All change!

We were expecting Kantara to go back in the water on Thursday, but when I called Debdale on Tuesday I was told the job was finished and the boat would be floated again on Wednesday. What a pity, thought I. We'll have to stop decorating!

Starting out at 9:00 the next morning, hoping that the M1 rush would have finished by then, we arrived exactly as Kantara was being hauled out of the shed. She looked very smart in her new black coat.

Once she was back in the water, we paid up, loaded up with essentials, parked the car, and headed off up to the top of Foxton Locks, where we moored to fill up our almost-totally-empty water tank.

Then we bow-hauled her around the corner to a legitimate mooring, and tied up. We'd skipped breakfast, and not had any lunch either, so we strolled down to the Foxton Locks Inn for a very late brunch. Or was it lunner? The locks were very quiet. The whole site was. Vollies commented on how few boats had gone through. We had the restaurant pretty much to ourselves. There was just a handful of people at the Bridge 21 pub.

 Views from the restaurant

On Thursday morning we cast off, intent on getting back to the marina that same day. As it has been now for...how many weeks? it was hot and sunny. The heat was moderated by the breeze, and simply being on the water. And neither of us gets sunburned, so the travel was comfortable. We didn't race. We stopped for lunch. We moored at the marina in the best of Yelvertoft winds, but Grace managed to catch a critical pause between gusts, and berthed neatly.

Since we've been back, the weather has changed somewhat. Average temperatures have fallen from very silly to silly. There has been some rain. Fairly heavy, but for no more than ten minutes, only in the evenings, and generally only once per evening. Last night was an exception. After some poor attempts during the evening, it rained hard on and off through the night, and the winds were - and are still - crazy! Although the BBC call it a "fresh breeze".

Yesterday, it was temperate enough for us to wash the boat. There is no hose ban here yet, but in previous years the marina has been exempt from bans because of the perceived need to wash water-borne bacteria off boats. It sounds odd, but that's what we were told. I'm also told that our tap water is counted as a commercial supply, and is exempt anyway. That's no reason to waste it, though. The roof of the boat was the area most in need, and I tackled it by taking buckets of water up there and cleaning by hand. It took a long time, but the result is very pleasing.

I'm so glad I did that yesterday. Being on the roof today would be dangerous!

Oh good! It's looking as if it might rain again!

Life back at the house

Monday morning was time for us to leave Kantara in the hands of the team at Debdale. Just before we went, Martin, the man who was going to be dealing with Kantara, gave us a guided tour of another boat which had just finished being zinc-sprayed, and he answered a number of questions we had about the process. Anxieties assuaged, we drove away back to St Albans and a list of decorating jobs to do.

We were already glad of the break when it came to Wednesday afternoon, when we went with a group from church to Chenies Manor.

It's a beautiful, Jacobean manor house that's been extended and altered over the centuries. It's privately owned, so it's only open to the public for just three hours on two days a week. The current owners are responsible for an enormous amount of restoration work, and the interior and exterior are a joy to behold. The gardens, too, are remarkable.

Though much of the grass was being regularly watered, and was very green, the long dry spell had taken a toll on this lawn in particular.

Steve returned from Poland on Friday, having spent several days with Karolina at her parents' home. They actually had quite a lot of rain while we were parched.

Yesterday evening found us eating in a very pleasant restaurant right next to the Kennet and Avon Canal in Reading. We'd driven Jess to a gig in the town - it was the simplest and quickest way for her to get there - and didn't stay for that. We were hungry and thirsty, and we do know their entire repertoire really quite well!

But, having enjoyed a fine, leisurely meal at Browns, we drove back to the venue and caught Said the Maiden's second 45-minute set. We didn't go in (and we're glad we didn't, because it was, Jess told us, unbearably hot and stuffy), but the park bench we sat on looked through a side door onto the stage, so we could enjoy the performance from a very pleasant, much cooler position.

Today? More flipping decorating. Wallpaper stripping. Oh joy!

Treasure Trail

The weather being what it was - and it was actually a bit cooler than yesterday - Grace and I took the opportunity at last to do the Foxton Locks and Village Treasure Trail.

This is one of over a thousand guided explorations of villages, towns and cities around the UK. This one was a Christmas present from Naomi and Eddie, and they got one for themselves that focusses on St Albans. They've already completed that, and we're looking forward to doing it while we're back there over the next few weeks.

The Foxton one was great fun. There were twenty clues to find and questions to answer, and it wasn't all easy, though the degree of difficulty isn't nearly as important as the enjoyment of the search. We know the locks well, but the Trail still showed us things we'd not seen before, and taught us things we didn't know. And we'd never been in the village before, so that was all new to us. We highly recommend the trail!

Map of  Foxton Locks, the first thing we had to find and study

Bridge 60 at the top of the locks

Bottom Lock

This weather-vane was very well hidden

Outside the Foxton Locks Inn

Going up the Market Harborough Arm

Into Foxton Village

The Village Hall

 "Chiens lunatiques"!

A quiet place to rest in the shade

St Andrew's Church, Foxton

Footpath back to the locks

Parts of the old mechanism from the inclined plane

Looking up the plane as it is now...

...and down it to the canal

How it was the day it was opened (photo from www.fipt.org.uk)

The centre pound - passing place!

The stop gate in the arm to the top of the inclined plane

And back to Kantara!

After a light lunch, we descended the locks and made our way out of Foxton to nearby Debdale Wharf, where we are now for the next couple of days.

The weather today is in very sharp contrast to how it was the first time we moored here, five years ago!