Friday 19 May
Carole, Chris, Linda, Jeanette, Rosemary Sue, Trisha, Wendy.
We all gathered at the Springwood Haven marina in Nuneaton ready for our second barging trip. No Siobhan or Janice this time unfortunately.
We loaded our bags, food and booze onto the boat - limited space so stuff ended up all over the place!
We even had to have an annex to the booze cupboard ..🤣
Linda and Jeanette had bought all the food as space was so tight - it worked very well - thank you both.. 😘
We were given a small step to aid Carole and Trisha with embarking and disembarking as they had both received hip replacements within the last year and we didn't want any accidents. They actually managed quite well without them - but the steps did come into their own and were extremely useful later on!!
Our welcome pack was a disappointment.. 😟 it wasn't wine or nibbles 🤣
We were given a thorough talk-through by John which most people diligently listened to.
Once again Sue was delegated as engineer/mechanic so she listened extra hard to those bits.
Then it was time for us to set off with Capn Carole at the helm.
She did a great job getting us started and off we chugged out of the busy marina passing moored barges and beautiful countryside. There were lots of big, dark clouds.. ☁️Then exactly as had happened on our last trip - the heavens opened ☔Fortunately we were a bit more prepared this time and we got our coats on and opened up the big brollies. After a while it stopped - again just as last time - and the weather started to get better as the sun came out.
Jeanette, Sue and Linda studied their nautical charts (maps and apps) to plan our route.
Carole skilfully navigated us through bridges and round bends - and then it happened - we met a barge travelling the other way!Canal etiquette is that you pass a barge on the right. We tried but we hadn't got the line of sight on the boat as we rounded the corner and with the breeze and the current we ended up well over on the left bank without enough time or room to get into place without a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. Safest thing was to stay where we were and not try to reverse back to the bend.
The oncoming barge waited politely and after a few minutes of gesticulations and shouting (on our part) the bemused barge navigated round us on the wrong side.
'We didn't know what you were going to do' they said as they sailed past us.
'Sorry. Neither did we!' we shouted back. 'You're the first boat that we've passed' we said. We decided that this would be a useful mantra and used it several more times.. 😁
Scenery changed from the beautiful to the bizarre.
Charge of the tiller passed from Carole to me so that she could drink her cuppa in peace - and I immediately steered us into a bank of trees. But out we came and on we chugged.
Sometimes it was impossible to avoid the overhanging branches and we ended up with several wet 'thwacks' of may blossom and facefuls of damp petals.. 🤣
After one of these skirmishes with a low tree we realised that we'd lost the mop from the top of the barge. We surmised that it must have been knocked overboard and was floating in the middle of the canal some way behind us. Trisha (mop queen) was not impressed with our loss.
But there was no time to go back to look for it so we decided that the best thing to do was nick one from another boat own up to its loss on our return to the marina.
More shift changes - we all agreed that the same vague recollections and memories from last time (2017!) soon kicked in but we were all nervous about the steering as it suddenly seemed more serious this time with busier canals and more obstacles.
We eventually parked up (nautical term!) for the evening and tied the boat securely ready for our evening meal at the pub a short walk away.
As we had half an hour before our reservation we opened a couple of bottles of prosecco to celebrate our first afternoon of successful navigation.
It was all very different to our previous (first) trip when we set off in blissful ignorance and zig zagged along the fairly empty Ashby canal, bumping off one side and then the other, pushing ourselves off the bank (we did find out later that the canal was about a foot lower in depth to its normal levels so we were obviously nearer the bottom!) and then doing it all again a few minutes later.
Much more serious sailing this time on a busier canal with multiple boats. Even on occasion with boats moored on each side and boats inching past each other at the same time - so four boats wide!! But we'd all had a go and we'd all coped well so we were very happy.
As we walked the ten minutes to the pub it gave us a chance to look at the canal turning circle area and plan our tactics for the morning when we would be using it to swing round in order to navigate through the lock from one canal to the other.
And what did we find on the towpath abandoned in the hedgerow? Only A MOP! What luck!
We hid it safely in a bush ready to collect on our return journey. It may have been a bit older, greyer and more dishevelled than its previous incumbent but it was still A MOP and would save us the hassle of having to beg, steal, borrow or pay for a new one.
Waiting for food...
We had a lovely meal at the Greyhound pub - with thanks again (and a toast) to Siobhan for her generosity in paying for it even though she was unable to attend with us.. 😘
Reflection in the mirror 🤣🤪
With full tums after excellent food we set off back to the boat with Trisha picking up her new friend en route.
A great way to begin our weekend.Saturday 20 May
A beautiful and serene start to the day with the sun shining and the birds singing.
Rosemary was breakfast chef - toast or egg and bacon butties.
Sue did her checks with Linda then we were off again.
Our first chore was to work out how to navigate the 70 foot barge round in the tight turning circle in order to line it up with the lock so that we could move from the Coventry canal to the Oxford canal. Other boats made it look easy. We were not other boats.
We swung the barge round to go under the bridge to line up with the lock but we didn't have the angle so we reversed back towards the houses which were literally on the water's edge.
Three dogs in one of the gardens were most interested in watching us and we were so close that I could have picked one up to take along as the ship's mascot.
The second try was more successful and round we went with Sue and Chris giving us a final pull and push into position.
We slid gently into the lock...
... and Rosemary and the lock keeper closed the gate.
We were soon out the other end - it was only a very shallow lock so a good one to start on. Then we were off again.
Time for a cuppa and a biscuit.
There were 8 of us on the boat. Five ok with the steering...
One ok with the steering but didn't think she was!..
.. and two who would rather have poked their eyes out lol - though we made them pose for pictures..
When we tried to explain how to work out which way to go they laa-laa-laaed 🎶🤣
Our new old mop.
We moored up to take on water but gave up after a while as the pressure was so low that it wasn't filling at more than a trickle.
Linda and Jeanette had their pre prepared paper map copy to refer to so we were able to navigate quite successfully.
We (well the more phone savvy amongst us) had two apps which helped enormously in tracking our course and planning ahead.
By planning ahead I mean find us a nearby pub for lunch so we moored up and walked over the bridge.
We were able to push two tables together and had another lovely meal.
.. and whilst eating we remembered that we hadn't taken the posh end of the tiller off to stow inside before locking up. Apparently they get stolen! But luckily for us it was there when we got back.
Then off we went again.
We saw a boat from Worksop.
We were getting a bit more confident now and had a glass of prosecco at the helm.
More drinks and relaxation at the pointy end.
Sue and Rosemary walked for part of the way. At one point we spotted them in the distance and seemed to be gaining on them but we never quite managed to catch them up.
Trisha opened her flaps looking for passing trade 😁 She was disappointed 😟🤣 She closed her flaps.
The layout of this barge was very different to the previous one and although we all had separate bunks, the walkway was much narrower and a bit of a slalom to negotiate. We developed a few systems to deal with this.
Sometimes if you wanted to get from one end of the boat through to the other it was just easier to hop off at the pointy end and run (well walk!) to the blunt end and get back on. Or vice versa. Of course this system only worked if we were moored up.
If we were sailing then we had to move on to our first alternative which was to meet up with whomever face to face and then consider who had the nearest passing place and back up or advance as appropriate and squidge into whatever space was available until the manoeuvre was made. Much like driving on a single track road really.
If that option was not possible then we moved on to the bum/boob/belly shuffle. This seemed to occur most frequently in the tiny kitchen area where there were no passing places and everyone developed their own technique. Standing on tip toe so I could flop my belly over the sink or worktop and shuffle crabwise and forwards seemed to work well for me. Others preferred the duck-down bum or the flattened boobs approach. Each to their own I say!
Please note that there are no pics of any of this. For obvious reasons.
Opening a wardrobe door cut off access for everyone too
On we sailed with those who were at the front acting as look outs for those steering at the back.
The raised mop was the signal for a bridge in the distance - not always visible to those steering due to the length of the barge and the bends in the canal - always worthwhile having an extra few seconds to start getting into position 😁
A double arm wave signalled a barge coming towards us and the flapping arm waved showed an abutment or other obstacle that we needed to slow down for.
Sue manned the small swing bridge.
Beautiful scenery. The May blossom was fabulous and now dry 😁 Sometimes we went in for a closer look - and sometimes it was even deliberate!
Trisha demonstrated another way to move along the boat. Very useful for moving the mop and long stick thing from one end of the barge to the other to push us off from things we shouldn't have been stuck to or in.
By late afternoon we had reached our furthest point and rather than going into the busy marina we opted for a three point turn in the winding basin on the canal. We did it
Stop for water.
Sue added another hat to her repertoire - that of sommelier. She wandered from one end of the boat to the other offering advice on wines (fizzy or not?) and topping up glasses.
As we were relaxing at the pointy end we started to have a bit of a sing song and ended up singing the whole of American Pie. All the way through. Twice.
With Linda on mop guitar and the rest of us on mop vocals.
This proved to be great entertainment to a man strolling along the tow path. He stood on a bridge and doffed his hat at us as we sailed past.
Having completed a short part of the return journey we found a quiet stretch to moor up again for the evening with Rosemary tying off some ..interesting.. knots.
Before we set off John had shown them (those who were listening - no idea where I was) how to make some rope loops, flick them over and then flip them over a mooring bollard to secure the barge. I'm sure that the knot would have a fancy name like a reverse double looped clover hitch or something.
It seemed easy and Rosemary had done them with no bother the first night. After a few abortive attempts the second evening she resorted to her own version of the Anderson hitch. It worked just as well but was probably not quite so pretty!
It was probably around this time that Linda watched a boat mooring up and remembered the mantra from our last trip - which we had all forgotten - the middle rope is your friend! How could we have forgotten that?! .. and the accompanying words of wisdom a ten year old can do it.
We had no ten year olds to try it out with but remembering the middle rope mantra and actually using it certainly made things a little easier.
All together now.. the middle rope is your friend!
Chris prepared the evening meal.
It was a bit cramped to eat together on the boat but we managed. It was certainly easier to sit on a couple of beds rather than try to put a table up.
The layout of the boat was the same from either end - exit, two single beds, bathroom, two single beds, kitchen, two single beds, bathroom, two single beds, exit.
We all became disoriented thinking we were going towards one end of the boat when we were actually at the other end. And it didn't help when on the last night we moored up in the marina but on the opposite side to the previous two nights.
Beautiful sunset.
Sunday 21 May
Another glorious day.
More bacon butties 😋
Sue did her checks.
Rosemary and I tried to reattach the tiller. Just a bolt though a hole - not difficult but we couldn't do it. Until someone suggested turning it round 🙄
We stopped for another buffet lunch..
.. and then Linda brought out a birthday cake for Jeanette whose birthday was in two days time.
We then realised that it would soon be Sue and Trisha's birthdays as well (not Carole's as I put originally - she's the baby of our year 😁) so we gave them another rendition of happy birthday.
On we sailed, admiring the scenery and enjoying the quiet steering in the sunshine then suddenly...
SPLASH... 💦
way ahead of us I saw something jump from the bank into the water. As we were so far away I couldn't see the shape and assumed it was a dog. But the ears looked wrong and I realised that it was a deer.
No matter I thought, It's far enough away that it will be long gone by the time we get there.
So it swam from the left to the right but couldn't get out of the water because of the metal sides.It started to panic and swam backwards and forwards several times across the canal. By this time I had kicked the throttle into neutral (literally kicked it lol) and checked that there were no other boats near us. We drifted towards the right bank and Linda managed to jump off.
The deer started to swim parallel to the right hand bank so I let the barge drift away so as not to spook it any more. But then of course no one else could get off the boat (not sure what we were going to do other than 'shoo' it along until it could jump out somewhere).So the deer passed the barge and eventually crossed the canal again behind us.
A family on the tow path said that it had managed to get out of the water but was trapped behind a fence. Hopefully it did manage to free itself but there was nothing else we could do so we left the scene!
Quite scary though.
On another of our little dinks (there weren't actually that many but each one seemed to have its own little drama 😁🤣) Sue and I were sitting at the front as we saw a tree coming towards us. A big, leafy, twiggy tree. We shot off the seats and curled up into tight little balls on the floor as everything went dark around us
After a bit of reverse grinding we emerged covered in twigs and debris and made a big show of pulling the bits and pieces our of our hair whilst 70 feet behind us they shouted 'sorry' whilst laughing.
Poor Chris was in the loo at that time probably thinking that the world was ending 🙄😁🤣
Photobombed by a fellow bargee 🤣🤣🤣
On we sailed back through the little lock. A slick operation now with everyone ready and in position.
And back to where we had started from. Once we were safely moored up we sat outside in the sunshine at one of the picnic tables on the marina whilst we waited for our pizza to be delivered.
It was nice to be able to all sit together.
Trisha had jumped off the boat as we were mooring up in the morning and had landed awkwardly, damaging her knee.
She had managed to hobble a bit on the boat and had taken lots of painkillers throughout the day but had decided that she would drive home (automatic car) in the evening rather than staying another night so that she could go to a & e to be on the safe side and get it checked out.
So the steps did come in very useful after all as we tried to gently help Trisha off the boat.
Luckily nothing was broken and it was just (just!) cartilage/joint inflammation so she was on strong analgesics with knee support and crutches. We all wish her a speedy recovery.
She was not the only casualty though. Sue, Linda, Chris and Jeanette all managed to crack their heads (some worse than others!) on the hatchway whilst coming up on to the deck.
Carole who was sitting at the front had to adopt a 'brace' position as the boat veered towards the bank (my bad Carole - soz!) and jolted her back with the impact.
And Rosemary tried to take her eye out - twice - with the tiller as she bent forward to tie some of her special knots.
Think I was the only one who escaped injury!
As we waited for the pizza the sun started to go down and it got a little chilly so we decided to go and put one of the tables back up as we had a spare room. What a palaver!
We put the table up the wrong way so noone could actually slip onto the seat at the side. Take it down and start again.
We put the seat squabs on the wrong way. Take them off and change them round.
Actually they are still wrong and the backs are the cushions and vice versa. Take them off again and change them round again.
What should have been a simple job took forever and left us howling with laughter.
The pizzas arrived.
I had decided to sleep in one of the bunks vacated by Rosemary and Trisha as there was slightly more room there and it gave Chris chance to spread out a bit in her area in order to be ready for her early departure.
As I drifted off to sleep Sue tiptoed past towards Chris and the boat doors.
We were all locked in - but the main key was still sitting there outside in the engine! Potential crisis averted and another lesson learned - delegate tasks to specific people rather than all assume that someone else has done it.
Monday 22 May
The 'sorting out of the food' at the end of a trip usually means that everyone seems to go home with nearly as much as they brought with them.
But this time, due to Jeanette's calculations and strict adherence to her list there was very little.
We said our final goodbyes to the marina and headed off to the nearby Dobbies garden centre for breakfast. It opened at 9am.
We were there at 9.01 am 😁
The consensus was that we had all once again enjoyed our trip and had had a brilliant time.
Loads of funny incidents - like Linda having a present dropped in her lap by a bird - a little worm - and we're not mentioning Carole's knickers 🤣 Plus loads of silly remarks that we thought were hilarious but which none of us could remember later.
We decided that we need to hone our nautical skills more than once every six years so Linda and Jeanette agreed to start looking for somewhere so that we can do another trip in 2024.
Looking forward to it already!.. 😁
-01.jpeg)
