We are on the road again, wearing different clothes again

So I spent last night on the boat amidst utter chaos. 

This morning I attempted to locate stuff that I really didn't need on the boat while the car was right there next to the boat and generally make room.  Of course with emptying the engine room at the beginning of winter for the work that never got done you can imagine delving into cupboards and hidey holes was tricky.  No doubt I have missed loads but hey the girl can carry it for another year!

I have treated myself to a lovely new mifi EE (Argos annoyingly didn't have the O2 one in stock) and good job too.  I had to do the last lot of wages for 2015/2016 today.  It works brilliantly so far.

I have done my first bit of boating for the year by heading East and turning around. 

This year, my son, I am mostly going West.

I put my painted portholes in this morning and I am very pleased with how they look.

Chuffed I am, chuffed.

Right off to finish de winterising and putting stuff away.

Success and disappointment

Last week me and a bunch of single handed women met up and walked the Wey and Arun canal.  The path deviates from the canal a fair bit and is called the Wey South but all 7 of us completed it and we enjoyed the route.

Day one is pretty much either along the old railway line and across fields with occasional crossings of the canal.  That was okay as there was a lot of chat and catching up to do so not having to pay too much attention to the route was a bonus.  Although the advance party did get mislaid at one point and we had to retrace our steps.  When we caught up with the two stragglers (who had the guide book) there was some comment on the hare and the tortoise!

Day two was the longest but mostly along the canal and a good few miles of the canal were in water with boats.

Day three was the hardest as it involved a good few bridle paths which were very churned up and made it difficult to walk.  Especially for those with dodgy knees and or hips.  Plus a good few hills.  South Downs you know.

36 miles walked in total.

The beginning

There was a boat moored just beyond the bund that had been put in so they could repair the bridge.  Definitely a continous moorer!

View of a lockhouse (much extended)

We spoke to a couple living in part of the above lock house and he was a South African and she it turned out was also a boater and she was moored next to the son of one of the women!

Small world hey

This picnic area is made up of lock beams supported by sawn up lock ladders with a table made out of the paddles.

Lunch on day two with three boats in the background.  Dayboat, narrowboat and a broadbeam!

The visitor centre is behind this pub.

  

  

The Pickupstuffers

Like we didn't have enough to carry.  One of us has a proper working boat and she has been looking for ages for some milk crates as they are perfect for holding the tarps off the top planks.  Apparently.

Water wheel raising water from the river into the canal which then goes over the river in an aquaduct.

 

End of day three lunch time.

Well we had done 10 miles before lunch and none of us could get the enthusiasm to do another 4 miles along the river Arun.  Technically we had done the Wey and Arun Canal and that was good enough for us.  Luckily we had left a car here because one of us was leaving early and needed to leave her bags in the car that would take her to the train station.  Otherwise we would have had no choice but to carry on to where the two end cars were waiting.

Panda and friend.

We stayed 4 nights at the Travel Lodge Billingshurst.  They allow dogs no problem which is useful to know.  Breakfasts were had at 'Billys on the road' and the choice was incredible.  My parents told me it used to be a Little Chef and always appeared to be empty.  Now it is very, very popular.  Open 7am to 7pm.

The disappointment?  No work done on the boat.  I have cancelled it for this year.  Snarpip.

March marches on

and disappointingly still the work hasn't started on the engine room.  It is promised to be done by the end of March but I am beginning to think that maybe it has been left too late.  Very very annoyed as he has had the key since the beginning of December.  Grrrrr.

Still when I visited the boat today I took the opportunity of the lovely weather to make a start on removing the green grime from the roof and back counter.  When we set off Bobcat won't look quite so uncared for.

And then a serendipitous meeting with Geoff ended with a quick lunch in Tesco's of Rugeley where we discussed our route plans for this year.  We sure know how to live!  Toasted cheese and onion sandwich - none of that panini nonsense.

That is the good thing about having an orange panda!  He caught sight of it as he drove by and took a detour to call at the boat and this cheered me up no end.  Roll on April.

Only two days till I start walking the Wey and Arun Canal.  Hope the weather stays like this for it.

February

is nearly over.  Lovely weather for walking - mostly and yesterday and today were no exception.  Yesterday I was thrown out of  a moving car and walked home.  Made a nice change from the usual circular walks and I got chatting to a fellow walker while we were headed in the same direction.

Today we walked to Middleton in order to look at a plot of land for sale.  Not that we wanted to buy it but we were curious as to where it was and it gave us a destination.  Coming home we diverted off the High Peak Trail and tried to find our way over the fields.  Suffice to say we entered the fields at the correct point and exited at the correct point but somewhere in the middle we lost the path and did some creative walking.  Which involved a fair bit of climbing over fences/walls etc.  Made it more exciting and adventurous.

I have been playing with stained glass at home and have realised that you need the correct soldering iron - none of dearly beloved's were suitable as they keep going cold and the solder won't run.  So I need to buy a specific one. 

The kitchen is the only place to work in and I have done my best to clear up after myself but the next time I am cutting glass I think I will put up a cardboard barrier to minimise the risk of us ingesting ground glass in future!

In March the boat finally starts to have the works done in the engine room that I have been waiting for all winter - so definitely no boating yet.  However there is that 3 day walk I am doing along the Wey and Arun canal which means I will still get my canal fix.

And now in glorious technicolour

Showing my age here?

Any hoo

here we have for your delectation - my unfinished bit of stained glass window decoration

 

We completely ran out of time so the welding is untidy.  I need to get some solder and flux and smooth everything out at home as I only had time to basically attach all the pieces to each other and fit the hanging loops - no time for finesse.  One more week and it would have been perfick.

I wanted the blue water element to be much darker blues purples etc and the top sunset to be more yellows oranges and reds but I had to use what was available.  Still I like it.

Works the other way up with blue sky and dark canal water!!!

And yes my fixation with having my stove in the 'correct' place has led to it not being a mirror image.

Quirky I call it

 

Then the ones I painted direct onto my portholes.  

(I have two 'spare' due to the fused glass bobcat portholes made by Bonnie. http://www.purpleglass.co.uk )

Can you guess what this one represents?

I will tell you. 

It is the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Harecastle Tunnel

The potteries

Rugeley/Willington power stations

Burton on Trent Breweries.

Then I thought dearly beloved needed to be represented as well.

I am represented by the bobcat portholes so here is his

May I introduce 

Ratty

 

I took photos of some of the other work done at the stained glass workshop

This one I think it is brilliant

On the left her father then she got carried away and included her mother.  

Both back in their hippy days!

 

I also love the curves on this one

and this one 

although I think this lady forgot to allow space for the fusing.

It all fitted perfectly until the copper foil was added.  

Which was a shame.

There it is - my foray into stained glass.

Absolutely loved it. 

 

Looking forward to installing them on the boat

 and 

looking through them 

whilst I float around England and Wales this year.

Goal reached with my fitbit

I decided on the 6th of January or thereabouts that since Christmas I had managed to achieve 10k steps a day that I would continue throughout January. 

I made myself a promise to do an Average 10k steps a day and apart from 4 days (3 of which were this week!) which were short of target on balance I have surpassed the remit. 

Yesterday and today I had to get my average up for this week so walked 15k steps yesterday in the bright sunshine and wind (before lunch) and 12k steps today no wind but constant drizzle (before lunch).

As fitbit only does a rolling 28 days I can't tell you exactly how many steps I have walked in the month but

1/1/16 to 3/1/16
assume min 3x10k 30,000
04/1/16 to 10/1/16  93,314
11/1/16 to 17/1/16  76,276
18/1/16 to 24/1/16  77,585
25/1/16 to 31/1/16  74,875 (and still counting)


Total steps 352,050 not bad for a couch potato!
I have exceeded my goal by approximately 42k steps!!!

For the rest of this year I no longer need to absolutely achieve the 10k steps (phew) but I will probably continue with the daily walk.  It has been good to get out in the fresh air over the winter and I haven't gone stir crazy. Plus in March I have agreed to join a bunch of women in walking the Wey and Arun Canal so I need to keep myself walking (match) fit.

So overall I would recommend to anyone that they get a fitbit of some description as the benefit of having a small dictator object making you get up and go is immeasurable. 

I used to be a time and motion kind of person
now
when I am at work I make a trip per teabag to the bin!
I don't try and carry 3 mugs of tea back from the kitchen but make two trips.
I take one item up the stairs instead of collecting up an armful.
When I visit the boat I park a long way away and walk
When I go shopping I walk the long way round town to get to the shops.  Or park at the farthest end of the store carpark - plenty of spaces out there in the sticks! 
I have discovered little alleyways I never knew were there.

And competing with family and friends always helps.

60th Wedding Anniversary

clearly not mine!

My parents have just celebrated their 60 years together.  As they were married in deepest darkest africa the Queen was not aware of this fact so no card from her.

We had a lovely family party over the weekend despite this omission by Her Majesty and my mother excelled herself with the catering as usual. 

My sister was disappointed to discover that there was no cake for tea.  Small boy and I had had the last of the latest offering when we arrived the day before and with all the cooking my mother was doing, baking took a back seat.  Only shop bought biscuits on offer too.  Horrors.  :)

I have started a stained glass workshop and two nights in I realise perhaps 40 pieces of glass to cut is a tad optimistic on my part.  We only have 5 nights altogether and one person has already started to copper foil her pieces.  I can see me having to maybe finish the soldering at home?

My designs were all very ornate and I chose the simplest to do.  You can imagine at 40 pieces for the simplest what the others were like!  However I am still going to do these designs by painting them direct onto my portholes.  Bobcat will be very pretty in 2016.