5:02am courtesy of Smilin’ Jack.
5:55am also courtesy of Smilin’ Jack. Also, a first for me as I’ve never slept on a boat.
It was a little chilly in the morning and at night, but our days were fairly warm. As the week wore on our days were actually too warm.
The boat had a reverse mechanism, but it wasn’t the best, and Matt couldn’t really steer in reverse. So whenever we’d stop, us deckhands would hop off and grab a rope to stop us and tie us off.
Our first lock! We had the best timing on all our locks and bridge crossings - we never waited more than a few minutes. We heard some people waited at the locks for 2 hours on Thursday. Because we were right behind this crew we were able to just watch as they went thorough, which prepped the lock for us to be able to go through.
Sister’s everywhere!
This was my dads favorite spot. Honestly, everyone’s fav. It was nice to sit out there with the best view and feel the breeze.
We stopped at this cutest little pub for lunch and we were able to take Allie’s mega charger inside and charge our phones. We discovered, to our dismay, there were no outlets on board the boat. But then the next day Adi discovered a car charging port, and since we drive old cars and were renting cars, we’d brought our double plug. So we had two devices plugged in at all times. Between 6 phones, an iPad, 2 iPods, 2 watches, and dads camera batteries, we kept those chargers busy.
Amy, Alli, and I shared 3 plates and that was one of my favorite meals.
Matt’s family always joke about shearing shopshire sheep, so he had to grab a pic of this longboat.
Then their captain told him to climb on and grab a pic, so ok!
Because tunnels are so narrow it was always easy to hop on going through them. And we all managed to hop on our moving longboat safely until day 3 when i slipped and my life flashed before my eyes. Thankfully i just slid right down to the seat, and it didn’t hurt at all but I gave myself a massive bruise on my hip. And then I laughed and laughed at myself. Falling is crazy. 😂
So before our cruise we’d wondered if we’d be able to swim in the canal at all, but then we found out noooooo. The water is super dirty because of all the gas from all the boats, but also there are a few kind of shanty boats people live on and they most likely don’t pay to have their refuse drained in proper facilities, ifyouknowwhatimean. It didn’t stink, but the water was pretty foul and I think we were all nervous someone might fall in.
Matt did such a good job driving! We hit the sides of the canal a few times, but to quote the guy that taught Matt and alli “If you’re not bumping, you’re not boating,” and none of our collisions were serious.
We did have a funny moment day 3 when we were sitting out front and we had turned our heads to tell the kids inside something and when we looked up boom! We’d head on run into a parked boat. So very thankfully it was empty, all was fine, and we were able to back up and continue on our merry way. Matt said he’d steered the boat away and it hadn’t moved and we’d hit. 🤷♀️ The rental boats were not the easiest to drive. Anyways, that head on collision still makes me chuckle, it was pretty funny.
He absolutely loved driving and was pretty darn good at it. He’s already asked several times if I’d like to do another longboat vacay.
He was a good driver, and we were a pretty good crew!
Boat tour! Laney and Max are sitting on Amy and Quinn’s double bed. Behind Max is the bathroom, then mine and Matt’s double bed. Then the kitchen and 2 sofas that were rotating kids beds. Then behind Delaney is a closet, 2 twin beds where alli and another rotating child slept, then my dad and Max’s beds. They also had a mini toilet room back there.
Then their captain told him to climb on and grab a pic, so ok!
Because tunnels are so narrow it was always easy to hop on going through them. And we all managed to hop on our moving longboat safely until day 3 when i slipped and my life flashed before my eyes. Thankfully i just slid right down to the seat, and it didn’t hurt at all but I gave myself a massive bruise on my hip. And then I laughed and laughed at myself. Falling is crazy. 😂
So before our cruise we’d wondered if we’d be able to swim in the canal at all, but then we found out noooooo. The water is super dirty because of all the gas from all the boats, but also there are a few kind of shanty boats people live on and they most likely don’t pay to have their refuse drained in proper facilities, ifyouknowwhatimean. It didn’t stink, but the water was pretty foul and I think we were all nervous someone might fall in.
Matt did such a good job driving! We hit the sides of the canal a few times, but to quote the guy that taught Matt and alli “If you’re not bumping, you’re not boating,” and none of our collisions were serious.
We did have a funny moment day 3 when we were sitting out front and we had turned our heads to tell the kids inside something and when we looked up boom! We’d head on run into a parked boat. So very thankfully it was empty, all was fine, and we were able to back up and continue on our merry way. Matt said he’d steered the boat away and it hadn’t moved and we’d hit. 🤷♀️ The rental boats were not the easiest to drive. Anyways, that head on collision still makes me chuckle, it was pretty funny.
He absolutely loved driving and was pretty darn good at it. He’s already asked several times if I’d like to do another longboat vacay.
He was a good driver, and we were a pretty good crew!
Boat tour! Laney and Max are sitting on Amy and Quinn’s double bed. Behind Max is the bathroom, then mine and Matt’s double bed. Then the kitchen and 2 sofas that were rotating kids beds. Then behind Delaney is a closet, 2 twin beds where alli and another rotating child slept, then my dad and Max’s beds. They also had a mini toilet room back there.
The kids discovered they could make a table. Then when we were done with the table we’d attach it back to the wall and have a sitting room or bedroom again.
My dad’s panorama. 👇🏻
That night we stayed in Elmsmere at a fairly crowded port. We went all the way down to where it ended, figured out how to get the boat turned around - took 3 sissy’s with ropes and a pole, and Matt driving; and then parked at the very end of the line, closest to a Tesco. It was perfect because we were able to do a little shopping and restock our water supply.
That night we stayed in Elmsmere at a fairly crowded port. We went all the way down to where it ended, figured out how to get the boat turned around - took 3 sissy’s with ropes and a pole, and Matt driving; and then parked at the very end of the line, closest to a Tesco. It was perfect because we were able to do a little shopping and restock our water supply.
We walked into town and ate at the Red Lion for dinner, where we shocked them *again* with our party of 10. They told us they could serve us if we sat outside and we couldn’t order till 7:00. Not even appetizers. It was 6:00 when we got there. 🤷♀️
So we ordered and it was another nice dinner. Then 1/3 mile walk back to our boat, everyone visited the Tesco bathroom before bed, and even though we were a little nervous it might be loud, we all got a good nights sleep.
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