With our new shining paint job we headed off on our first cruise down from Warwick to Oxford with the sun shine and promising glorious weather all the way. A good first trip with no problems and everything looking good for a great season.

Too good to last, and whilst cruising down the River Thames to Abingdon, we were rammed by a hire boat. Luckily there was no injuries to any of our guests, but poor old Duke spent the rest of the season with a nasty dent at the front and rather less crockery than when we left Warwick. Insurance claims are now being battled out and hopefully Duke will go down to Braunston in the next few months to have a ‘slight’ rebuild at the forend. Thankfully the rest of the week’s trip up to Lechlade passed without further incident, but still with wonderful sunshine we were to enjoy for most of the season. We had our best ever run up and down the Kennet and Avon canal which is a much improved waterway. Our overnight moorings at Windsor were enlivened by a mass river swim early in the morning whilst we were there which was quite a sight not too mention noisy with hundreds of swimmers thrashing past the boats. We were on our way up the River Wey to Godalming. – always a favourite mooring as there is a supermarket right by the quay.

Turn the boats and head towards London. Nearing Southwell I could feel and hear that all was not one hundred per cent well in the engine department and on inspection a faulty gearbox was quickly discovered, but owing to the superhuman efforts of Johno from Union Canal carriers and friends, a new box was delivered and fitted within the day and we were quickly on our way to Limehouse Docks where we turned and retraced our steps back to Little Venice for the weekend. Our next ‘port of call’ was Berkhampstead which I had never used as a turn-around place, but it proved to be a good choice and also the start of our extra musical season as it was there that I bought Ian a mouthorgan, with which he managed to entertain us all season- I wanted to buy a bugle I saw, but was ‘gently’ persuaded that perhaps the waterways were not quite ready for my early morning call to breakfasts. Stoke Breurne for the following weekend with the sun still shining. Time for another river trip and we headed off down the River Nene to Peterborough. The weather was still being kind to us and a glorious mooring at Fotheringhay allowed everyone to visit the famous church there were despite the authorities carefully hiding the organ blower switches, I managed to find the right plugs and buttons and gave a short recital on the splendid instrument in the church. Luckily unlike the last time we were on that river, there was no flooding and we had another wonderful cruise including a trip down to Dog in a Doublet lock. Our next destination was Braunston where a new engine was to be fitted over the weekend. This was achieved in time with everyone there pulling out the stops to make sure that we got away on time on the following Sunday morning - it was something akin to a pit stop in a formula one race. The River Soar is a stretch of water that I hadn’t cruised on for about 30 years, but after locking down the magnificent staircase at Foxton we headed off on our way to Burton on Trent along this fascinating river. Owing to the National Rally being held at Burton, my intended weekend moorings were not available, but Horniglow basin stood in admirably as second choice. We were now back on more familiar waterways and still enjoying glorious sunshine, made our way to Stoke on Trent for the following weekend. Manchester was to have been our destination for the next week, but owing to the riots we were advised to make alternative arrangements, so we enjoyed another new turn-around venue at Worsley for the weekend. Again, we had been advised that Liverpool, our next destination was perhaps avoided, so I hastily rearranged our trip into Liverpool Docks for mid-week and another new weekend venue was added to our list in the form of Burscough for our turn-around, again, a good place with all the facilities that we needed. We were now, almost back on schedule and were able to reach Northwich on the River Weaver with a day to spare, so we cruised up to Winsford Flashes which I had never been to before, but which were well worth seeing.
By now we had had the inevitable crew change – applicants sometimes seem unable to read the ‘job description’ as stated, but we were very fortunate to be joined by Cos who fitted in from the first and despite his not catching as many fish as he hoped, proved a wonderful addition to our crew roster. Ian was still with us producing his very edible cakes and bread! as was Jenny in capacity as chief table layer and dog walker.
My favourite trip loomed and did not disappoint. Llangollen still has the magic to surprise and charm and with continuing good weather thrown in a trip up there, despite some rather shallow water levels, proved as memorable as ever.

In Llangollen we welcomed on board, a charter group of guests from Japan. My Japanese is not my strongest language and their English not theirs, but we had a wonderful week together.

With lots of bowing we said goodbye to our guests and headed off to Stourport and our end of season river trips. The river Severn thrilled us with a mini bore, but luckily we had taken advice and were safely moored up to watch the onrushing water. A lovely weekend moored in Gloucester docks, where we welcomed our second group from Japan on board and cruised down to Sharpness with the wonderful views over the River Severn where it becomes a real river – definitely not the place for Duke and Duchess. Retracing our steps, we headed back to Tewkesbury and our journey up the River Avon to Stratford on Avon. The river was very gentle and gave us no problems, just glorious views and pretty towns to explore.
In Stratford, we boarded out last guests for the season and headed back to Warwick, still enjoying the late autumn sunshine.

We are now snuggly tucked up in our winter moorings at the Saltisford Canal Centre, allowing little Ben to enjoy his daily walks around the racecourse.

My thanks to all the crew for a great season and of course, to all our guests who really do make this a very enjoyable way of life for all of us.

See you all in 2012!
David