nb Dandelion - Bringing her home

It wasn't long after we bought our little boat that we were engaged in conversation with another boater who told us a little of the history of the boat. It transpired that she had previously been owned by Christians who had sold her because they'd, "Gone off to do mission work." We also learned that she had been effectively emptied at some stage, the owners having gone returning to find the cooker, 'fridge and much of the contents had all been removed. Little did we know that lightning was going to strike twice (but that's for later).

Having bought the boat we pottered around the Braunston/Hillmorton area for a few weekends to get used to her and then we decided to bring Dandelion down to her new home one the River Stort just outside Harlow. This would be great fun because it meant going down the Grand Union which meant the Blisworth tunnel (3,000 feet of darkness and drips) onto the Paddington arm (which meant a boring stretch and then through central London and then onto the River Lea (and the Lee - the 'ea' being the river and the 'ee' being the created waterway) and finally the Stort itself. The journey itself was one hundred and thirty two miles and it took (as the planner almost correctly calculated) a couple of weeks. What made the journey more fun was that we hadn't realised that the Stort had been closed due to flooding until we arrived.

So here's the map of our first proper cruise and it highlights one of the greatest joys of being on the canals in that you can cruise all day and, especially with meandering stretches of water, find oneself just a few minutes away from where you began the day by car!

There are so many joys to be found with canal cruising in that you pass many places of interest, meet really great people and get up close and personal to nature.  A boat is more than a means of transport, it is an asylum from the madness of the daily round, a place where the slower pace enables you to unwind and forget about the need for a clock and most of all a place where memories are formed.