The last couple of weeks has seen a huge improvement in the weather – and about time too! This has prompted us to embark on a cleaning and painting programme. It was not before time either! Last year’s trips away and the bad weather had taken their toll on the paintwork. Also me chucking the fire ashes out of the window instead of going outside with them hadn’t helped (lazy bag)!
I won’t bore you with the details but suffice to say that ‘Waveney’ looks a whole lot better now, even taking in to account that I drove her up to Sileby and back this week! It was a good trip, with a few incidents to test me. When we wanted to turn round at Sileby the wind had got up and even Ken found it a difficult manouvre. Similarly, when we came home, I had trouble with the wind (not personally!) and had to moor up the opposite way round to what I wanted. Fortunately, over the whole trip I only made a couple of minor cockups. This was mainly because I haven’t got to grips with how long it takes to stop a narrowboat yet and did everything too fast to begin with. There was minimal new paint removal so that was ok.
Ken was a little rusty at locking though and did try to fill a lock that was already full! I would say he needs a bit more practice, which he will be getting when we leave for our cruise in about 2 weeks time as I will drive to start with. It is quite tiring driving the boat, even if it looks like all you have to do is stand there. You have to be constantly on the alert to what is going on around you. I have to say that I was knackered that night, falling asleep after dinner! Also a day on the tiller played havoc with my tennis elbow!
Roll on the beginning of April when we really get started!
