Garden, Centre lines and a pirate

We decided that we didn't want to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and so set out on the Friday evening after Elizabeth collected Pete from the station after a working trip in Bristol. As Pete had done the last day in June for setting out after an Elizabeth work day, Elizabeth had prepped Bella for setting out after a Pete work day. By the time they both hopped back onto Bella, it was a matter of untying and going!

The day was beautiful and the weather held for a glorious glide south. One of the pics shows our new garden arrangement, with the plants much closer to the stern, alowing more visibility. This is now possible as we now have two centre lines.

What THAT means is that there are now two very long ropes - centre lines - which connect from the centre top of the boat and, when ready for use, extend from the center to rest on the roof near to the stern and the tillerworker. And that means that the person driving the boat while the other works locks can gently set Bella alongside to wait for the lock, and can hop off Bella and onto the towpath with a rope easily to hand. When on the towpath, the tillerworker then works the centreline, grasping more and more of it into a coil and walking toward the centre of the boat while at the same time, pulling Bella close to the canal edge. Eventually, Bella is cleanly alongshide with no gap at bow or stern and the boat handler is standing at Bella's centre point in control of the boat with only one rope in use (as compared to full mooring with the centre line coiled on the roof and the bow and stern lines tied to the canal edge). AND - when there were things on the roof when there was only one line, all that had to happen whilst also watching that nothing came toppling off if caught by the line! Easily solution. Two centre lines.

So, the garden is moved.

The other pic is the arh harh boater called Pete. Note the pony tail curled under the back of the hat and the earring on the left ear. We suspect that the piratical gene was always there, but dormant. It developed a bit during his years as Executive Officer in the Royal Navy, but uniforms kept this slightly in control. There was much piratical behaviour then, but outward bodily manifestation had yet to show. Almost two years on the water, in command of his own craft, have meant that the piratical gene has been able to flourish. Watch this space for sign of any bandanas...

Anyway, this Friday, we moored up just north of Bronney by 7pm.