Don't call me Mrs Beeton

I was bored yesterday so himself suggested I make mince pies.

So I did.

Halfway through the preparation I remembered we had thrown away the indented cupcake dish thingy what I had as we were never likely to use it and there was minimal storage at his house.

Okay so now what to do.

Himself suggested we roll out the pastry and cut into squares and tweak the corners.

We don't have a rolling pin.

So I used the jar of lasagne sauce.

I had misunderstood his instructions (note mince pie in top right corner.)

Got the hang of corner tweaking and thought what a clever idea a little pocket to put the mincemeat into.

Experimenty no worky

We are calling them minscuits

and very tasty they are too.

I hereby recommend Minscuits as the future Xmas offering to all and sundry

Old fashioned bed warmer

Okay bring on the next overnight stay I been and bought myself a real old fashioned copper bedwarmer.  I will be putting my firebrick inside it (with all fo' corners knocked off) and possibly making it a little coat as well so I don't burn myself as I will be sleeping with it!  In the summer it can be a wall decoration.

Only £20 from a junk shop (the sort where all the antiques are just piled on top of each other and there is absolutely no room to walk about).  He had several and we managed to access all of them without the whole room tumbling about our ears.  I chose the one most likely to fit said brick.

How do they do it?

I spent last night on the boat and have decided it must be a summer boat.

It was ffffffffffffffffff reezing.

Must put an ecofan on my Xmas list again.

Puss and Boots

Oh tittle

Finally managed to get out and check on the boat.

So I can relax I have wriggled under the tug deck and switched off the stop cock and opened a tap.

However I am too late to save the bath/shower mixer unit.  To be fair that wouldn't have been the tap left on anyway so I imagine the either/or knob would still have blown off.

Anyone know if it is possible to get replacements for these or am I likely to have to replace whole unit?

I will of course have to check all joints when I come to turn water back on. 

Plus I didn't have time to check the calorifier joints but these are fairly well insulated she says hopefully.

No Way

Nanook of the North Obeyed Instruction.

Sofa so good

I wish that this bench was this comfortable in the summer.

This here is my Christmas tree

Isn't it pretty.

Patterns in the snow

Contours - reminds me of Mount Rushmore

Shadows - geometric (ish)

Steep slope

Idiot in the snow

Just a tad deeper than expected.  Glad I decided to step rather than jump - or I could have been in over my head.   Oops.

Glad I went yesterday

The boat had some ice around it yesterday but nothing too major.  Wonder what it looks like today.

I am not going anywhere today.

Cat isn't going far either ...

Boat info for me

Purely for my needs. Called at the boat yesterday to check all okay.  Batteries reading 97% but opted not to run the engine but hope the solar panels keep it from dropping below this.

Engine is leaking water coolant.

There had been a small amount when I left the boat on the 16th as I had run the engine to get back to the mooring - there is now about twice that.  I will keep monitoring.

Initial thoughts was that it was the Mikuni that was leaking coolant as it only started leaking when I was on the boat in cold weather and started using the central heating but as I have now isolated the source of the leak (although not fully ruled out some from the skin tank connection hence the cloth strategically placed) I am pretty sure it is coming from the joints but daren't nip the jubilee clips up any more in case it breaks the plastic pipe.  It could however be a split pipe.

I tried taping up with duct tape but as you can see that hasn't helped.

How long do these black hoses normally last before starting to perish?

The boat was put on the water 6th November 2009 should I book an engine service on an annual basis or just get the pipework looked at?  I daren't do it myself as I would probably lose too much coolant into the bilges.  Would need there to be two people anyway one to hold the pipes up and other to fetch and carry small tools!

A fully trained octopus would be good.

I wonder - do trees feel sorrow?

I spotted this very intimate embrace on the bridlepath.  It wasn't immediately obvious which tree the branch belonged to until I passed them and looked back and got this angle.

As you can see they are very 'close' indeed.

But how would you feel if someone you have been this close to dies in your arms?

And then hangs around for another couple of years?

I have been blessed

View this morning as I set out on my walk.

By sheer good luck I managed to do a two hour circular walk involving a lovely bridleway which ended up being on the non towpath side of the canal.  I decided to keep walking until I hit a bridge and come back via said towpath.

Magic.

"And just where do you think you have been all this time?"  Was written all over her face.

So this is how she does it ...

On this basis I guess she prefers pilings

Why is it ...

My house looks so much nicer after I have moved out?

I had to put carpet on the stairs (and in one of the upstairs bedrooms) because tenants need carpet apparently.

Anyway I loved going up the carpeted stairs it was like walking on air. 

Wish I had had it done when I lived there!  Not forgetting having the hallway / landing etc stripped of the horrid wood chip, skimmed and painted.

I want to move back.

That's a lie

Hoping to spend a couple of days back on the boat now the house is sorted.

How to ...

Lower the tone of your ex neighbourhood

And leave for nearly a week.

Tee Hee

Falling in

As you may be aware the cat fell in on Wednesday

She did the same the following morning.

Later that same day I was sat working away and as it was cold the fire was on and the portholes closed.  Cat was in and out through the back doors.

She went out through the back doors and then tried to come back in by launching herself at the porthole.  First I knew of it a furry face appeared briefly in the porthole next to me and then disappeared downwards followed by a splash and a quick exit.

I dried her off with a tea towel on the towpath.  Her head was only dry bit about her.

She has so far not fallen in again.

If she was going for exponential she would have had to fall in 4 times the next day.

An evening in the life of a Ship's Cat

Bit of room for me here

bit more

look cute

just a bit more

There done it.

Okay now it is bed time.

Indian Summer - long may it continue

Wasn't this afternoon glorious?

All dry again !

Spot the difference

No you are right there is no difference

Evidence strongly suggest

that the cat has fallen in ...


Evidence

wet tail
wet back legs
very damp fur sticking out at funny angles
one dry head


I missed the action - what a shame

Sad day yesterday

I took my lion to the dump.  I have had him for 27 years as he was given to me as a leaving present from my first job.  After a boozy send off I had to go home on the tube clutching a large lion.

As he is so old I wouldn't be able to take him to a charity shop like I planned so while I was dropping off the bits of laminate floor I took a deep breath and left him on the top of the 'textiles' bin I asked the lads to look after him for me, ruffled his mane and quickly got back in the car.  He looked majestic.

RIP Lion

Touching canals

This weekend I took a load of stuff down to my parents on the South Coast.  Luckily before I reached J28 on the M1 and the A38 the road signage changed from congestion between J26 and J24 to Road closed at J25.  I was thus able to head off down the A38.  I should have turned left onto the A444 at Burton but as I was so close I detoured to check on the boat.  It was fine.

Going down different roads but ones I was now familiar with due to the recent car/boat/bike shuffling made a nice change from my usual route down to the parents.  M1 to J20, A5 to Towcester, A43, A34, M3, M27.  Instead it was lovely country roads and of course plenty of canals to cross over and travel beside as well as names off to the left/right indicating places I had been through on the boat.

So I clocked up the Trent and Mersey, the Coventry Canal, and due to a slight error in Coventry the bit of Coventry Canal I haven't yet been on with the boat, The Grand Union, the Oxford, the Kennet and Avon and the Chichester Canal.  (not sure if I managed the Birmingham and Fazeley or not)  Still I felt an impressive array for one journey.

Banbury annoyed me because I knew the road went straight through to Oxford but I hadn't appreciated that the road name changed so looking for the A423 was no help at all and of course it doesn't indicate a route to Oxford because they would rather you went on the Motorway.  I did eventually click that Adderbury was on my route so all was well.  Bonus I crossed the Oxford Canal twice.

Passing Thrupp I considered calling in to have a cup of tea with Bones and Maffi but decided as I was running late not to bother and then I spotted Granny Buttons.  I did not see the great man Andrew Denny himself as the person sprawled all over his hatchway was most definitely not him.  It sported a lot of long hair.

On the way back I decided that the new route was much nicer than the old so I did a variation which spat me out onto the M1 at J23a.  Passing Granny Buttons again, this time I spotted that Milly M was right up close and personal with Granny.  Is that wise at their age?

I love my Fiat Panda and despite taking a detour I still only clocked up 6hours driving down and 5.5 hours coming back and an average of 74.5mpg

Who needs motorways.

De cluttering

Everyday I try and clear out some more clutter.  The attic is nearly empty just need to decide what to do with small boys toys.  Do I carboot them myself or take them to a friend who runs the village toddler group to raise money for the group by selling them herself?  I am extremely lazy so will probably do the latter.  Today took small boys old clothes, some pictures off the wall and some silverware (that has been sitting in a drawer for the last 5-6 years) to the British Heart Foundation.  I have kept back one large and one small tankard.  Apparently it is de rigueur to walk around festivals with your own tankard attached to your waist with a climbers clip!


Some things can't be parted with and the dinky cars are a case in point.  I will take them with me and deposit in Rob's attic.

I am organising a painter/decorator to remove the woodchip in the hall/stairs/landing and also to freshen up the two bedrooms to improve my chances of selling the house.  Do I put carpet on the stairs or leave as is for them to make their own choice.

Decisions decisions I am going for a liedown I have done enough thinking for the day.  I have also done some bookkeeping work so am feeling virtuous.

Moving out

Thursday was very tiring.  Due to various people including ex husband letting us down small boy and I had to do his moving by ourselves with a Fiat Panda.  I am so glad I went for the option with split sliding rear seats.

First trip went well, we were lent parking sticker and bay plus key fob to open gates etc by another tenant.  Very trusting of her small boy gave her a bottle of wine as a thank you.

I was left next to car guarding his contents whilst he did the long trek through doors that all open outwards to his flat.  I worked out that his flat must overlook where we were parked so suggested he open doors onto his balcony and we rope and bag stuff up.  This was very successful indeed and the rest of that car load went up that way.

Second trip involved using the motorbike trailer (having scoped out the destination on first trip).  On the passenger side of the car went wardrobe sides, Ikea unit shelves (8ft long), bed frame, slats and footboard.  On the trailer - tarpaulin, then my double mattress, backboard for wardrobe, base of Ikea unit (could have gone in car but was a bit too wide and would have interfered with gear changes), desktable top and the headboard were all strapped down onto it.  Not that well but luckily in the next village a diy store has finally opened (6 years late) so we pulled in there and bought some more rope and bungee straps. The Ikea board was attempting an escape as it was only held in by the cheap tarpaulin which might not have survived the trip.  Whilst unwrapping my cats cradle at the flat a man who wanted to do a floorplan and energy audit of the flat arrived and I felt it would be a waste if he didn't carry something up so gave him the legs off the desk.

While he was doing his audit we returned to passing things up to the balcony.  Wardrobe sides, bed frame and ikea unit were all long enough to be reached without resorting to the rope basket trick and everything else fitted in the bags and were hauled up.  I took the opportunity of there being two people in the flat and collared two lads sitting out their flat and between us the mattress also made that route into the flat.  The desktable top was the only thing that had to be carried the long way out of that car load.

Third car load was all his precious stuff so once again I stayed by the car while he took 3 guitars, amps, computer, tv etc etc up.I was allowed to assist once we were down to clothes and kitchen stuff.  I persuaded him to let me help him put the bed back together so if nothing else he could sleep well.  Finally left at 7.30pm and was too tired to cook but of course I couldn't have a marmite or bovril sandwich as I had given them to him.  Eggy bread? No he had the eggs. In the end had to make a small baked potato 9mins in the microwave (at least I hadn't given him the butter.  Hopefully his friend arrived after I had gone to help him put units, wardrobe and desk back together.

I hope he will be happy once he has settled in.  All the people in the surrounding flats that we met seemed friendly and quite a few are at University so about the same age as him.  I now have to organise moving to Rob's and getting my house ready for selling.  Rob's car has towbar and electrics so might hire a proper trailer for my move!  At £15 for a day a better bargain than hiring a van.  I don't have electrics so didn't want to use a trailer that would by itself block view to my indicators.

Okay now to work.

Rugeley breakin

Thanks to Chris off 'Belle' who tipped me off about the break ins on 12 boats at the Ash Tree club moorings which are just the other side of the bridge from my moorings.  We went down to the boat to check all is well and it is - so far so good.

I hope having raided so many that they will now move on or lie low for another 12 months or so.  Sounds like it is a regular occurance around here.

Oh goody.

View from a train

On Saturday I was supposed to meet himself and the duCATi at our mooring and he was going to give me a lift back to boat and on Sunday ride out to a bit of a Ducati do on the Sunday.  However he rang me when I was nearly at the mooring to say oops should have checked but the battery was back down to 3v.

I walked to the train station caught the train and saw the canal from the window.  Recognising lots of places.

At Rugby I asked kind lady in the corner shop best way to the canal and as she had an enormous Alsation which she walks regularly down there she was able to show me a quicker route to Hilmorton.  Still I was dressed for being cold and wet on the back of a bike in the rain and of course the weather was contrary in a good way so once on the canal towpath I had to basically strip down to my underwear!  Okay not really but leggings and vest which if I had been in the OLDEN DAYS would have been red flannelette.  And wear my shirt on my head.

I looked a sight.

At my age you are entitled.

Having got through the locks and watered up on Saturday I headed off for all points north on the Sunday.

The battery on the bike was charged enough for Rob to get to his bit of a do and also to visit me for a late lunch just north of Rose Narrowboats although the 2 hour break with the lads had entailed him needing another jump start (he had brought the leads just in case) I think today he is mostly ordering a new battery.

Today I made it to Atherstone and will be meeting my Aunt here later.

Cat has been and done her thang and will no doubt go out later and do it again.  Last night she was out in the pouring rain (presumably visiting local farmyards again) and didn't deign to come back until about 3am.  One very wet smelly moggy.  Serve her right.

pulled pins

A long day today left boat at 7.45 to go to work.  The boat was sprung with two pins each front and back.  When I got back at 6.30 they had obviously all been pulled out by passing boats but at least one kind person had re pinned one each front and back.  Luckily the other two were still attached to the ropes and dangling uselessly in the water.  I hope the cat hadn't been too frightened by her experience.

Based on the obvious shortcomings of my current mooring spot I decided to move a bit further up onto the pilings but when I got through the bridge I realised that that was the start of the long term moorings so I reversed back through the bridge hole.  I am a good girl I am.

In the meantime whilst reversing cat abandoned ship.

After much cajoling she briefly came under the bridge so she could at least see new location of boat but she then got distracted by smells and then of course some runners arrived and scared her off back into the hedgerow on the wrong side of the bridge.

Idiot cat is currently stuck up in the branches of a hawthorn bush.

I will go back when it is quieter and dark and see if she deigns to leave her thorny roost.

boat, bike, car, bike, boat shuffle

Appears to be working to plan.  Apart from slight hiccup at the beginning - I was hoping to cut across from Priors Hardwick down to where the car was parked via the road but was foiled by being unable to reach road from canal so had to do the wiggly bit of the summit pound by bike.  So not funny.

The towpath is so far out in the country that it is rarely walked and hence the brambles come right over it.  As it was a sunny day I was in short sleeves and now look like I am a 'cutter' with scars all down my right arm.

Having finally reached the car after 6/7 miles of sheer Hell I drove for a lovely 20 mins parked up and then cycled back about 3/4 miles to the boat.  Initially the towpath was much better and then disaster.

The canal encroached onto the towpath with corresponding bush hanging right across it.  I thought I would close my eyes and push through realising at the last minute that this was a blackberry bush so slammed the anchors on and fell into it.  As I was so close to the canal I couldn't extricate myself without the possibility of ending up in it so I chose to lie down completely in said bush and contemplate life in general.

Next day was luckily a shorter hop as I only had to cycle one mile back to car at which point I discovered I now had a flat tyre and no pump (we had stripped everything off bike when using it as a packhorse at the festival) I contemplated the nearer option for leaving the car but on looking at the map realised that the very furthest option was actually very close road wise to the nearest even though the canal twists and turns.

Furthest one it was.  Luckily for me (not being a rain fetishist like Bones) I was still in the car when the heavens opened.  I stayed in it until they had closed again and had a lovely ride on the road back to Shuckburgh where I had to join the dreaded towpath again as I didn't fancy going up hill with a flat tyre.

Last mile I had to walk as going over a bump the last of the air shot out of the tyre in one hit.  Whoosh.

Not too bad back at the boat I changed the inner tube and the third day was a doddle I moored the boat right next to the car took it on it's next hop and only had a four mile cycle ride on much improved towpath back to the boat.

Now just have to reunite boat and car in readiness for going to work tomorrow.

I might even go shopping in the car later today and restock much depleted larder.

Cropredy Festival

Firstly a huge thankyou to Bones for rescueing us.  The alarm on the bike had flattened the battery and she was able to provide the charger, multimeter and extension cable to charge it all up again.

Saturday morning we headed from our mooring way out in the wilds into Cropredy itself for water, to wind and also to unload the bike at the wharf.  On the way back there was a lovely Bobcat space in town. 

Rob had specifically asked if a BW key would open the gate and was assured it would.

It doesn't

and no these kind gentlemen were not bearing down on Rob to arrest him for loitering with intent.

but to assist in the 'cunning plan' I came up with to solve the problem.

I knew we were carrying around those ramps for a reason.

and a further thankyou to Bones' extended family for also providing a garage in Cropredy to store the bike overnight and carry on charging the battery.

It is not what you know but who you know.

Thanks Bones.

One of the highlights of the event were the Easy Star All Stars and when I'm 64.

Another was

this gentleman gaily travelling down the street tinkling his ivory's and followed by the 'shit wagon'

And this morning having my aching feet nibbled by fish.

Utter Bliss.

So today we fetched the bike from it's luxury garage, had bison icecream, motorbiked to Atherstone to pick up my car. Rob carried on to home and work on Monday while I drove back abandoning the car along the way and walking back along the towpath to the boat. 

Tomorrow I start the whole boat, bike, car shuffle fandango again.

I am very pleased with myself I didn't squeak once on the Hypermotard.

I think I might now be a biker chick.

Finally

we have the bike on board and I have a replacement battery for the camera.



The bike went on with lots of swearing and I was told to go away and not 'help'.

Some of the fixed tie points are in the wrong position and at the moment we are unable to make use of the others as the straps couldn't connect.  I need to get some more of those d connector thingys.  So the bike grab is temporarily the wrong way round.  Now we know what we need next time should be a breeze.

The camera seems to work now which is good but perhaps I should charge the battery fully before expecting huge things of this new battery.

We got to somewhere near Cropredy in good time due to someone loudly revving their engine on passing us at Napton at the ungodly hour of 5.30am.  We decided to make use of the lock now set for us and just kept going.

Cat likes the situation so can frolic to her hearts content.

Hope she is not going to be very cross when she is outside all alone while we are at the festival.

So I am off to be a festival chick.

Getting there slowly

Having got to Atherstone and done locks 11 to 8 I left the boat to go back to work.  Ach Phooey.

Rob came and picked me up Wednesday after work, I had the boat nearly ready to leave but kept some of the fuses on like the water etc and of course in the rush to get off and meet him I blithely switched them all off including the fridge.  I was therefore surprised when I got back on board to have the batteries at 100percent capacity until I opened the fridge and the light didn't come on.  Luckily not much in there and what was in there is still okay.  Even the lurpak was still solid.

I had to move the boat throught the next two locks to get nearer my car because I went around and around Atherstone trying to find the road Rob had picked me up from to no avail.  I think what was confusing me was the A5 crosses the canal and the bit I wanted was therefore on the 'wrong' side.  Nevermind meant I crossed off another two locks.  I asked a local for somewhere to leave the car and ended up leaving it somewhere completely different.  Hope it is okay.

Cat has settled back in no problem.

Today managed to do the last 5 locks and meet my sister in Bedworth.  All in all a successful day even if I didn't manage to get to Sutton Stop.  Tomorrow I need to fill up with diesel.  I would have done it today but was 'rushing' to make the rendevous with sister. I know I know rushing and canals don't mix.  Hope the next boatyard is not one of them that shuts on a Monday.

I have ordered a battery for the camera - hope that solves the problem and that I don't need to buy a new camera.

Going, going gone

Today whilst filling my water tank at Fradley Junction I watched a woman slowly and gently fall in!  Made my day as it is my first sighting of this rare event.  Luckily for her neither myself nor any member of her family had a camera to hand.  It was in the style of - hands on boat feet on land - gradually getting further and further apart ending with a hanging just by the hands from the boat.  Quite elegant really - although the getting back onto land was less dignified.

She was very good humoured about it.  Her husband having failed miserably to let her get back on after the swing bridge then seemed to forget to let her back on at all.  I offered my front deck as a crossing point but he decided he would rather she walked further down the canal rather than come close to my boat. 

When we got to the boat on Saturday the smart guage was reading C14 Oooops.  Started the engine immediately and after Rob had fitted one of the cleats we then set off to Rugeley to turn around, cooked baked potatoes on the move and then he fitted the other one. 

Sunday I tootled to Fradley Junction after cleaning and tidying the inside of the boat so not an early start.  Decided to moor above Shadehouse Lock behind the sunken boat, no need for my fenders as I was no where near the edge!  Chris off Belle came to have a look around and give me some advice on the battery situation.  By now it was reading C72 from the morning reading of C47. 

Basically the upshot of that was that he suggested I travel for long enough to hopefully get it back to C100 - I am pleased to say that particular Nirvana was reached at 2pm.  So I was able to stop, have lunch and do wages as well as clean the outside of the boat.  Yes you read that right I have given the boat a bit of a wipe down.  It won't win any prizes for best turned out in class but at least it looks better than a pig in mud which was it's previous condition.

No photos as despite having the battery on charge for ages there is no life in the camera.  I think it is broke.

Ready Steady ...

Last weekend we took my new (to me) reclining chair down to the boat.  Despite it not actually fitting in the Panda which was my criteria for whether I bought it or not.  We crammed it in and tied the boot down.  Well for £10 you can't really refuse when you have measured the height of the arms and you know that it will fit in through the side hatches!  It stayed at home for a week and small boy got very attached to it.

I may have to take the table down as the chair is perhaps a little big for the space allocated plus where it is I am in danger of kicking the TV everytime I go into recline!

Bobcat looked quite sad and lonely on her moorings and covered in cobwebs. 

I may give her a bit of a wash when I am back on.  Please don't hold your collective breaths as after having had the new car valeted when small boy vomited in it I said I would have the car valeted and washed once a year around it's birthday.  Not happened I am afraid.  What I need is a cleaning lady.

I had covered up one of my solar panels so as not to cook the batteries and left the fridge running when I left the boat beginning of the month.

The smartgauge said both banks were reading 12.85 but then it said they were down to c37 (I assume that is percentage?)  The solar panel monitor had a smiley face and said 98%.  Which one is right?

We uncovered the other solar panel and will see what happens this week.

I have ticked all the items on my July to do list and am feeling very virtuous.

Aboating I will go

Ghost boats

I have been thinking about it a lot recently.

One night on the Trent and Mersey Canal just below a lock (I can't remember which one) about 1min after midnight I heard a gentle throbbing of a 'proper' boat engine that gradually got louder (but never too loud) and then faded away again.

My boat never moved, twitched or otherwise acknowledged it's passing.

I was left wondering if I had really heard it or just imagined it.

Or indeed had a canal ghost just past me by?

Oh me miserum

Back at home - nose to the grindstone.

Saturday Rob arrived about lunchtime and we finally managed the oil change, and filters.  The reason it was late is that we mistook the fuel filter for the oil filter and it is a completely different shape to the filter provided by Beta.  They told Rob it was correct but different to the one supplied by the engine makers.  As all the filters etc are cunningly painted green with the engine it was an easy mistake for novices to make.  On the bright side we have at least changed the fuel filter early whilst everything else was late!  Plus the next one will be easy now that we have not got to worry about the paint glueing everything in place.  After much grunt we finally located the oil filter underneath the engine.

We manged to clear Fradley before stopping for the night in the undergrowth and walking back to the pub for dinner.

Next day we passed these two monsters.  I said I thought 5 greyhounds was a lot but two great danes?  He said definitely great danes better.

I think it is hardwork dual boating.

As I did the locks whilst himself drove.

Finally we arrived at our new moorings and are pretty sure we are in the correct spot!

Might not look much but we can get the car/bike to it easily. 

Water point is not too far away and what looks like nice walking all around.  Plus a very pleasant neighbour liveaboard who will keep an eye on the boat for me.  There are Winding Holes in either direction not too far away and I don't need electricity or elsan/pump out so all in all just what I wanted.

We biked back to Barton Turns and the cars stopping for a leisurely lunch at the cafe at Fradley Junction on the way.

I have now done over 20 miles cycling this week and boy can I tell.

Rob took my bike home and I returned to the boat for all my stuff and the cat.

The cat was very relaxed at Rob's house and also in the car. 

When we got home yesterday she wandererd around her garden sniffing all the flowers etc.

Very happy to be home I think.

Small boy was also pleased to see me as I had brought milk.

So head down and lots of work to do before I can be released back into the canal community again.

All will be quiet here for a while.

Ate a proxima

I sleep through earthquakes

and this morning I found that I also sleep through trees falling down!

When I went to sleep last night there was a boat moored in front of me.

When I woke up it had gone and been replaced by the tree.

How weird is that? 

One of the last boats that passed us last night had complained about the low hanging branches and had broken off a few whilst travelling through.  I bet it is his fault he must have pulled too hard!

When I got back from work like magic

All gone.

Because the junction here only lets you on to the A38 and not off it I came back through Willington and crossed that narrow bridge again.

It wasn't just my imagination one of the cars coming towards me (it is light controlled) had it's ears folded in.

Big and small

Yesterday was a tough day all round.

Started off with long trek to Willington luckily for me I did the first three large locks with an American Family.

They didn't believe that I could possibly do them on my own.  So I at least started one without them but was very glad I didn't have to climb ladders.

They stopped for lunch so I headed for Stenson alone.

I was getting a little concerned that I might have to do this one alone and got some gloves out ready for the climb up the wet slimy ladders.  However by the time the lock had emptied and the boat in it was ready to leave another boat arrived.  I had met these people before but was extremely glad to meet them again!

I stopped just before the footbridge to Willington Marina but didn't make use of it in the end as I had a letter to post.  Cycled out down into Willington village, over bridge and back to the car.

Quick look at map and worked out how to get to Barton Turns.  The bike sticks out a bit on one side so the minor road that took us to Barton Turns itself has a very very narrow bridge.  Made it through by closing my eyes!

Nice man let me park inside the marina gates and told me how to get back onto the towpath.

I thought it was 6 miles back to Willington.

I was wrong it is 10 miles exactly to where I had moored the boat.

Why oh why didn't I think to bring a bottle of water?

Still I am proud of myself I did it in one hour ten minutes.

Just got back into boat when a drunk started talking to me through my open porthole!  I did point out that it wasn't polite to do so.

I slept well that night.

Little boat.

Fabulous artwork under the bridge in Burton.  I could not stay long as I was being worked through by my 'staff' I appear to have them waiting for me at every lock.

This solo boating lark is a doddle didn't have to lift a finger today.

Meeting a hireboat whilst passing a load of moored boats I got grounded.  Mentioned it to them as they were passing and quick as a flash they said throw us your rope and they pulled me back off it as they passed.

All in all a good day.  Picked car up and parked it elsewhere so I don't have to worry about the gates being locked when I need to use it.

I also bought some stuff at Jannels.

Sea searcher magnet, nappy pin, lid for the chimney base (steel one now at the bottom of Torksey Lock) and a proper pole.

Reminds me must go and oil it.