You relax . .  . .we do the work

At last we have put pen to paper and started to write our first newsletter to you all. It seems a long time since we moored up at Warwick last October at the end of our last cruise of the season.

We thoroughly enjoyed the season meeting our guests and putting all our theories into practice. It was surprising that it went without any major hitches and “Katie” performed without missing a beat. Once we got going in July it all seemed to fall into place with guests arriving from all corners of the globe with the UK more than well represented. Canada and the USA featured in the West while South Africa and Australia formed a complete picture in the East.

Gail waited with apprehension for the first special diet to beat her, but nothing proved beyond her usual culinary delights except Gluten Free Bread seemed nothing like the recipe predicted.

Comments and suggestions proved to be a good supply of refinements that we put in practice as soon as we could. Some of those suggestions will part of our plans for 2003.

Some things always stick in your mind especially when somebody goes out of their way to help you. Peter, the lock keeper on the Hatton flight was absolutely brilliant. On one memorable occasion we were on our way down the flight on a windy afternoon coming back from Stratford upon Avon. Peter came cycling past on his way home and asked how we were.

We must have looked tired working back on our own because the next time we looked up he was setting the locks ahead to help us and telling other boaters that a hotel boat was on its way down. Another time we lost a guest who had told us that she was walking on ahead and would see us a few locks later. Some of you will remember the lunch stop half way up which we reached with no sign of our adventurous guest. Peter appeared like a genie so we said “Have you seen a lady on her own?” After a brief description he said “Oh yes, she was nearly at the top! But she’s walking back to you now!” At that point our missing guest appeared with a big grin and said she had thoroughly enjoyed her excursion.

We look forward to seeing Peter and a number of others next season who always had a friendly wave when we pass.

Roy approached us one day and said that before his wife died earlier that year they used to hire a narrow boat and travel extensively around their home at Coventry.

He wanted to go to Evesham to see what it was like down the River Avon. Gail and I thought it was a wonderful idea because Roy’s daughter was disabled with spina bifida since birth and deserved a holiday as much as her Dad needed a break. We took them on a normal weekend to Stratford and then carried on to Evesham.

It turned out to be a wonderful time for all of us. Karen took up residence on a seat at the stern deck and Roy got a complete break from cooking!

Apart from one day when we all got soaked the River was wonderful and the weather proved very kind. Karen left us tearfully and has visited Gail and I at Warwick when Roy was out for a Sunday ride with her. Maybe next year “Katie” might go around The Avon Ring with Karen and her Dad.

A strange observation

One day we noticed that the water level was lower than normal, between Edstone Aqueduct and Bearley Junction Signal Box, I saw the tops of something that was obviously railway wheels. A couple of weeks later I pulled them out to discover that they resembled plate layers wheels off a trolley circa 1960’s.

How did they get there???
Answers on a post card please to Away4awhile, The Boat Yard, Warwick. CV34 5JB

One of our biggest regrets is not having the time to take photographs of a memorable event or simply just a good cruise.
1 thought I must get a balls eye view from my steering position when we go over the Edstone Aqueduct. Well the best laid plans did not account for Gail’s son having the same idea!!

So I have a photographic record with very little recourse to resolve the dilemma. I thought I had the perfect picture, but you can be so wrong.

Moira Rose McGregor
born at 22.52 on 13 August 2002 at Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle.
She was a very healthy 8lbs 7oz.