28 November to 1 December 2003

by Clem Wright

Well the weekend went quite well apart from the weather - Saturday morning very wet, gale force winds, which made steering a challenge. We set off for Braunston about 10.00am we did not meet any boats at all until we stopped for lunch at Braunston although we did pass a couple of Ownership boats which were moored up.

After lunch we headed off towards Hillmorton and the weather changed for the better - out came the sun and the wind dropped a bit. We stopped for the evening at the "Royal Oak". We planned to eat here but it wasn't what we had expected as the pub has changed hands recently and it is now part of the Hungry Horse chain. The food was O.K. very large portions but the pub is a little tacky and mainly aimed at families with younger children so if you like a quiet pub don't eat before 8.30pm or give it a miss completely.

Sunday morning was bright and chilly and we set off in revese to the boatyard near by where we turned around and headed back to Blue Lias again. We meet a few boats between Braunston and the turn at Napton. We also had Symphony following us and we went down the Napton locks together (later they came aboard and were very impressed). We did have 2 or 3 problems along the way which we have informed Ownerships of. The main problem is that the kitchen blind is too close to the hob and on Friday evening while cooking dinner it began to distort and could quite easily have caught fire if Beryl had not been standing close by the hob. This needs changing from a plastic to either an aluminum or wooden blind - or back to the original roller blind fitted to earlier boats.

We also had a problem the noise from the prop shaft between 1400 - 1600 revs. There are still some things which are missing from the inventory such as stools, canal guides, loo brushes etc. which Ownerships may not have got around to yet.

The 2 torches which Eve and Martin brought are excellent and were very useful Friday evening after everyone had gone.

We found the centre rope and a couple of windlases and Allen gave us a mallet and 3 stakes. The stove was very good, we had it on all the weekend. After lighting the stove when we were all on board Friday we didn't have to put any more coal on that evening. The only slight problem is that the side of the settee did get quite hot.

The central heating was working O.K. but we could only get hot water by running the engine. The boat itself is very impressive and once all the teething problems are sorted it will be even better. I'm sure you will all be of the same opinion once you've been on board.

The seating area at front is a really nice retreat in the evening. All in all an excellent boat and a good weekend.