Friday, 22nd, Saturday, 23rd April
We took the boat to Bridge 91 to meet the canopy fitters. It all fitted beautifully, and we shall have to try not knock it as we go through locks or moor up. Easier said than done.

Whilst we were waiting for the canopy people to arrive, a man turned up in a van. He was waiting to meet some people to do a job on their engine. Apparently, if a contractor goes in to Braunston Marina to do a job on a boat, he has to pay GBP2000 per annum for the privilege. Yes, that's what I wrote, two thousand pounds per year to go and work on a boat there! I don't know what to say--I'm dumbstruck for once. So this is why one meets people under bridges on the canal.

After the canopy was fixed, we walked along to have a coffee with our friends Jean & Brian on "A New Song". Our boats were built by the same boatfitter, which is how we met. They have a permanent mooring at Braunston. Do you remember the water was turned off most of the winter that we were moored there? Well this year a letter came round to moorers to tell everyone that the water on the pontoons would be off from November to March! So anyone who moors there through the winter has to start up the engine and tootle round to the only working tap to fill up. Given that one has to fill up at least every three days, that's mighty inconvenient! Especially when paying GBP2500 per annum to moor there.

Well, we spent a pleasant hour with Jean & Brian, and then Jean came to help us through the six Braunston Locks. On the way, we stopped at Carol & Fred's shop and bought a "Grand Union" polo shirt each, so we shall look very jaunty as we travel along. This reminds me of an organised holiday we once went on, and a couple appeared each day at breakfast wearing matching T-shirts, always from a place they'd been to--and it wasn't just your average Torremolinos, either! Oh no, it was far away places, like Hong Kong, Phuket, Santa Margarita, etc. They had their octogenarian mother with them, but mercifully she didn't have a matching shirt. Any way, Trev and I can now do the same!

We said goodbye to Jean at the top lock, amidst promises to meet again soon, as they are also doing The Fens this summer. It seems that several of our friends are going 'out east' this summer, there could be quite a party! Then we continued through Braunston Tunnel, 2042 yards long, and on to Norton Junction, where we turned left on to new territory on the Leicester Branch of the Grand Union. The countryside has been delightful all the way, rolling fields, lots of sheep, lambs and cattle, some coming down to the canal to drink. The lambs have reached the stage where they will venture from their mothers now, and they roam around in teenage gangs! Fortunately, their exploits are limited to bunting each other, leaping in the air on all fours as though on springs and generally running around in a bunch. No paint spray cans, dropping of litter, looking menacing in groups or spitting...... Oh dear, I MUST be getting old.

We reached the Watford flight of locks, which are so pretty, and so spoilt by the noise from the M1. One has to talk in semaphore. Luckily there was a lock keeper on duty, which was a great help, because as fast as Trev shut the bottom gates and dashed to the other end of the lock to open the paddle, they opened again. There are six locks here, the middle three are a staircase. Oh, OK, I know you can't have a middle set of three in a group of six, but you get the ghist of it. Now, you will all remember from last year what a staircase lock is........ We continued on and moored at Crick, which is the name of a place, not a nasty disease.

Friends who live in London but were away for the weekend came to visit us and we had a good evening. We stayed on the mooring on Saturday, too.

Sunday, 24th April
Today we will go to the end of the Welford Arm, ready to have our bottom blacked tomorrow. We've had a wonderful journey all the way from Llangollen. Altogether we will have done 286 miles and 244 locks. We've been past the Welsh Hills, the Manchester Ship Canal, through the middle of Wolverhampton and Birmingham, in to the basin at Stratford-on-Avon and moored by the theatre, down the Hatton 21, through my home town of Warwick and back to the birthplace of Liberty Belle. Now we're almost at the end, and the countryside is still lovely. I didnt realise that Leicestershire is so pretty and rural.

We turned right off the Leicester Branch and travelled along the one mile Welford Arm, through the only lock on the arm and moored up at the very end. In the evening we walked in to the village of Welford, and crossed the infant River Avon which has its source close by.

Monday, 25th April
We were up early this morning. Neil, the bottom blacker, wanted us in asap so that he could get on. We backed in, the boards were dropped across the mouth of the dry dock and the pump was turned on. It took nearly two hour for the water to be pumped out, and then Liberty Belle slowly came to rest on the large wooden sleepers on the bottom of the dock. We put on walking boots--it was pretty muddy and wet--and went down to check her out. All was well! All of those bumps and bangs over the last two years hadn't made the slightest dent. The prop and rudder were all in excellent condition and the sacrificial anodes were working well. These are pieces of metal welded to the hull which attract the rust to themselves and prevent the hull going rusty. Sorry, I can't be more technical than that! I suppose the biggest surprise was that there was no paint whatsoever on the hull below the water line. It had all come off. What a good job we were having it done.

Don and Jan came over to fetch Trev to take him back to Warwick to fetch the car, so that we have it nearby.

Then Neil pressure washed the hull and got off the bits of rust which had accumulated and prepared it all for painting. After it had dried, he started to put on the first coat of bitumen. He also painted the back of the boat, above the rudder, where there is some red and yellow gloss, which gets marked when we reverse, or are in a lock.

It's rather dark and gloomy in this dry dock. We have an electric hook up and so have power, but we mustn't let any water out of the sink or washbasin as it will damage the wet paint.

Tuesday, 26th April
More bitumen, more painting, more gloom! Apathy is starting to set in. We're getting bored. We can't be bothered to do anything, it's so tedious! In the evening, we went to a great pub in Sibbertoft, The Red Lion, and used the last of our "Times Eat Out for a Fiver" vouchers. It was a super place, the food was excellent, so our spirits were revived.

Wednesday, 27th April
A better day today, as we can see the light at the end of the tunnel--almost literally. The final coat of bitumen went on, the gloss on the back above the rudder was finished, and we have to stay in one more night to ensure it dries properly. We went out for the day, first to do the laundry at a laundrette, then to visit Canons Ashby, a National Trust property, near Daventry. It was a good day, and we enjoyed it. The villages here are beautiful, so pretty and peaceful. They rival the Cotswolds, and are far less crowded.

Thursday, 28th April
Out in to the Light! Hurray, at 9.00 a.m. the boards were removed, the water came back in to the dock, Liberty Belle felt water under her and actually tried to get out of the dock on her own! She was as keen as us to get going. We paid up--you want to know how much, don't you? GBP449, actually. But this is a job very well done, and we shall come back in two years time for a repeat performance. Liberty Belle looks brand new again.

We went to the water point to wash all of the dust off. We cleaned her from stem to stern, but I had a mishap. I dropped part of the rubber matting which covers the back deck in to the canal, and we couldn't find it. It's not easy to buy more. We got it from Clarence Mill, on the Macclesfield Canal. By a stroke of luck, Trev will be up there on a course in that area soon, so he can get another piece. But I was so cross to have been so careless.