Narrowboat Alacrity

Having had an easy drive up and luckily found a parking place ( as it was the Braunston Historic Boat Rally) Jo and I moved the tools and bits needed to start the flooring over to Alacrity. It still took three trips even with the trolley.

As posted before we had decided to fit a fully floating solid oak floor as this will allow the wood to expand and contract in the varying temperatures and humidity levels found on a narrowboat. So having sorted out the original floor removing the gripper rod and staples and added many more screws to hold it down we laid a thin foam plastic underlay, this is to allow the new floor to move and acts as cushion.

The oak tongue and grove planks are supplied in in varying lengths from 300 mm to 1200 mm so you have to be a bit good at jigsaws to get away without much wastage and to get a decent random effect. Once we had glued and layed the first two rows work went on a pace helped by the use of a pair of ratchet clamps, ( Screwfix £4.99 cheaper than B&Q £12.99) these really pull the boards together far better than just tapping them with a soft faced hammer.

Even with only half the boards laid the effect was stunning. So with my back and knees complaining we decided to stop and give the glue chance to set………ok  ok  a weak excuse but I needed a beer.

After an exhausting day spring cleaning Alacrity we decided to eat out, we hadn’t visited The Mill House Inn at Braunston for a while so decided to eat there.

It was a warm evening so we walked along the towpath the canal was still busy with many boats passing.

 There was a sign propped up at the entrance to the Mill House “Chef required apply within” we should have stopped there…………. It was quiet inside as it was just six o’clock only about twenty people in, mmmmmmm my favorite beers were on draught, Bass and Abbot…… we ordered a glass of wine for Jo and a pint of Bass for me the barmaid dissappeared to open some wine she came back five minutes later….. “The Bass is off”… no apology….ok i’ll have a pint of Abbot……………………….

We found a table and looked at the menu (which had changed a lot) and decided on a pasta dish with chicken, duly ordered we waited…..It took about twenty minutes for the food to arrive ………………The plates were stone cold and the food luke warm………yes I know I should have sent it back then, but having waited I was hungry, I must say the pasta tasted great but a little heat would have helped. We told the waitress but no apology was forthcoming.

Jo decided she wanted desert so we ordered a chocolate fudge cake with Icecream and a Pineapple upsidedown sponge with custard ………very tasty but again on cold plates……..

It will be a long time before we visit there again!!!!!!!

Well all good things must come to an end.

After a relaxed breakfast we winded above Calcutt top lock and had a leisurely cruise back to Braunston where I totally messed up reversing back onto our mooring.

I don’t know how I managed to do it, there was no wind to speak of a definite red face moment……How long have you been boating??………………but in mitigation it was a bit crowded around the loading dock with boats on brokerage………………..well that’s my excuse…….

I didn’t need the alarm clock today………..as soon as I awoke I felt like a greyhound when the trap opens……..

I had done the shopping for the weekend yesterday so all I had to do was put it in the cool bag, put the cats on their automatic feeders and go………..not so quick John……..Ah yes I forgot about SWIMBO….need I say more. Groan………………pack, tidy up wipe this, wipe that, have you done……………………………..you know how it goes.

 Well finaly we arrived ……Just looking at the moored boats, The sounds and smells are a panacea to the battered brain…….

Not having visited Alacrity for a couple of months I expected to find her damp….not so, But she was full of spiders who took umbrage at being disturbed. They were abseiling out of the curtains and assorted corners for hours much to Jo’s disgust (she really hates spiders) so the air was rent with squeeks and other sounds of loathing.

We planned to take Alacrity out and decided to take her over to the Loading dock to fill her water tank and get some gas.

Talking to Paul from the Marina he said that this was the busiest weekend of the year so far and that due to the bad weather most owners were just starting the season.

Now for the smelly bit, we moved around to the pump out and found Nineveh waiting for a mooring to go on brokerage. With all the chores complete we moved off.

Piccadilly Circus or what Iv’e never seen so many boats on the move and everybody happy. We slowly motored down to Braunston Turn and turned left for Napton and Warwick we had decided not to go far and moored just after bridge 101.

It was going to be an early start but having to settle the cats and set up their feeders took a bit of time………Yes can we go now, I get the thumbs up from SWMBO ………. Easy journey up the M1 not too much traffic so arrived at Braunston with sanity intact.

Braunston Marina

mmmmmm  The feeling being here is like a comfort blanket I know is sounds corny but you can feel the calm descend…………. The autumn tints are in the hedgerows and trees and there is a definite chill in the wind…….yes rambling on again!!

Onboard at last at least there is no damp smell, open the curtains yuck lots of spiders descend they seem a bit miffed about being evicted from their winter homes, yes I know that they keep the flies down but I still don’t want them abseiling down into my tea or my ear when I’m asleep.

Water on, Electric on, Gas on I bring Alacrity to life, with some kindling and logs I light the stove and feel the heat almost immediately…………Kettle on!!…

Well there is no damage from leaving her so long apart from a large tin of Bitumen hull paint which seems to have rusted through in the front locker leaking a trail of thick sticky black gunge under the matting on the welldeck…..2 hours later a large quantity of white spirit and lots of rag we managed to remove it all!!!!………. nice smell though…………

Under orders from SWMBO I set up the TV aerial so she can watch ” Celebrity Come Dancing “…….and start to cook the evening meal to be fair she has borne the brunt of my griping about the tin of bitumen leaking. Well she did marry a “Grumpy old man”