It has been six years since we had our last voyage on SKYY and just about in the middle of our five year cruise of Britain's inland waterways, our adventure was brought to a sudden halt in Selby,Yorkshire at the end of July 2010 by my heart attack.
I was looked after extremely well in York Hospital and after By Pass surgery in Hull I returned to SKYY to recuperate. in the meantime Jacquie and SKYY were also looked after by the Selby lock keepers and in the eight months, in total that we spent in Selby, whilst I recovered, we made several close friends.
Here we were back in Yorkshire, August 2018, near Knaresborough, celebrating 59 years of friendship with four of Jacquie's school chums, with husbands there were ten of of us, all either nearly seventy or in our seventies going on seven. We were staying in one of those adult only hotels, enjoying activities, such as rifle shooting, green bowling, ping pong, snooker and archery, Jacquie got a balls eye in that one.
When all the fun had finished and we said our goodbyes. We headed back to Selby to meet up with some of those friends. As chance would have it whilst walking down Selby's main shopping street we bumped into another friend, Peter who bought us up to date with goings on at the Selby Boat Yard where we had been moored up for most of our eight months stay.
We completed our really enjoyable, but short visit to Selby with a
chat with one of the lock keepers who remembered our time there and a
walk along the towpath
Just in case you get to read this Peter, my blog for my current project is as follows :- http://stellastag.blogspot.com/
THE ADVENTURES OF NARROW BOAT SKYY
About Me
- Mac & Jacquie Court
- 70 now and our five wonderful years aboard our narrowboat Skyy seem along time ago. Jacquie, allowed me to build my replica three wheeler kit car, which was a great success. Now it's time to start on a bigger project and that is to make a good Triumph Stag even better, here goes.
Wednesday, 29 August 2018
Saturday, 8 June 2013
FAREWELL SKYY
THURSDAY 6TH JUNE 2013
Along time since the last blog post and a lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge. Our last cruise in SKYY in 2012 was to take her to ABNB's marina at Crick. There she waited patiently for her new owners to discover her, she looked very smart, having been re-blacked down to the waterline and gunnels and rear deck all repainted.
In the meantime we returned to our home in Surrey and set about decorating and refurnishing. Following the arrival early in 2013 of my step daughters second child we have decided to stay put for the foreseeable future and we spend many enjoyable hours helping out in looking after the 3 three year old Emily and 3 months old Cameron,
Determined not to become bored I ordered the first part of a kit car, a replica of an old Morgan three wheeler, I anticipate that this will take between two to three years to complete to my satisfaction and for those sad enough to follow my hesitant steps in achieving this I have started a new blog Hopefully the following link will take you to it. http://macsmorgan3wheelerbuild.blogspot.co.uk/
The kit arrive on Tuesday and so far I have managed to drill the first of many holes in the right places.
The really good news is that SKYY has indeed got new owners, Steve and Elaine to be precise, I went up to Crick on Thursday to hand SKYY over to them, the formalities of contracts and money all having been sorted out by the great team at ABNB. A lovely, warm hearted couple and their friend Peter were on board as I walked Steve through the boat and then went for a short spin. New engine mounts, that the surveyor had called for had returned the smooth low speed running and I wished that I had had that done a year or so ago. Steve and Elaine were delighted with SKYY, I took a few farewell pictures and as I walked away and waved to them, I had to hold back a tear or two. They obviously know what they are about, having hired boats many times, so when you see them out and about on the cut do shout out a welcome.
We had a great six years of ownership, five of which we lived aboard and we do miss the peace and tranquility of the canals especially now that the sun has decided to shine, but mostly it is the camaraderie that we miss, but life moves on.
BYE BYE SKYY
Along time since the last blog post and a lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge. Our last cruise in SKYY in 2012 was to take her to ABNB's marina at Crick. There she waited patiently for her new owners to discover her, she looked very smart, having been re-blacked down to the waterline and gunnels and rear deck all repainted.
In the meantime we returned to our home in Surrey and set about decorating and refurnishing. Following the arrival early in 2013 of my step daughters second child we have decided to stay put for the foreseeable future and we spend many enjoyable hours helping out in looking after the 3 three year old Emily and 3 months old Cameron,
Determined not to become bored I ordered the first part of a kit car, a replica of an old Morgan three wheeler, I anticipate that this will take between two to three years to complete to my satisfaction and for those sad enough to follow my hesitant steps in achieving this I have started a new blog Hopefully the following link will take you to it. http://macsmorgan3wheelerbuild.blogspot.co.uk/
The kit arrive on Tuesday and so far I have managed to drill the first of many holes in the right places.
The really good news is that SKYY has indeed got new owners, Steve and Elaine to be precise, I went up to Crick on Thursday to hand SKYY over to them, the formalities of contracts and money all having been sorted out by the great team at ABNB. A lovely, warm hearted couple and their friend Peter were on board as I walked Steve through the boat and then went for a short spin. New engine mounts, that the surveyor had called for had returned the smooth low speed running and I wished that I had had that done a year or so ago. Steve and Elaine were delighted with SKYY, I took a few farewell pictures and as I walked away and waved to them, I had to hold back a tear or two. They obviously know what they are about, having hired boats many times, so when you see them out and about on the cut do shout out a welcome.
We had a great six years of ownership, five of which we lived aboard and we do miss the peace and tranquility of the canals especially now that the sun has decided to shine, but mostly it is the camaraderie that we miss, but life moves on.
BYE BYE SKYY
Sunday, 23 September 2012
ADVENTURES END
THUSDAY 6TH TO SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER
2012
The River Nene does not
make a very impressive passage through Northampton; surrounding the Town Lock
are offices and by the old town bridge there are converted warehouses. We did
moor, just before the bridge for the convenient Morrison’s supermarket and
shortly afterwards arrived at the rather scruffy entrance to the Northampton
Arm.
We had been warned that
the going was very slow for the first couple of miles and indeed it was. The first
five locks are initially well spaced but the canal is very narrow and weedy and
the slow going was made even more so as I had to continually apply full reverse
to blow the weed of the prop. Immediately before one lock contractors had
fenced off the towpath, making it very difficult to access the lock, apparently
this was to enable towpath repairs to be carried out, but it seemed a little
premature as the canal was to be closed to navigation for three weeks from
Monday. Hey ho, too early to expect the new CR&T to have got its house in
order yet, but at the next lock, chaps in their new CR&T sweatshirts
happily helped us through.
The M1 tunnel heralds
the proper start of the Northampton flight. By now we had got into a good
routine, with Jacquie doing all the work, as I was still hopping about, with my
dodgy knee. I let the boat push the upper gate open whilst I closed the paddle,
then I hopped across the stern as SKYY excited the lock and tied up just beyond
to close the gate, pushing with just one leg, I then lowered the other paddle
and with a little tug on the stern rope I hopped back on board and proceeded to
the next lock.
Several wooden lift
bridges adorned the way and the good weather made it an enjoyable journey,
although Jacquie was truly exhausted by the time we reached Gayton Junction. We
stopped to use facilities at the junction and only travelled a mile or so up
The Grand Union before stopping for the day.
The weather was
delightful so we decided to stay where we were on Friday and relax before
tackling the Buckby flight of 7 locks the next day. It was lunch time on
Saturday when the locks came into sight, so we stopped for a bite and then
paired up with another experienced crew to avoid having to lock through with one of the several hire boats
that were happily banging into one another. I had promised Jacquie a well
earned drink and dinner at Norton Junction’s New Inn, but when we eventually
arrived at the top lock, disaster, the pub was closed and although Jacquie was
able to rustle up an evening meal there was no wine on board.
Before we left our
mooring at Norton Junction on Sunday morning I thoroughly rubbed down the scars
on the starboard gunnel and did my best to avoid any more scars as we traversed
Braunston Tunnel, however a small boat coming the other way seemed to think the
best thing to do when confronted with an oncoming boat, was to stop, resulting
in the boat ending up diagonally across the tunnel. He complained that he was
dazzled by my headlight, but if he had kept both ends of his boat on his side
of the tunnel my light wouldn’t have been in his eyes.
We paused halfway down
the six Braunston Locks to buy a bottle of wine for Jacquie from the Admiral
Nelson and again at Wharf House Chandlery for some red oxide and blacking for
me. Just before we got to Wigrams we stopped to allow me to red oxide the bare
metal of the newly sanded gunnel and for the first and possible the last time I
entered the marina without touching the sides, got it right at last.
Well that’s it, the
adventure is over; yellow marker was applied to the canal map, leaving only a
very small proportion of the system which we haven’t explored.
The following week was
spent catching up with check up’s at the doctors and dentist and I made the
most of the glorious weather to re-black SKYY down to the waterline and sand
the port gunnel and repaint both side, ready to have Skyy looking her best for
when ABNB come to take photos. The good news is that the doctor thought that I
hadn’t done any serious damage to my knee and thankfully it is gradually
getting better.
I will occasionally blog
just to keep folk up to date with our plans to move back on land, in the
meantime a big thank you for all those who took the time to follow and comment
on our super five year adventure aboard SKYY.
Friday, 7 September 2012
OUCH
SATURDAY 1ST TO WEDNESDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
2012
Our mooring by Thrapston
Bridge was used by the Canoe Hire Company for launching its boats and the guys
had said that they were putting into the water this Saturday morning 13 canoes
and their occupants. I said we would be out of the way by 9.30 but on Friday
evening we were joined by two other boats, happily both skippers agreed to be
gone by then and dead on time we swung SKYY around and got on our way. The sun
was desperate to break through the cloud and eventually it succeeded.
Five locks later we
stopped on the extensive mooring beside the Doc Martins sports facility, Regrettable
none of the indicated boaters facilities were available, not even water,
fortunately we weren’t desperate except for rubbish disposal. We enjoyed an
alfresco lunch after which the boys fell asleep in the sunshine. Later in the
afternoon we took a stroll up to Irthlingborough, but it turned out to be an uninspiring
and tired looking town, only the unusual church tower saved it from total
sadness.
On Sunday we intended to
move on to Wellingborough, but on the other side of the river the walks around
Stanwick Lakes are extensive so most of the morning was spent walking off
Jacquie’s last night’s three course meal and as Brian and Marilyn needed to get
a taxi back to their car in Thrapston that afternoon, we stayed put.
On Monday we did get
going, under the largest arch of the old medieval bridge before passing under the
1930’s bypass bridge. We did now need water and at Wellingborough we were able
to fill up, although the pumpout and Elsan sluice was not operational, it has
to be said that this river is almost totally devoid of any useable facility
other than at a boatyard and as for rubbish disposal, EA provide none at all
and we were reduced to getting rid of it in small quantities in litter bins, one
might be forgiven in thinking that EA is doing its best to deter boaters, but
maybe I am just getting a bit jaded.
The embankment mooring was right beside a park
with a child’s mini funfair and it was buzzing, we did think we would move on,
but were too lazy and as the sun went down it quietened except for the noise
from the Whitbread flour mill on the opposite bank. It was in fact the most
disturbed night’s sleep we have both had in five years of cruising, so be warned.
It was a bright Tuesday
morning and soon there were lots of mums and children about, feeding the swans
and ducks and we got chatting to one of them, the two children whispered to
mum, they were asking if they could come on board to have a look, no problem,
except as I picked the second child up to swing her on board, my left knee went
‘PING’ and now I am hobbling, amazingly there is no pain when I am resting it,
but I can’t put much weight on it and the seventeen locks of the Northampton
Arm aren’t too far ahead.
Jacquie did all seven of
the locks on the way to Billings Aquadrome Marina, which is on the outskirts of
Northampton, we had hoped to moor riverside before we got that far, but the
indicated moorings had ‘Private No Mooring’ signs so the marina was the only
option. I do wish they would put up some descent signage, as the entrance to
the marina is immediately beyond a bridge and you are past the entrance before
the tiny sign is visible, the only way in is to reverse back under the bridge
before turning into the arm, even once into the marina the sign for the pumpout
and visitor moorings is so small I couldn’t even read it with binoculars until
we were right on it. Anyway the charge is only £6.50 a night, cheapest yet.
It was still another six
locks to get into the centre of Northampton and the plan for Wednesday was to
get that, far ready to push up the seventeen locks on Thursday. Just before the
Northampton Town Lock a new pontoon mooring had been installed alongside the Becket’s
Park and we decided to take advantage of this pleasant spot for the rest of the
day.
Monday, 3 September 2012
THE BIG WHEEL
SUNDAY 26TH TO FRIDAY 31ST
AUGUST 2012
Ahhhh! That’s better,
back on the river, lots of bends to keep you guessing, willow trees trailing
their leaves in the water, old multi arched bridges, and mellow mills and the
hoot of a steam whistle. Shortly after passing under Peterborough High Road
Bridge and the railway bridges, on the left hand side is the Peterborough
terminus of the Nene Valley Railway, unfortunately from our position down on
the river we couldn’t see the source of the hooting, but we would later.
After three locks and
nine miles we arrived at the railway bridge at Sutton, the map showed the EA
mooring to be on the far side of the bridge and it may have been once, but now
there was a floating pontoon just before. As we walked up from the river
Wansford Station, level crossing and signal box were immediately in front of us
and then followed all the fun of a size train set. Thomas and friends were in
full steam on this bank holiday weekend as we joined the many other train
spotters wandering around the station and sidings.
The next morning,
Monday, we walked Duggie down the rail track
to where they do demonstrations of mail bag pick up and drops offs, in
fact in the sidings, they have the last surviving Royal Mail coach that was
involved in The Great Train Robbery back in the 60’s.
We passed several more
picturesque lock side mills before we stopped for the night just after Ashton
Lock. Here we met up again with Ken and Linda, who Jacquie had firat met whilst
I was in hospital in Selby in 2010. We walked into thatched village of Ashton,
we didn’t visit the Chequered Skipper, but it has a good reputation: apparently
the village is owned by the Rothschild family and is an immaculately maintained
estate village.
This part of the river
is very lovely with several church spires or towers visible at any one time. By
Tuesday lunch time we moored at the bottom of the garden of The Kings Head pub
at Wadenhoe. We were seduced by the menu and went for a full three course
lunch, the deserts were especially delicious and we slept the afternoon away
and didn’t eat another thing until breakfast on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning we
wandered around, Wadenhoe and it is delightful, in one of the paddocks a couple
of pretty Alpacas regarded us over the fence. The village is a trust as the
last squire George Ward Hunt died without an heir and it is again, beautifully
maintained.
Unfortunately although
the sun was shining brightly this morning the forecast was for heavy rain
showers later and we had the notorious Islip footbridge to get under. Before we
left Wadenhoe moorings I filled the water tank to the top of its 450 lt,
capacity, calculating that this was equal to six fellas sitting in the bow and
got away in the sunshine. Sure enough just before Islip Lock an iron footbridge
seemingly blocked our way, I had been advised to keep well over to the right as
supposedly there is a little more head room here. I sighted along the cratch
cover and decided it would just clear and it did by ½ an inch, however an
overhanging tree stopped our exit and I had to back up and go though at a
slight angle, but we made it. I had seriously been considering dismantling the
cratch and was very relieved that this wasn’t necessary.
I thought this was an
end to our headroom problems, until the first arch of the medieval Nine Arched
Thrapston Bridge came into view, I thought we would never get through that, but
thankfully as the other arches came into view I realised that the navigation
arch was much bigger. As we began to exit the arch I had to turn hard right to
reach the mooring, even then bow was on the opposite bank, leaving just enough
room for the stern to clear the bridge parapet, but we were soon snugly tied up
before the rain came down.
We sat out the rain on
Thursday, with other boats moored alongside us waiting for the water level to
drop before attempting the footbridge, that made me feel really smug about
pushing on yesterday. On a bright and warm Friday I decided to clear out the
engine bay, rub down the rusty bits, prime and top coat it all. The forecast
was no rain, so I felt comfortable leaving tools and paint pots on the grass
beside the boat whilst the paint dried overnight, the weather had other plans and
it started to rain, so very hurriedly we bundled it all under the cratch.
Marilyn and Brian joined
us for the weekend on Friday evening in time to enjoy an excellent meal in the
Woolpack pub in Islip before we welcomed them back on to Skyy for a farewell
cruise.
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