Overnight driving

Getting time off work can be difficult, but we had planned how to move Robinetta from Ardfern to Cairnbaan carefully. We would drive up on Saturday, move her on Sunday, then get her ready for lift out Sunday evening and Monday morning, before driving home in the afternoon to go to work on Tuesday. An email from Adam Way changed our plans as he told us that the Crinan canal stops operating on Sundays at the end of September, so we would have to mover her on Saturday. Having arranged to take Monday off I could not suddenly ask for Friday!

We decided that leaving after work on Friday was the only option, so Julian made sure he was home by the time I got in from work, and we set off north at 1730. Friday night is never good for traffic, but although it was busy on the M11 and A14 we did not run into any real problems until we were on the A1. Ten minutes stationary while the police cleared a three car shut was not too bad, then we ran into another hold up just south of Newark. It was 1930, so we came off the A1 and found a pub called the Tawny Owl. A nice place on the Wetherspoons' model (although not one); a useful stopping place.

We got were back on the road by 2045 and did not stop again except for petrol and to change drivers. Whoever was not driving tried to sleep; rather like being on watch for an overnight passage in Robinetta! The weather turned bad though, with pounding rain that slowed us down, and we did not get to Ardfern until 0400.

We found Worm in the dinghy park and launched her, then I rowed us out to Robinetta. It was raining slightly, but calm, and it was an easy row. Robinetta's white bulwarks make her easy to find, even on a dark night and we were soon on board. I tried to switch the lights on, and nothing happened. I felt round for a torch, but we had taken them home with us last time. Luckily the gas lighter was easy to find, and the citronella candles gave enough light for us to get the bed out. By this time it was 0500, and we knew we should be up and ready to leave by 0630. None the less we got into bed properly, and Julian set the alarm for 0730. Leaving Ardfern at 0800 should give us enough time to get to Cairnbaan before the locks stopped working at 1600. That was providing of course that the electrics not working was something very minor! We were both too tired to think about what had gone wrong, and fell into bed and slept.