Natascha wanted to leave 5 minutes after we arrived at Swan Lane Wharf. It’s a fact – she didn’t like at all where we ended up. Feeling anxious already when cruising on Coventry Canal, she claims she hasn’t seen that many rats jumping into the canal before, the water way became increasingly dirty, the surrounding area desolate.

Was this our new home?

It became abundantly clear to her that she won’t last for long in Coventry and made that very clear to Adnan. Nat cried and screamed simultaneously and wanted to sink Quintessence.

On top, our next door neighbor came to introduce himself, he had a very angry small dog. The Germans bombed Coventry flat during WW2, and this is England and he’s English etc etc. Ok, he was from an older generation, still, his introduction didn’t help. All the others weren’t exactly our sort of people either, one of the neighbors had a massive dog and she introduced herself with her husbands name, and her husband with her name. Then she realised the mistake and started laughing loudly. She had a drunken stupor. Didn’t help either.

At least the cat seemed happy, she had a good patch of land to herself and she didn’t mind the rather large anthill right next to our boat.

Natascha had to go to work to London and was relieved to be away for a few days. Upon her return it was time to consult the CRT website to find if, by any chance, a countryside mooring near by was vacant. There it was, a mooring in the Warwicksire country side, not far from Coventry, in a village called Lapworth, the exact location is Kingswood Basin.

We headed straight out there. We really loved the site, there was a fellow boater, waving at us, asking whether we are there to view the moorings. Sure we are, and he replied it’s the best mooring in the UK, we should apply for it. So we did. Got the place secured with a deposit. We were so relieved, we could so well imagine us staying here. The nature was stunning, the basin peaceful. The cat will have a blast and we can go for long walks. That was a quick way out.

But before moving to Kingswood, it was time to get ready for two trips – one, down to the Coventry basin and we had a month long visit planned to Switzerland. Quintessence will stay at Swan Lane Wharf for the duration. At least she was safe there. The “moving in” at Kingswood was scheduled for mid September.

Braunston tunnel is over 1.8 kilometre long, has a curve somewhere, water gushes down the ceiling and walls – basically it’s an adventure to pass through it. On top, if another boat passes it requires a good wiggle for them to pass each other. We managed.

We were quite relieved when we reached the end of it. 1.8 kilometre have never felt so long. And yes, there is that famous light at the end of every tunnel…

We moored up at Braunston visitor moorings, actually we were lucky to find a spot at all, July is high time. We headed straight out to the marina, we had some work to be done. The back hatch needs fixing and our very old oven had to be replaced. We were strolling around Braunston Marina and came across Carl. Firstly, Braunston is a fantastic Marina, secondly Carl is the most helpful person one can wish for. Quick chat with his mates and we were asked to move Quintessence into the marina. And we moored next to a beautiful old and restored barge. We love Quintessence but check out Monarch!

Braunston Marina at Dusk

And our shiny new oven, installed by Carl. What a pleasure to look at and more importantly to cook with. Worth every penny and it wasn’t cheap.

Night time along the canal, a magic full moon night.

And in day time on the water….

… and on land…

It was a hot day, already in the morning the sun seemed merciless. But we had to get another 15 Miles or so going before we will have a two day break. Shortly after we started we passed the New Bradwell Aqueduct, it’s slightly uncanny to cross a motorway on a barge on water.

And then came the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, where water crosses over water.

We passed Stoke Bruerne, then Blisworth Tunnel.

On the other side of the tunnel. Lush nature greeting us and a tow path repair going on.

Tesco’s in Leighton Buzzard is massive and a favourite stop for boaters to stock up. Our fridge was empty, so we were really glad to hop over to shop until we dropped. Food and beverages, that is. And cat food. We got rid of our recycling and rubbish too, that piles up quickly on a barge. The food packaging of goods from the supermarket is astonishing. Back in the days when we had the veggie box scheme from Riverford we produced much less rubbish. On a barge it is much more noticeable what waste we humans make. Food for thought really.

Once we were back we had to move on just a bit further to right at the top of Leighton Lock No. 27 to spend the night. We opened the door and not long Sava hopped out and not to be seen for a few hours. The nature was stunning around there. Were we not as tired as we were, we could have gone for a walk but it was dinner time and soon after bed time. We had to move on early the next morning.

It was a long and hard day, not distance wise but we had to finish the ascend of the western part of the Chiltern Hills. Then came the descend, a total of 22 locks was a bit much in one day. The difference in altitude, between Hemel Hempsted where we started and Marsworth where the cruise ended was only about 32 Meters, but for Natascha working the locks it felt like hundreds of meters.

One the way we saw this barge:

An Ovaltine barge? Wander Ltd.? Ovaltine, in German called ‘Ovomaltine’ was originally from Nat’s home town Bern in Switzerland! It turns out that Ovaltine was hugely popular in the UK and a factory was opened in Kings Langley in the early 20th century. We really didn’t know about this all until we saw this barge. Click here to read more about the history of Ovaltine in the UK.

A proud boater and a traffic jam on the cut:

During the descend we encountered a problem on the cut. Fellow boaters tried to work a lock from the bottom approach, thinking it is properly closed, but it just wouldn’t fill up. Instead the canal would loose water from the top and the whole exercise had to come to an halt. The CRT had to be called. Then our cat escaped from the boat – brilliant. Perfect timing. Anyway, we all moored up, talked with fellow boaters, we got loads of compliments for Quintessence – but look at her! A stunning beauty. People always asked us from where we were and they were amazed that we are actually living on a narrow boat.

The cat came back sooner than anticipated, and the CRT technician managed to get a rather large log out from the bottom of the lock. This log prevented the lock from closing properly. He said this happens often during the busy summer time when water is moving much more and pieces of wood get moving. Off we go, we were second in line to pass through the lock.

We were cruising more than 8 hours, it was a beautiful day and the sun came out, finally. This also meant, that inside the boat it was way above 30 degree, we have a boiler in the middle of the boat and while the engine runs the water is heated up. We kept all the windows open but had to keep the side hatch and door closed, we never knew what our cat was capable off, considering how much she dislikes the cruising.

Sometimes we team up with fellow boaters to work the locks, it’s easier obviously and the Grand Union has wide locks and some of the gates were so heavy Natascha simply couldn’t open or close them. She has to work the locks, we have a clear separation of tasks due to the fact that she claims not to be talented enough to be on the tiller.

On the way we met a couple holidaying on their boat, they figured out straight away that we are not from this isle. They were really sad about the outcome of the Brexit vote and when we parted way they said, they hope we won’t be kicked out of the UK. How crazy is that? There were cracks opening up in crust of the British society and it was hard to imagine what will await us in the Midlands.

Approaching the swing bridge.

Adnan the proud owner of the beautiful Quintessence passing through the swing bridge.

Our mooring for the night

Out of the wet dock, Quintessence in her new glory! Ian did a fantastic paint job – battle ship grey, with a white roof and some black with a white bow flash. We love it! It was worth all the work and worry, “Quinnie” looks like a new barge. There wasn’t much time to ponder, we had a cruise planned up to Ricki, aka Rickmansworth. Good Bye London – we’re heading to the Midlands…

It’s End of June, Quintessence is back where we bought her. This time she’s in the wet dock, ready to be painted. Time is now for a new color, battle ship grey, as Ian the man in charge said.

The roof had to be cleared of all the stuff we had on top, but also the engine room as Adnan had a major to do list for the engine room too. Most of the stuff from the living room area, inside the boat, went to the back as all the windows will be taken out as well. We were told that the windows will be sealed with plastic and there is no need to worry for the new solid wooden floor… Anyway, we did as told and we moved back in with Lennaart in Finsbury Park for another three weeks.

23 June 2016 belongs to the past and the Brexit vote result is out. Britain voted for it. The morning of the 23 June was a bleak one, waking up has seldom felt so distorted. The seemingly impossible has become real. Driving up to Uxbridge felt like a betrayal, Natascha didn’t wanted to set foot on Boris Johnson’s constituency. What on earth has crossed their minds? The Empire is long gone, it will not be resurrected, ever, and the UK can’t sail on it’s own in the murky waters of global economy and politics. The UK of 2016 is part of Europe. Period. Yes, many things within the EU are not right but jumping off the cliff seems significantly more pointless than staying part of it and trying to bring change about it in a meaningful way. All that talk of ‘red tape’ and restrictions. What about all the EU regional funds that flowed in to UK communities to make people’s lives better? Will the money now come from Westminster? We often have the impression the cash stays within the M25, will it change with exiting the EU? We particularly felt sorry for the younger generation of the UK, the prospects of being able to study in Europe or live there have been significantly reduced. And there will be a mountain of admin work to be processed, taking away the focus on other pertinent issues in the country. Like housing?!

So many we know, who are from the European mainland, who also couldn’t vote, felt the same. We all felt betrayed.

But now back to Quintessence, some unsettling news from that end too. Ian started sanding the steel and it turned out that the roof was full of rust. One of the previous owner must have just painted over it, to disguise the rust, used some cheap paint that let the water through. Ian said that this means it isn’t a paint job, as initially agreed, but a restoration job. He needs an extra helper, meaning more money for us to pay.

It also meant more work for us helping Ian. For two days Natascha was hammering off rust of Quintessence with a chisel. It occurred to her that she was also quite often hammering on her thumb, seemingly not being very good at it. Then came the revelation, she wasn’t that bad a it, but when people work on a boat sitting in water, it moves, which is a rather natural thing. Hitting the chisel can be a challenge, all of a sudden.

There was absolutely no time to make a single photo during the restoration, sadly. We were so stressed with the workload and panicked occasionally that we won’t finish on time. On top Natascha still had to work on the pay job too, three days a week. It wasn’t an easy time physically and mentally. We had some serious arguments, but maybe that is part of the process. Furthermore we have this rather long cruising trip ahead of us. We had to get to Coventry, climbing over the Chiltren Hills and back down again. Hundreds of locks to work…

We had H1 Reber from the Graphic Design Studio Buro Destruct in Bern designing a new boat writing for Quintessence and we envisaged something more contemporary. Ian the boat painter recommended us a sign writer, with whom he often works, and this chap came by for a quick chat. Well, he wouldn’t do that modern stuff, his idea was more scrolls and an old school writing. No sign writing then until we could find somebody who could do such a writing.

These were the variations: