And then...

...it rained! All day!

It's only a few months ago that we were told that we needed several months of persistent, heavy rain for the reservoirs to be replenished. Today, we drove past the Drayton Reservoir in Daventry, and I can't imagine that it can get much fuller. 

It's been very wet recently, but nothing like the amount of rain the doom-and-gloomers were talking about, yet this large lake is full. And some parts of the UK are experiencing serious flooding. I really think it's about time it stopped and gave us some summer!

Welsh campsite, photo BBC News

Welsh road, photo BBC News

So, once again, we spent much of the day in Kantara, feeling very cosy and dry. We ventured out to Daventry to pick up some light switches we had ordered - the brass plating on a couple in the boat has become severely worn. A TV for the boat arrives tomorrow, and the satellite receiver kit will be waiting for us when we get back to St Albans on Wednesday (car service and MoT, and dental check-ups), so we'll soon be able to watch TV like normal people!
When we return from St Albans, we intend to do some cruising - don't laugh!

...and then it was still

We awoke this morning to stillness. The boat wasn't being blown about. There was no rain hammering on the roof. All was still.

The boat which had been pinned to this service platform had finally been able to leave...

and moored boats had ceased to jostle with each other. 

The owner of the canoe had bailed several inches of rainwater out of it...

and I was able to photograph this flag iris without fighting against the wind.

It was a good day, and we got several jobs done.

Weather - still!

We've been battered by very strong winds and torrential rain for days now - thank God we're in the marina, and not out on the cut! I really feel for holidaymakers who have to be back at their hire company's base by a certain time and day, meaning that they do not have the luxury of stopping and waiting for the weather to abate. The photo shows the waves across the marina pound. The boat moored to the service platform has been there since first thing this morning. Moving away from there in winds like this would be next to impossible.

Of course, the good thing is that the canals and the reservoirs are being replenished. The current question is when will the weather be good enough for cruising to be safe?

Wednesday was a day of some drama. Firstly, I did the thing I've been fearing ever since we got the boat - I dropped keys into the canal! The car keys. It would have been no problem had it been any of the boat keys, because they're sensibly attached to cork floats - but not the car ones. I tried dangling a magnet on the end of a cord into the murky waters, but discovered  that my magnet - not purchased for the job - was simply not powerful enough to pick up that weight. Fortunately a fellow-boater lent me his, very much more powerful magnet, and a few minutes of dragging that over the canal bottom where I believed the bunch to be, resulted in their safe retrieval. The "zapper" on the keyring was dismantled and subjected to scrupulous drying by Grace, and worked fine the next time I needed it.


The second drama was the explosive demise of the microwave oven. It had been emitting a very loud crack of lightening inside it every now and then for some weeks. Wednesday's display was its last, and it's now waiting in the car to be disposed of appropriately. We braved the weather, and did some shopping this afternoon, so a quick visit to Argos resulted in a replacement microwave oven.

OK, OK, I know I was wishing for rain some weeks ago, but this seems just a little silly for June!

Full details are here.


Still, the canal level is very high, although I believe the reservoirs still need a lot of replenishing, so our wishes there have come true. There is one neighbouring moorer who doesn't like the rain, and blames me for it!


It's cold, too! And windy! I really feel for folk at the final day of the Boat Show - it was dreadful on Sunday, too. Still, it's snug and dry in Kantara. We've got the stove on today, but only because we have washing to get dry. It is cold out there, for the time of year, but we're having to have doors and windows open to stop overheating!


So it's Scrabble and DVDs and odd jobs. We're in no hurry - I gave that up when I retired!


Yesterday evening, there was a barbecue here for moorers, and it was another excellent opportunity to get to know each other, and to chat. Two hours of chat and food and drink, followed by two hours of quiz. Lots of fun, lots of laughs. A marquee full of boaters... and it was clear and sunny outside! Ironic, or what?

The Crick Boat Show

It rained very hard last night, and it's raining still, albeit a fine drizzle. It's what the BBC weather forecast predicted for today several days ago, and I'm feeling very sorry for those who bought tickets for the Boat Show for today.
We went yesterday, for which the forecast had been "white cloud". Well, it was cloudy, but dark, threatening clouds all day long, although the threats came to nothing, much to our amazement. So our day at the Boat Show was not a wet one, and we enjoyed six hours of leisurely wandering around, looking at all of the trade stalls, and buying a number of bargains - fender ropes and deck mats being the most specifically "boaty".

A fender is a cylinder of plastic or rubber, hanging down to protect the side of the boat from damage from bumping when moored.

The deck mats - heavy, thick rubber ones - will replace the plastic ones we fitted a few weeks ago, which turned out to be a total flop. As soon as the hot weather arrived, they softened, expanded, buckled and distorted, and became totally useless. I will be complaining to the manufacturers and the dealers from whom we bought them. So will a couple of boaters I met yesterday who, coincidentally, had had the same experience with the same mats. He had stepped down off the bank onto the foredeck where his mats were laid, and they moved away from him under his feet, causing him to fall backwards. They are clearly not fit for purpose.

Rubbish!!

We walked to Crick from the marina, little knowing that we might have bought heavy goods which would need to be carried home. The mats, two of them, were the offending heavy items, which I started to carry back to Yelvertoft, one on each shoulder. Unfortunately this only went well as far as the bottom of the steps down from a scaffolding bridge across the canal at Crick, where I trod on uneven ground, and turned my ankle painfully. A bit further on, Grace took over one of the mats, making my progress a bit easier, but my ankle, although not at all swollen, is rather painful today. That, coupled with the kind of weather one doesn't really want to be out in if it can be avoided, means that we will be spending a cosy day on board. The temperature is stupidly low for June, and we have the stove alight!

A day out

Colin was supposed to come and see us yesterday, to look at a welding job we need to have done to a hatch on the aft deck, so we stayed in all day, waiting for him. He didn't come. Never mind, we did get lots of jobs done, including fitting roller blinds in the galley and shower room, clearing junk from the fore lockers and correcting the list to port which had been bothering us. Having heard nothing from Colin, we went out today. There was no point going anywhere in Kantara, since we need to be here tomorrow for the Crick Show, so we drove out to a couple of National Trust properties.

Baddersley Clinton...

We've visited Baddesley Clinton and Packwood House twice before, but they're both those kinds of old houses which are so full of character that you want to visit again, and, since they are only a couple of miles apart, if you see one, you just have to see the other. They are both Tudor homes, and quite delightful - particularly Baddesley Clinton. Both of them have many of the features of grand, stately homes of the era, but are simply much smaller, with a great deal of interest and charm.

Packwood House...

It was an excellent day out, and the weather was great for the purpose. We go to the Crick Boat Show tomorrow. Let's hope the rain stays away for that, too!