Hello Again

And for the last time I am writing from our
Narrowboat digitalis, before it goes to the new owners next week, don’t think
we will miss it now as we have had quite some time waiting around not
travelling so it is not so appealing when you are not moving, I couldn’t live
on a boat that didn’t move around all of the time so, we have had a sort of
easing of gently period, we have sold the boat at a very good price and have
rented a place in Norfolk until we sell the house we have in Tamworth so that
we can buy a house in Norfolk again, Richard has a part time job, temping at
the Docks where he worked for 38 years before taking early retirement, well
when we are paying household bills again we are going to need the brass, I will
look for a little job too, as I will need more shoes living on land again,
although I do have plenty that are totally unsuitable for boating, but needs
must, and don’t we all love shoes, any way we have totally enjoyed our time her
on the boat and hope that the purchasers of digitalis will enjoy her as much as
we have, and take as much care of her. We are taking the purchasers out on
Saturday so that we can show them how everything works etc. I;m sure it will be
a sad day when we actually hand her over on the 21^st but a new life
for us will begin, and after 3 years of each other 24/7 Richard and I haven’t
killed each other and we are still actually in love, “soppy I know but true”.

We have bought a little car which has b een
great to have whilst we are stuck here in Crick Marina so we have been getting
out and about quite a lot,we have been to Tamworth,Salisbury and back and fore
to King’s Lynn getting things sorted out,

I would like to thank all of our readers for
reading us and hope you have enjoyed our adventures out on the cut, I may still
write when I get to Norfolk, I still haven’t managed to get this published like
I wanted to, Well haven’t really tried really, but the bloke that was sorting
out my vodaphone in India, reads our blog and he thought it would go do2wn
really well there, but there you go you have to do something about it. Well I;m
gonna say buy to you all now and thanks again……………………………………………………missing you
already

Lots of love

Chrissie and Richad and Rio x x x

Hello to all of oHur readers, "if I have
any left that is ?", as I haven't written since............. ooh how long
is it....oooh well the last time I wrote really, well the reason is, my old
Dell computer, "well it's not actually that old" but it's been nothing
but trouble for a long time,I wasn't able to access our website for absolutley
ages, well it would come and go, as our avid readers know from the writeups
that I haven't been able to write up!! well I would write them and then have to
send them to Simon to put on for me. Well I had had enough of it, it was far to
big for a laptop actually, I thought living on a boat we would need a big
one,(computer) but it turns out that I don't. I imagined that we wouldn't get
telly on the canal, so we would need it for watching videos, but with Travel
Sat we always have telly, but you live and learn.  Richard doesn't really use computers, well he
will look at some of his favorite music on you tube sometimes but apart from
that it's just me that uses it, so I wanted a dinky one, I have sat on trains
and watched with admiring envy people with there dinky portable PC's and wished
it could be me, whiling away the time on the trains whilst taking advantage of
the free WI FI and power charging facilities available  on some of our train services around the
country. Well enough of my new laptop, and back to us and what we have been up
to since I last wrote in January, after another cold hard winter (not on the
boat we are well cosy), but being trapped in the ice for 3 months again this
year Richard and I have decided we have had enough of boating and have decided
to sell up and move back to Norfolk, not that we haven't enjoyed it, but we
seem to be travelling home to norfolk more than we are on the canal these days,
with four grandchildren, there is always something to go home for a birthday,
christmas, or just because we miss everyone, so our lovely Digitalis is now up
for sale, it is on with ABNB Narrowboat Sales, so if you go on to their website
and check out Boat Sales you can check out the pictures,look for us under
58"foot Amber Boat and you will see how gorgeous the boat still looks. We
will miss it I am sure as soon as we get back in to a house, but we will get a
little job each and start to rediscover Norfolk. We will be travelling around
this area until we sell so we will be out and about until we sell the boat so
there will still be some updates, until the boat is sold, so watch this space
and see if we get the asking price..... So until the next time I write.

Lots of love

Chrissie and Richard x x

Happy New Year 2011       

Hello one and All

I know it’s been a long time coming again, but as you know we are moored for the winter and I don’t write an awful lot, when we are not Travelling, “yes I can hear you lot thinking”, “She doesn’t write a right lot when they are travelling” I know, guilty on all counts, but are you all out there reading it, and if you are, don’t forget to let me know, I’m not doing this if no one is reading it.

I left you last time when we were just coming back to Market Harborough for the winter proper at the end of October so we have been here ever since, on the 6^th of November we were expecting Joey and Jayne for Sunday Lunch but on Saturday night Hayley called to say she was coming visiting with Jamie and Harvey and Ellie, so Joe and Jayne came later in the day after we had been on a trip up the canal and served lunch to them all. But when Joe and Jayne did arrive later in the afternoon they brought us a load of hard wood logs that will last a good long time which is always very welcome and makes our coal go a whole lot further, it was a lovely day the sun shone all day the kids enjoyed the boat ride and so did the dogs Alfie and Poppy. Had a trip back to King’s Lynn, for the usual dental and hospital appointments, and since then we have just generally been enjoying the company of our boaty friends, it is a permanent round of morning coffees, afternoon teas, and whoever can make the best cakes, which as you may guess, I’m not a contender for, I do bake a bit but I don’t think I’ll win any prizes. Jo and John (nb Acen) took Richard and I, to the Shopping Mall outside Leicester so we did some Marks and Spencer’s shopping which is always nice, on Sunday Joey and Jayne came a visiting and I cooked Sunday Lunch for them, (the one that they were going to have but we gave away to Hayley Jamie Harvey and Ellie a few weeks before) the weather was freezing but all of our visitors find it very cosy on the boat.

As I am sure you are all aware the weather at the moment is absolutely freezing, and the canal is frozen solid again, which is very early, I expect come Christmas we will be bathing in sunshine, but hey as long as we are all fit and well, which we are, I am writing this today as I have no disturbances, Richard has gone to King’s Lynn for an old colleagues’ funeral, so I am making the most of being on my own not having to cook, Richard has only been gone half a day and I have spent the afternoon, grazing on Rubbish, well lemon curd sandwiches, biscuits, some lovely little homemade sponge cakes that Jo our  neighbour gave me. Well that’s it for now, so until the next time which I cannot say will be when!!!!  Keep warm.

Lots of love

Chrissie, Richard and Rio x x

Well the last time I wrote we were heading for Market Harborough to leave the boat whilst I went on holiday with the girls, and it was lovely coming back this way again, we forget just how gorgeous the Leicestershire countryside is, it is just so beautifully idyllic, green and glorious, and there is a programme on the telly “BBC 4 I think and then repeated on BBC2 about Kibworth which is part of this countryside, well somebody spoke to us yesterday and said that they recognized the boat from the programme, hopefully we will catch it again this week, but we were featured, “you remember last October when we were getting our Bottom Blacked at Debdale, and somebody asked if they could film us, well apparently it was from then, so fame at last, autographs can be obtained whenever we are close by to whoever wants them !!!

Well we moored at Market Harborough and went to Kings Lynn on Friday the 8th Oct for me going to Spain with the girls on 12th Oct, got to see all the children before I went which was lovely, Jamie and Hayley cooked us a gorgeous Sunday roast as usual, and they and Simon Sarah and Jamie and Zoe, looked after Richard by feeding him up while he stayed home alone at Linda’s house whilst, Me, Linda Sally¸Kathy, Lyn James and Lyn Plummer went for a week to “yesterdayoncemore.co.uk” it was a week of 60’s 70’s music held at a hotel in Spain, they do them all over England as well, and if you love Elvis, they do one in Graceland, well or somewhere nearby, it was a great week all inclusive so everyone drank more than they should, and danced like maniacs, well how can you not when the music is so good, so a great week was had by all. Glad to be back home on the boat again with Richie cosying on down in this freezing weather we are having, but it’s our favourite kind of weather, sunny and frosty, clear skies at night and sunshine all day, we are back up the canal at Foxton at the moment as we are not due in to Market Harborough until November so we are just enjoying being in the countryside, riding our bikes and generally doing boatey stuff, I’m still in bed at the moment as I have a bit of a blocked ear and a bit of a cold I think, that’s what you get from stuffy aeroplanes with everyone coughing and spluttering over everyone, “but at least I am writing this”, “I’m normally as fit as a fiddle, apart from my usual ailments, which we don’t count” !!!

Looking forward to getting to see all our old boatey friends over the winter period, so if you’re reading this boatey friends you will know where we are, so until the next time and until I get maybe a new dongle, with which I get more power, I will maybe be able to get some pictures up. Because Have I already moaned to you lot about how useless my vodaphone dongle is in this area, now if I’m paying for three G power, then I should get just that “shouldn’t I ?”

Well bye for now

Lots of love

Chrissie Richard and Rio x x

Hello All

Well I thought I couldn’t get in to write this
but I could, so no excuses, I am having trouble remembering where we have been
since I last wrote, I think we have travelled to Tixall wide to do some
painting on the boat, well we did some painting when we came through Hopwas as
we were moored on the right, so we did that side, then we sailed to Fradley
where we stayed for a few days as the weather was so gorgeous, we met a lovely
couple from Oregan, they were a sweet couple who had just got married on
Saturday in Seattle, travelled to England and were enjoying a canal honeymoon,
life is one long honeymoon for us on the canals, anyway they were telling us
they met on E Harmony, which is a dating site on the internet, and it obviously
worked for them so for all of you singletons out there give it a whirl, You
never know!! And to Cory and Beth hope you read this, I said I would give you a
mention and here it is, you are our other friends from America we already have
Linda and her hubby Bill, in Idaho, so if we took up all of your invitations to
come a visitin, we would have no time for canal boating, but it was great to
meet you and we hope you remain as happy as us.

We left Fradley and sailed to Tixall Wide which
as I have mentioned before and there are pictures already the weather is
gorgeous and we were able to paint the other side and now we look green and
gorgeous again, ready for another years sailing. We have had a couple of trips
over to King’s Lynn, one which was for our beautiful Grandsons and Granddaughters’
Birthdays, Harvey was 6 and Millie had her first Birthday party over in
Magdalen, it was a super afternoon of sunshine which made it all the more
enjoyable, and it was great to see all of the children and grandchildren as
usual. and one to Cardiff so we have been quite busy. I am not going to write
too much as  I can ramble on but this is
just to keep you interested, I will write more very soon as I do seem to be
able to get in to my site now, so I won’t go moaning to Simon, he said it was
fine, and it was, it’s just me. Did I tell you that we also went to see our
lovely friends in Blackpool Ian and Anne who have also bought a boat now, nb
Artu, they have it moored on the Lancaster Canal, we had a super weekend with
them, they took us to see the boat which is absolutely lovely, Tia the dog, got
on fine with Rio eventually, as Rio was playing the grumpy old geezer as usual
for most of the weekend but on Sunday morning they got to playing together like
puppies, typical, Ian cooked a gorgeous pasta, and had invited Joan and Steve
over so we had a great night on Friday with them all, it’s a great life this
boating malarkey you meet some wonderful people and they remain friends, as we
are all like minded folk, well like minded or are we mental?... absolutely not
we love it. We left Tixall wide this morning and whilst at the water tap we met
Col our friend from Fazely Mill Marina, well she used to run it, but she
finished there and is now out enjoying the water, she amazes me that she
handles that 70”foot boat, nb Fat Albert all on her own and does it very well,
it was great to see you again Col, and that’s boating always a surprise around
the next bend in the canal.

So until the next time

Lots of love

Chrissie and Richard and Rio x x

We’re back

Hello Again, you may wonder about the title and where have they been, well we haven’t actually been anywhere particular but as I told you in our last write up. I couldn’t get in to my admin part of our blog to update it, but today I can, “ but I must thank our wonderful Simon the computer genius,  for copy and pasting my last entry” I think it’s me and not the computer, but they never mind I’m in, so I’d better write.

We left you when we had moored at The Wharf at Fenny Compton after travelling in the absolute pouring rain, and we just thought as were wet we may as well carry on, and it’s been raining ever since. So much again for the long hot summer, “Just read on another bloggers blog about a body being found on the Oxford canal, wonder if it was on one of the boats that I tied up along the way that were floating out in to the canal, after coming loose on their moorings, ooh I was looking in through the windows of the boats I tie back to their mooring, as my vivid imagination tells me someone has died in there,  I would have died of shock myself if I had of found someone!!!  Ooooohhh doesn’t bare thinking about, any way god rest whoever it was. We have been travelling back along the way we came so there is not a great deal to write about, as we haven’t had any major adventures to write about, so for our more avid readers it will be a nice break from the war and peace length novels I usually call my write ups, as was pointed out by our very lovely friends on nb Acen, John and Jo, Who incidentally we just met at Hartshill, “we had moored after travelling from trinity  Quay on the Ashby Canal, where we had popped to see our old friends Linda and Mick, and after them taking us in to town on Saturday they came to us for a coffee and chat, they invited us for lunch with them on the Sunday which was a lovely treat, and Linda provided us with a gorgeous three course Sunday lunch, which was absolutely perfect, with a couple of glasses of wine in their beautiful tranquil garden, in the only sunshine we are likely to see this week!! After lunch we headed back to the boat to meet with Richards old friend Dick and Anne as they were in the area for a classic car show, they took me back to King’s Lynn which was very handy, as I had to have my hips x-rayed on the Monday in the hospital, so after a flying visit staying with Hayley and Jamie overnight, got to see Harvey and Ellie, but came back on the train after my hospital appointment”. “As I was saying when we moored at Hartshill we lit the fire not for the heat but to warm the boat from the rain and damp, it gets steamed up just like being in a car so you need heat, anyway, we had cosied on down, I was cooking tea with the windows and doors open as the rain had stopped for  the evening, and two whippets popped their heads through our side doors, well we recognized them instantly, it was Darcy and Purdy, John and  Jo’s dogs of nb Acen our next door neighbours from our winter moorings in Market Harborough, well it was a lovely surprise to see Jo, so we invited them over for a drink after tea, they were moored  through the other side of the bridge, so John hadn’t seen us,  so Jo told John  to get his glad rags on as they were going for a drink with friends, she didn’t tell him who he was going to and he couldn’t guess, so it was a surprise for him when he saw who it was, we had a lovely evening chatting and drinking, it was great to see you both again, and look forward to seeing you again in the winter..

I think I will leave it at that, or I will start rambling for another couple of thousand words, and that’s just boring, so to all our avid readers, this has come sooner than you think, and it’s not so long.

Happy Birthdays to Joey and Cath, my brother and sister on the 23^rd and 24^th August, Zoe on the 28^th.Happy birthday

 to all of you.

Until the next time

Lots of love

Chrissie  Richard  and Rio x x

Ps. Gonna try with some pictures x

Well it’s the 1^st of August and I haven’t written since 18^th  July so I really ought to catch up again, this Oxford canal has just been so delightful that I just haven’t had a moment to write, “well maybe I have but you know how it is” Anyway I left you last time when we had just sailed down to Ayno which is still on the Oxford canal, we are so close to Bethan and Chris here,  So whilst Bethan did one of her days to get school ready for next term, Chris brought the children for a trip, as we were not going too far away from the pig farm nb.Acres “that’s what it’s called” we were able to take them up to the winding hole to turn the boat around to come back and leave the boat for the weekend, so we had a little sail, we had a picnic on the canal bank and then in the afternoon as we sailed back Cary’s read Chris a story and he dropped off to sleep, well it is hard work looking after children, Bless,!!  As did Iwan, so me and Carys did a bit of fishing off the back of the boat whilst Richard did the driving, it was a super day, “shame you missed it Beth”

We stayed the night in Ayno and travelled back to the farm on Thursday to get back on the electric to do some washing and ironing to go away with, went to King’s Lynn on Friday 23^rd for the weekend, got to see all the grandchildren again that is always lovely, it was also the Beer Festival at the Stuart house, so we got to see the Keno Kings, and they were really on form. It was a wonderful weekend, as usual but very tiring, we got back to the Banbury where we had hired the car from Enterprise, popping in to Tesco on the way back so we were well stocked up. They are so good they pick us up and drop us back off at the boat, it is a wonderful service. Got back to the boat around two ish and did the washing we had amassed over the weekend, and luckily it dried by nightfall just as the rain came down, which we really needed actually, “well it was what the farm needed, as they get their water from a bore hole, and obviously they need it to rain to fill up the hole, and also they collect the rain from the farm buildings corrugated roofs that really do catch the rain well. So they will be fine until the next rainfall. We took off from the farm on Tuesday morning which again was roasting hot, and travelled to a gorgeous spot which was right next to a cow field, which is unusual really for a towpath to be part of the field, so it was odd waking up to cows looking in at us, when we went walking I was terrified, and kept saying to Richard “don’t look at them, just ignore them and they won’t come near us, fortunately my method worked as they stayed well away”!!! whilst we moored there we were joined by “nb.Water Lily” got chatting as you do, and they joined us for tea and biscuits, so Hello Patrick and Jenny it was lovely meeting you and look forward to seeing you again along the way, so is Rio, he has never been one for the lady dogs, but he absolutely fell in love with their little terrier Milly, who ran rings around him, they ran and chased each other for hours and Rio just couldn’t hack it, he came away breathless and limping, yes actually limping, they were boxing like hares, he’s not getting any younger and little Milly was only a year old I think she actually did him in.. They left the next morning and as it was so hot we decided to have another easy day in this gorgeous spot, walking in to the tiny village to see the church, there were no shops or anything but it was still very pretty. We amble aimlessly on through beautiful villages, stopping at another couple of lovely places, then on Friday morning we got to this wonderful spot that is called Thrupp, it’s close to Oxford, but when I say all of the other villages are pretty this one, is even more so, “I know, I think we’ve seen it all and then we come along an even lovelier place!! We passed Oxford boats along the way where we stopped at their very well stocked shop for anything really!!, toothpaste at a pound for a tube, well you just have to have it, Don’t ya? Colgate too, Richard got fuel, and filled up with water because when we got to this lovely place with a seven day mooring spot we needed it.

On Friday as we were entering Thrupp, we saw the musician Bruce Coleman that we had met before at Welford and Foxton, and he said he and some other Folk Musicians were playing in the boat Pub that night, not the type to miss a good night with some real ale we went in to the pub, and did it again, thought there was a friend of mine in there as I recognized her, but as usual it’s not my friend it was the famous Mortimer Bones, well famous to those of us who read the canal mags, so after a couple of beers and a very nice evening of music,I thought I would introduce myself to her, I told her she was famous to me and Richie, well I am always a bit starstruck with anyone I meet that I have read about or watched on t.v, (“hope I didn’t scare her too much”),   it was a nice round up to a beautiful day. been chatting to loads of lovely boaters, when we first arrived here on Friday we got chatting to Pam and Ted on nb.unowotzizname, we have a lot in common as they also have an Amber Boat but they have only been on theirs since about November last year so they are still quite new, but enjoying their boat as much as we enjoy ours. On Saturday Bethan called to say she had  promised to take the children to see the Dinosaurs and was popping over to see us, “Now that’s no way to speak of us is it Bethan  “Cheeky young.... “  yes

  we may be old but come on”  but then she said she was going to the dinosaur museum and could they all  pop in to see us on the way   back !! “ Oh that’s what you meant” !!!  Anyway we said yes it would be wonderful, so I cooked a wonderful mushroom and Stilton Risotto “with the help of Cary’s” and we cracked open a bottle of white. Another wonderful day with Beth, Chris Cary’s and Iwan.. We have been here eversince, we have been chatting to Maffi, he is an old stalwart of the canalworld forum, who I have chatted and picked his brains in the past, it’s nice to see people that you have chatted with on the www and get to meet them in the flesh. On Sunday Mike and Jenny our old friends from nb.Guelrose moored in front of us, lovely to see them again, they were on there way to the IWA on the Thames, On Tuesday we took a bus in to Oxford, It was another glorius day, and we got to see, all of the wonderful colleges, and went to the dinosaur museum, I saw Billie Piper, and some old bloke from Emmerdale. We are just loving it here our friends Pam and Ted are walking miles with us every evening, enjoying the wild life and the super weather we are having. Today another boat pulled up in front of us, and before I got a chance to see the boat name he said, you haven’t written for two weeks, “

I ask you is there no escape from this monster I have created ? It was nb. Xillion Rose who also write a blog, so we know each other, but this is the first time we have met, so all in all this  Thrupp has been a lovely experience but tomorrow we must leave, well actually we could stay until Friday as we have Seven Days, but we will see what the weather does, I have never felt so relaxed in a place before and wanted to stay as long really so it must be really as lovely as we think it is. So until the next time Colin Marshall I shall try and write sooner next time, yes Colin Marshall has been hounding me again, saying I’m late writing, but this time it is really a virus I had, couldn’t log on to  Digitalis to write my rantings so, thats a real excuse if ever there was one!!!

That was the end of that chapter, but until I get my virus sorted and can enter our blog myself, then take a tea break and come back and finish if you think it’s far to long “ yes you cousin Pauline “ who thinks that if I write over a thousand words she falls asleep, “so go get yourself a coffee Pauline and come back when you have had a lie down!!...... Anyway the reason this is so long is because I am sending it to my Computer expert Simon and getting him if he can to copy and paste it to our blog, so if he can’t you won’t be able to read this, so I don’t know why I’m bothering anyway. We took the boat down to Dukes Lock to turn around as we had decided that we would do London and the Thames next year as need to get a Gold Licence to travel the Thames at our snail pace other wise it cost £160 or something just for a month, and we would need longer, so we headed back to finish the rest of our seven days in Thrupp, which we did enjoying more long walks in the wonderful Deer filled woods which I do have pictures of, but will put them up when I can. We left Thrupp sailing slowly to Ayno as we were going to baby sit for the Carys and Iwan on Saturday night and have lunch with Beth Chris and children on the Sunday, they picked us up and Chris had cooked the most gorgeous leg of lamb, we had a lovely time and Carys wanted to come a visiting us on Monday for a picnic, which they did and whilst we were eating the fair that Carys and I had prepared who should turn up as if they new we were there but the newly Weds my niece and Bethan’s sister Kathy and Roger, it was a wonderful surprise that Bethan had organised.

We got back to Banbury on Wednesday so as we were so close to the Station, I said I would go to an old friends party that she was having at Madam JOJO’s in Soho London, I had told her months ago that if I was near a station I would go, and I did it was a super party, Maggie  runs the Performing arts school in Pineapple Studio, yes Pineapple Dance Studios, it was a great party with lots of performers, one of them being her son Jordan, (famous for being the wolf boy in the latest Wolfman film)and the team street dancing, it was great to see them and Maggie’s family again after so many years. Got back at 12.45 am and Richard met me back at Banbury station that is just a stone’s throw from where we were moored. Friday we travelled back to Cropreddy where the Fairport Convention Festival was going on Status Quo were playing on the Thursday night, we had a great evening listening to music and having a few beers and chatting with fellow revellers, shame it was pouring with rain, but I suppose festival goers are used to it. Today Saturday the 14thof August we had news of a new arrival in the family my niece Abbi (Joey’s daughter ) and Adams wife  delivered their baby son Joshua in the early hours of the morning si congratulations to you all, and its pouring down with rqin we got soaked sailing to Fenny Compton today and here I will leave you.

So  until the next time

Lots of Love

Well  I lost another Phone then, Doh!!!!!!!!

I am Writing today as I wanted to make it less than two weeks since I last wrote and I managed to do that, I left you last time on Wednesday June 30^th having

 just moored up at the bottom of Radford locks which was near Leamington Spa it was a lovely spot right in the shade of some trees and so a super mooring for us, we were not in any hurry so we stayed a couple of days to do a bit of cleaning and polishing, “always work to do on a boat” but I don’t think we ever do as much titivating as our lovely friends Jo and Keith on Nb Hadar   www.workingboathadar.co.uk just thought I would add that Jo as I know you are an avid reader, and are always at it...... (Cleaning and polishing I mean)! “Now it’s over two weeks as I had a break and only just got back to writing” So we stayed a couple of days and on Saturday 3^rd July we started to head up

the locks, it was hot again but, we were getting some help from Andy Lowe, it was his last day, so he helped us up the locks, where I managed to get a super picture of a grass snake that had jumped, or fallen into the lock, I got the pictures because he was coiling himself to try and climb out, although grass snakes are prolific swimmers, he would not want to spend his day stuck in a high sided lock so when the gates opened he slithered out. We stopped off at Whilton Marina to get an ice lolly, Richard got diesel, he always gets stuff like that when we make an important stop for sweets and lolly’s so it’s very handy that these marina’s also sell fuel, I know which was most important for me, Richard has other ideas!! All the locks finished we were not going to travel far so when we turned on to the South Oxford at Wigrams Turn (that’s the very old name for it), it’s also known as Napton Junction we just went round a bridge down and stayed there for the weekend, said Goodbye to Andy and got to doing our own thing, which was exploring we pushed out bikes up the biggest hill in the village of Napton on the Hill, another of those gorgeous villages, but when you’re up you have to come down so although it was a slog pushing the bike up the hill it was a brill coming down the other side making our own cool breeze, at the bottom on the other side of the village we stopped at the local Co-Op just to get the odd thing or too, and discovered the  Buffalo Ice Cream, it’s made from mashed buffaloes if you didn’t already know that, they mash them up, put flavours in and freeze em, simple !!, I had Strawberry Richard had a chocolate, they were delicious. Now when you go on the road through a village and when you go through on the canal, it’s a whole lot different as the canal is so twisty turney, it becomes miles, so having rode on our bikes down to The folly which is a shop and pub by the canal at bridge thirteen, we then had to go along the canal back to bridge 110 where we had moored, which would have been o.k on our bikes, but Richard got a puncture, which makes a change from me getting them all of the time, so we had to push the bikes back and it seemed like miles, but hey that’s what we do and we love it really. Sunday Joe and Jayne came so we went to the Bridge pub for a Sunday Roast and it was Delightful, all homemade and not very expensive. We didn’t have a dessert as Joe and Jayne liked the sound of the Mashed buffalo Ice-cream so we went and had some of that they thought it was Delicious too.

On Monday I was going to do some washing so I put on the machine hadn’t told Richard, so when  turned the engine off when we got to the first of the Napton Locks, the inverter, thats this magic box that turns the engine power into Electric for the Telly and Washing Machine bleeped and went off, I don’t think it had made enough magic power to run the machine without the help of the engine, so we thought we hadn’t better go on, with lights a flashing and beeping on the magic inverter thingy, so we reversed from the water tap back to a winding hole ( that’s a turning round place for thems that don’t know) and went back to Napton Narrow Boats to see if we could plug into the mains Electric to see if it would sort out the magic inverter thingy, the lads that were working said I’m sure it will be o.k. to come and do that, but then this miserable old git comes from out of the office, and said we ain’t got time for this and sent us packing, we were going to pay, but he was far too busy !! anyway the poor working blokes couldn’t apologize enough, but it wasn’t their fault they offer a repair service so how were the poor blokes to know otherwise, anyway we called Amber Boats and Steve said he would be out the next morning to sort it, as we weren’t sure what to do, but come the morning, I did a bit of fiddling and it started to do it’s stuff I think it was because we switched it off for the night, so Thanks again to Amber Boats, especially Steve who would have come out again, at the drop of a hat to sort us out even though we are over two years old now, now that is  an after care service.

We sailed on down to Fenny Compton and moored at the wharf pub, it was Wednesday and the sign at the pub said live music Saturday, so we overstayed our time really but we don’t often do it, the Wharf Inn pub is super they cater for boaters brilliantly, they have a shop a laundry, free Wi Fi and they even offer Hot Baths with Fluffy Towels thrown in if you don’t have a bathroom facility. The food was good there too, as on Saturday 10^th Bethan and Chris brought

 Carys and Iwan over to see us, so they  had a lovely lunch at the pub with us, it is so child friendly and comfortable with a lovely covered terrace with soft leather sofa’s to lounge on, there are Pot Bellied Pigs in the Garden to entertain the children, (well me really) I just loved them, we had a lovely day, Carys had a great time feeding the giant carp at the Marina, see the pictures in the gallery. Whilst we were at Fenny Compton, we met up with Arthur and Freda on  nb.Puddleduck  a lovely couple and Arthur was paper boy, picking up the papers for us on Saturday and Sunday morning, we were  leapfrogging each other and mooring up at the same places until we got to Banbury, the reason they passed us on the way to Cropredy (the home of Fairport Convention Concert)as whilst trying to save the life of a baby rabbit that Rio had chased I lost another phone in the canal, so when we got to Cropredy me and Freda went in to Banbury to get a phone, maybe we will see you when we are on our way back to Market Harborough for our winter Mooring. When we got to Banbury I was able to get some proper shopping done, as we had been out in the wilds since leaving Leamington Spa, I got a haircut, some  tinting and waxing done, Richard says I’m always refurbishing myself, “well just cos we  live on the canal I don’t have to look like a werewolf” ! Anyway got a few bargains in the sales too, things I needed, shoes, summer things!! Richard despairs off me, “the boat will sink if you carry on buying shoes all the time without getting rid of any of the others” men will never understand “We need the others” .

We were staying in Banbury a few days as I had an appointment on Friday in Tamworth, so on Thursday I stayed with Joe and Jayne we went out to one of those Sizzler pubs and had a lovely Steak, got back to the boat on Friday. As we are so close to Beth and Chris who live in Brackley, we had arranged for them to come over to see us on the Saturday so they spent the day with us and then they took us to Brackley so they could take us out to their local Indian Restaurant for a lovely meal, it was a super day and the meal was lovely so thanks Chris and Beth for taking us it was super and we will see you again along the way as we are in driving distance for you for a while yet. Sunday 18^th July

, “yes I have almost caught up again” we moored at a lovely spot by a small holding that caters in special breed pigs, and they also have moorings with electricity, so we thought we would moor up as we had not plugged in since the Magic power box inverter thing incident, so we thought it would be a good test so we did, and low and behold the charger is working the inverter is accepting outside power and everything is rosy in the electrical department. Sarah who runs it with her hubby, let me walk around with her at feeding and watering time and she told me all about the different breeds and explained all about the piglets and which Boar had fathered them and it was just lovely, the piglets were just so cute, you could eat them all up, “now I don’t mean that in a Bacon Sandwich or a sausage roll kind of way”, “but you know when you say a baby is so lovely you could eat them, well you wouldn’t really eat them, it’s just a term of endearment”  oh and they were so lovely see the pictures in the gallery. Anyway they are still alive and snorting and we liked it so much that we are going to go back to them to leave the boat for next weekend as we have appointments in King’s Lynn, so we left the piggy farm with it’s lovely piggy smell which I just adore, and Richard doesn’t mind it either, and have come to rest at Ayno, not done much of anything as it is just too hot, so just lay on the bed with barely nowt on and written this, until it cools down and then we will go out for another of our lovely walks, so  until the next time

Lots of Love

Chrissie Richard and Rio x x

p.s a couple of Happy Birthdays, my sister Jane on the 1^st and Abbi on the 10^th love from us and anyone else I may

 have forgotten, let us know x

Hello Hello

“I know Late again”, obviously having too much fun to be bothered to write, well we were feeling that way until the England team got knocked out of the world cup again yesterday 27/06/10, never forget it, It was Hayley’s birthday  too, “she has had better presents” !! Anyway we left you last time when we were heading back up the Severn. After the super time we had down Gloucester and Sharpness, and in Sharpness, we forgot to mention that we met a lovely couple up there who were also Norfolk Folk, infact they are so Norfolk they called their Boat Hodnedod, which is a Norfolk term for the Snail, which is obviously very apt for a slow wide beam narrowboat,I am so losing my marbles I think they were Jim and Jackie, if not I’m sure they will let me know, any way it was lovely to meet you we had a lovely dinner at the very reasonably priced Dockers Club down at Sharpness.

We were heading back to Amber Boats at Evesham Marina, “the wonderful home of our birth (well the boat’s anyway)“So we could safely leave me looking after the dog and the boat on the way back we moored at Eckington,as it had started to rain and we don’t really do rainy travelling “no need to” it was a lovely spot, “the one that we didn’t stay on our way down, as there was no shade (remember) in my last write up I told you about how it was so hot Richard and I were a little fractious in the heat, and had a tiny domestic about where to moor, well the people that saw us at the lock heatedly discussing it, we saw them in Gloucester and had a laugh about it, I know we are not the only boaters who have some heated discussions at hot locks!!.  Richard was popping home to pick up my Rheumatoid tablets,” sometimes we don’t always go home together as it is cheaper for one of us to go on the train instead of hiring a car, and having to put the boat in a Marina, however we did put the boat in Amber Boats as that is the home of our birth and we get to moor for free, they are just so lovely, and Richard wouldn’t leave me alone with the boat on the towpath,  it’s o.k for him as he is a bloke, Well while he was away I spent the Saturday Evening at the Evesham Balloon Fest, which was absolutely wonderful, the park by the River was  filled with the funfair, sideshows, live music, and the wonderful balloons, the balloons all took off, 20 of them which was quite a site, then the music carried on and later the balloons were picked up from their landing sites and bought back to the field for the spectacular balloons to music, which as the night was getting colder, it was a great treat, the music plays and all of the balloon folk play their firey gas to the music, I’m not sure how else to describe it, the music plays and they shoot their gas fires in the air in time, it was roaring, and noisy and also very warm which was just spectacular to see, then they had as a finale the most wonderful firework display again to music, it was a really super evening, so thanks Dave Thomas for taking me to it, and thankyou Evesham for such a wonderful free Balloon Festival. “you can watch it on you tube if you would like to take a glance at the spectacular event,or www.ballonfestevesham well I don’t think they show the balloons to music, they show them taking off the next morning Sunday 13^th June as they all went off

early in the morning, and flew over the boat which was another amazing sight, however with my cider headache, I missed most of them.

We took off on Monday 14^th June to

head on our next leg of our journey, “we’re heading for Oxford now I don’t know if we mentioned that”? Well we stopped off at Stratford upon Avon, it’s too lovely not to, and whilst we were there our friends from the North that we met in our first year of our travels (they took us through our first and longest tunnel the Harecastle) any way they had sent an email to say they were picking up their boat from Market Harborough and would like to meet with us somewhere along the way, so we called and arranged to meet at King’s wood Junction, however they are so quick that we met at Wooten Wawem, they joined us on our boat, they were having curry so they bought thiers over to ours, and I made a Risotto, we ate dinner and watched the second of England’s pitiful attempts to play football, “I can’t even begin to talk about it cos I just get so furious at the overweight,overpaid, ignorant gits that we call our national team” so I’ll leave it at that, The next morning we said bye to Ian & Anne and Steve and Joan, and said we would meet them when they were on the way back, so we had a couple of days polishing and doing boatey stuff enjoying the sunshine and chatting with fellow boaters, it really is the best summer we have spent on the boat so far, the weather has been terrific, after the previous two summers being “how could I put it absolutely  Sh#**e” well we were getting on again as we do when I had a call from our most avid reader Carole and her hubby Graham who have been following our blog from the beginning June 2008 well even before that I started writing, anyway they have now purchased their own boat and are starting to live the life, well Grahame is but Carole is only a young thing!! and still works but joins hubby for weekends and holidays, which she was doing when they called us to let us know they were out travelling and could we meet up, well how could we not, the Northern folk Ian, Anne, Steve and Joan, met us back at Kingswood Junction on the Monday 21^st

, which in the morning Richard awoke with a swollen eye and had to seek medical attention, so we went to the Lapworth doctors surgery, where they told Richard he had had some kind of bite, he got fixed up with a course of Antihistamine tablets, as we were near the railway station in Lapworth I said I would go shopping, so I hopped on a train and went to visit Joe and Jayne in Tamworth as it was only a hop, skip and a jump away. Richards eye was cleared as quick as it started so when the Northern crew came back, to Kingswood(Lapworth) he was fine and we spent another evening chatting,  the next Tuesday day we breasted up to their narrowboat to do the 21 locks of the Hatton flight, which makes it a whole lot easier to do when you have another boats crew to help you with the locks, the weather was absolutely boiling again, so as usual, “the mad dogs and us English men/women, were out doing the locks in the midday sun” but a whole lot quicker thanks to that lot, see you when we come to Blackpool guys, well we are going over to see Ian and Anne’s boat as they love doing it so much, and Ian retires next year they have bought their own which is nb.artu but as this holiday was already booked they carried on with it.

. Whilst they carried on their journey back to Market Harborough we had booked into the Saltisford Arm in Warwick, as we were going back to King’s Lynn for the Weekend, but I had forgotten that we were seeing Carole and Grahame, anyway we got to the Saltisford arm absolutely Knackered, well I was, what with the heat and the 21 Locks we had just worked, The bloke that runs the marina at Saltisford was shouting moor up the top there, there is someone up there that knows you, I thought nothing of it as I wasn’t sure quite what he had said and I just smiled and said “righto as you do!!”, so we moored up, I just took my clothes off and lay on top of the bed, feeling done in, and then it clicked what the bloke had shouted I remembered that we were meeting Carole and Grahame, so I called her, she and Grahame were in the pub across the way, so we popped over to meet them, I didn’t know who to look for but she recognised me from the pictures on our blog, “aahh she made me feel like J.K  Rowling, the great author” she has read and followed all of our tales for the last two years and for her to see us and the boat was like a book signing at W.H.Smith” well I hope it was !!  Carole had lots of questions to ask and we hope we were able to answer them all for her and convince her that it is a wonderful life, she has a super little puppy and it is taking to the life really well, so to Carole and Grahame on Nb.Qoi (as in Carpe) good luck with the narrowboat and keep reading us. anyway another excuse for not writing was that Carole was not home to read it so I thought that was a good skive anyway she is back now so Carole this is for you, don’t work too hard x. We went home to King’s Lynn for the weekend and had a great time as Linda has got her swimming pool up and running so we had a pool party barbecue, and another sorrowfull excuse that is an England match to endure ” No I’m not even going to talk about it, you know what happened”. Came back on Monday and got ready to carry on this week’s travels, as now I am up to date today is 30^th June and I was shamed in to writing

 this piece by another of our very avid readers (Andy Lowe) now he has been following us since last year when  he helped us on the Audlem flight, on the shroppie , he was really helpful and spends his holidays from work, helping out boaters at the locks, see the photo’s in the miscellaneous section in the gallery, well he called to check where we were and we were just below the flight of locks that Andrew has holidayed at this year, he joined us for a coffee after his days locking and kindly pointed out that my last blog entry was the 7^th of June and now it was the 29^th and quite

honestly wasn’t good enough, so here I am writing this catching up, it would be so much easier I’m sure if I was writing a piece for the Mail on Sunday (other Sunday papers are available) or a magazine and getting paid for it, because like I have said before I have created this monster and now I am bound to keep it alive for our readers, but I’m really glad there are people out there enjoying it, and while you do I will, so don’t forget to send me contact’s and let me know what you think, and I really am not going to let things go for so long, as I forget things and then you lot miss out, so until the next time, I will bid you a happy week or two maybe !!

Lots of Love

Chrissie & Richard & Rio x x x