Sad days

Tuesday 1^st and Wednesday 2^nd June; Alvechurch, and home.

Cleaning, cleaning, packing and cleaning.  We did all the little jobs that have been waiting, touching up here and there, and cleaning the bits that don’t often get done such as the cupboard doors above the cooker.  We drove into Redditch to buy a set of bedding in Dunelm.  When we bought Chuffed, the previous owners had put new bedding on the bed and towels in the bathroom and galley.  It had looked so cared-for and welcoming that it was a no-brainer to do the same for our eventual buyers.  I just hope they approve of our taste!  We left it all in the car for the time being. 

I regard shopping and cleaning as tedious necessities, so I was delighted when there was activity to watch on the wharf.  Compton had been out of the water for blacking after being sold and I think it was she being returned to the water, though it may have been one of the other two out on the hard - I had to zoom in for the pictures, then crop them.  The area was fenced off from the public, of course.

 

Up.....

 

Round a bit ...

 

 

A bit more ....

 

Straightening up.

Before the boat was lifted, the bow and stern ropes had been extended and held by two workers on the wharf as she was carefully manoeuvred and lowered.  You can see the stern rope in the picture, and a blue hard hat above the boat roofs.  I doubt the boat would have floated off, but it did have to be moved away and moored so that the next boat to be lifted out could be pulled into the slings.

 

And the next!

I had been shifting the bags of kitchen stuff and other packing into the car while Dave made the final checks down the engine hole.  It was very hot and we felt we deserved a little treat. 

No way was I going to cook and mess up my clean galley, so we drove down to the village to get fish and chips for tea.  Unusually, the chippie only takes cash, but luckily the Co-op over the road has a cash machine which Dave had to use, as did the person behind us in the queue.  We waited for our order in the alley that cuts between the buildings at the crossroads.

 

Formerly ....

The fish was good, the batter and chips ok, and the picked onions very poor.  We took the evening off and went for a walk along the towpath to the footpath that leads down into a field, then turns back on itself to pass under the canal beneath the aqueduct. 

We needed the torch on my phone to avoid wet feet, but Meg happily trip-trapped her way through the little stream which really was just a dribble.  On the other side was a path, apparently fairly well-beaten, running parallel to the canal.

The light was beginning to go, so the photo colour is a bit odd.  The path petered out in a tangle of collapsed wild rose and hedge at the field boundary, so we walked back again.

Wednesday 2^nd June; home

What was there left to do but clearing up and packing?  We thought it was important to leave the boat as we would have liked to find her.  We had made various trips to the bins for rubbish disposal and recycling, and obviously there was the car to pack up.  Poor Meg was getting anxious, as she always does when we are preparing to go away or go home.  All I need to do is put on her red boater’s neckerchief and she calms down – she seems to realise she will soon be going either to her boat, or home again.  

 

First day in charge

I took this picture on her very first trip, while we were based at Caen Hill marina on the K&A; we hadn't yet been able to get back to the main canal network after the winter as the Kennet, in flood from Newbury to Reading, prevented our next move to Froud’s Bridge near Aldermaston, so we were on our way west to Bradford-on-Avon.

Dave performed a miracle of packing with all the extra bits and pieces; though Meg had less room than usual, she just went to sleep while we travelled as she normally does.  He couldn’t manage to fit a length of plastic water-pipe in, or the awkwardly-shaped bread-bin, but they found a home with another boater doing his own fit-out. 

We double-checked that we had retrieved our own windlasses before patting dear old Chuffed goodbye and handing in the keys.  We had a pause and a hug before we drove away.  Tears?  Yes.

We don't intend to give up boating.

Chuffed will be moved to a sales pontoon, but their Covid rules mean boats are left for 48 hours before someone goes in for the valuation.

Bye for now.