Friends old and new

0 Locks, 5 Miles, 1 Tunnel. Now moored at Brinklow.
590 locks, 745½ miles, 19 Tunnels, 37 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Last night Alan and Joy took us to Pizza Hut for dinner as a treat. It was very nice to dine out for a change. Thanks guys. What with the coffee we shared with Les on N/b Valerie on Wednesday night we have done well this week by being spoilt.

Today was the day for Alan and Joy to leave us and head off to London in readiness for their flight to Holland tomorrow. After we had walked up to the bus stop to see them off we went to Tesco’s for a few bits and pieces. As we needed to do some washing we decided to cruise up to Brinklow where we hoped to catch up with Mike and Liz on N/b Snecklifter. We knew they were in the area and Andy on N/b Khayamanzi was also reported to be returning to Brinklow Marina in the next day or so.

Just after bridge 34 we spotted 2 moored boats and the second boat was Mike and Liz so we pulled in ahead of them and moored up. After a chat we had lunch and then I decided to wash the boat as the 3 weeks on the Thames left the hull sides looking very muddy even though I had washed the boat several times since. After closer examination it appears that the power of the dirty water surging around the bow had in actual fact grit blasted the blacking off the boat. Only one thing for it but go and get the blacking paint out and re black the port side of the boat. The starboard side will have to wait until I can turn the boat around tomorrow morning and weather permitting, other wise it will have to wait until we find another suitable mooring as we have to move down to Clifton Wharf on Sunday for a busy Monday.

While chatting with Liz the topic got around to phones and the internet. Recently we had the mis-fortune to drop my phone into the canal. We did retrieve it quickly but not quick enough as water had got into the workings and ruined it. Liz said that she had several old phones from upgrading hers several times. She subsequently found an old Nokia and bought it over and bingo my phone is now back up and running. Thanks Liz you’re a gem.

As I sit here writing this blog I became aware of a narrowboat going past. I looked up to see Andy and his father, Brian on Khayamanzi. I yelled out “Hi Andy” only to receive a puzzled look until he saw the name on our boat.

Not the best photo, hopefully we'll meet up again for a better one.

Andy did a quick stop alongside Snecklifter and we all gathered on Snecklifter gunnels talking across the roof to Andy and Brian sitting mid stream in the canal. Just as well it wasn’t the motorway. After catching up on all our trips, trials and tribulations with recent flooding and a quick photo shoot, Andy had to head off as both his father and he had some miles to cover by car to recover Brian’s car and then get home. We finally got to meet this illusive character after several attempts. It’s nice to put a face to a name after all this time. After all this time it was great to finally meet Andy.

Received an email today from Adam on N/b Debdale who passed us yesterday, nice to meet up with one of our readers and hopefully we will meet again sometime on the cut.