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In 1977 we hired our first narrowboat from Anglo Welsh at Market Harborough.From that moment our destiny was set. In 2006 we finally purchased our own brand new 57' narrowboat which we named 'Free Spirit'. Our aim is to travel the length and breadth of all the navigable rivers and canals of the UK. This will be our story as it unfolds.

Wednesday 13 March 2019

A night to remember.


T'was a night to remember the wind with its anger,
Like a roar of a train happening again and again,
The lapping of waves water music was made,
Not good for ones sleep not liking the beat,
FS she did dance wild horse in a prance,
Ungainly, unruly, unstoppable, no chance!
She bucked and she skewed a Bronco indeed,
A Cowboy would be pleased to have ridden such a steed. 
Toward the bank with a crash, the ropes creaking tight,
As she sang her wild song in the dead of the night.
3am, oh God how much more could we take,
FS her constant effort to try and make a break.
Those thumps as the hull hit the concrete below,
Please, when will it stop of that we won't know?
Drumming on the roof the start of the rain, 
Oh for heaven's sake rivers rising again.
No end in sight the forecast not great
For the foreseeable future, this is to be our fate.


You may have gathered our night was anything but peaceful. The ditty above was my way of passing the hours. At one point Ian went outside to try and reposition the fenders but water levels were much higher and the fenders were hanging over the concrete edge.

This morning he had a brainwave of tieing several fenders together and hanging them off the fender eye. So far so good but the wind has died down a tad, hardly the gusts of 40mph we had last night. We really hope it works 'cos another night like last night we do not want to repeat.





Most of today has been watching films on Netflix. We were going to take the bus to Loughborough but even just standing outside for a few moments and the wind took my breath away. So we may try again tomorrow.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We used whellbarrow wheels tied loosley, so they floated up and down on the top of the water with the boat.
Useful for keeping the boat away from concrete shelf/edging sticking out under the water too.
Hope the cold wind disappears soon and calm returns.
Ann Makemson

Ian and Irene Jameison said...

Thanks Ann, We have been on the lookout for discarded small wheels for ages. Found 2 at Stoke Bruerne but right in the middle of a drained pound. Didn't fancy the idea of wading knee deep in the silt. We will keep looking though.

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