Day Three – Hazelford Lock to Gunthorpe Lock – Friday 21st July

8.30 am

I’m chilling out doing a few social media posts when I hear a familiar noise coming from the shower pump! It’s all hands to the deck and our new system of ‘knowing where everything is’ has worked well and we soon have a torch and screwdriver to hand with a hammer lurking in the background if we encounter any serious issues.

About five minutes later and calm has returned after topping up the swear jar. Something or other got stuck. For those who have read my blogs or watched my YouTube vlogs will know this isn’t our first rodeo with this shower pump! I’m quite impressed we have made it to day three before anything has decided to break – I think this is probably a new world record. ((Ohh let’s contact The Guinness Book of Records and see if we can break a boating record!))

Anyway, it’s back to calm and tranquility as we go for a wander up to the facilities and see if the lockie is on yet. Alas the lockie is nowhere to be seen. After loitering around the lock as I sit and upload some social media as I suddenly have a strong signal. The one thing which has surprised me about being a writer is how much time I spend doing everything other than writing! Well, I suppose technically I am writing a post to promote my books but still. Good job I love social media. We walk back to the boat and do a bit of faffing – as I have said before if you’re not a faffer I don’t recommend you buy a boat. The best thing to do in any situation when boating, is faffing!

It’s somewhere near reaching 10 am so we are going to attempt to cruise. Once we get through Hazelford Lock there is a water point so we are intending to top up the water. We have decided that whenever we come across a water point we will fill up. It might be that there is another one not far but what if we arrive at that and it’s broken or boaters are queuing up. Start as we mean to go on and fill up at every opportunity. ((Wouldn’t want you to run out of water… I mean what would you drink?)) Exactl… ((Prosecco, Rum, Baileys…)) alright! I’ve got to admit i haven’t touched a drop of fizz since I went out with the marina lot and discovered the swaying of the boat has a negative result on the stomach!

10.55 am

Sitting at the Dinette with a coffee. Well! We set off at rather a quick rate as we realised someone else was going through the lock and it makes sense not to empty and fill massive locks like the ones on the river Trent multiple times if you can share it. This resulted in me untying the ropes at the bow thinking Chris was ready when actually he was trying to sort a worrying squeaking noise from the engine bay! Rookie mistake not to check he was ready before I untied. With the bow drifting alarming into the middle of the river we cast off. The plan was to stop for water on the other side of the lock anyway so we decided we ((You mean the Royal we don’t you Peachy because you nothing about engines do you?)) would tackle the problem on the other side.

It was a little tricky in the lock – I would suggest if you come through here on a narrowboat you use both the bow and stern ropes to hold the boat in place otherwise the bow will drift out into the middle of this very large lock. This lock has risers which you can tie the boat to inside the lock rather than chucking your rope up to tie up on the lock landing – I’ve shown them before in a previous blog.

We filled up with water, Chris tightened the fan belt which seems to have solved that issue. I saved a caterpillar and then it was off we go again. Chris forgot to put on the tiller ((HA HA – really Peachy are you two even cut out for this adventure?!)) but we soon solved that. This morning has proved that we have not tuned into to our routine of casting off and cruising. However we both remained calm(ish) and solved the issues.

It just goes to show that when I share these idyllic pictures and videos and it is exactly that at that time but as with everything in life there are stresses and problems to solve. I don’t think the stress free life exists and to be honest, how boring would it be to live just a monotone happy life all the time. I think the up’s and down’s, the challenges and trials are what makes life so interesting. ((I will remind you of that when you have your head stuck down the weed hatch one day dragging out an old pair of pants that have stuck around your propeller!))

Right… off we cruise to Gunthorpe to hopefully empty the Elsan.

14.18

We’ve been moored on the floating pontoons for about 40mins. We were lucky to get one right at the end near the bank so all nice and safe as it looks like we have bad weather for the next few days so we are staying put.

We managed to empty the Elsan at Gunthorpe which, whilst we are grateful to have the facilities they weren’t the best or cleanest we have seen. But hey ho. It did the job as they say. Our first cruising vlog will show what I mean. ((Oh the joy of it. On that alone I will immediately subscribe to your YouTube channel for the riveting video of the Elsan!))

That’s us for the day. I’m going to chill, do my jigsaw and listen to my audio book. At 3.30pm I going to chat via the power of Facebook with my book group.

Until tomorrow 😊.

Miles/Distance:  4 miles Lock: 2 (Hazelford Lock & Gunthorpe Lock– operated by key or the lockie)
Tunnels: 0
Swing Bridges: 0
Money Spent: 0
Facilities… Toilets: Yes. But the men’s was out of order and the female toilet you needed a code rather than a key. I think you can ring or get from the lockie. Since I wrote this we’ve had a notification to say the toilets are out of order due to vandalism – honestly what is wrong with people!
Elsan: Yes (bit grim but useable)
Bins :  Yes
Showers : It says there is showers but couldn’t open the doors to check.
Waterpoint: Yes – from Newark direction you go through the lock and then the water point is on the right hand side.
Mooring : The floating pontoons are gated so nice and safe. I reckon you can fit 7 or 8 boats obviously that all depends on the sizes! No electric or water points on them.
General: It’s about a 30 min walk to the train station and local shops at Lowdham where you can catch a train in Nottingham or Newark.