The hussy and the beer thief

The moment we decided to move Hawkesbury Junction started to get busy.  A boat went through the stop lock ahead of us and another passed by whilst we topped up the water tank.  Then a further two boats pulled out in front of us.  We were now fifth in a slow convoy.It was tick over until Ansty. 

The farmers have been working hard bringing in the harvest and making hay.

At Ansty Jan noticed the boys and girls have been separated.  However one hussy wanted desperately to join the boys and was trying to kick down the gate.

Whilst her friends seemed happy to keep an eye on the children. 

An oncoming Clifton Cruisers hire boat had a minor crisis at Squires Bridge managing to foul the propeller and then the canal.  We waited in the bridge hole whilst the steerer looked at us as if we could do something to resolve his problem.  Eventually he used his boat pole to get the boat against the bank.  I did suggest a couple of burst of reverse might help but he seemed to think something mechanical had failed so we left him to it!  By the time we reached Rose Narrowboats hire base we’d caught up with the convoy.  We even had two boats behind us.  Fortunately this meant we didn’t have to worry about opening or closing the pedestrian swing bridge.

There was a vacant mooring in a line of boats just beyond Easenhall Bridge which we managed to squeeze into.  By now it was 12.30 and we knew if we carried on all the good moorings would be taken.  That proved to be the case with numerous boats passing all afternoon.  The folding chairs and table were extracted from storage around 6pm with the intention of sitting in the late afternoon sunshine and sinking a few cold ales.  I couldn’t believe the cheek of some people when this fat, grey haired old bugger grabbed my seat and drank my lager!

Jan didn’t bat an eye as he wolfed down my drink and half the pate.

On a more positive note we’ve found another boaters blog after Linda sent us an email informing us she and Richard (nb Mary H) were heading in the same direction as us.  <blog link here>