Bank Holiday Monday – Cruising back from The Twenty-pence in to St Ives after experiencing some locking problems and then stopping first at The Dolphin Hotel moorings and meeting Jason’s family on Dawn Treader at the bank holiday market. Then visiting LH Jones before pulling over to the Waits Quay for water and lunch brought back from Catch 22 and watched England beat Pakistan in the last over with the last pair at the wicket!
We all slept very well last night and I woke first and switched on the heating and boiled a kettle. Made our morning drinks (Diana is getting me trained) and sat with Di until it was time for her to wash. All ready for breakfast at 8.00am and so called the boys over. Let Debbie and Della go out to play in the Twenty Pence Inn garden, but little Emily did not come out early enough for them to play together. Called the girls in at 9.00am, so that we could set off for what we knew would be a tight schedule to get through St Ives lock before lunch. Cruised as fast as I could along the Old West for an hour, but that was only 4 knots, due to the shallow and eroded sections. Saw a number of herons back from their nesting grounds an again on patrol on the river banks. They always skip ahead a few times just out of range, then fly a semi-circular pattern around you to join the river lower down. Daniel was ahead of us in The Little Lady and I thought we were OK when I saw him go into the open gates of Hermitage Lock. However, the lady lockkeeper declined to wait for The Lady for no good reason and the gates were shut against us, which lost us 20 mins, as well as my good humour.
She got no tip from us and I made my displeasure quite obvious enough. Forced to cruise quickly at 6/7 knots through the tidal section and then above Brownshill Staunch and only just made St Ives lock in time. There was a strong flow running through the weir and I was forced to come in fast and coped well with difficult conditions. Both here and at Brownshill the keepers were more accommodating. No room at The Waits Quay and so we moored at the Dolphin Hotel moorings opposite, where Daniel found his friend Jason Chambers on Dawn Treader, to his satisfaction. We tied up and went into the pub for a bar snack and then went into the town centre for the bank holiday market. By this time, it had got quite hot and we lacked energy to make an exhaustive effort at the market. Went with the boys on Daniel’s boat to L H Jones and got them some more fuel for the boat. Went back to The Lady **********. Daniel arrived with his friends to tell me that there was now plenty of space at Waits Quay and so we took The Lady across and met up with the rest of the family there. The riverside lawn at The Quay was fair full of people sitting and picnicking by the water. The girls had a bath of water filled up from the tap and bathed their dollies and had fun. Di brought some kebabs and burgers back from the Catch 22 sandwich bar and we ate them hungrily. A little work as I fixed two fender eyes – one on each of The Lady and Little Lady, then I sat and watched the closing stages of the England vs Pakistan one-day cricket match on the boat TV, which England won in the last over, with the last pair at the wicket. Debbie sat up with me and quite enjoyed watching it. Relaxed for the rest of the evening, writing my journal, but did not find any TV news to update us on affairs of the outside world. Di went for a walk around St Ives this evening, as I looked after the girls.
* Passage redacted until 2047