Sunday 22nd Sept
Today we had our earliest start yet — a quarter past six. The weather was chilly early on, though not so much so as yesterday, when I noticed definite condensation on the windows at the start of the day.
Later on it warmed up nicely and was sunny and bright, but with a rain shower later on (while we were in the pub!) and rather a chill wind in the late afternoon. We had some beautiful views of Napton Hill and the countryside in that general area.
June's glasses had got broken yesterday evening, and we were looking around for some wire that we might use for the purpose. Someone had the bright idea of opening the second champagne bottle and using the wire that fastens the cork — so we ended up having a champagne breakfast. Only later in the day did we remember that I'd got some fuse wire which we could have used. Still, never mind! I settled down in the dining area with the glasses and the wire, and I managed to effect a repair. It was quite fiddly, as the break was in the metal piece in the middle joining the two lenses. I wound the wire round and round, and it seemed to be fairly robust by the time I'd finished.
We passed Norton Junction and worked through Braunston Flight, getting to the top about twenty past eleven. During part of the flight we went through with an elderly chap with a dog aptly named Spot. He moored before the top and we went through the last few with a chap from Tasmania. Penny wasn't too taken with him; I think he may have made it obvious that he didn't think a 'Sheila' should be steering a boat. (Actually, Penny's by far the most experienced of us.)
Talking of Penny, she was fuming a bit this morning, about boat owners who were sneering and supercilious about mere boat hirers. There are always a few who are irritating in this way — I suppose the impression you get varies according to who you happen to be meet as you go along. I didn't get so many of these 'toffee nosed' types myself, so it hasn't been so much of an issue with me. I must say that most of the people we've met have been very friendly, particularly after you get talking to them for a bit. I took us through the tunnel — rather busy today, we met three boats coming the other way. Then, just after the first lock of the Buckby flight, we stopped for a drink at a pub just beside the lock. We didn't have lunch there, as we'd already got the makings of a good lunch on board. Nick made the acquaintance of a green parrot whose cage was next to his seat. After about 40 minutes we went on our way.
Going down through the remainder of the Buckby flight, we were accompanied by a family who had bought their boat earlier this year, following the retirement of the father. He said they'd been hiring boats off and on for many years, and eventually had a chance to get their own. The original owner (who'd had it custom made twenty years ago) had found he was getting too old to run a boat, and he sold it for quite a reasonable price. After Buckby, we had a jolly good lunch as we were chugging along, with bread, cheese, a large pork pie and some salad things. We had a fairly uneventful afternoon for the most part — enlivened by an incident where a boat with a very large Scottish flag pulled out suddenly in front of us, and held us up for some considerable distance. We've seen quite a few boats with flags recently. There was a huge Canadian flag hanging from one boat we met today, and a convoy of two boats with the American flag.
About half past four I left the boat to walk into Northampton to see if I could get there in time for an evening Mass. I'd identified two possible churches, though it was clear that it would be 'touch and go' whether I'd get there on time. As a result, I missed a couple of incidents. There was a boat highly decorated with balloons, which was deduced to be a honeymoon boat. Alan mentioned seeing an Arabian couple in one boat. The wife was left steering at one point, and it seemed she didn't speak much English. Someone who was with them asked, 'Is it all right to let your wife steer the boat alone?' The reply was something to the effect that she's a Middle-Eastern wife and has to get used to looking after herself. Another thing that happened today, which I didn't see, was the 'Naan incident'. There was a whole uneaten naan bread which we hadn't eaten when we went for the Balti the day before yesterday, and we'd brought it back with us. Nick and Penny told the rest of us, when we got back from the lunchtime drink, that Maddie had discovered the naan and scoffed the lot.
I had a long walk into Northampton, and it eventually became clear that I wouldn't be able to get there in time for Mass. I phoned Alan on the mobile, and we decided to meet in Northampton, at the place we'd already decided we'd have our last meal out of the holiday. This was Luigi's, a very good Italian restaurant that we'd been to four years earlier, when we last hired from Gayton.
Various things went wrong with this plan, which meant that we didn't get to Luigi's till well after eight o'clock. Firstly, after I'd walked into the centre of Northampton, I took the wrong road out the other side and went a long way round to come back into the centre. Meanwhile, the others were having great difficulty — not so much finding Luigi's, but in getting to it through the eccentric one-way systems that complicate the centre of the city.
Eventually I had to admit that I wasn't going to be able to find the place on my own, so Alan and June came and fetched me in the car. It was frustrating because when I look back on it, I realise there were so many things I could have done. If I'd asked for directions when I first got to the centre, I'd have avoided a very long addition to my already considerable walk. If I'd paid more attention to the map, I'd also have had a good chance of avoiding this mistake.
Still, we all got to Luigi's in the end, where we had a very good meal and enjoyed ourselves greatly. One thing we discussed, as we often do at the end of a canal holiday, was the boat itself. We agreed that it was probably the best one we've had from the point of view of handling it in the water. The steering was very true, with just a slight pull to port that only showed up at the highest speeds. The latter is probably unavoidable. I suspect it's a feature of propellor drives in general. The boat is well laid out, as regards the different rooms and the general facilities. Our only reservation is that the kitchen is a bit cramped. This, as I mentioned at the start, is somewhat compensated for by the fact that someone walking through the boat doesn't have to push past the cook.
We discussed the timing of the holiday, and there were mixed feelings about this. I was glad of a break to look forward to, brightening up the back-to-school period. In my line of work, things are fairly quiet during the summer and the various activities and meetings in a parish start up again once the school term begins. Alan, on the other hand, had been feeling the lack of a holiday during the summer, except for a short break which turned out not to have been long enough to do much good. The general feeling was that a couple of weeks earlier would probably have been better, both with regard to the weather and the hours of daylight. The week we were away was about the time of the equinox, and this meant we had to stop cruising earlier in the day than we might otherwise have done. A couple of weeks at this time of year makes quite a difference.
The other thing that we realised, looking back over the week, was that the Pearson's guides were no longer clearly better than the Nicholson's. In their original form, the latter were very difficult to follow. The map of each section of the canal always went straight up and down the page, even when the canal went from east to west, and it was often quite disorientating trying to follow a route from one page to another. The layout is much better now, even clearer than Pearson's.
Nick (our pub guru) was also irritated by the inaccuracy of the information in Pearson's about eating and drinking establishments. He always cross-checked with the Good Beer Guide — in fact he brought two editions, as he reckons the 2001 version is better in some ways than the 2002. Still, I suppose the better the information in the canal guide, the more quickly one can home in on the right place using what Nick calls 'The Good Book'.
We rounded off the meal with (for some of us) zabaglione and (for some) a liquore. The cook had gone out, and we thought we'd missed the boat, so to speak, regarding the zabaglione. She came back a few minutes later, though, and the sound of vigorous beating indicated that she was whipping up the froth for us.
Alan had Averna, while Penny tried another amaro called (I think) Ramazotti, which was also very good. Nick and I had a very good grappa — very smooth. A late finish today — for the first time this holiday it's after midnight as I finish this entry — but at least there's no need for an early start tomorrow, as we're already back at the boatyard.