Wednesday 7^th November 2018

We had planned to stop at Hawkesbury today for a rest and do nothing. It had rained all night and was a miserable day anyway. Dull and raining.

We had as much of a lay-in as Harvey allows and, once the rain had dropped off a little, we walked across the canal to the marina where Falcon moors. This was the boat we met in Braunston in October. June was making traditional lace-work for the front cratch windows and painting our chimney flue cover. We are delighted with both, there has been a lot of work put into them. She also did a little extra. 

They invited us on their boat and we spent a few interesting hours with them, during which, their dog bit me. They have a lovely mooring spot in the small marina, Exhall, beside Hawkesbury Junction, with a large garden plot. Their boat was very homely, full of brass and painted canal ware. June and Percy are fascinating people to speak to, largely a life past and forgotten. They are both of boating people, Percy’s family involved with working boats for hundreds of years. Percy was born on a boat and had minimal schooling before starting work on the boats, initially between Coventry and London, at an early age. Working on the canals has taken him to Liverpool, Ellesmere Port, Manchester, the Midlands and London. He stopped on the working boats in the mid 1970’s, so would have been one of the last, before working the rest of his days with British Waterways.

They told us that Sister Mary Ward from Stoke Bruene was not liked by all the canal people, being seen as a bit of a busy body. Also that boaters in the north were considered a rough lot with uncared for, boats.

We had a quiet afternoon, me computing and Brenda reading, and went to the Greyhound early evening for our dinner. The Greyhound is well known for its pies. Delightful.