The Sumpners Afloat

29th June to 27th July – Electrika, a visit home and some guests

Yup! Life has been a bit like a merry go round since we arrived back at Brinklow. one that we could not alight from! But we would not have missed it for all the world, and could not have got through it without the help of folk at The Marina of Dreams. – staff and moorers alike.

It all seems like a bit of a blur now. Once the show boats started arriving, we blinked and it was all over! The weather was amazing – rather too hot to be honest (both days were about 32C). And no sooner had it ended, than we were clearing up, packing and heading down South for our Grandson’s 2nd Birthday and to catch up with family. We had planned a quiet week, wanting to maximise time with our son George and DIL Beth, Uncle D and of course our adored Grandson Chester.

I was lucky enough to attend Forest School (Little Acorns in Knowle) with Beth and Chester. Such a fantastic resource. And there were donkeys! It was great to see the kids running around, getting wet and muddy accompanied by 3 goats, 2 ewes, 2 donkeys, some chickens and a waddling of Indian Runner Ducks. I was in 7th heaven. And Chester is so confident – climbing obstacles without any aid and just taking it all in his stride. That’s my boy! I’m a firm believer in the Forest School movement. Giving children the opportunity to just be – just incredible. I was so impressed I sponsored an animal. And they need help with their raised beds if anyone has some time to spare? They are rotting and need some work done.

I finally had that haircut too. Such a joy! I love going to my salon (Wispers in Wickham) and seeing everyone. A real happy place.

I caught up with my dear friends Sue & Paul and Sue’s parents Dave and Jenny – almost like surrogate parents to me too. They are doing very well for their ages and it was great to see them.

We took Uncle D out for lunch at the delightful Wine Garden in Titchfield. It was a very hot day and we got chatting to some lovely ladies from the USA who had some rather natty personal USB re-chargeable fans. One of them was kind enough to donate hers to Uncle D. They said they have a house on the Hamble, so I figured they’d not miss it, but it was still a very kind gesture.

The weekend was taken up with preparation for the party. My very talented friend Tania dropped off the cake on Saturday morning. It was perfect! Chester is currently mad on Tractor Ted – a great educational show for little ‘uns and his party was to have a Tractor Ted theme. We cooked sausage rolls etc on Saturday evening and then on Sunday morning, I made sandwiches and the boys packed all the stuff in the cars. George and Beth went over first to set up the room at the Community Centre, leaving Chester having his morning nap.

Our job was to wake him from his slumbers and get him dressed in his party gear. We managed this without too much hassle and set off with the party boy. There was still stuff to do when we arrived, but we were more or less ready when the first excited guests started arriving.

The kids all had fun playing on the soft play stuff, the ball pond and in the Tractor Ted that clever Beth had made. She’s so creative. And then it was time to clear up and repack all the stuff in the cars. We left Uncle D with George, Beth and Chester while we popped round to see friends Nick & Sarah Holmes, who have just had their downstairs remodelled.

It was lovely to see Nick & Sarah (whom we had not seen since they joined us on the boat in March) and the house looked amazing – very swish. The other reason for the visit was to pick up a Ninja BBQ that we were buying from them. It looks like a great bit of kit and we are really looking forward to trying it out.

George cooked dinner for us all and we were joined by Jo, Beth’s Mum. I think we were all pretty knackered and glad to get to bed that night – it had been a bit of full-on day, but we would not have missed it. And Chester had certainly celebrated his 2nd birthday in style!

We got up early on Monday morning to say goodbye to our loved ones and I must admit to having a lump in my throat when Chester trotted off to Nursery. He and his parents are our absolute world.

After they had all gone, Paul settled down to work whilst I packed and made ready for the journey home. We set off late afternoon, with Paul dictating email responses to me as he drove. We arrived back at the Marina around 8pm – not the best journey we had ever had, but it was nice to be home.

We had just a few days to unpack and get ready for our next set of guests for 2025 Jacquie and Craig. Due to a series of unfortunate things, this was Jacquie’s first visit to Old Nick and we were really looking forward to seeing them. We had met Craig only briefly on a couple of occasions and the weekend would be a great opportunity to really get to know him.

The plan was for then to arrive Thursday evening and spend the whole weekend with us. The plan was thrown a temporary curve ball by Jacquie’s elderly step mum being hospitalised, but it all came good and they arrived late evening. We just had time to have a quick catch-up, a glass of wine and a tour of the boat (!) before we all toddled off to bed. Unfortunately the geese kicked off at around 5 am, which disturbed us all!

We had an early start on Friday morning as we need to be at Hillmorton locks before 2 pm as they are on reduced opening hours We said goodbye to our friends – including Mark “the World’s Greatest Harbourmaster” Willmott and set off. Not without a little trepidation, to be honest. We have a plan but genuinely don’t know if it’s achievable due to the prevailing drought-like conditions, which are severely impacting the water levels on the canals.

We need to be at Droitwich Spa Marina by mid-September for blacking and some indoor refurbishment. The plan is to try to get down to Stratford upon Avon, and thence onto the Warwickshire Avon. Then down to the Severn at Tewkesbury, where we had originally planned to go down to Gloucester and onto the Gloucester & Sharpness canal. With the situation as it is, we think we will save that for another year and get to Droitwich as soon as we can. But that’s’ way ahead – we have a friend-filled weekend to get through first!

We made it to Hillmorton in plenty of time and pulled over for lunch shortly after. It was an amazing, hot, sunny day and the countryside was looking at its summer best, despite the arid conditions. We moored for the evening by Dunchurch Pools Marina and had a fun evening playing games and drinking and laughing – and feeding Moorhens and ducks and the flotilla of Canada Geese that hang out round there. We’d live to regret that,

It was a very quiet night broken in the early hours by that legion of geese (there must have been 50 or more!) squabbling and flying overhead. The tinkers!

We set off after an unhurried breakfast, bound for Braunston. As we neared the town, the skies were looking pretty ominous and, just as we tied up at the services, the heavens opened! I had gone to Midland Chandlers to pick up some loo blue and got soaked through walking back to the boat!

We sat it out and then moved down to the pub where we stopped for a cheeky pint and a quiz. Suitably fortified, we set off again and winded at the Marina, before retracing our steps back to the Junction, where we turned left towards Napton and Warwick. Our scheme was to moor near my beloved B100 and it worked out a treat. We had a lovely spot, pretty much all to ourselves. Result!

And the icing on the cake was being treated to an unexpected fly-past by the Red Arrows, either on their way to or returning from a display. Too sudden and fast for a pic, but – as always – a real thrill to see and hear them.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening playing games, eating, drinking chatting and laughing. The drinks included Dark and Stormies and Baby Guinnesses, which were also used as a punishment for swearing!

We had an absolutely silent night, undisturbed by geese for once! It was only a shortish hop to Ventnor Marina, where we’d booked a taxi for Jacquie and Craig, to take them back to Brinklow, where they’d left their car. Luckily the Calcutt Locks were busy and all the locks were for us and we drove in to the locks just after the boats had vacated them at each of the 3 locks. Nice and easy.

So Jacquie and Craig had experienced narrow locks (Hillmorton) , a tunnel (Newbold), wide locks(Calcutt), a canal side pub, sunshine, showers, two different canals and 2 geese-filled and one silent night. Pretty good for a first experience, I think?

We had lunch when we arrived at Ventnor and there was even time for a few more games and quiz before their taxi turned up. I think we’d all had a smashing weekend and we had definitely made a new friend in Craig. We were very sad to see them go but so glad to get our lovely bed back!

We are thus off on our travels again (woohoo!). We have heard worrying tales of the locks on the South Stratford, which lead down to Stratford upon Avon, but first we have to get to the Cape of Good Hope, smash through Hatton Locks and arrive at the Lapworth Link before we get to tackle them. A total of 43 locks!

Period	Miles	Locks
29th Jun to 27th July	19	6
Cumulative 2025	273	126