Newbury #2
The return journey of the Newbury trip was split over a couple of days. I went back to Iris on the friday evening and picked her up from the dry dock. After confidently reversing out into the main canal from the boatyard, I discovered my confidence was somewhat overated as I struggled to turn around. After a couple of attempts, I decided to capitalise on my reversing skills and go back down the canal to where there was more room.

It was a little further than I thought. So if anyone here was wondering what the narrowboat was doing exiting Newbury in reverse, that was me. I did eventually get down to the pool above the next lock and managed to turn around.

As luck would have it, another boat came along, a very nice traditional style boat with a vintage Lister engine. Martin and Jane were making their way back down to Woolhampton, so we ended up travelling down together, which made all the locks and swing bridges a lot easier. After pretty much shooting the rapids through the infamous Woolhampton lock/electric swing bridge combination, we tied up for the night. Martin and Jane kindly asked me over for dinner and we managed to kill off a couple of bottles of wine on the way. During the course of the evening I happened to mention that it had taken us 14 hours to get from Reading to Newbury the previous week. Martin got that far away look in his eyes that guys sometimes get and said '14 hours eh? Is that some kind of record?' Jane just looked nervous. I bade my farewells and made my way back through the woods to my boat on the other side of the river.

I was up early the next morning and had a nice run down to Aldermaston to meet the others who were on their way out form London. There was a bit of drizzle, but that just added to the whole 'Apocalypse Now' feel.

Everyone arrived from London (Mary, my brother and his girlfriend and Helen and Greg) and we set off into the gloom. A few fairly self explanatory pictures here.









And so back to Reading in the rain, only minor damage done to the chimney after hitting the bridge by the London Street Brasserie, quite a current through there when the Kennett is flowing.

Newbury trip #1
The reason for taking Iris to Newbury was to get her re-blacked in a dry dock up there at All Aboard Marine Services. They'd quoted a price about £1000 less than the local Thames boatyards, so it seemed worth the effort.

Using the trusty canal planner website, I'd worked out that it was a mere 20 miles away. Sure there were a few locks and things, but really, how hard could it be? My confidence was based on the fact that I'd be standing at the back steering and barking out orders to the 'crew'.

This picture shows us leaving the marina in Reading,



...and another one, showing my brother Nick/Eric (two names, long story) who was over from NZ with his partner Sally,....



This is the entrance to the Kennet and Avon canal at about 0830 on the saturday morning,



and here is the lock that separates this from the mighty Thames...



Our trip continued up through the Oracle shopping center and through the other side of Reading. It was interesting as always to see something familiar (Reading) from an unfamiliar point of view (my boat).

The Kennet and Avon canal sometimes has the river Kennett flowing through it and sometimes not. This can make for variable progress between slow and very slow. Still, plenty of time to admire the scenery, as these pictures show....









There were of course a number of locks to go through, about 20 in fact. My brother, his girlfriend and Mary were all lock-novices at the beginning of the day, but by the end of the day, I only had to shout 'lock!' and they'd all spring into action, windlasses at the ready.

Here is a nice shot showing the water pressure in one of the locks,



here I am working hard at getting though a lock....



and Iris almost at the top....



As well as locks, there were also over 10 swingbridges to contend with, some electrically operated and some manual. Here we see my brother earning his keep with the manual variety.





Not shown is the part where I fell over at the lockside in Aldermaston in the rain and badly bruised my knee. Even now, weeks later. I still can't kneel on it. Hopefully it'll be right for the new year when surely my knighthood will be announced.

Le Mans 2007
From the 'better late than never' department we have some pictures and a few words from the family trip to the Le Mans 24 hour motor race. I've been with various people over the years, most notably cabin-boy Mat who couldn't make it this year. However, my brother came over with his girlfriend, my girlfriend Mary came along with her brother Steve and our brother in law (also Steve) rounded out the numbers.

The theme this year was rain, we saw plenty of it on the way down (apart from when I ran out of petrol 2 kms from the service station.....)

Here is a misplaced boat pikey, somewhere in France....



We pitched camp about 2 minutes before a deluge came down. Mary had brought a gazebo and it did stirling work keeping the elements out (well almost)



On the morning of the first day there, the others had gone shoping, Mary and I heard a crash and some shouting and the gazebo had broken free of its moorings and toppled over. We spent the next hour or so jury rigging the remains and anchoring it down with some tyres 'retrieved' from an old crash barrier. These two pictures show how things ended up - not pretty, but it worked.





On the friday afternoon we walked around the pits as they had an open day. It rained. A lot. Here I am after a small shower, it got much worse.



And here at last is an Aston we can all afford...



We went down to the Houx Annex roundabout on friday evening to watch the customary high jinks. There was one boat there anyway, so its in keeping with the blog theme.



Here are some more general pictures, including a riot control truck that some guys had trailered down from the UK just for friday night. I admire that sort of dedication.







Saturday saw the race start at 3:00pm, after watching that we adjourned to the campsite for some 'refreshments'. After a few Babychams I decided to fire up the Cerbera - a small crowd had gathered by then and we spent a happy few minutes just listening to the engine run...



Saturday night saw the now traditional pump action shotgun activities....



We went on the ferris wheel, here is the view of the racetrack from the top,



...and here is Steve (brother in law) looking how he felt - classic picture. My brother is trying to find a way out.



Anyhoo, there is more I could write, but I suspect my sister and parents will read this, so 'what goes on tour stays on tour'.

It rained all the way back to Dunkerque - all the way......



but despite missing our ferry, we all made it home.

Next week life at a different pace as we take 14 hours to travel in IRIS from Reading to Newbury.