Woke up earlish, 7am, and read Waterways World. Finally Dad decided to get up at around 10. It was going to be a cold day, but at least the sun was shining. Not a lot happened in the morning, but come lunch time… Mum wanted to get a car up to Snakeholme as she had a booking in Hull to get her nails and her done. John Jackson was originally not going to stay up at Snakeholme after his boat trip as his crew needed to get back to their car. Finally it was decided to take Johns car up there as well, but he didn’t have time to bring it up himself, so Dad offered to take his car up there. James, in Astra II, had just had his gearbox refurbished, and installed, but it would not connect properly to the prop shaft. The engineer did not have the nessesary bits, so had to leave it unconnected. Dad helped him reconnect it, and with a blast of easy start it the engine was up and running. Unfortunately the coupling, or the shaft was not quite right, and the engine oscillated forwards and backwards slowly when in gear. It was getting on, so we moved the cars.

There was not much water in Kismets tank, so we started to put some in. Earlier in the morning we found that the holding tank was full, so we needed to empty it down at the lock. As luck would have it, John came down the river with his trip of football divorced wifes (the European cup was on), and so we quickly got Rose of Yorkshire untied – nearly forgetting the mains plug, and followed him through the bridge. We then suddenly realised that Kismet was still filling up with water! Doh! We decided it would take longer than the trip to fill. Once pumped out, we hot footed it after John who had got down to the lock, and was slowly going back. The weed was really slowing up down, so Dad put the boat into to reverse to try and throw some of it off. This is when the morse control level got stuck in reverse – which it has done many a time when a lot of reverse thrust is used – and so we ended up in the bank. John was past most of the boat before we got going again, but we eventually got through the bridge with no traffic queue. We then needed to fill the tank with water, so pulled up at the slipway, and started filling after saving Kismet from sinking – just as well the water was draining over the side.

Getting everyone ready at the same time was proving difficult, James’ friends car boot lock had jammed up, and so he was trying to sort that out from the inside of the boot. Wayne off River Dart had decided to talk to someone in a boat on the other side of the river, and Gary on Monsoon could not get out with River Dart moored along side Astra II. Chris was installing a new paraffin heater he had got from £90, when they normally cost nearly a thousand pounds – he did check with the company to check it wasn’t stolen! Dr Foreacer, Mistral, and Peter on Endurance had already gone up to Brigham.

Eventually we managed to get away just as the weather started to get worse, and trundled slowly up the river. Rose of Yorkshires prop was completely weeded up, and even at full speed was only making 3mph against the flow. Half way to Brigham Astra II started heading the bank – weed in the water intake, Wayne off River Dart had to clear it for James, who didn’t know how too. Soon after they stopped again, but it was all in hand, so we continued up. The bridge at Brigham was already open when we arrived, Bob off Sonnet still had his engine not fully fixed in yet – shy of two washers! – but had driven round, and helped with the bridge. We slowly went around the bendy twisty bit above Brigham, and past Tony Foreacre as he wanted to be away early on Sunday. It started to rain a bit, but it never got really heavy.

At Snakeholme, the little boats were placed in the lower lock chamber, and the two narrowboats along the wall. The gazebo was setup, and barbecues started, and grass cutting as well. Since it was impossible to reach the stern of Kismet from the bank, I started hacking away with a saw (the only implement we had) through the jungle that had built up. After reaching half way a birds nest was seen in the long weeds, and it was decided to stop. This mean the boat would have to be tied with the front and centre rope.

Much furious cooking ensued while it was dry. By the time John had arrived at 6:30 most people had eaten. Since John needed to be in the lower lock chamber to get his passengers off – most of whom where now completely Drunk since drinking from Lunch time, and having no food – we needed to get some boats out. We moved Michael in Double Zero, and Mistral along side Rose of Yorkshire, and John just squeezed through. Following was the faux butty from below the bridge, so we put his bow into the little gap next to Moonseacher. This must be a all time record for the number of boats at Snakeholme lock – 12.

Much wine flowed, along with Burgers, and Kebabs, but it was always cold even when the sun made it’s last appearance of the day just as it was setting. Eventually we put one of the barbecues under the tent – sorry gazebo – which did help a little, even if some of the newer lumps of “charcoal” made a horrible smell.

Woke up at about 8am with the centre rope scraping on the roof, had a nice quite night though for a change. The rope woke Dad up as well, so for a change Dad was actually up at a sensible time at around 9am.

The sun was shining if through a thin vale of cloud, but at least it was warmer than yesterday. Pete Haley did some more lawn mowing on the other side of the lock, and Michael did some cutting with the shears.

Dr Foreacre wanted to be away, and some others decided to go, so we shuffled all the boats around, John reversed back down as there was not enough room to turn around at the lock, we suspect he turned around at the drain a little further down.

Trevor off the butty went for a walk, and the rest of us waited till they returned so we could all go down together. By the time lunch time comes, it starts raining. Dad and Michael take the pilot boat through the lock, but the rain beats them back into the boats. The rain eases off a little, and we set off. I turned Kismet first, with plenty of room since the water is up about 1 foot at the lock. The butty turns next, but since he can’t put the tiller hard over it’s done a little at a time.

I put on a turn of speed, so I can get the bridge ready. The rain starts to really come down now – I decided to put Dads waterproof coat on up at Snakeholme just in case.

I get to Brigham, but Bob is there waiting, and pushes the bridge open when I arrive. A quick run down to Hempholme causes the foam insulation to burn off the exhaust, and because the boat is all shut up, it builds up a bit to much. I opened a front door, and opened the hatch a bit more, which soon gets rid of it.

By the time we moored up at Hempholme the rain is easing, and a few minutes later its sunny! Typical.