Saltisford on to Radford Semele

Monday, 27 September 2010 15:21

Change of helmsman on the Grand Union Canal

When we left narrowboat Petroc at the bottom of the Hatton Flight, Carolyn left us to take the car to our mooring - wherever that was to be. As a reward for all his hard work on the Hatton locks (or was it so that I could get some much needed exercise?), John took over the tiller. Though it had been a few years since he last steered a narrowboat, he took to it again as if he was born to it - at least so said a passer-by when we got to the Cape Locks.

When we went into the first Cape Lock, a team of British Waterways staff were painting the lock gates. We waited for a couple of minutes while one of them finished painting one of the top gates' rail.

The Cape of Good Hope pub in the background

Even if we had needed diesel, we would not have filled up at Kate Boats (boat building and narrowboat hire company). It is the responsibility of the boat owner, not the vendor, to declare the percentage of fuel which will be used for propulsion. HRMC would fine us not them!

We had thought about mooring in Leamington Spa, but as we were going to be leaving the boat for a few days, we decided to carry on to a rural mooring and Radford Semele fitted the bill brilliantly.

All six of us enjoyed a meal at The White Lion on Sunday before the next leg of our respective lives. Yes, you did read correctly - "all 6". Fi was given weekend leave, so was able to enjoy freedom at our "second home" for a couple of days before returning me to our first home and then going back to her "third home" - hopefully just for a few more days. If you aren't sure who the six characters are, read this and the last blog and do some detective work.