Small ill boy helping his mum on her first proper trip out.
8 locks later we reached Turnerwood. At this point we were met by Sarah who had got a lift off her husband Terry. They had a look around, bought us all icecreams from the end cottage and then Sarah assisted Jaime with the rest of the 15 locks.
As you can see I was having a real hard time of it.
They did make me do the last 1 and half locks all on my own as Sarah was worried about me coming back solo. At this point we were joined by Andy and his kids who had walked down to meet us from Kiveton Park. Rob was also walking down to meet us but as I told him it was about 10mins walk he stopped and sat on a bench after 10 mins and read the paper until we found him. Probably a good idea as Andy had said it actually took them half an hour!
We were following two boats up and Dream Catcher from the Marina kindly lent me their gas spanner at Turnerwood so when it started raining and we had Rob on board he immediately made us all a hot cup of tea and the boat did not explode. Andy had brought a bit of bubbly which went down very nicely indeed. Dream Catcher had also booked a table for 5 at the Station Inn - they do Italian night on a saturday so they squeezed Rob and I in on their table in fact there were 8 of us in the end. Terry came and fetched Sarah back with the pickup so he took Jaime and the bike home - this was a godsend as it was pelting it down by this stage and small boy was drenched and you must remember not all that 'how' to start with. I am very pleased indeed that he helped.
Rob and I spent the night on board and the mattress is comfortable and you can't feel the join at all.
We reversed up towards the tunnel the next morning but it started to rain and he had to go home to put his motorbike back together before he goes to France on it in a fortnight. My solo trip started at 11.30.
First lock of course is a triple!
I did 13 all on my own and stopped just above Turnerwood at 3pm. Felt a bit isolated as no signal, no tv, no computer, no one to talk to. I could and did eventually do some cleaning, lit the fire and read a book. Went to bed at 8.30 and read there before having a fantastic sleep.
Today did 10 locks ably assisted by a man who was passing just as I was setting off. Eventually we put his bike on the front and he helped do about 6 of the locks so my solo boating today wasn't really. I even let him steer!
Arrived back at the Marina at 12pm. Went to B&Q got some stuff like towel rails, looroll holder etc and fitted them myself. Also got CO detector and Smoke Alarm. Not sure if I need them for the Surveyors visit tomorrow but I need them anyway.
Am now officially pooped.
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