Family

On Thursday my Uncle and Aunt from South Africa were over and desperate to have a go on my 'yacht'.

The weather held off until the last hour then it siled it down.  I think they still enjoyed themselves.

I have today redone most of the route we took - this time in the sunshine.  I am a lucky girl!

Yeeeee Ha !

Achieved a life long ambition to ride in the Rockies.  This was my (official) photo taken on the 3rd ride in the Canadian Desert on a First Nations Reserve.

It was amazing - the whole trip.  This ride we saw herds of wild horses - I felt so like the Sundance Kid.

It started in Niagara Falls.

We then flew to Calgary and picked up our RV.

We rode horses in the foothills of the Rockies at Moose Mountain (we heard but didn't see a moose)

We cycled at Lake Louise

We saw a black bear at Lake Maligne

We saw an elk in the campsite at Jasper

I rode a horse at Jasper (proper rockies)

He rode a mountain bike at Jasper

We hired an Harley Davison at Jasper and rode it to some Hot Springs and bathed our tired limbs overlooking scenery to die for.

We saw deer and mountain sheep.

We did canoeing on Lake Pyramid

We did a river float to check on wildlife on the Mighty Fraser River and saw too many bald headed and other eagles to mention.  Spawning Salmon etc.

I saw a coyote (thought it was a wolf)

We rode horses in Oliver.

We left the RV in Vancouver and crossed to Vancouver Island to spend the night with his relatives then we ...

crossed into the USA via the back door.  

Ferry to Anacortes.

and were met by the very fine people who have been stalking my blog for ever.  

We spent the night at their log cabin on Camano Island and were right royally entertained.  Including the freshest pasta ever which I was allowed to 'help' with.

The next morning we were transferred to their boat Eolian for lunch then they very kindly took us to the airport in Seattle.

http://windborneinpugetsound.blogspot.co.uk/

Bob puts it all so much better than I do.

Not quite sure how we can match their level of hosting when it is our turn but we will do our best.

A couple of days in Iceland to recover including bathing in the same hot springs as Bjork.  

She wasn't there.

and back home again home again jiggity jig

First day in the RV

We went riding in them there mountains.

Yeeee Ha !

Oh dear

I left the boat tied once at the front and sprung at the back using an old piece of spare rope attached to a 'nappy pin' and the back rope to a chain.

I returned to the boat to move it into Aston Marina for a month and found ...

the chain in two pieces on the back deck of the boat with the spare piece of rope in two parts.  The boat tied up securely once more via the back rope attached to a fairly bent 'nappy pin'.

(So the weakest link were the old rope - saving the nappy pin and a link on the chain - saving the back rope)

The boat moored in front of us had found my boat attached only by the front rope when they moored up so they very kindly found all the bits and were able to retie the boat for me.  As far as I can tell the rudder is okay but so far not given it a thorough check over and there are no obvious new dents down the side of the boat.  The only scenario we can come up with is someone drove their boat at some speed into the ropes themselves between the boat and the bank.

No note of apology from the perpetrators who must have skeddadled sharpish from the scene of their hit and run!

I love Harecastle Tunnel

Probably having a boat or two to follow, and an extra light at the back might have made a difference.  But hey I had fun, I didn't touch the sides and I didn't knock myself out on the very low roof.

Then after cycling back to the car I was just about to drive the car further down the canal then cycle back 7 miles  (I wasn't looking forward to this) when I got a phone call from dearly beloved to say he had called to the boat for a cup of tea and I wasn't there.

So I had a cunning plan.  Dearly beloved was on his motorbike, I had my helmet, gloves and jacket on the boat.  Done deal we moved the car to the final destination and came back on the motorbike.  There was a slight flaw in this plan - he had no foot pegs for a passenger so we had to share his.  Both of us had bandy legs by the time we got back to the boat!  Much better than cycling back 7 miles!  In fact no more cycling this trip!

Tunnels

I have decided I am not a huge fan of tunnels.

Even interesting ones that don't just have a kink in them but actually bend every which way and then some!

I find them a chore.

Unless of course I have a friend on board and we do 'singing'.  Which I didn't today.

So I would rather not do tunnels.

And it is Harecastle next - whoop de do.

Once again going against the fan so no pinprick of light in the distance to guide you either.

Hope I have crew for that one.

I am not a huge fan of tunnels - have I mentioned that already?

Photos of Leeds Liverpool etc

Above - new crew.  We showed them how to do ground paddles first then gate paddles then sent them up to the next lock by themselves.

They couldn't find the ground paddles so tried to sink my boat by using gate paddles too early.

The reason they couldn't find the ground paddles?  Well they had changed mid flight to the above scenario.

and some of them were tough to do, you felt too much pressure would snap them and you might end up in the drink!

Above is the stretch between Burnley and Blackburn overlooking the Ribble Valley.

Fran went skinny dipping here as it was so clear and inviting at 5.30am and yes that boat was there.

Luckily she didn't get leeches on her whatsit although we found a few on the fenders!

There is a nasty shelf all along this stretch but we found a bit where it was above the bottom of our boat so no chance of us floating over it then tipping over if the levels fell.

Above is the famous Barton swinging aquaduct.

You have to swing that road and the canal to get the big boys below to where they need to be.

The Manchester Ship Canal

A very large hinge!

View from mooring just outside Lymm

Barrowford Locks

So glad we passed through here last week.

We have made good time since leaving Gargrave and we have whistled down the Wigan Flight as well.

We had another boat to share the locks with us - which was pretty much the best set of locks to have a partner for.  The crew were very grateful for the extra help but were still exhausted by the evening.  And we were stopped before the rain came.   RESULT.