Short But Sweet - Cowley to Uxbridge

What a lovely day today has turned out to be.  The sun is shining and it really feels like summer is on its way.  We can feel the boats passing us,  on the move up and down the canal.  Every time he hears an engine or feels the boat move he is up, nose in the porthole watching them leave him behind.  Its giving Yog an itchy tiller so we will soon be on the move too, I can feel it in my water.

True to form, we set off around 11am (this is the afternoon for Yog I should add).
Our day would be spent at a nice leisurely pace as neither of us are in any particular hurry.  Only one lock to do today, as I had decided to stop in Uxbridge.  My iPhone and Facebook had told me there were charity shops to be explored there so it was a no brainer!!  Also the fact that my back was still twangy, there was no way today would be a mission from hell day, I needed my back for charity shopping!!!

Yog moored at the lock landing and came to help me do the lock (well, pretty much do the lock really) so I took great pleasure in supervising the rooky lol.....Shall see what the repercussions are for that comment lol



We managed to bump into Louise Yeoman, a boater I had spoken to quite a few times on the Cowley & Uxbridge Boaters Facebook Page.  They have been having similar problems in this area as we had a couple of years ago on the Lee and Stort, with C&RT getting heavy handed cave man on boaters. So it was a good opportunity to put a face to the profile picture as well as try to answer any questions she had as well as give her the benefit of my experiences.  Or in other words, a perfect reason to stop and drink more tea!!

Funnily enough, another boater I had previously met through the group Steve Jay, rang me whilst I was drinking tea with Louise.  So we arranged to meet him in Uxbridge as we were both heading that way. 

So we said our goodbyes and headed towards Steve and his nearly out of date beer!!

He had mentioned he had quite a few bottles on his boat that NEEDED to be consumed before their sell by date.  Yog and I are not the kind to refuse a plea for help, so we immediately headed off in his direction!!

It wasn't that long before we were sitting aboard his stunning widebeam. (as in boat, not anything rude). Sipping nearly out of date beer whilst his mad dog (also called Ronni) did his best to shag us at every given opportunity!!

I am so glad I had the forethought to stick some food in the oven before meeting up with Steve as after a few tinnies with him I was not in the mood for cooking.  So thanks to my excellent preparation we had half cooked sausages and cold beans when we got back lol.