A 'Do' day turns out to be a 'Move' day outside Newbury

Whitehorse Roving Bridge to ‘A Secret Location’, Kennet & Avon Canal

The weathermen were unsure last night as to the state of the wind, and we planned to stay and have a ‘do’ day on No Problem fitting out the utility room.  But we awoke to a calm day with hardly any wind, so took the opportunity to have a ‘move’ day.  We have decided to have new rules!

We will either have a ‘do’ day or ‘move’ day, but not a ‘do and move’ or ‘move and do’ day – that is far too stressful!

So over to B&Q a bit sharpish this morning to take back all the bits that were not required for the new galley to get them credited against some bit and bobs that were required.  That having done we pulled the pins and made our way downstream to one of our most favourite moorings on the whole canal system.. Lucy simply adores it here too.. and this is our secret mooring location this evening.  Not towpath and so quiet it is untrue.  Nobody for miles and nobody walking past.  Our very own bit of England for an evening!…

Between Newbury and Thatcham this is.. I know Chas and Ann of NB Moore2Life will know where this is.. I wonder does anybody else? 

I thought for a moment cruising along today that I was back on the River Gt Ouse over in East Anglia, our summer haunt of the last couple of years.. there were loads of tern diving into the river after small fish.. very unusual to see that on this stretch of water.. and cuckoos, well so many of them.  I was out walking Lucy this evening and I heard one about quarter mile away, then suddenly one started right above my head as I walked the footpath, I couldn’t believe it.. there is was on a branch cuckooing away.. what a fantastic sight, I have never been so close to a cuckoo before, wonderful.  I couldn’t take a photo although I did have the camera, it was too dark to be able to get any sort of decent one.  Maybe tomorrow..

I thought I had really done it today though… I was rearranging all the pots of this and that in the utility room when a small pot of mahogany exterior woodstain fell from one of the shelves and smashed open onto the new wooden flooring along the corridor.. Vic went running for the kitchen roll towels while I grabbed what I could to mop up as fast as possible.. I really thought that was the end of that.  It took a good 5 minutes to mop up, and no stain at all to the floor.. just some staining to the cracks in between which I was not bothered about.. it is hardly noticeable, but I don’t mind that when I think what the place could have looked like.. accidents will happen for sure, but that would have been tragic if the floor had soaked that lot in.  Vic said it was due to the varnishing and treatment that the flooring has that averted the disaster… phew!

I have just read Chas and Annie’s blog and they are pressing on getting their house squared over for the new tenants they have coming in… won’t be long till they are back onboard Moore2Life and making haste to catch us up.  Moore2Life is having its bottom done in Devizes (a two year maintenance job of bitumen put on below the waterline)while they are away.. And also heard from Paul Balmer who is on the way with his narrowboat Waterway Routes towards his moorings near Birmingham.. he encountered empty pounds (lengths between locks) at Atherstone today and had to wait for a couple of hours till they got filled.. glad to have heard from them both.. I was wondering!