So this was Easter…?

No, it’s not that bad. Easter is still far away (three days, to be precise). But as I mentioned before, one needs something to write about, other than: played golf, went to yoga, made bread, repeat, repeat, repeat.

But last week we actually did something else: we went to Liverpool.
By car? Just 44 minutes. Walking? Only five hours. By boat? Two days!

One of the reasons to go to Liverpool was that, after almost forty years my hand mixer finally died. So we had to go back to the fluffy Tesco wholemeal bread. I bought a new mixer, but found out (when reading the manual) that I could only use the thing for three minutes, and after that it had to rest for half an hour. So my only hope was John Lewis, and the nearest John Lewis is in Liverpool.

I manage to get a convoy of four boats to go into Liverpool on the 31st of March.
In the end it is only three of us: Bill (Tin Lizzie), Andy and Christine (Wea-Ry-Tired 4) and us (Wea-Ry-Tired 1). Mick (Rorah) decides to try to break his ribs. So him and Ann make the journey a day later. As is Kurt (Archer’s Den). Two days later Ian and Pam (Peppermint Patty) arrive as well.

Our trip is kind of uneventful. We start at half past three on the Thursday (after I spend two hours in the hospital with Mick). On Friday it is the usual. Doing 1500 revs and nearly standing still: rubbish around the prop. WRT 4 decides to wait for her little older sister and manages to get stuff around the prop as well. But we’re at Stanley Locks at the right time.

Stanley Locks

WRT absolutely gleams with joy: sharing the locks with her sister! And forcing people on the towpath to look again, and again, and again.

Double? Drunk?

Everything goes smooth, even in Albert Dock.

Into Albert Dock

Then s**t happens. It’s a bit windy. We end up alongside another boat, and have to be towed onto our pontoon. WRT 4, definitely not as experienced as WRT 1, really looses it. She tries to get blown away with the wind, and manages to break free. And where does her middle rope go? Exactly, around the prop. Completely out of control Andy ends up right in front of us. No, that’s not the proper way to moor.

Sorry… S**t Happens.

Half an hour later, and with a much shorter middle rope, WRT 4 finally moors at her designated pontoon.

The following days it’s very nice weather, and the others have no problems at all with mooring up.

No Spare Ribs

Peppermint Patty

When, after a few days, everybody is in Salthouse Dock, Kurt exclaims: “It’s like being home!”
But at home there are no mixers, there is no theatre that does Grease, and we definitely don’t have this view at night.

Two for One

Or an Italian restaurant like Il Forno.

Il Forno

Thursday night we’re back in the marina. I just manage to reverse onto our jetty. Mick doesn’t make it, and has to go in head first. Yes, it’s the wind again. But with Kurt and Ian still in Liverpool I have (temporary) a very nice view out of the conservatory.

Temporary View

Other than that, where back at the usual: yoga, golf (although my game with the ladies from Hurlston Hall Golf Club is cancelled, due to the bad weather, as is Lawrance’s golf lesson), making bread.

And we have something to look forward to: WE BOOKED A WEEK ON A NARROWBOAT!
We, that’s Ann & Mick and us . And yes, we both have our own boats. But there is a canal in the UK that has no connection with the main canal system: the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, a small network of canals in South Wales. And because our boats don’t have wheels…
The 30st of September we start. Will be fun. “Have you been on a narrowboat before?”, is the first question one gets when hiring a narrowboat. Well, we haven’t been off a narrowboat over the last three years! Yes. I’m really looking forward to it.