This year the crew for the Soddit Cruise were very smartly wearing uniform. We were provided with some T-shirts advertising our favourite brewery that Brenda personalised for each crew member. Friday night we ate fish and chips en-route to the boat and then had 4 games of Soddit once on board. During this time we also had a beer tasting as I had collected a selection of Purple Moose beers from North Wales during a recent visit. Saturday morning we set off, in wonderful weather, from Grove Church and headed North for a weekend trip shortened due to my work commitments. We passed through Grove lock where 75% of the crew posed outside the closed pub waiting for the photographic laggard to re-join the boat.(see blog for pictures) Having passed through Linslade with a quick sortee into Tescos for a paper, we continued on and shared the 3 Soulbury locks with the Wyvern Shipping hireboat Snowdrop, whose crew of two were so impressed (or embarrassed) that they shared Stoke Hammond lock with us as well. As we were approaching Bletchley a lunch/fishing stop was called for where Pete and I got our own back on the fishists! I had brought Mini-Jannock with us on this trip so we had fun playing radio controlled model boats while the others fished. At one point I did deliver a float and bait across the canal and deposit it exactly where Ian wanted it with a nifty 'swift reverse' manoeuvre. After a long lunch we continued through Fenny Lock and onto Great Lindford where we moored for the night in the park. A meal of Crayfish cocktail and Thai Chicken curry was followed by an evening of 'off-road' boule and then another 4 games of Soddit once it got dark. Unusually for a Soddit cruise, the beer barrel ran dry on Saturday evening (something of a record, even for us) and so we had to resort to more bottles on Sunday. Sunday arrived with yet more sunshine and so we set off after a morning fishing session to complete our trip. Once moored we lunched aboard and then headed home. It seems a shame to finish so early but I had lots to do ready for work on Monday.
Graham www.jannock.org.uk
