Our 2 weeks in Aston Marina were up but as we were in no hurry to leave we lay in bed this morning checking out the real estate pages on the laptops for any new properties that may have come on the market back in Oz.
All of a sudden we heard a lot of splashing around outside of the boat, we thought it was a couple of amorous ducks, until we heard the screaming of a drowning cat!
Elaine shot out through the bow doors whilst I ran through the boat and went out through the rear doors, luckily enough I had made us cups of tea earlier so at least I had my underpants on! Elaine is a lot more sensible and sleeps in her 'jamas.
Up at the sharp end of the boat poor old Geoffrey was floundering in the water, he was really screaming and struggling to stay afloat....he is 23 years old. Elaine had grabbed the landing net off the roof (which we bought last week) and had jumped on the stern of the boat next to us and was trying to keep him afloat. I scurried along the gunnel and managed to grab him by the scruff and chuck him inside the cratch.
The poor cat was knackered and just lay on his side. We gave him a good rub with a towel to dry him off, he wouldn't stop shaking for about an hour ... I don't think he was cold, he was in shock.
Anyhow, good ending, he seems fine now. Hopefully that has put him off walking along the gunnels of the boat, we still don't know how he escaped!
Normality assumed and we pushed back at about 11.00am I hate these early starts!
We filled with fuel and water at the dock; Bombo assumed his position and we were off.
All of a sudden we heard a lot of splashing around outside of the boat, we thought it was a couple of amorous ducks, until we heard the screaming of a drowning cat!
Elaine shot out through the bow doors whilst I ran through the boat and went out through the rear doors, luckily enough I had made us cups of tea earlier so at least I had my underpants on! Elaine is a lot more sensible and sleeps in her 'jamas.
Up at the sharp end of the boat poor old Geoffrey was floundering in the water, he was really screaming and struggling to stay afloat....he is 23 years old. Elaine had grabbed the landing net off the roof (which we bought last week) and had jumped on the stern of the boat next to us and was trying to keep him afloat. I scurried along the gunnel and managed to grab him by the scruff and chuck him inside the cratch.
The poor cat was knackered and just lay on his side. We gave him a good rub with a towel to dry him off, he wouldn't stop shaking for about an hour ... I don't think he was cold, he was in shock.
Anyhow, good ending, he seems fine now. Hopefully that has put him off walking along the gunnels of the boat, we still don't know how he escaped!
Normality assumed and we pushed back at about 11.00am I hate these early starts!
We filled with fuel and water at the dock; Bombo assumed his position and we were off.
Goodbye Aston Marina, see you in November ...
What can I say about the weather, just glorious, even the cows were cooling off.
First lock of the day was Sandon Lock ...
We had lunch on the move ...we never stop for lunch, have a nibble as we go along so to speak.
With all the sunshine today, the owners of these little bungalows would have been smiling ...
When you get a day like today there really is no better place to be in the world, let's all pray for a long hot summer.
Elaine had her summer gear on whilst Bombo lazed on the roof.
Check out the chick by the sign, this is another strange thing that happens in the UK whenever you get a hot sunny day.......
Every flat surface is taken up by a prostrate Pom!
Old and older ...
Sheep in the meadow ...
Along the way we thought we were back in Oz ... there was a Croc in the water!
We pulled up for the night at Little Haywood. I took the dogs for a walk to check out Colwich railway junction - it is where the west coat main line splits in two, one way going to Manchester, the other way to Liverpool. It is a very busy junction, with both passenger and freight trains. As I walked along a narrow lane I came across a memorial garden to a train driver that was killed in an accident here in 1986 - two fully loaded passenger trains collided virtually head on, one train had overshot a red signal but stopped in the middle of the junction, the other train hit it whilst travelling at 100mph. The driver of the speeding train was killed but amazingly all the passengers survived. The City of Milton Keynes nameplates were from his ill fated train.
Read about it here
Onto brighter things......tonight's mooring, what a lovely evening ...
Future plans coming shortly.........
When my old cat slipped on the boat gunwale we discovered her claws were quite long. It may be worth checking yours to see if a trim would help his grip.
ReplyDeleteKind regards, Marty
Hi Marty, His problem is that he always walks down the gunnel on the waterside, but we have a cratch cover so he cant get in at the bow, so he tries to turn round or walk backwards!! We normally see him in the act and grab him but this morning he escaped somehow. We do keep his claws trimmed, he is just an infirm old boy.
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