Bartimaeus

I was very late finishing up typing my previous blog and I can't blame the slow internet this time, because I was trialling using Shane's system designed to allow us to load pictures and text even when access to internet is poor  rather than the one we have used so far, which is heavily internet dependent and can be frustrating. I started late and I had a lot of pictures and needed to get used to the new system, but I actually found it easier and quicker to use. Well done Shane!

He was too tired to help me finish and publish, so we left that until the morning. I had thought we might be copying it all over to the previous system but that would have taken a very long time and probably wouldn't have worked so we decided it was time for his baby to go out into the world.

After lunch it was time for us to head off into the unknown too. The first bit we have walked before. While we were moored at the facilities at the junction taking in water  I saw a hire boat looking like it was heading straight for a wall at some speed. It took a little evasive action, but too little too late and they banged into the wall. The women sitting at the front stood up and called back "Why are we crashing?" He was saying, "did you see those amazing boats there?" I assume he had taken his eye off the water, while he stared at the old carrier boats in the basin, which he enjoyed but he hadn't slowed down going past them either. The women were obviously unimpressed, but weren't offering advice or help.  While trying to sort himself out and get back on course, he bumped into a moored boat at the other side, not as hard though. A bargepole was requested. He had a junction to negotiate so I was wondering if I should be ready to fend off as he came over, trying to turn right, but all seemed to be getting better. Credit to him that he didn't give up and that he asked people to help. 

I had been watching this while Shane was in conversation with a woman who had a boat moored nearby and was trying to work out what the facilities were. Sadly, for her, no shower. We had used the recycling bins and water. Shane used his key to let her into the toilet. By that time our tank was over full and burbling out of the tank and jetted up like a fountain when I removed the hose. Perhaps I would have paid more attention to the water if I hadn't been watching the tank rather than someone else's boat handling. 

Shane was uncharacteristically having difficulty getting through some bridges without getting scraped at one side. The boat seemed to pull over as we went through. I was noticing the bridges were numbered slightly differently. Occasionally when one is added between two others, it gets named the same as the lower number but with an A added. These had W. It was still not Wales. Shane remembered another canal where bridges were numbered East and West of a particular set of locks.

When I was driving I found I sometimes was scraping the edge a bit going through a bridge and Shane commented that these ones did seem to be catching us out. When we saw some very nice lambs I tried to swing closer to get a photo but then did a poor job of getting lined up for the bridge after and couldn't see the angle and needed a bit of last minute slowing down. I decided I needed my sun hat on if I was finding it hard to see what was going on. Once that was on I certainly would no longer be able to blame the sun for future misjudgements. At least it didn't happen when I was meeting another boat. We met a few. I waited at one where both of us were quite close, as I could see there were moored boats beyond and the oncoming boat might find it harder to wait. In fact there was another boat behind so I was glad I hadn't made two boats wait or we might have had some tricky manoeuvres and potential bumps. The boats passed cheerily and gratefully and one had a helium balloon attached to the roof saying 80 on it. 

We passed a tree with prayer flags on it. I wondered if they had been left by a boat that had been moored there, by mistake or if they had just been left for the benefit of anyone else in the world that came by.

We passed another moored boat with a lady doing yoga or tai chi on a mat on the roof. She must have been in a calm meditative state to feel relaxed balancing up there. She smiled as we passed and continued with her practice. She had a relaxed dog that didn't bark at passers by or try to jump off. Some people have boards, or gates, mesh or sheeting to stop their dog leaping or falling in. This one was chilled like her, and watching the world idly.

I can't imagine feeling relaxed doing stretching exercises on a surface that might move a little with passing boats. Shane was generally feeling relaxed and soaking in the beautiful day but he was troubled by a change in engine noise and feeling the throttle lever was slipping back as we moved. He wanted to try to look and tighten it. I was far from relaxed when he started to lift the engine cover while I  was driving. He was in my steering space and there was a going to be a big hole to fall into with a whirring hot engine in it. I shrieked. "No!". I imagine if anything had gone wrong, slips or dodgy steering, there would have been "I told you so" and  "Look what you made me do!" 

He managed to achieve what he wanted a little later but drifting without the engine on. Apart from that interlude the day was relaxing with lots of lovely things to see in beautiful sunshine. There were lots of primroses along the way.

After mooring there were swallows dipping in the water and it fairly felt like a summer evening. The 80th birthday boats passed. They had turned and were coming the same way as us now and moored nearby. On our evening stroll we passed them and they had an array of food that they offered us. We had just had our dinner so didn't partake but we wished the birthday girl a good one! We were going to look at the locks and I found a warning lying on the ground weighed down with stones. You can't say you weren't warned, even if you only spoke Welsh, but it wasn't that easy to see. I moved the stones to see it better.

I crossed the lock gate carefully in case it was still wet, but I think it had dried quickly in this weather. As we walked back we saw a hot air balloon descending. It was coming close to the 80th birthday party and they had a fire going now too, and their balloon. Some of them waved. Surely the balloon wasn't coming to them. How many 19th century modes of travel did you want in a day? It seemed unrelated, but added to the interest. As we passed I said the balloon looked harder to steer than a narrow boat. I guess it isn't aiming for a tiny space a few inches wider than itself, but it still seems an audacious undertaking.  I wouldn't want to take the risk, but it was great to watch, as was the sunset.

The next day began with locks. They were straightforward and with a stream of boats coming the other way, there was always a bit less work to do than usual. We seemed to be in Wales now, by the bilingual signage, but Shane's map said otherwise and there had been no border announcement.

It was a busy day and there was a bit of backing up at a bridge as canoes were disembarking. I always feel I want to take care around canoes. They are very agile but also very squashable. A narrow boat cannot squeeze past at these bridges. They both moved and got out of the water and stopped for a break. We met them again later just as we were mooring up. The woman in purple was speaking to them. I wondered if she knew them. But when passing, she started to talk to me, as I was preparing to get off, and asked me if I ever fell in the water while jumping off. Maybe she talks to everyone. Does she always have a safety question? I said I never had fallen in the water getting off. I had tripped on the path or slipped stepping on though. So far so good.

Funnily enough one of the women at the locks had had a conversation about safe disembarking and said she never jumped, she stepped. For a short person (and she was shorter than me) the distance that can be safely covered in a step is a lot different. You have to make your own judgement and not be hurried by someone else to get off, when it feels too far. I watched others today nearly fall in or fall over pulling the rope to pull it to the side, but both rallied and continued with the task in hand. Hopefully they weren't injured. I always remember having bruises on a canal boat holiday.