We have not been
connected to the internet for the last 36 hrs as we have been in a
Internet communications black spot at Newbridge. This blog therefore
goes back to our morning of the 9th at Stifford Lock.
While Christine went
off to get her weekly fix of The Mail on Saturday at the Eynsham
News store, I busied myself with taking advantage of last nights rain
and cleaned the boat over with a chamois. After a cooked breakfast (
weekend treat after a week of muesli) we set off ever further up the
Thames. I made a right hash of the next lock as we thought it was
unattended and went to go for a centre rope only. Then the lock
keeper appeared, as he hadn't started his lunch, I didn't hear that
he said that if we were only going to use a centre rope we needed to
be further back in the lock. Christine was shore-side at this time so
I went and got the fore rope while she had the aft rope. We got
through OK but it was not up to our usual standard of locking
through. The lock keeper advised us to take an early mooring at
Newbridge as they were forecasting that we would be getting the tail
end of Hurricane Bertha on Sunday and it would be the safest place to
be.
Now we come to the
second faux pas of the day. We arrived in Newbridge with Christine on
the helm I spotted a suitable mooring for 57' Lottie but Christine
said there was no chance of berthing in that tight space. . As we
sailed past it became apparent to her that the mooring was in fact
double the length of the boat and she said ”Ooh we could
have got in there never mind we can moor up the other side of the
bridge”. The wind had got up a bit by this time and I
offered some well meaning advice as to how to proceed. This was met
with “I know what I'm doing and when I need you to take over
I will ask” The wind then took us to the opposite bank into
an overhang of willow trees which promptly ripped off the flagstaff
again (I had only just repaired it)
and we nearly lost the Satellite dish over the side as well. At this
point Christine said “You can take it now” and
promptly disappeared below. Needless to say there were a few heated
words followed by a lot of silence. This made things very difficult
when trying to moor up with stakes onto a grass bank.
Then we got a call from
John and Barbara saying that we were only about 10 minutes away from
them and would we care to join them and their Daughter and Son in Law
for a meal. This we accepted gratefully and it also got us back on
speaking terms.
We were collected from
our mooring by John and family and had an enjoyable time at The
Harcourt Arms. Thanks again John Barbara Jane and Chris.
Sunday 10th
Still at Newbridge as the weather is still bad and not really
conducive to travelling in a narrow boat
We managed to catch up on a few jobs ( monthly maintenance check) and
clean through Cooked a batch of curry then generally relaxed on
board. We can get a TV signal here at least so we will be watch a
couple of programmes this evening
We should be able to set off tomorrow and when we get a suitable
signal re - Wi -Fi I will publish this blog,
This was the first lock of the day Pinkhill another well kept lock n ote the 2007 flood level frightening. |
You can just make out two boats abreast (bit late with the camera sorry) You couldn't do this on the canals. |
Two Views of Newbridge despite it's name it is one of the oldest on the Thames 13 centurty |
With John Barb Jane and Chris at the Harcourt Arms |
Storm Clouds gathering Sunday Afternoon |
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