Friday 2nd August
Brace yourselves, it’s a biggie!
We decided to leave Shepherd’s Patch this morning and travel the 3 miles to Sharpness. We weren’t in a hurry which, as it turned out, was just as well. Ken went off to the small shop at the bridge and got the paper we had ordered yesterday and a loaf of bread. When he got back we decided to get water. We were quite near the tap and we waited for the yoghurt pot, which had been moored in front of us over night, to get their water. They pulled away and were replaced by two tupperwares breasting up.
I must explain the difference between yoghurt pots and tupperwares. Since we have been down here we have encountered all manner of plastic boats (you don’t see that many on the narrow canals) and have worked out a grading system for them based on size. Small day/weekend boat = Yoghurt pot. Medium, like Broads cruisers = Margarine tub. Large Sea Going Cruisers/Gin palaces = Tupperware.
Now you know what I am talking about. So, these two tupperwares breasted up on the water point. After a while, when no hoses came out Ken went and asked them if they were getting water. They said not so we used our extension hose to reach the tap without having to ask them to move (aren’t we nice?)
I went to take the rubbish to the bin and returned to find Ken chatting to a chap who had a plate of scones in his hand. He was admiring our red paint and bemoaning the fact that his recently resprayed burgundy had faded badly. He spotted our extension hose and as he was moored some way from the tap himself asked if he could borrow it so he didn’t have to move. He said he would give us a couple of his scones, which he had made himself this very morning. How could we resist?
We let him use our whole hose with the extension as it was already connected to the tap. He was so far away from the tap though that he needed to fit his hose on as well. He was titting about for ages and Ken went out to see what he was doing. He wasn’t getting any water despite the fact that he had turned the tap on. The problem was that somehow he had managed to disconnect the joiner between our hose and our extension. Ken went to reconnect the hoses and found that the joiner was cross threaded and he wrecked it getting it apart!
Are you still awake? We had another joiner which Ken gave the chap to use and then he managed to find parts to repair our original one. During all this I managed to do the ironing. Then the chap reappeared and asked if we wanted to be going. We said no it was ok and he said he would be another 20 minutes!
By this time it was getting on for 11 am so I made the sandwiches we would have been having if we had been actually cruising at this time. We had just started eating when the chap appeared again to say he had finished with the hose. Ken went and got our hoses and connectors etc back and we got ready to go.
He managed to drop what was left of his sandwiches in the cratch when he picked them up to take out the back and eat on the way! As we had no corned beef left he put them back together and ate them anyway!
Just after we left our mooring the bridge was opened and we were followed by Wye Invader. We had 2 miles to go to Purton Bridges before we would have to slow down and we made good headway in front of them. I made a cup of tea and nearly broke my right kneecap taking it up the back steps! How many times have I been up those back steps? I have never hit my knee before, bloody hurt I can tell you!
When we were approaching Purton Bridges we encountered some fishermen on the bend. The canal gets a bit narrower there and the fishermen were (unusually) grateful that we had slowed down. I don’t think they were quite so grateful when 135 ft, 230 tonne Wye Invader ploughed past them although they did blow their horn to let people know they were coming round the corner!
They caught us up at Purton Bridges and asked us if we could go faster as they couldn’t go any slower. We pulled over on the disabled trip boat moorings and let them go past. They went steaming off and we thought they were going to the docks. Suddenly, as they got near the collapsed railway bridge they seemed to veer off at a jaunty angle. We were wondering what they were doing and after a while it became apparent they were mooring up and making a bit of a fist of it.
A couple of attempts and about 10 minutes later the crew were scampering down a ladder to the bank and the helmsman had brought the back round nicely. As we went past I said they should have let us go first because we could moor up a lot quicker than them! He asked us if we wanted to swap – but we declined.
We moored up soon after in nearly the same spot as last week. As I was kneeling on the dinette to close the hatch, in case it rained when we were out, I slipped and cracked my left kneecap on the corner! It was as much as I could do to walk to The Docker’s Club but I soldiered on womanfully!
This afternoon we ate the scones we got this morning and jolly nice they were too. If he’s still there when we go back I’ll ask that chap if he wants to borrow the hose again! Then there was a plastic invasion from the direction of the docks. A load of tupperwares had just come across from Bristol by the looks of it. Most of them moored up around us but one of them decided to open up both his engines just as he went past us and Ken asked him if he had lost his water skiier! The wash was tremendous, it was like being on the sea.
I did a bit of washing which, fortunately, I got in just before this deluge which has just befallen us. We could see it over the Forest of Dean for ages and it didn’t seem to be moving then suddenly it started absolutely falling down here. Aaaargh, really loud thunder and lightning too!
Not sure what is happening tomorrow, but we may be cleaning the chimney.
