Crays, bread and weeeeeed.

Assorted happenings since I last blogged.

Mick caught a crayfish, and as I was running to get it in a bucket, he decided to half stamp on it.! So I said " well you had better finish it off now, half its insides are hanging out". After what Scooby & Rita told us, I was definitely going to have a go at them. No chance now as we are on the lovely Nene and its cristal clear and full to the brim with fish.

Friends Rick and Val came for a visit. Its becoming a bit of a tradition, that when we arrive on the canal and leave it, they come and visit, as they live close by. So we trundled down from Stoke Bruerne and found a nice place to moor up for lunch and wine. It was great to see you both and good luck with the project !!!!!

I think Mick may have said something funny, here.

We had texted other NB's Jim and Marilyn plus 2( cairns), and they said they would be at Gayton by monday pm, to start down the locks to Northampton on Tuesday, so what a good idea to catch up with them and do all or some of The Nene with them.

We always try to fit in a couple of " sundowners" on each others boat.However we missed on tuesday night as it was chucking it down, but we have made up for it since.

Whilst at Cogonhoe( cook-no) in " the wind". I found some bread flour( out of date) that I had brought from Spain, so thought, right lets have a go at making bread without the bread maker.

Blimey, I couldn't knead it, then Mick had a go, and he couldn't and then I re-read the instructions. I had used the whole bag of flour to ingredients for half a bag !!!!

" Oh I'll just have to throw it away" No says Mick, it will make good ground-bait for fishing. Is he being funny??? so over the side it went and we watched it settle on the bottom of the cristal clear river. Hmmmm, about 2 hours later I looked out of the galley window and saw it bobbing by!!!!!! It was a helluva size!!!! At least the yeast works.

We left friday am to make our way to Irthlingboro. That was after Mick and Finlay had been chased by 3 cows. I reckon they think Finlay is a calf, as he is similar colouring to them, but anyhow, after what has been happening with dog walkers and cows over the summer, Mick was taking no chances, so apparently he waved his arms about and yelled something at them, and they stopped.

So at the first lock we found this.!

Some pillock going the other way, had left the paddle up and it had drawn all this weed down, so it was boathooks and a bit of muscle from Marilyn and myself, to get it cleared. Oh, all right the blokes helped a bit, as well. It was quite thick though and a NB would not have got through it. Hey ho.

So tonight at Irthlingboro, Finlay has had a nice rabbity walk around Stanwick Lakes, Mick has gone blackberrying and we are due for sundowners on NB Barron, in about, 30 mins. Bye for now.

So its been a while since I blogged.

For any Doubting Thomas' in Spain, who do not think we have had much of a summer, just look at Mick's plates. !!!! Tiger feet, Grrr

We went to The Globe for a meal, as I had requested, and its was lovely.Very pretty inside, loads of candles and NO tongue n groove cladding ! Food was great, although Mick ( he had ordered brisket of beef) had a wobbly when he saw his. " No, No I have got a burger, look look". No Mick its brisket of beef done in medallions. Also his GLASS of rioja was £5.50, Wow ! we buy it from the region of rioja for about £5 for 5 litres !

Back to Milton Keynes and caught up with Mel and Pete and family. we had also stopped off at Fenny Stratford, before hand, as Scooby had given us info on a paki supermarket that did a good deal in wine. So we found it, and purchased 6 bottles for £12. When I got it back to the boat I looked at the label on the Pinot grigio. It said " Ungarian" so that would be from the country of " Ungary" then. hee hee. it tastes alright anyway. and no we couldn't run Trundle on it,either !

Anyway, we had a good evening on Trundle at Bridge 80 with the Venis family, and then the next day they came and collected us and took us shopping. Ooooh. Mel said " want to go to Ikea, Jen ?" what ? did I !!!!. It was great and Mick didn't keep asking how much longer were we going to be as we were " in company". Heee heeeee. Thanks a lot, you guys. see you next year.

Finlay just has to be "in "!

Drama at a lock

sorry about blog. It puts pics on where I don't want them and misses stuff off. as the signal goes, it "says" it saves stuff. but it doesn't seem to save stuff correctly.

Hey ho.. anyway the pic before shows their boat " the morning after the night before", curtains closed, snoring sounds etc. and if I had been able to get our boaty pic on- curtains open, doors open, mick jogging around the park ( Ha!) etc.


Anyway after leaving Wendover Arm and with news of forthcoming bad weather, we decided to make for Leighton Buzzard and a bit of retail therapy- for Trundle mainly .

However at a lock we broke one of the cardinal rules when working a boat through a lock.

We got Trundle in the lock and I walked to the paddles, lifted them and started emptying the lock. Mick( who admits it was his fault) thought " I'll nip for a quick pee" and he didn't tell me that he was missing from the back of Trundle.(I would normally wait until " TillerMan" was back in situ before carrying on). I turned around and................saw Trundle on the cill of the lock( for non-boaties this is a ledge) up in the air, nose going down, no Mick. I screamed for him to show himself and after a second started lowering the paddles to stop water leaving the lock then I ran, yes RAN to the gates and started letting water in ( all the time asking mick non politely as to where he had been ??????). We finally got her floating again.I sat on the balance beam and cried my eyes out. What an awful thing to see.And you hear so many sad tales of people inside their boat as it tips over in a lock, with no escape. Ok so I am being a bit dramatic.
Finlay didn't lose his cool or his balance, but for scaring the proverbial out of me, Mick is taking me out for a nice meal tonight at The Globe.I may ask for a bottle of Tattinger ! I will not get it. !

Sorry no pics as blogger is so slow to upload.

So after leaving them we had another 2 nights down the Wendover arm. Took a walk along the canal still to be restored and spotted 2 grebe-lings, on there own now, and watched them swimming underwater and while collected elder berries and blackberries, a little chiff-chaff/warbler sat in the other side of the bush. So close. Back at the boat I tried to make jam, but it seeems to take ages, unlike the damsons. anyway I have made something that I could use as a sauce for duck or lamb as well as croissants. so a result I guess.

The 2nd evening a shout from Mick at the back of the boat- fishing " Jen, Jen, quick I ahve got something big here". Yeah Yeah. OK. anyway I got hold of the landing net and in the water swirled and enormous CARP- on maggotts ! I ask you. However, ( and I know you wont beleive this but I can verify its true) it was so big it broke the line. Mick explained that it shouldn't have been on there really- not on maggotts. But I have a sneaking suspicion that its Finlays left-over dog food that I have been throwing in the canal

So after a few days, we found out that Scooby and RitaRose were only a few hours south of us, so after a text and phone call they came up to Berkhamstead and we went down. We thought that this would be a good place to try and meet up with Rob and Arno, but I think we will have to give them a bit more notice in the future, as they had arrangements for the week-end.

So we liked Berkhamstead. They have a Wetherspoons( which was sampled on Thursday evening !) and they have a Waitrose, which was sampled quite a lot actually. Although I must remember to wear my fancy duds next time. We were browsing the shelves, when along came a lady( and by the way she was dressed she may have been) wearing a fetching, large black straw hat with silk flower, Christian Dior skirt suit, Versace sunglasses- you get the picture? and we trundle up along side of her wearing matching Christian T-shirts ( that would be t-shirts that are holy! if you get my meaning),oil-stained cut offs, flip-flops. !!!!! Well I just looked at him and he looked at me and the word Hobos, tramps etc came to mind. !!! Thank god I didn't see anyone I knew.

Heres pictures of 2 nb's " the morning after the night before". Some people have no stamina !

Wonderful Wendover Arm

So after 13 single locks( aylesbury arm) and 7 double locks( the marsworth flight and very pretty) we came down the wendover arm. Oooh its really lovely and there are 48 hr moorings at the bottom, but we are hoping for 1 more day, its that lovely. Loads of great walks through hayfields to the reservoirs and to the sight of the future restoration. Finlay is being a really good boy and is not having to be tied all the time. will post some pics, just to prove it. I took Mick for a walk yesterday morning, it was about 1 and a half hours, so I didn't tell him and after half an hour......" How far are we going ?" !!!! anyway we got all around the res, and then through some hayfields and then back along by the dry canal bed. Saw a farmer and his wife training up some new sheep-dog pups. She was " the flock" on a small tractor type vehicle and the farmer was doing his " stay" " git up thur" " cum by" etc. Very entertaining.

I have made some sort of jam ! Thought of my friend Sue Saunders, as she used to make damson jam, and excellent it was too.

Well we saw these things on the trees at a lock. I bit into one and survived. So we picked about 3 llbs plus. I am sure they are damsons, but some woman said they could be Aylesbury Plums. Is she having a laugh ? They were mainly used for dying cloth. Anyway I didn't have the right sugar, but have made it anyway, and it tastes allright. So much so, that I am endeavouring to try it out on Scooby and Rita in a few days !!!!!! We found out that they are only 3 hours down the GU, so we thought it would be a shame if we didn't meet up one last time before we head north . And we have been informed that there is a wetherspoons nearby. result! so I will make some scones to go with "The Jam", ok ????

We keep getting a few jaspers( wasps) in and around and then Finlay found out why. We are quite close to a nest in a bank and someone had stuffed the hole with a piece of bbq coal, which he found and ate, so we had to then stuff it with some paper soaked in paint stripper. Mick has been working on the boat. Yes, you see he doesn't fish all day. I wont let him !!!!

We bought some rump steak on the " reduced to Clear" section.mmmm So tonight it will be a BBQ, down the old wendover arm . No wasps need apply.

Here are some pics .....

So we had a couple of nights in Aylesbury and we enjoyed that. Went to a 15century pub , only to find it had been "gussied up" with that tongue and groove stuff in a pale green colour. Now this stuff is all ok in the correct setting, but I had been looking forward to dark rooms, soft lights, wooden beams etc.some brass, open fire... you get my meaning.

So anyway we walked in and Mick asked for a pint and a medium sized red wine for me. The young lady behind the bar asked what sort of red I preferred. "Strong, nothing wishy-washy and certainly NOT californian, thank you" to which the bloke my side of the bar, dressed like a spanish waiter ( tight black trousers, white shirt, dark slicked back hair, skinny) said " perhaps she would
like to try the .. .............". I looked at him.
I was given a thimble full to try.( oh, this is so tiring !), it was awful. No flavour, not even red( sort of watery pinky ) and it was FRENCH( sorry but I think the frogs have lost it when to it comes to making red wine. they are still good at the white though...... Oooh just remembered," Sorry Arno" no offence meant, and I am sure you will say " none taken )
" have you a tempranillo grape variety, please ?" Spanish waiter-type walks off in a huff. He obviously thinks I am some hick just up from the country, whos watched too many programmes featuring Gillie Goolden. So Mick shells out £6.80 and ........ here we go ........

Rob( mick's son, who after reading our blog,reckons we are a couple of lushes for quaffing so much wine), you will probably know whats coming next?..... "When I was a boy...... and when you were talkng proper money- bobs and shillings- I could have got 48 pints + 4 packets of fags( embassy) + a piece and six( fish and chips) 4 times for that price"

So we had our drink , and bitched about the naff decor, read the Daily Telegraph and then went back to Trundle......................................................with a long stemmed wine glass. oooooops !