In which Sid and Doris hand back the boat ready for a full refresh.
Sally Narrowboats, our hire company, had originally planned for us to get up very early on Monday and drive into the marina for a 9am handover. We have decided instead to finish the trip on Sunday evening so we can chug along peacefully with much time in hand, with Sid on the locks and bridges and Doris on the helm. [Actually this is not entirely accurate. Sid is not relaxed when someone else is on the helm and keeps popping up through the hatch offering useful guidance on steering, speed, distance from other boats, and anything else until Doris requests another cup of tea simply in order to banish him to the kitchen – D.]
We get close enough to think about mooring up for lunch. The bank seems to be a mess of reeds and nettles but just before a bridge (at which the canal narrows) we get ashore and bang three mooring pins in and tie up. Sitting eating lunch Sid looks up to say that a large boat is coming past at generous speed. The pilot bounces off the bridge’s brickwork and then scrapes past us, with the wave of his wash pulling out all the pins and setting us adrift in the canal. Doris is quick to start the engine while Sid gathers in the lines, all with their pins still attached thanks to Sid’s creative and unconventional knot work. [We haven’t got any pictures because frankly, this was not the time for taking pictures – D.]
On the next boat to come past the lady helm tells us in a plummy accent that following him has been ‘rather a hoo haa’ as he has been ricocheting randomly off the canal infrastructure and other boats. It would appear that the category of boat-owners has several sub-divisions that we, as hirers, have yet to understand.
We phone ahead to book a Helm God to get Lydia into its/her home marina and onto a pontoon. Watching this we now know how to turn a boat that will not steer in reverse. Probably still needs practice.
He tells us the boat is going in for a full sandblasting and respray/repaint, which he thinks is overdue. We chose Lydia as it had a real wood and coal stove which added to the fun. Certainly there were some rusty gouges, hardly any of them ours, and the external paintwork looked very battered, but the internal engineering was well-maintained.
Would we do it again? Yes, perhaps in company with another boat to share the labour at locks and bridges. And maybe somewhere with a circular route to avoid the out and back so you are always seeing something new.
Thumbs up but not wallets open to buy one.