The day broke several degrees cooler. Well it must have been 'cos it was several degrees cooler by the time I woke up much later. The current was now much less as the canal is wider out in the sticks - but it is still a slog.

An elderly couple both with walking sticks turn onto the towpath behind us. We wave good morning and they wave back. 5 minutes later I look back and am horrified that they are almost alongside! I quietly lean forward and up the throttle - mustn't let them win! Seconds later the old lady stops - a stone in her shoe. Great! this means we can win and we are fifty yards ahead by the time they move off again. Over the next 30 minutes thy slowly reel us in until at the next lock they are right alongside again. Sadly we do have to stop at locks, whilst they hobbled sedately by. By the time we were out the other side, they were long gone. Drat! Beaten. I realised it was the same feeling you get when you are out-dragged by the car next to you at the traffic lights!

Lots of 'live aboard' boaters plant flowers in tubs and place them all over the boat. Passed one rusty bucket displaying the usual tubs of plants without another thought. Annie announces in hushed tones.... see those tubs? Its weed! Well they do need weeding a bit - very untidy. Penny drops... ah! Then - and how do you know?

Annie spotted 2 cormorants perched in a tree and we later spotted them fishing. Thought they were sea birds! but bird book says they can live inland.

During the afternoon we met several hire boats returning to their hire base at Reading Marine after their hire period. All were going far too fast - are these people given any instruction before they are let loose? The last one just kept coming at us on full throttle, despite a fallen tree sticking well into the canal - right where we were going to meet them. He just glanced us, ripping off one of our fenders, before piling into the bank. We left him trying to remove his grounded boat from up on the mud which was some consolation!

Got back to Frounds Bridge around 6pm - what an excellent weekend.

gap between the buildings - a turning! Go for it. We swerve hard left out of the raging current and find ourselves in the relative calm of the Blakes Wharf loop, which passes in front of the old ruined Abbey. Henry VIII flogged off the site after the dissolution of the monasteries - oh and after he had hung, drawn and quartered the Abbot and several Monks. The Abbot apparently was his friend..... Good thing he wasn't his enemy then!

Moored up and rang Mum, who hopped on a bus to join us for the afternoon. Watched the Grand National, but only after finding it on the internet. The massive walls of Reading Gaol blocking any TV signal. My horse came to the line last. As soon as he got there.... There off! Cant see my horse with the leaders... camera pans back to the start line - yep mine is still stood there.

Sister & brother-in-law kindly collected Mum save her having to bus it back. Set off home against the raging current. Where we had been careering down out of control a few hours earlier, we crawled along. Doing the maths - 6 knot current thataway - 7 knot screaming engine thiseaway = 1 knot actual speed. Plenty of time to study the view anyway.

Suddenly the houses stop and fields begin. Went a few minutes further and parked up for the night.outside

9th April 2010

This is the ships blog of the nb (narrowboat) Ceilidh

Woke up to find the weather most excellent! One of those really warm days - the heat is still a novelty after the cold of winter, and the mosquitoes haven't hatched yet in numbers sufficient to make life a misery.

Left Frouds Bridge Marina at 10:15 and turned right, heading towards Reading.

Met up with nb Apollo (Nigel and Annie) at Aldermaston Wharf and teamed up with them for the day - the Kennet & Avon is blessed with double locks (which is great) which unfortunately means double gates (which is not great). They are big and heavy and with two boats sharing the workload you get along much quicker. Its also nice to have someone to natter to while waiting for locks to empty and fill.

Apollo was in the process of forsaking the Kennet & Avon in favour of the Grand Union Canal. Marinas are more expensive darn' sarf, so they were upping sticks to the Midlands, saving a cool £1400 a year in Marina fees.

Note to self: Learn brummy. It may come in useful one day!

By lunchtime we were creaming passed Burghfield Lake where we keep and race the RS Vision. A wistful pang popped to the surface but a quick look up into the trees stopped the pang dead in its tracks - not a breath of wind! Once passed the lake, the canal disappears beneath the M4 motorway, a sharp and noisy reminder of 21st century bustle and get-there-in-a-straight-line efficiency. Wonderful as it was to meet with silence again, we were quickly reminded of 18th century sod-it-that-will-do technology where the canal (vaguely straight) joins the unimproved meandering river (wildly torturous). Navigating a 54 foot 15 ton narrowboat around sharp bends when you cant see 50 feet ahead because of the trees and with a fast current going your way - is close to a roller coaster ride (except you don't pull as many Gs). Meeting a similar length narrow-boat parked on the outside of one of those bends gave me a chance to display my steering skills. Except I didn't have them with me at that moment - Bang!

After another lock (7th today) we pulled in at the Cunning Man for a swift one. We waved goodbye and good luck to Apollo and all aboard her. The Doom Bar is off at the moment but will be back on tonight so I think we may tarry awhile....