From ann@waterways.freeserve.co.uk Tue Oct 19 15:07:16 1999 Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 19:57:20 +0100 From: Ann Harvey Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Re: Amos' Summer Hols Part 3 [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Friday 27th Before we left Norbury at 10.25 Pat took on water and I left a note on Achieved, the cruiser that we owned for 10 years before we sold it last summer. It was moored opposite the BW yard. It is a bright sunny morning and the weekend forecast is good. We had a beautiful run down to Brewood, and though it went a little overcast it was still very pleasant. The sun was shining brightly again by the time we reached Brewood. We moored at 3.30 by the steps to the Bridge Inn car park. Ike and Güdrun had already arrived and gone up to the village. We walked up there with Pat and Penny, meeting Güdrun on her way back. We just had time for a quick drink in the Swan before they closed for the afternoon then a tour of the village, including the Antique shop with it's interesting garden. Patrick admired a wine basket, and as it is his birthday next week, Penny secretly asked me to buy it for her and hide it. A great deal of manoeuvring and sleight of hand to get it back without him seeing it. I bought a Bizzy Lizzy from the house near the Bridge that sells plants from the front garden. In the evening we all bestowed the benefit of our company on The Swan Inn. Saturday 28th A 9.15 am start today, on a beautiful sunny morning. It^Òs a pity that these moorings are so shaded, or we^Òd have woken earlier. We had a very good run down to Compton and filled Amos with diesel again. Ken can calculate now how much diesel is used on a run. We were all filled up before the following boat was down the lock. We had a bit of a panic at Ebstree lock when Ken discovered that the alternator wasn^Òt working. He went into Albert mode (Albert is his dad, who is in training for the Olimpic Worrying team) until as we cleared Awbridge he discovered that the battery cut-off switch had been trodden on and knocked to OFF. When he turned it back on all was well, and I was able to put the fridge back on. We moored up at 3.30 after clearing Bumble Hole lock, and went into the Round Oak garden for drinks. Ike and Güdrun had decided to carry on home so after we waved them off we settled down to relax in the sunshine. About 6ish we started the barbecue up and cooked the ribs, sausages and burgers that we^Òd bought in Brewood, and enjoyed them with a bottle or two of wine, some salad and Pringles. After we^Òd all eaten as much as we could manage, Penny tried to put the top back on the Pringles tube, and tipped the table up. We grabbed it, and saved most, but the salad bowl, Pringles and a glass of wine ended up in the canal. Patrick rescued my wine glass which was floating, but despite nearly submersing himself he was unable to rescue the salad bowl. And there it remains to this day, I expect. As we cleared up, a rock band struck up in the pub garden. They were very loud, even up near the lock moorings where we were. Fortunately they were also very good. Pat and Penny did a bit of rock and roll on the towpath, but Ken is still suffering the effects of the Cheshire locks and declined to join in. :-( We decided to go up to the Mount Pleasant for another drink. When we left there the sky was very clear with lots of bright stars. When we reached the canal, there was an eerie mist all along the towpath and water. Sunday 29th Pat and Penny set off for Ashwood before us, and we waited for my daughter, son-in-law and the children to come and cruise the final part of the journey with us. A lovely trip, and when we turned into the marina, Koinonia was just reversing back to her mooring with Penny on the pole. We moored at 2.00 and son-in-law, grandson and I went into the club to order sandwiches while Ken and our daughter drove back to Wombourne to pick up her car. They took the baby who fell asleep in her chair. We sat outside the club with our sandwiches and drinks while we watched the car with the sleeping child inside. After they went home we stayed on the boat as Ken^Òs back is very painful, and we didn^Òt want to risk going to a pub and having to sit on a stool. A pleasant quiet evening in contrast to the lively company we enjoyed on the holiday, but a welcome rest. Back home tomorrow. A great trip, and enjoyed by all. We're already discussing the next one. Hundreds of photos to scan in. Regards Ann --- The UK Waterways Network - http://www.ukwaterways.net/ * bringing the inland waterways community together * You are currently subscribed to canals as: george@adiva.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-canals-407N@ukwaterways.net