Monday, September 22, 2008

Mags gets a year older and the weather returns to normal.

We spent Saturday night at Sawley, opposite the marina. Being a warm sunny day there was an awful lot of boating activity, a bit more than we’re used to. The towpath was busy as well, so, the forecast for Sunday being the same, we elected to go back up onto the canal for a bit of peace and quiet.

Sawley Marina at night
It was Mag’s birthday on Sunday. ** years old today! Happy birthday my generous, loving, supportive wife. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

There was a bit of a queue for Derwent Mouth lock, but when our turn came we shared the lock with a very nice South African family. The son lives and works in the UK, the parents were across from Stellenbosch for a holiday. Francois, the stepfather, is a runner, too. But I’m not in his league. He’s training for a 200km race, run over 4 days. That’s over 30miles each day! Makes my 10k’s and ½ marathons look a bit puny. Good luck mate!

We were tied up above the lock by lunchtime, just in time for a phone call from Kay (my sister) to say they were coming to see us. I walked up into Shardlow and met them coming down. The dogs, Meg, Ruby (St Bernard) and Elvis (mongrel, with large ears), had a good play on the way back to the boat. Kay (and Ruby) found out that Ruby can swim!
The canine cavorting continued most of the afternoon, with odd rest breaks, while the humans tried to catch up with the news.

Mags, Kay, god-daughter Samantha and Paul, with the dogs creating mayhem.
They left in the evening, and our bit of towpath suddenly went very quiet.

It was entertaining watching the weekenders returning to Sawley in the GRP cruisers. An amazing assortment of sizes and shapes, cramming into Derwent Mouth lock.

We need to get the left cabin side of Corbiere finished this week, so this morning we headed back to Sawley and moored in the same spot after filling with diesel at the marina. But the weather has turned against us again, breezy and showery, so we couldn’t do anything today. Carol and Mags went shopping while I dogsat.

A cormorant keeping a beady eye out as we turned at the marina above Derwent Mouth
We’re hoping for an improvement for the next couple of days. Fingers crossed!

Locks 2 (the same one twice!) miles 2 (there and back again!)

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