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

The River Seven and beyond

Hello Again

It’s Monday morning the 7^th June 2010

 we have just left Gloucester Docks after spending two weeks down this way, not all of them at the docks, We arrived here at Gloucester Docks on Tuesday 25^th May after another hot day of

travelling down the River seven, another first for us, after leaving the marina at Tewkesbury you go through Avon Lock which takes you on to the River Severn, which can at times be quite a trial if the weather has been very bad and rainy, but for us it was like a mill pond after all the lovely weather we have been having, so it was a lovely trip, like I have said many times before, it’s always lovely covering new ground and it certainly was, we arrived at Gloucester Docks at about 3.30pm and it was really lovely, there has been a lot of work gone on and the old historic docks have been all done up like London really with loads of flats made from the very old warehouse buildings, there is also a new shopping mall called Gloucester Quays, which I am sure when everything is finished and all of the shops are up and running will be super, but I think maybe the credit crunch may have affected some of the investments, it is a shopping mall full of outlet shops all the big names, and I wonder with all of these outlet shops that spring up all over the country, who buys the stuff from the shops that aren’t outlet shops? As these are so cheap, got two pairs of Fit Flop lookey likeys for seventeen pound a pair, which is such a bargain from my originals at 45 quid ! And I certainly haven’t noticed that the originals have picked my bottom up, or flattened my tummy any, I still have to pick my bottom up when going uphill to stop it dragging on the floor!! So maybe these others will be better, well they can’t be any worse, and at two pairs for the price of one pair of Fit Flops I think I have a bargain, as they are very comfy to wear,

When we arrived at the docks there wasn’t many boats in but as the week went on it started filling with all kinds of lovely cruisers and narrow boats, and we were invited to join in with the Three Clubs Regatta, that is Stourport Yacht Club, The Bungalow Club also from stourport, (they are called the bungalow club as they have them bungalow things to live in by the river) which seems like a perfect way to live, best of both worlds, and also Gloucester yacht Club, I didn’t see any yachts but that is what they are called ? Mostly cruisers and narrow boats, met some great people, Brett on a big Dutch Barge called Edith who was organising things, he gave us the invite as we were already there in the basin, as you can only moor for 48 hours, but with the club for only a fiver we could stay all the bank holiday weekend. Ray on nb.Babe Max invited us to the yacht club on Friday night and introduced us too loads of fellow boaters and made us feel right welcome, there were loads of activities, and on Sunday there were lots of silly games on little boats here in the basin, I will put up pictures, (oh my gosh a jet just flew over here so low  almost taking the varnish of our very cute Cratch, and almost scared the beejeesus out of both of us, Richard in his own little world driving the boat and me in mine writing this piece here in the Cratch !! )   Where was I before being rudely interrupted by the M.O.D, ah yes see the pictures in the gallery when I get plenty of G power. On the Saturday night we had also been invited to the annual Dinner at the Chinese /Thai restaurant on the Basin which was a buffet style which we had starter main and dessert for only ten pounds instead of £15.95, which was a right bargain, an a jolly lovely week, which flew by again. We left Gloucester Dock to go up the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal which was built here because ( hang on I will go get the little book  that tells me everything) ah here we are “Well it doesn’t actually say, but it was built as the River Severn was quite un navigable and always relied on the tides from the estuary so this is why they built this 15 and a half  mile length of canal, it is truly wonderful and some say 16 feet deep, which is a whole lot deeper than the canals we are used to, but this had to carry the big ship coming up the River Severn. We pootled up stopping at Frampton on Severn , one of the prettiest villages we have seen for a long time, stayed over night in the quiet beauty of this wonderful place, the next morning we went to the water tap across the canal, took everything off the top of the boat to scrub down the roof and sides of the boat, as I had forgotten to mention that in Gloucester Locks, the seagulls spend the whole time , pooing from great and not so great heights and I am sure they are laughing as they do it, they seem to be howling amongst themselves at who had the best shot!! We then pootled down the rest of the way to get to Sharpness another beautiful spot that one would never knew existed unless this is what you do, it was absolutely gorgeous, we moored just before the basin at the end as it was a beautiful spot overlooking the Severn estuary that goes off into the Bristol Chanel where we could see the two Severn Bridges that go in and out of Wales, Truly amazing views and the weather was absolutely terrific. We were staying here for a couple of days so walked miles seeing all the loveliness around, we also cycled several miles “I know it says two on the map” to Berkley Castle where legend has it that King Edward the second was murdered, it a really well kept 10^th century castle, well it was started in the 10^th century at

their are some parts of that still left in very good condition, and so many interesting things to see inside. We left Sharpness to travel back to Gloucester on Friday as Richard’s old mate Trev was coming on a visit, as he used to live in Gloucester and has always said that when we get down this way he would come a visitin, which he did, with his mat Jeremy, so we had a lovely day entertaining on Saturday, and seeing some more of the sites, lovely to see you both again. On Sunday Richard and I went for a wander around Gloucester again, we were going to climb up the top of the Cathedral, as they do tours up to the top for only 3 quid, Richard went up last week when we were here while I went round the shops, as I had pains in my hips “hope they are not going to give up on me” and I didn’t think I would make the  200 and odd steps to the top, but was o.k. to do it on Sunday but there was no trip going up there, however one of the guides around the place said we could go on a trip down in the Crypts so we did that instead, and very interesting it was too. We had a Sunday Lunch which was nothing to write home about, but hey some you win some you lose and today we set sail back up on to the Stratford from whence we came, so until the next time I will bid you bye bye.for now

Until the next time

Lots of love

Chrissie Richard and Rio

 (No I don’t mean Rio Ferdinand has joined us on our travels since being dumped from the team) Rio’s the dog isn’t he!!  x x

Visit from Down Under

Hello Again

The last time I wrote we were expecting our family from Down Under, Yes my cousin Graham and his wife Jenny were coming to us for a trip on the river and to see our boat that they had never seen only on our website, they didn’t come from Australia just to see us they have lots of visiting to do, but as he didn’t get to visit two years ago when he was here he made us a priority visit, which was lovely as it was quite a few years since I had seen them both, and how well they both looked, We had just got back from King’s Lynn on Thursday 13^th May and unpacked

 did the washing when I got a call from Graham saying that he was coming to visit us on Friday, now although we were expecting Them, we weren’t expecting them quite so soon, but it was really good as we were still in Evesham Marina which meant that they could come to the marina, leave their car safely parked in the marina, and only needed to bring from the car what they needed for the short trip that we would be making over the weekend.

Friday we got tidied up and ready for our visit and so at about six o’clock Graham and Jenny arrived and it was lovely to see them both again after so long, and Richard had never even met them before, but he is fine with anyone so they got on great. We had fish and chips on Friday night and settled them down for a well earned rest, they had driven from Manchester that day and so they were shattered so we had quite an early night for the visitors from Oz, well Jenny went to bed Graham can talk for Australia and stayed chatting until midnight. Saturday we sailed to Stratford which was about an eight hour journey but the weather was fantastic for them, “especially as we had been having such bad weather only a couple of days before”.

We spent the night on the boat chatting and catching up, eating the wonderful curry that Jenny had prepared along the way, with a little help from me of course! Sunday we had a mooch around Stratford, there was plenty going on around the place and the weather was perfect, in the evening we went to the oldest pub in Stratford, for a Sunday roast, and for the price it was really super, all homemade and plenty of it, Monday we sailed back to Evesham to get Graham and Jenny back to the marina, and on their way to their next destination, which was off to Joey and Jayne’s.

It was great to see you both and hope you enjoyed your trip with us; I know we enjoyed having you both, so farewell to them both until their next visit, and enjoy your two week trip around the med x. The next day, Tuesday we left Evesham marina and sailed down to Pershore, which is just as lovely as we remembered it from our first trip here when we first had the boat almost two years ago, the weather is absolutely boiling hot but we have got a lovely mooring under the trees on the park here in Pershore. Wednesday we started to do a bit more work, as Richard had done all the touching up in the painting department, I was going to do the varnishing, so after Richard had rubbed my Cratch down and prepared it, I put a couple of coats of varnish on it, although it still looked really good after two years, it seemed a bit dry and needed a couple of coats, so now it looks even grander than it did before.!! The next day I varnished the seat on the back deck so now we look really good, well we think so.

 We are moored right opposite to a swans nest, which with the binocliars!! We could watch the eggs hatching although they were hidden from my Camera, it was Pat on nb. Guppy who is moored in front of us, that told us they were hatching, we counted five on Thursday night, and then on Friday morning Mum and Dad swan bought out the 6 Signets to show the world and they were just so cute and cuddly (see the pictures in the wildlife section) although they were keeping them close to the nest.

Saturday night Richard and I had booked a meal in Whistlers, which is a lovely restaurant in Pershore with a balcony, where you can sit and watch the world go by, and also it overlooks Toyah (It’s a Mithtery) Wilcox’s house which also made good viewing as she was seen leaving the house in the early evening another claim to fame!!.

Sunday morning another gloriously sunny day and we awoke to the dragon boat contestants that were taking part in the all day long event that has been going on today here in per shore and here we are right in the middle of it , with ring side seats, so to speak. Horror of horrors, poor Mum and Dad swan have lost four of their babies, how sad.... we woke this morning to find only two baby swans with mum and dad, we thought at first that as the river was so busy that some of the babies had chosen not to come out with mum and dad, but after checking all day, it turned out that she had lost the other four during the night, and they just accept it and get on, it was so sad for us and for Pat on nb Guppy. Monday morning 24^th May and we are setting off for

our next destination, we said our goodbyes to all of the other boaters we had chatted with over the weekend and set off for Tewkesbury, it was boiling hot again, in fact quite unbearable for me, so after a couple of hours we thought we would moor up, I didn’t like the mooring at Eckington, as it was right in the sun with no trees for a bit of protection , so we went on with Richard moaning at me as it was now even hotter, we carried on and unfortunately had to travel the whole way to Tewkesbury as the River Avon is no good for moorings, there was a nice pub on the way, but it had let its moorings go to rack and ruin and we were unable to pull in there,  " there was a gorgeous mooring out the back of Toyah's house that backs on to the river, and it has a waterpoint, so if she was my mate we could have moored there!! so if you are reading this Toyah be my mate" !! so we carried on  to our destination, and arrived at about 3.30pm both feeling a little fractious with the heat, but we soon get over it, and got our bikes down and had a lovely cycle through Tewkesbury, which was lovely as we were creating our own breeze, today 25^th May we

 are setting off for Gloucester, just 

 washed the bedding and taken it to the launderette to dry, This Marina’s site,  is really lovely, we stayed here last time we were in this area two years ago, almost.

So until the next time

Lots of love

Chrissie Richard and Rio x x

ps. to Everyone that has had a birthday this month happy birthday I am not certain but I think it is Carys and I know Mia had a birthday, Lisa had her birthday on the 7th and Tracy has a birthday on the 30th of May, so lots of love from us x x

Hello Again

Thought I better get Writing as the time has flown by again and you must be wondering what we are up to, Just been to check and it’s not as bad as I thought, it was the 28^th April the last time I wrote

so that’s not so bad, but we are still here in Evesham as we were working on the boat, you know Touching up the paint work spring cleaning and then I saw another new boats windows, and thought that we would love to have them, when I say windows I mean doors, well when I say doors I mean sort of glass doors in the side doors so that when we have them open when the weather is cold outside we can still have the sun and the warmth too. Now if that makes no sense to you check out the boaty pictures in the gallery and I will put a picture of before and after and it will all become a whole lot clearer.

Although we have been working Richard and I have still been managing to get out and about on our bikes, now after getting lost and going on dangerously big roads I plotted a course for us and Oh what a difference it makes if you know where you are headed, so last Sunday, no the Sunday before we had Sunday lunch in a gorgeous little village Fladbury, miles away but such a safe and easy way to go when planned correctly, I got a map off the computer and it makes such a difference when you are not lost!. The day before on Saturday 1^st May whilst cycling in to Evesham and the shops we saw that there was a massive rowing competition going on, so we went to the shops did our shopping and got a picnic and went and watched, I had never seen such a massive regatta, “I suppose it’s because of the river that is here” well I supposed it would be they couldn’t do it without!! But it was new to us, so we thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, never had we seen so many long boats of a different kind to ours. We had a visit from Joey and Jayne, the weather was pretty miserable so we stayed in the boat with fish and chips.

It’s been really cold, we went to king’s Lynn on Thursday for a week as it was time to visit all our beautiful grandchildren again, and also we had a birthday party to go to, Richards friend Rick was 60, he didn’t know we were going to be at the party so we had to tell him that we were going home on the Monday, and so on the Tuesday the day of the party we were creeping around King’s Lynn in case he saw us and ruined the surprise, anyway it was a great night, so congratulations Rick, great to see you again.

We came back to the boat today still a freezing cold wind is blowing so can’t wait until this weather changes for the better, we might have to stay in the Marina here for a couple more days as my cousin is over from Australia and he is coming to join us for a few days, so we thought we would take him to Stratford as it is such a pretty trip, and Everybody that comes to England likes to visit Stratford so that’s what we will do, will write all about it when he’s been, so as you may notice this is a bit rushed just to bring you up to date with what’s “occurring” as Nessa would say “ check out the gallery for our latest pictures and see you next time, with hopefully more tales of travelling.

Bye for now

Lots of love

Chrissie and Richard x x

Bye to Stratford and off to Evesham

Oh we are lucky folk, we left for Evesham on Monday 19^th April in Glorious

Sunshine, after spending another lovely weekend in Stratford we were going to leave on the Saturday but as we had Joey and Jayne visiting we stayed, and had a lovely day just messing about on the river, unfortunately Joey got himself a parking ticket, as when they came into the car park, they could see how close we were and we went over to meet them and you know how it is people just forget,(especially when you are his age !!) so when they left at six they were lumbered with a ticket for £50.00, which turned out not to be so bad, as if they pay it in 14 days they get half price=£25.00 and if they had actually paid for Parking it would have been =£12.00 so all in all it was really only a fine of £12.00 which aint so bad, after Joe and Jayne left we were tidying up and getting ready to watch BGT ! we had a knock on the door, it was our neighbours from our Market Harborough winter moorings Joe and John from nb.Acen so we had a cup of coffee and a catch up outside in the warmth of the beautiful evening sunshine, Then we thought we might leave Sunday but we decided to have a lie in take it easy and stayed.

Monday we were only going to go half of the way to Evesham which would have taken us to Bidford, but as the weather was just so warm and glorious we decided to carry on, we had forgotten, or maybe not taken in last time we came this way just how absolutely tranquil and beautiful this river was the last time, It turned out really well as the next couple of days although sunny had a really cold wind so we were glad we had done it all on Monday. It was lovely to get back to Evesham the home of our birth (well the boats birth) and see all of the lads again who are always so helpful, Richard has cleaned and painted the engine room and I washed the roof, there is a lot of touching up to do so we hope to get it all done, also I have decided after seeing the new nb Badgers Drift and the lovely Wayne and Paul showing us onboard, I have decide to have glass doors fitted to our side opening doors so that in the winter we can have the sun shining through but keep out the cold, so that means we will be here for over a week as we have to wait for the new doors to be delivered and fitted. We have spent this week working on the boat and visiting the town which is in walking distance, On Tuesday we took Rio to the vet as he was wincing when he scratched inside his ear, he has a little scratch inside it so £51.00 later he is fixed with antibiotics and some nystan liquid drops. Richard took his bike in to the bike shop to get it fixed on Wednesday as he was all punctured up from our last jaunt on the canals, he had fixed my punctures, but we couldn’t get his inner tubes, so the shop sorted him out and we are both up and running again. (Wednesday Afternoon I had a call from an old friend who has discovered us on facebook, Pauline Morrison(as was from Tywyn) came to visit us at the Marina as she lives not far away from Evesham and had read that we were here, she came with her husband Jeremy and we had a lovely time chatting over tea and biscuits, lovely to see her again after gosh, it must be twenty odd years since I last saw her, “wasn’t so pleased with the photo’s she put on facebook tho( well she wasn’t to know that I only allow pictures on there that have been thoroughly vetted and where some of my chins have been lifted up, and  the wrinkles not showing too much !!!)  “ well don’t you all”?

The weather has been terrific and we have been on some super walks, it is blossom time here and with all of the fruit orchards that seem to be everywhere we walk it is just gorgeous, Saturday afternoon we went to the Tourist Info centre to get some more info on walks or bike rides, so the very helpful lady suggested we went on a blossom trail, I think we went the wrong way as we ended up cycling down the A46 heading for Oxford I think !! so we got off and went to a lovely pub for a cool glass of cider and to reassess our route, but decided to go to Morrison’s and back home as it was too hot. Sunday started a little gloomy but the sun kept appearing and it was still warm so whilst the gloom was on I thought I would stay in bed and write this blog and put up some photo’s, so I started and got half way through when Richard came through to me saying quick get up someone wants to look at the boat, well I love showing the boat off but I was relaxing, anyway they went off round the marina for half an hour whilst I got up, showered made the bed and made everything look ship shape for a lovely lady who thought the open day was at Ambers Marina here, but it was in their Sawley branch which is on the river Soar in Nottingham, Well she came on board and absolutely loved the boat as much as we did so it was worth getting up, just to be reminded of how lucky we are to have such a lovely boat. We decided to go get ourselves a Sunday lunch somewhere, so took off on our bikes, no sooner had we got on the road than it started to shower a little so we went in to the first pub we came across, we went in to the Crown hotel that was along the Riverside and went round the back to park our bikes, we thought that the garden looked a little untended but thought maybe it would be sorted for the summer season, went in through the back door which looked a little shabby and in through the dining room, where there were quite a few people having a Sunday roast, Richard said he was going to order, but I always like to ask the diners how lunch is, so I said to a table of diners how was the meal and the bloke that came over to pay the bill, must have seen the worried look on my face and he said the Lunch tastes a whole lot better than the decor gives it credit for!! So that was it, “moral of the tale, don’t judge a book by its cover”, unfortunately I do, especially when it comes to dining, but having said that a lick of paint certainly wouldn’t go a miss, it seems a shame that someone could lose business because of their appearance in these credit crunch times, cos if there were no diners in there I certainly would not have gone in. But the meal was all home cooked produce and real rice pudding for pud at a very reasonable price. After lunch we decided to go on another bike ride not sure where we were heading, but again ended up on the busy Worcester road, we really must invest in an O S map of the areas, we ended up going about 73 miles, but it was lovely, as we ended up going through some of the wonderful blossom trail that we were looking for the previous day, so by the time we had dragged our bikes up a public footpath through the woods and over the golf course,to get off the busy Worcester Road (well that’s where the signs for the Wychavon Way took us)  well it can only do us the world of good, and if I stopped eating lard and chocolate, it would get me in to some kind of shape.

Well that’s enough for now, I must get up I have stayed in bed to finish this today and it’s 10.30 so I must get up and show willing, Richard is still titivating the engine room, mind you it does look lovely and clean now.

Bye for now

Lots of Love

Chrissie & Richard & Rio x x

Ps. Our most Avid reader, my cousin Pauline (she’s Welsh you know) had a great big birthday to celebrate this week, yes she hit the big..... “Ooh I don’t think I’m aloud to say” anyway she is almost as old as me and I’m no spring chick !! So Happy Birthday Pauline, and maybe we will catch up for a drink someday soon x x

Messing about on the river

Hello again and how time flies when you are having fun, We left you last time when we were heading for Stratford and the locks were not open, well they opened on Friday 26^th March so we

were able to travel down through them and we got here late on Friday, well quite late for us as it was  gone 6pm it was gloomy and raining and the locks although narrow were really tough, ( oohh hang on there’s a parade coming over the green must go and watch)get back to you later !!.....................Sorry it took almost two weeks to check on that band, like I say it’s cos we Are busy having fun, We love it here on the river, Well we arrived here on Friday the 26^th March after a right

struggle with those locks, “don’t remember them being that tough last time when we came this way almost two years ago”

Well we were nearing Stratford and I had an apparition appear before my very eyes “a bloke in 15^th century dress, sort

of felt trousers, a very odd looking jumper type smocky top thing and a real strange hat with feathers sticking out of it, well I thought to myself “ whoooaaa that’s a freaking ghost but I’ll not tell Richard incase he thinks I’m a nutter (oh he already does that) so I spoke to the ghost and said “hello are you really a ghost or am I just imagining you” No he said I have just finished working at Mary Arden’s house I finish at four, “I really am a nutter Mary Arden’s house is one of the Stratford attractions (she was Shakespears Mum) sometimes I worry about me !!!

Well on Monday 29^th March I took in a

bit of the culture and went with Sally and Maggie to see Romeo and Juliet at the courtyard theatre, again it’s so much more understandable when you are a grown up, and I am !! (the original theatre will not be ready until 2011 due to repairs and restorations) We have been on the canal basin  for several days as the river is up due to the rain we have had, so we are unable to go on to the River Avon, with the boat that is, we have been walking it most days to check on it, it is just so beautiful and the weather is too so I don’t know why it’s still up so high, The weekends here have been gorgeous sunshine and it’s like being on summer holiday with all of the tourist’s, who we are always showing around the boat, I could have opened up a stall and sold tea and scones I would have made a fortune, all  you have to do is add the name Shakespear and it sells a fortune so if I put a sign up saying shakespears narrowboat, the Japanese tourists would believe it, the foreign tourists are always asking if we do boat trips and, they just climb on board the back deck and have their photo’s taken without so much as a bye your leave, whether we are on board and eating a meal, but I feel if we have our doors open then they are bound to think we are a showboat, and we just love showboating, well it is a lovely boat. As we were still stuck here I decided to go back to King’s Lynn for a short visit to see all of the grandchildren.

Came  on to the River Avon on Monday  and took the short journey up the other way on the River to Maggie and Pete’s house, they have a mooring and we moor along side, I did dinner for them last night as they had done one for us last week and again for Richard whilst I went to King’s Lynn, so we had a wonderful night and as usual I do amaze myself with my culinary skills, Pete doesn’t have sugar in anything so I had to cook accordingly, so the dessert I created from coconut milk fresh pineapple, (which I roasted) cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom pods to add to the taste, it was just wonderful, but instead of it setting in the little ramekins that I like to make my desserts in ( yes Jayne still using them) as I had mixed the whole concoction with gelatine so that they would set in to beautiful set things, well they didn’t, I think there is some enzyme in fresh pineapple which doesn’t allow the gelatine to set (well that's my excuse and I’m sticking to it,) however the coconut pineapple slop went down a right treat ( well who is going to say to your face “that’s a load of slop” so I never worry about serving it) we are here at Tiddington for a few days as Richard is helping Peter to paint the fence, and then we will be making our way down to Evesham so hopefully I will not be too distracted and may write sooner than I did last time, met loads of lovely people along the way, Jackie and Mike of  nb Wordsworth a lovely couple who we hope to meet along the way again, and met up again with Simon and Pauline off  nb.Empire Queen who we met almost two years ago, I apologize to Simon as Richard was introducing him to me as Kevin, It’s his age you know, see you when we are passing.

Until the next time

Lots of love

Chrissie & Richard and Rio x x x

Pictures to follow, back in not much power country, and also my sister Sharon had a birthday on the 8th April so happy birthday Shar from us, wont mention your age !!

Hello Again

Now I know we still have at least one reader she called us today, it was Carole one of our avid readers and her husband Graham, they are looking to live this life and are looking for a boat, so they are going to a Marina on Saturday and wondered if we would be in the vicinity so that they can come and have a  have a chat  with us about boatey things, “that’s what we boaters do”, Richard and I used to love chatting to other boaters before we took to the water and if we could get a look on other peoples boats and chat about their lives we would have done it every week, any way Carole and Graham I hope you can get down to Stratford on Saturday it would be lovely to see you but if you can’t then see you when we do. It would be lovely if all of our readers send us a contact message now and again just to let us know you are really out there !!

I wrote last on Sunday the 14^th March

when we were stopping for Sunday lunch at the Moorings “that’s the pub we stopped at Leamington Spa, had a lovely lunch and stayed there the night and then on the Monday we sailed to Saltisford, which I have written about before, it is in Warwick but it is just a little arm where you can moor safely and plug in to the shore power, however it was pretty packed and we were moored abreast of “nb.Nobby” , now moored abreast of too those that don’t know means you are moored abreast of another boat of course !! well it means climbing on to and over the other boat, but Ian and Alison were lovely, Richard went home to King’s Lynn on Tuesday for a few days so I stayed with the boat and the dog, when I am on my own I am a little afraid to go too far on my own up the canal, it’s probably o.k but I don’t go too far, but I asked Ian off “nb Nobby” if I could walk with him and his dogs Katie and Bandit the next day, well he walked my hind legs of but it was a real lovely walk we went all the way back to Leamington Spa up the canal and then followed the river back in to Warwick where you come out by the Castle and then walk back through the town to the boats at Saltisford, about 64 miles all together, but I managed, the next day we went a different way and ended walking the Warwick race course, a shorter walk only about 40 miles, but lovely to see abit of the place, so thanks Ian for taking me.

Richard came back on Friday with a lovely surprise gift for me, which was a new Lumix Camera the TZ7 version, which has a more powerful zoom than the one I lost in the canal, that one was x10 and this one is x12 so when I put up some new pictures you will be able to say if they are any better, “thanks again Richie” Saturday Richard stayed with the boat and dog whilst I caught a train to Tamworth to go to Joey and Jayne’s for Kimberley’s eighteenth birthday party, they had a Marquee in the garden, it was a lovely do’ and I stayed with them for the night. I will put up the pictures when I get some big power.

 On Sunday 25^th Stuart and Emma, who

were also at the party, took me back to the boat closely followed by Joanne and Andrew who were coming to stay with us for the night and then help us up the Hatton flight of 21 locks, Stuart and Emma went to the castle and home after having a cup of tea and some cake, but Jo and Andrew with puppy Molly walked the flight with us on Sunday afternoon and we had lunch at the Waterman Pub at the top, don’t know if the sight of all those locks scared them, but they stayed anyway, so we had a couple of glasses of wine and a few games of the card game monopoly, “that I did tell you about in another entry” a lovely night.

Monday morning Andrew took the car and Rio to the top of the locks and then jogged back down, by which time we were ready for the off, and the rain held off whilst we did them, we were just heading into the first lock when another narrow boat came along and joined us, who also had two crew as well as the driver, so I had it very easy, Joanne had lunch ready for us when we stopped at the top and after eating they went on their way home, back to the rat race that is London !! thanks  alot Jo and Andrew.

Since then we have just been taking it very slowly to reach where we are today back at Wooton Wawen “we were last here in July 2008 when we first set out if you want to read about it” I have got a hair appointment for the morning which was lucky as my hair seems fine one day and then the next it’s as if it’s grown far too long over night and I am desperate to get it cut!! There is a little complex of shops right next to the canal which is where the salon is, so I will be sorted tomorrow, then we will take off to the start of the locks that are closed until 4pm tomorrow the 26^th which will take

us in to Stratford and you will know what happened there last time we were there? Yes I broke my toe “not used to the boat then” anyway enough for now, so until the next time.

Take Care

Lots of Love

Chrissie Richard and Rio x x