Do you know where you are moored tonight?

It was a pleasant evening on board NB Snowgoose a week ago today, we had moved inside to evade the smell wafting over us from the sewage farm above Derwent mouth lock.
A glass of wine was offered and accepted and story telling had begun, all of a sudden Jill says "I don't feel very well". I looked at her and notice that her eyes had glazed over and her head was drooping, I checked her pulse 120 bpm looked at her face again and her left cheek and mouth had drooped, asked her to lift her arms, she could only raise her right arm, what next what next oh yes "Jill smile for me please, Jill speak to me" all very slurred and unintelligible. "Andy call 999 and get an ambulance"

"Hello operator, we need an ambulance, a lady aboard my boat is having a stroke" says Andy.
Operator " where are you?" " we are on a narrowboat at Derwent mouth lock" says Andy.
"Where is that?"  says the operator.
"Its about a mile and a bit from the pubs in Shardlow" says Andy
"Shardlow where?" says the operator.

You get the picture, whilst all this was going on we were all scrabbling around to try and find the name of the nearest road.

I have learnt my lesson, know exactly where you are all the time and be prepared.

Oh by the way Jill was taken into hospital in Derby and sent back to the boat the next day, she had a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) which is commonly known as a Mini Stroke. She has made a complete recovery but must take it very easy for a while which she isn't finding very easy.

What we would have done without our neighbours Lizzie and Andy on NB Snowgoose I don't know but we'll tell you exactly what they did for us tomorrow.

How difficult would it be to paint postcodes on locks whilst carrying out routine painting? It could save a life.

Shangrila Towing Company - thoroughly recommend them

Peewit/Lapwing skulking in the undergrowth

Having lost power going into Holme Lock, we eased our way out onto the moorings at Holme Pier Pont whereby himself diagnosed a fuel filter problem and set off to rummage in the garden shed and engine 'ole for the spare. He produced two oil filters, but not a fuel filter to be seen!

It's a beautiful spot and was a glorious day and Shangrila had been kind enough to pull over with us, so we asked Castle Marina in Nottingham to obtain the part and opted to stay where we were for the night and eat outside in the sunshine -it was far too nice to move into the city anyway.

The very handsome Toby on the back of Shangrila - Nigel is the one without the spots!

We went to head off in the morning, only to find our power loss had escalated into a full-blown refusal to start - that is until we remembered that 'we' hadn't remembered to turn the fuel back on after the previous nights investigations. None-the-less, we still didn't have enough power to find our own way, so we tied ourselves alongside Shangrila whereby Nigel expertly dragged us along the river and round the sharp right turn  back onto the canal and through the two locks.

It may be a wide canal but it's not that wide when you are trying to manouevre two breasted up narrers of uneven lengths on one engine, but somebody loved us as nothing barge sized came the other way.

I had time to admire their flowers (I suppose I could have done some watering)

Ann and I had loads of time to have a good natter without interruption and shout warnings to any oncoming and advise the individual fisherman to lift their landing nets.

Yes, it was that tight and that dreadful left hand bend!!!

We moored up outside Sainsburys, parting the boats, and the fellers retrieved the correct part from the Marina, fitting it easily and fixing the problem  ( that makes a nice change then). We then retired to the pub to express as many thanks as they would let us-they didn't allow us many. Thank you so very much - we thoroughly recommend the Shangrila Towing Company and the crew are lovely as well as efficient.

It was all too much excitement for the boys.

Setting off from Gunthorpe to Nottingham....well that was the plan

A long row of Cormorants basking happily on the weir barrier

Stoke Lock - not manned by your usual friendly lockie - was way too exciting for my liking; very glad I'd put the crystal away after washing up that morning.

Despite Holme Lock not speaking to us either and the lights being red, the gates were open with this pretty little ketch waiting for us! I think the lockies must have had a late night up the pub or something. I asked this lockie if Stoke Lock was being manned by a volunteer that day and he responded with a monosyllabic, "no". You think he could have shown enough interest to muster a, "no, why?" (reminded me of having a 15year old teenage boy again) - oh well, I suppose we all have our off days.

This teeny weeny fishing style ketch was covered in beautifully painted roses and castles - my grandson would love it, I didn't catch it's name as we were having a few problems.  

Just as we approached the lock we lost power, but that's the next story!