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A good night at the Huntingdon riverside park moorings, despite the nail wound in my foot not yet healing, and then a look around the town before setting off through Godmanchester, Hemingford and Houghton locks until we chanced across the Chambers on Dawn Treader, unable to pass under Offord bridge. The boys took Di and the The Lady through and back to Paxton as I stayed with Debbie and The Little Lady and walked her to a challenging horse-riding session in which she did very well. Home to clean the pool and then rest, very tired, until roused for Di and then to hear the election news. The Tory press (and even US President Reagan) are winding up the campaign against Labour who are gaining on The Tories, Chase Manhattan follows Citi Corp is writing down Third Wold loans and starting a banking crisis, Townsend Thorensen is under increasingly bitter attack at the Zeebrugge enquiry over its sacrifice of safety to profit motives and he Irish referendum comes out in favour of stronger links with the EEC
Slept well at our Huntingdon riverside park moorings and ensured that the boys also settled down to an early night as well. Slickly into our morning boat routine. Di made the drinks today and the heating cut out itself by thermostat after an hour, as The Lady was well warmed by morning sunshine. Breakfast as usual and it is an irony that we become settled into a boating routine, just as we are enjoying our recreation to the full. All soon ready for a walk into Huntingdon to look round the shops and the girls played at both the riverside adventure playground and the conventional playground inside the ring road, as I rested my foot and sat on a bench. My nail-wound is as painful as when it was first done a week ago and soon I shall have to see a doctor for help, if it does not improve. Coffee, and then I looked around the reference library as the others tramped the town centre. I found nothing much of interest in the inspection copy of the Cambridge Structure Plan, now in the local history shelves, which I had adequately studied before. Lunch at the burger bar with the children. By letting the boys have a separate table with Debbie and Della and us on another, we seem to avoid much of the mealtime trouble. Back to the boats and make ready to set off.
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A nice start to the day at Waits Quay and then an outing to the St Ivo Pool for a family swim after which I polished The Lady as we cruised back up the river and carried on once we arrived to moor at Huntingdon where the boys went off to the cinema and the girls played in the playground as the day ended milder and more humid. Then to my journal and to catch up with the election news; which showed the Tories running the campaign like an American one with banners waving and people on the platform as she also tried to turn the main debate back on to defence. Labour are coming back in the polls and are not to be deflected and his deputy Roy Hattersley tackles crime and the City of London scandals and issues a writ in the High Court over lies in the Tory Press. The Pakistan test match ended in violence from English National Front supporters, Alan Saunders is stepping down from Guinness, Klaus Barbie is being identified as a prison camp Nazi in court and the US grieve the casualties of the Gulf attack and doubt the wisdom of allowing Kuwait tankers to fly the American ensign. Lastly, the result of an Irish EU referendum is awaited after a low turnout.
Another sound night’s sleep and I was the first to wake and got the morning drinks and put the heating on. Even so, it was quite a mild morning by recent standards. Di got washed and dressed first and I played with Daniella quite a lot and then Debbie. As I was in the bathroom washing, the girls started playing up and I had to go out and sort them out, as Di can only do one thing at a time and this was making breakfast. In come Daniel and Gary and we all had our morning meal as per our routine. I took the girls out to play on the Waits Quay lawn after and then settled them down in front of the TV for half an hour to watch a cartoon. The boys took the dinghy over to Jason Chambers boat and let Jason know that we were to go swimming later and then we all did a bit of shopping in St Ives, until it was time for coffee at The Welcome Cafe and then to set off on foot for swimming at the St Ivo pool. A nice swim and then the walk back to The Welcome Cafe for lunch. Della has taken to having piggy-back rides on my shoulders at last and will hardly get off, even if I go into a shop! Back to The Lady and straight off up river.
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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.
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An eventful day of sunshine and warmth after a rather unsettled night. First a trip up Ely Hill to the swimming pool after breakfast and then to The Boathouse café by the Cutter Inn for lunch before the cruise over to Ely Marina to see Mr Lovey about work to and transport of The Lady to Norfolk. The cruise back past Upware to see the wooden boats gathered and The Lady’s sister ship, ‘Patience’ the 35ft prototype needing attention. Then the cruise back and along to ‘The Twenty-Pence Inn’ with The Lady’s sliding roof back on a fine and sunny day and to moor and enjoy the Brass Band playing before putting the crew to bed and taking Di to the pub for a bar meal. The election is now in full swing, with Labour closing on the Tories who are defensive on education, law-and-order and Thatcher abandoning the Country’s youth . Racial clashes in Sri Lanka and India but all is calm and sunny on the Lady
A rather unsettled night. The Lady was loosely moored, so was its dinghy and the banging was accompanied by the lapping of the water against the hull, as a stiff breeze blew. Still, no rain last night for the first time this trip and it did not get too cold and so no cause for complaint. Di got up first this morning and made the drinks and put on the heating and we were soon warm. Eventually, all ready for our usual breakfast. The children are allowed one of the miniature ‘variety’ cereal packets each, then fill up with cornflakes and Rice Crispies. I just have two slices of toast and marmalade. Once we were all washed, cleared up and ready, we set off up Ely Hill towards our planned activity centre – Ely swimming pool. At 10.00am, we each paid our 40p, changed and got in. It was a bit cool, but we all enjoyed it for 45 mins or so. After, we walked back into the shopping centre and had some morning drinks at a cafe. As they did not serve food, by midday, we walked on to the riverside and had lunch at The Boathouse cafe by the Cutter Inn.