TRIP REPORTS

SUMMER 2005
Our last long cruise in Felis Catus II

Part 1 : Week-ending from Uxbridge to Cowroast

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We'd done almost no cruising in 2004 because of illness. In the Spring of 2005 we had a few mainetenance jobs done on the boat before taking her to Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice.

From there we were heading north via a final visit to our mooring for many years at Hillingdon Canal Club, Uxbridge, Our plan for the Summer was to work the boat up to Ashwood (on the Staffs & Worcester), where Felis Catus III was already taking shape, then use that location as a forward base for the Summer's cruising, which would include the Grand Internet Get-together at Stafford Boat Club and the National Waterways Festival at Preston Brook.

By the Autumn, we'd move onto the new boat and put FC2 on the market.

The first long weekend

Wendy came up from home, and I followed from the Museum. We had a chat with Linda & Dennis Anfuso on Tug Anne, then went to see the puppet barge performance of Macbeth - very concentrated - they even cut the porter.

We set off at 7:50 and stopped at Sainsbury's, Kensal Rise to provision and at Willow Tree Marina for a pump-out and to buy gas. We reached our H.C.C. mooring at 17:37 and had a drink with Gary and a chat with Debbie (who's now the Harbourmaster) about our future movements. The Bar didn't open in the evening.

We moved up to the clubhouse mooring, took on water and had a chat with a chap from one of the cruisers. We made a later re-start than we'd planned because we wanted some bits from the chandlery, which didn't open until 11:00 on a Sunday. There was a VE Day lunchtime barbecue at the Club, but we decided not to stay for it. We finally set off at 11:39. I did all the locks, as Wendy's eye trouble meant she wasn't confident getting off the boat. In the first three locks, a boat running ahead of us kept forgetting to wait. We picked up a partner at Black Jack's. At Denham we crossed Barry Holland heading south to explore the Upper Thames. We tied up before Frogmoor wharf, Ricky at 16:01and had an evening chat with Henry & Linda from Trinity, moored next to us. They'd been at Cavalcade and are BCF members. Excellent birdsong

We made a leisurely start at 10:33, partly because we needed to catch up on sleep (still owed some from election night), and partly because we tried to contact Roger who was going to do an oil change, but we found he was crocked with a broken rib. We found ourselves running single all day. At Ironbridge lock, rain began to threaten so we decided it was time for a rest and some lunch. We moored above Five-paddle lock at 17:45. As before, we found that once we were past the bend the mooring was rather silted and we had to moor arse-out. We'd had good birdsong all trip, but not seen any sparrows. We did see some fine cats - in particular a red tabby at one of the Watford locks and a pompous black cat at Hunton Bridge bottom.

Up early (although Wendy didn't think so) to catch the 06:38 train home.

A short "weekend"

We originally planned to come up on Saturday but I was feeling under the weather. Then on Sunday we got involved with other things at home (including Sudoku), so didn't arrive until quite late in the day. At 17:51 we decided to set off to a better mooring for a barbecue, and found one that fitted the bill aboveKing's Langley lock at 18:25. While mooring, the head flew off the lump hammer and disappeared into the cut. I failed to find it with the magnet and guessed it had sunk deep into soft ooze. We managed to get the mooring pins into some very hard ground with an ordinary hammer, and went on to set up the barbecue. The latter was in a sorry dilapidated state since we last used it, nearly two years ago, so we decided we'd need to replace it. We though we'd stop at B&Q in Hemel to replace both the lump-hammer and the barbecue. There was good birdsong at the mooring, including finches, and on the water there were some very small ducklings and cygnets.

Up late. Wendy walked into the village for a newspaper, and bought the penultimate copy of the Guardian at 08:15! The village has a butcher boasting wild rabbit, a delicatessen with organic veg, a baker, and other less noteworthy shops. I did the previous night's washing up and started preparing breakfast. We set off at 10:44 Mike thought I remembered a B&Q or similar near Apsley Sainsbury's, and as we worked through Apsley bottom lock, we could see a Homebase. We tied up at Sainsbury's and I went off to Homebase and got a better (folding) barbecue and a 4lb lump-hammer. While I was assembling the barbecue Wendy went to Sainsbury's for bin liners and also found some rubber wedges to stop the rear hatch-lid from rattling. By this time it was raining so we decided to wait a while and see if it stopped. Finally the rain stopped (for a while) and we set off, reaching the top of Fishery lock at 19:45. As we came though Fishery lock, it was wiering over both ends, and the chap from the residential mooring asked us to leave the lock open as the land on his side was flooding. We moored just above the lock for supper, planning to go home from here early in the morning.

Home by the 06:19 train.

Another "weekend"

We arrived from home and set off at 11:48. The fridge behaved reasonably well, by its own standards. The flora & fauna were gratifyingly attractive and the weather warmer than forecast. We dtopped at Winkwell boatyard for a pump-out. Wendy made a dog's breakfast of coming in to the mooring, in part because it was far from obvious where we ought to go and in part because of a crosswind which made it difficult to reverse into position outboard of another boat. They gave us a discount for having a small holding tank. From Winkwell top to Bourne End we shared locks with David & Rosamund Rowe on Dregs +, until they stopped for lunch. I had a quick chat with Julian Tether as we went past his mooring.

We met an enormous group (several hundred youngsters with adult escorts) that looked like a 1930s Jewish Socialist Sunday School, who were doing a 22km sponsored walk for kosher food in hospitals. We stopped alongside Tiami at her mooring in Berkhamsted and had a chat with Debbi and Simon. It came on to rain. We set off again in what we hoped would be a break in the rain (it was, but not quite enough) up the last two locks and tied up to Lindy Foster Weinreb's garden. She came on board for a chat then went back into the house. The garden has beautiful irises, anemones & honeysuckle. The conservatory is bigger than before, as is the balcony of the first floor room which is now the kitchen. The whole house has been altered, even to the extent of moving the stairs, but has retained its character. We went in later in the evening for a meal with her, Brian and Mishke. Long chat with Lindy & Brian, but Mishke was busy working on an essay on Brecht, in and out with interesting questions for hours. Finally we fell into bed something after midnight. At least we weren't depleting the boat's batteries, which were still not fully recovered from the caning we gave them at Canalway Cavalcade.

Wendy went out early to buy a newspaper, but that turned out to be a long pilgrimage. She came back along the towpath and was hailed by Lindy from the balcony offering coffee. They sat out on the balcony in the sun. Later I emerged from the boat & joined them. Wendy wondered about accepting Lindy's offer of leaving the boat there until next weekend, but I said "it's a nice day, let's do some boating". Then several pairs came past (Nutfield & Raymond first). We waited in the hope of a single boat coming up the lock, but then we saw Kitty (the two Peters) starting off from the Crystal Palace mooring, so set of and joined them at Broadwater lock. We locked through with Kitty until they tied up between the two Dudswell locks to do a car shuffle. We continued to the summit. Opposite Cowroast Marina we stopped for a chat with David Daines, who arranged with Daphne, the mooring warden for us to use Mozark's mooring for the week, that boat being away until after the Wendover Festival. We had something to eat, cleared up and headed for home.