the rest of the journey on the Thames. During our journey, we had about three days of sunshine. I have lost a considerable amount of money at cards. I broke my foot (or come very close to it if not. It's still very painful!). I've been very wet and very cold. We even put the fire on a couple of times! But above all, I have met some really lovely people, had belly laughs every day and drank copious amounts of alcohol. And, I didn't end up in the water! Result! I also cannot believe that I actually got a suntan on the last day! This morning we left our moorings outside the Swan hotel in Stains and made our way on a very empty river towards Shepperton. We arrived at The Thames Court pub at midday, which was handy as there were moorings outside and empty tables in the garden. Half an hour later, there was neither. We had ourselves a wonderful roast dinner then sat on the director chairs next to the boat and lapped up the rays. If the truth be known, we were just putting off the inevitable. Eventually, we made our way through Shepperton lock and turned right onto the Wey Navigation. I am now sitting at home listening to the washing machine moaning about the amount of washing there is. Tomorrow, I will probably be moaning about the amount of ironing there is to do! It has been a great holiday but, as usual, it always seems too short. Tuesday I will be back at work and by Wednesday it will seem like a distant memory. I hope I haven't bored you all too much?! If you have enjoyed reading my adventures, please would you just take 5 minutes to read the link about a very special little boy. His name is Nicholas Stewart and he's my grandson. On Saturday, he will be flying out to Boston to have tests for life saving treatment. I would be really grateful if you could share the link on your social media sites. Thank you all for your time. 'Till the next time, TaDa! Xx https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fgogetfunding.com%2Fflighting-for-the-future&h=ATPPd71TvqxFWcB6_CE796rPM_LOljrrNFj5msctJk3CAMLY7vBB_7VA7KZ_5Ytfn-9XObzR0mm1GPR14RIIxNgXg_QsWK5RMR2kHFtVrjgu0s2JGc6-KF45Wg&s=1&enc=AZOF61c17E-AcLS8RG2xQ-Oi_tYjkwDA4GSKRcjK403pnrKMH_OnLrLlMu0t_wawonOw2ysCB40kOtOp5Dhkp-cnwu0U19OHavnp7w7iS3PZRQ
  4. Thank you so much. I have enjoyed every minute of it. Believe me, if we could have taken longer to do it we would have. Unfortunately, work beckons! There will be one more post today for the last leg of the journey then I'll leave you all in peace for a while. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Xxx
  5. We woke up where we went to sleep (which is a result really) under a willow tree! I had expected the day to be grey and gloomy but, it was wonderful. The sky had a couple of clouds but nothing too dangerous! We set off fairly early as we had no internet connection so didn't get a chance to check emails etc. However, having checked email since then, I'm somewhat disappointed that I never received one from the national lottery! I really will have to go back to work next week! We managed to meet up with the couple that was moored in front of us, at the next lock. They travelled down to Maidenhead with us but moored up so they could get the train to London to see their son. We travelled on down through Bray where, apparently, Sir Michael Parkinson lives and the famous Bray studios are. They were famous for the Hammer House Of Horror films back in the day! As we approached Windsor, just before the bridge with the amazing art graffitied underneath it, we saw the Duckbus going into the water. That is such a surreal thing to see when you are actually on the water. I really does look like it should sink. We decided not to stop at Windsor, for a change, but travel on! A little wat past Windsor, opposite the castle grounds, we found a really nice mooring place in Datchet. We have never stopped there before but thought we'd have a look this time. As you approach the moorings, there are signs to say "danger shallow water!" However, we managed to moor up with no problems at all on the newly made mooring rings. From then, we wandered into the village where there are a couple of pubs and a convenience store. There was a couple who had just got married who were the smallest, most miserable people you could find. Actually, he was very happy but she looked like she'd just swallowed a wasp! Mmmm! Good luck for the future! The sun carried on shining and we carried on cruising through Runnymead and into Stains where we saw some girls in a floating hot tub. This is where we have decided to moor up for the night. We are on the very rickety staging outside the Swan hotel. We have had a very nice meal and met a bloke with the most amazing narrow boat! He had it custom made and is usually moored down in Little Venice. It is totally stunning! As I was saying in earlier posts about liveaboards, not all of them are shanty boats! This boat is absolutely immaculate! Anyone would be happy to live on his boat! So, this is our last night on the boat. Tomorrow, we will be making our way back to our moorings on the Wey Navigation. We will see have to see if anything untoward happens on the way!
  6. WOW! We have been on the boat for three weeks! Three weeks of rain ish, but not today. We woke up again to a beautiful morning. Our geese were still hanging around to see if we were gullible enough to give out some more bread. Tuff luck geese, it's not happening today! There was a little bit of a drama with a boat trying to turn round to moor up. Unfortunately, they hadn't accounted for the current and their bow thrusters weren't able to cope with the turn. They ended up blocking the river with another Boat's occupants shouting: "You're going to hit the boat, you're going to hit the boat!" It has to be said, this did not help the poor bloke trying to turn his boat round. Mick tried to help by taking the rope but, as hard as he tried, he couldn't hang on and rather than end up in the water, had to let go! Once the bloke had finally moored up, he was nice enough to come and say thank you. We eventually made our way down the long bit at Henley where the racing is usually carried out. It's not the prettiest of sections but, when the sun is shining, all is good! I put some sausages in the oven to wait for an ideal opportunity to stop and have lunch. This turned out to be Marlow. However, at Hurley lock, a pleasure boat came through with a brass jazz band on it. What a sight! It was really nice to see. We were amazed to get a mooring spot at Marlow! Although, I think the eight or more swans on the bank where we moored weren't very impressed and there was a little bit of hissing going on. We had lunch, washed down by a beer or two then, just after 2 pm, when the lock keepers had finished lunch, we made our way down river. We were on the lock staging with a really pretty day boat. Unfortunately, it had major problems getting into the empty lock as it didn't steer very well and ended up across the lockbentrance. It then had to be helped into the lock by the lock keeper dragging it in by its rope! Eventually, we got in the lock after it. When the lock emptied, we were told to leave the lock first but within seconds, the day boat was overtaking us! Clearly, it was ok on the straights! As the clouds built, we made our way steadily down the river. We have ended up mooring at Bell Meadow, Cookham, under a willow tree. Literally, under a willow tree! We will be fine if it rains but the solar panels think it's winter already! Cook ham is a very pretty little village and, if you can get moored here, it's well worth the £6 to do so. I am now very stuffed after having a meal in The Crown pub. Good food decent prices. I just need to sink a couple more drinks before ambling back, through the graveyard, back to the boat for a night under the trees. Amazingly enough, it hasn't rained for the second day on the trot! Let's see what happens tomorrow!
  7. Thank you very much. I enjoy writing them. I've been doing it to friends on Faceache or bout 7 yrs now and just tight would broaden my circle a bit. We are happy! We thoroughly enjoy the rivers and canals. Even the dramas are funny in the end! x All the photos are taken with my IPhone 5SE. If I had a decent camera I might have been able to get a picture of a Kingfisher. Cameras are too complicated for me! x
  8. That would explain the hoarding then. X
  9. Last night we had a peaceful night on the edge of Beale Park in Pangbourne. We played a bit of cards but I still haven't won back what I lost the other night! This morning, when we woke, it was like summer had started! The sun was shining, it was warm and the river was extremely calm. After clearing out the bilge, once again, we set off towards Whitchurch lock. We have many from memories of Whitchurch lock as we spent two days moored up on the lock staging after our propeller had decided to go on its own journey without us on the approach to the lock. This was about 6 yrs ago now on the first ever tour of The Thames Ring in our first ever boat. Did it put us off? It would appear not! Although the day was bright and sunny, it did tend to get a bit chilly on occasions so the cardigans were on and off more times than an Underground strike! We journeyed on and hit Reading. It would appear that they're either getting ready for the festival or, it's been and gone and nobody thought to take the hoarding down. It really does seem to go on for miles. I suspect they don't want people sneaking in without paying to get cold, wet and muddy. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were actually moorings outside Tesco today. Usually, this is so clogged up with, dare I say it?, long termers, that you can't get moored there for love nor money. However, today was different! Unfortunately, today, we had already stocked up with everything we needed. Except wine! I forgot that I needed more wine! Bugger! Still, never mind, I still had a little bit left to last until we stopped for the night assuming we don't stop in the middle of nowhere. Although, we did that yesterday and I don't do cooking two nights on the trot! We decided to crack on as it was such a lovely day. We had bacon baguettes on the move so didn't need to stop for lunch. It has to be said that the further down the Thames you go, the bigger and whiter the boats get. Narrowboats definitely become the abnormality unfortunately. Eventually, we came to Henley. We saw our old boat moored up in its new home and found our own overnight moorings through the lock and further down the river. After sitting on the back of the boat in our directors chairs (any bit of sunshine at all and they are coming out!) we ventured into town. The first stop was Sainsbury's to get wine. We then went to Wetherspoons to see if their app works. It does by the way! On the way back to the boat, we noticed that red diesel here is £1.43 ltr. that is totally outrageous when you consider we paid 65p ltr on the Grand Union Canal. We are now sat at the front of the boat listening to the drago boats practicing and watching the sun setting over the water. We have made friends with the local geese and fed them so much bread and toffee muffins that I expect they may well explode! (Only joking if you're an avid ornithologist who thinks that birds should only eat peas and seeds)! I have no doubt that we will back to gloomy weather tomorrow so I intend to enjoy the evening on the front of the boat, with a glass in my hand watching the world drift by.
  10. Thank you for the kind words. Regardless of the rain it's still loads of fun. I just wish I didn't have to go back to work next week. Enjoy your jaunt. The weather will probably be loads better for you. Xx
  11. We woke to the alarm at 07:00hrs. (It's not like we're on holiday or anything!) We had a quick coffee, donned our waterproofs and set off from our moorings at Abingdon early (for us!) to get as far as possible before the torrential rain hit. We soon arrive at Culham lock which was still in self service mode. I jumped off the boat to go and do the lock keeping thing. The lock was empty and a boat was approaching from the other side so I opened the gates and allowed them in. This is a very slow lock to fill but I think it was hampered by the lack of water coming into it from the cut! Even I noticed how low the level was. Before long, we were joined by three other boats including a service boat. The service boat had just helped one of the other boats from being grounded in Abingdon. It wasn't long before the lock keeper turned up and started taking over. He then managed to fill the lock up a bit quicker so that the boat going up could leave the lock to allow us in. He then said that he had been called to go to the weir and sort out the shortage of water and that he was leaving the lock in our hands again. Once all the boats were in (bit of a tight squeeze), I closed the gates and started raising the sluices at the other end. "Strange!" I thought! "The sluice gates are opening more than normal." It was great! I could totally control how much the sluices opened. It was then that the lock keeper noticed that it was still in keeper mode and made me close the sluices again so he could put it back to public use. Hey ho! It was good while it lasted! Eventually, we were all able to continue our journeys. Apparently, the people on the boat behind ours thought that I was a lock keeper (they turned up after I had started operating it) then apologised once they found out the truth. Im glad that we had decided to put our waterproofs on today as they were, a very much, needed commodity. From 1pm the heavens opened again just to prove the BBC weathermen right! It has been a day of 'brolly up, brolly down, brolly up, brolly down'! We have, however, been really lucky with the locks in that they have all been manned (not counting the first one) and they have more or less opened as we've got to them. We passed through Wallingford but didn't stop today. Just after Wallingford I tried to photograph a Kingfisher that was sitting on some decking but failed miserably! We went under one of the amazing Brunell bridges. I can't help but wonder how many brickies it took to build this bridge or even, how many bricks it took. It really is a truly amazing feat of engineering! We have now decided that enough is enough of this rain and have moored up for the night next to Beale Park. We have hung up our waterproofs to dry and lit the fire. Who would have thought that we would be lighting fires in August? A hot shower, some semi decent food and a few glasses of magic water should do the trick for tonight. I may even consider losing some more money at cards. Tomorrow is yet another day!
  12. I do agree with you that there are some houses that are a shambles but it is more noticeable on the rivers and canals. The fact that you get total communities together, living the same way, there really is no need for it. Not all liveaboards are the same, some are beautiful. I just think that people would be more tolerant if a little bit of an effort was made. I know there is a housing shortage but I hadn't realised that there was a self pride shortage too. When I speaking about the hirecraft going too fast, I was actually talking about the huge white boats on the Thames (Le Boat) etc. I have always found that narrowboat hirers are extremely considerate. That is brilliant! Frank never said anything yesterday. I'm so pleased for them. They are a brilliant pair. xxx thank you for letting me know. X
  13. I've just heard from someone walking their dog that the weather tomorrow is predicted to be sunny. I would just like to add that even our barometer lied to us today.
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