We are on the water

Sunday 16th. Once again we lucked in with ash clouds. Due to leave Dublin at 1030 with the airport due to close at 1200 due the ash. While waiting at the gate the "flight canceled" sign appeared on the board. General panic amongst the waiting passengers. Diana was involved in something else and didn't notice. I wasn't that impressed with the idea but decided that Air Lingus would tell us sometime what was happening. Next thing the board changes from flight cancelled to a gate change. Pick up all the gear and off to the new gate which wasn't that far away. another delay while we load the aircraft, settle in and the pilot blames ATC for a 20min delay for the new slot time. In the end we leave Dublin before the ash closes the airport. The ash is not expected to effect Cardiff today.

Dave and Lynn, the owners of the narrowboat met us and take us the couple of hours back to their place in Herefordshire, stopping on the way for a picnic. Spent the afternoon discussing boat things and getting to know Dave & Lynn.

Monday 17. Up a bit late. Getting over rushing around Ireland. Loaded the car again and drove through some lovely Herefordshire villages, arriving at the boat over an hour later. Diana was shown all she had to know about the from half of the boat while Dave took me through all the man bits about operating the boat and systems. I'm sure I will figure it out in the next 3 months.

The Boat is on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal north of Kidderminster so the four of us head to Tesco's next to the canal in Kidderminster, several locks are en-counted on the way. Dave unfolds the bike and cycles back to get the car, Lynn goes shopping and we stock the boat with food. We are now on our own. Two more locks and we stop for the night.

Tuesday 18. Another sleep in (we are on holiday after all) then turn the boat around in a winding hole. Winding hole is about 80 feet across and the boat is 70 feet, we did it. Back up the canal with a stop at Tesco's to buy the bits we forgot yesterday then up to where we started from. Interesting to travel the same canal as we did 4 years ago. We came past a pub on a busy highway at rush hour. It wasn't until later I realised that it was the delightful little pub that Des and I went to watch a football world cup game at on a quiet Saturday. Not sure if the memory has discounted the ugly bits or 4 years development have made the changes.