Short Cruise

On Friday we took my Mum & Dads narrowboat for a short cruise to the boatyard where he has booked it in to be lifted and repainted. It was so good to be on the river as we havn't done any boating in a while. It was a pleasent cruise down and we did manage to catch a glimpse of a mink and a few herons. The only problem with this is we just get more impatient for our build slot to start. What made our short cruise really easy was that Dad drove round to the one and only lock we had to go through while we cruised down river and locked us through along with another nb and a small tupperware box. I thought I'd be kind to him so as we left the lock I threw him a quid, just thought it would help top up his pension (Sorry dad).
Anyway arriving at the boatyard they had left a gap for us to get in which was at least 6" more than the length of the boat, with a jet ski at one end and a wooden cruiser at the other and a strong crosswind it was a tense few minutes while we manouvered in to this tight spot, think we all had visions of sinking the cruiser or turning the jet ski into a pile of fibreglass splinters.
Anyway Dad you will notice how we have conviently left the bit out where we went downstream of the boatyard and turned round and was blown into the reeds and got stuck for a little while till we managed to push ourselves free of the reed bank....................... but we don't have to mention this bit do we? I am sure we will have lot of this to come on our boat but as they say you live and learn and all that, think it just convinced us that a bow thruster may be a good idea, I can hear the shouts now at the boat club "can't be a real boater if they need one of them" well I reckon we can live with that.