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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.

Saturday 2 March 2019

And we are off!

 Talk about a spur of the moment decision,  leave Langley today and get to Sandiacre before Storm Freya arrives tomorrow. T'was a mad rush then to disconnect the electrics, take down the aerial and remove the chimney (Anchor bridge is extremely low and the chimney would be taken clean off and sent down to the murky depths if left on.) Big problem though with the removal of the chimney! The blooming thing was wedged on good and proper and only getting the crowbar out and giving it a good welly did the thing move. Anyway, by dead on noon, we got underway.



A good idea of ours was to take the bikes, or so we thought! Ian had made a moveable bike frame to fit above the fender button and with the width of the bikes appearing to be inside that of FS's width we didn't anticipate any problems. How wrong were we! It was the lock walls that were the problem. Water movement and wind kept pushing FS against the brickwork and trying to bring the bow round to get out of one gate was nerve-wracking. The bike wheels made contact several times and in one instant I had to hold FS's stern away from the wall with my hands. When you're at the bottom of the lock and touching all that slime....well it was not nice!  Anyway, we have decided against taking the bikes after all, they will now be left in the garage at Sandiacre.

The bikes with their cover
 Boy were we lucky as arriving at Eastwood lock (second lock from Langley) a boat was ascending. This meant that all the remaining 9 locks were now all in our favour. So we made excellent time until we got to the last lock of the day, Pasture Lock. Below lock and the water levels were way down and even on a tad over tickover we could help but pull a wash.




The lack of water did cause us a bit of a problem trying to moor in the Derby Arm at Sandiacre. Mike, the owner of the water, (it is not C&RT waters) had told us to go between the bankside boat and his boat Destiny. We managed to plough through the glutinous mud squeezing between the two boats. Got FS secure and Ian walked to Sandiacre lock. Here it became apparent why there was lack of water as he found the bottom gates open and one of the top paddles not closed properly due to an obstruction. The gates were then closed but even those didn't close properly.  As for the obstruction he tried to lift the paddle and drop it again to see if it would clear but to no avail as water is still peeing through the gate paddle. Will we be listing tomorrow??? If Ian falls out of bed and ends up on the floor in the morning then yes I expect we will be.



Oh and we did the journey of 11 locks and 8.5 miles in 4 hours, this was a record for us.

And seen on route



This on the window. Obviously a moth but which sort?



What a pretty duck.


2 comments:

Paul Clark said...

Hi Irene

Your moth is a Small Magpie - pretty unmistakable even from the "wrong" side. However what it is doing on the wing at this time of year is unfathomable. It's a moth that is usually out between late May and mid August, and unlike some of the butterflies we sometimes see on sunny days at this time of year e.g. Brimstone, Peacock, Comma does not hibernate, but overwinters as a pupa. I can only think that the recent warm spell has fooled it into thinking it was summer, or that its pupa was indoors somewhere. Whichever, it's a really rare record for March.

Best wishes for your summer cruising. Is your route all worked out, or will you decide where next as you go?

Paul

Ian and Irene Jameison said...

Wow thanks, Paul. I'm glad I got a picture of it now. I don't suppose it will survive now the weather has turned colder. Our plans are to head for Warwick to meet with the family and then to Milton Keynes to await my brother's arrival from Australia. Where we go after that has not been decided on. I'm just glad we are finally on our way although we do have to stay at Sandiacre for a couple of days to get my car sat nav sorted. Xx

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