Day Thirteen – grumpy like a heron…

This morning I wake up in a right mood. I don’t know why but I’m really pissed off. In my younger days I would have tried to find a reason for it but with age I’ve realised sometimes you can just be grumpy and be a bit pissed off for no reason and like a storm, you’re best not to fight it but just let it run its course.

It’s a shame as I was really looking forward to this stretch as it’s so beautiful. After spending a long time at a lock helping people going up and down before we head in, I sit on the bow ((front of the boat)) I just paused here to go and read a sign as the Captain couldn’t see it. Why do the CRT make some signs with tiny writing on them. By the time you can read it, you’ve pretty much arrived into the area they are warning you about and it’s not just that we are old and cannot see. Please make the signs bigger!

Where was I, oh yeah, I sit on the bow and take in the quiet lapping of the water, nature going about it’s day and think about the beautiful holiday we are on, but I’m still pissed off. Oh well, such is life and I eventually get over it.

We got up early this morning to try and get to the Willington area and to the lovely mooring and the co-op. Also, we have been trying without much success to meet up with a group of friends. You wouldn’t think it would be difficult to say a day/time to meet but it all depends on the time to do locks, today I think I ended up helping most of the boaters down the locks, I think I did each lock about 3 times. All good for the muscles and means I can enjoy that chocolate twist at Starbucks without guilt, I missed the road/canal side Starbucks when we came up the river so thought I would have a little treat.

When we arrive at Horninglow facilities we do some epic ropework if I do say so myself. The captain reversed it and when we were ready to go, we pushed out the stern as we’d already reversed stern in as it’s a really tricky place to get in and out of. Then I grabbed the centre line and bow line and pulled/steered them as the Captain turned the boat and we got it out like we knew what we were doing. No revving, no crashing, just on we go. If you use these facilities I can highly recommend using the rope technique it really is so much easier and stops that pesky gust of wind pushing you at the crucial moment.

We don’t make it as far as we find a nice mooring and we decided a firm rule for our boating is if we see a nice spot then stop and chill for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow it’s the big cleaning day!