Monday, 23 April 2018
Happy St George's day
Happy St. George's Day from Stoke Hammond, Buckinghamshire.
Going to pick dandelions for wine later.
Monday, 16 April 2018
Travelling for a week
We’ve
been travelling south for a over a week. We’ve had good lock
partners for the journey. Firstly, nb Fleur de Lys, one of our boats
elders, a 23 year old Braidbar boat, her new owner’s had her a
couple of years. Secondly, nb Annie – hello Angela, who reads our
blog.
It’s
amazing to see all the fields so badly flooded and the rivers &
streams so high. Blisworth Tunnel is always a bit leaky even when
there’s not been a lot of rain, so we were prepared for the deluge
from the air shafts!!! The end of last week was very damp and misty
and pretty chilly too. This time last year when we were in the north
west and sitting out and had seen lots of ducklings. We’ve seen
geese & a swan sitting on their nests but no wee ones, yet.
So misty the crane's lost it's top |
Cosgrove approaching aqueduct |
We
spent the weekend at Cosgrove and as Saturday was SO glorious we took
the opportunity to de-mud the boat, inside & out. And it’s the
first day we’ve not lit the fire this year. We’ve not moored at
Cosgrove before and have been wanting to visit the route of the
temporary canal that was built to carry the traffic until the
aqueduct over the River Great Ouse was completed, which collapsed
shortly after opening and had to be rebuilt again.
Sunday
we strolled along the short stretch of the Buckingham Arm that is in
water. Alot of work has been done to prepare more of the disused
part ready to be refilled with water. The new A5 duel carriage way
cuts the course in half. We completed the walk along the River and
under the horse bridge at the viaduct.
Tempory canal course |
Horse tunnel beside aqueduct |
Lock gates temporary canal
|
Buckingham Arm |
Buckingham Arm |
When
we lived in a house I was obsessional about my compost heaps, so the
last couple of years have been very tricky throwing all our peelings
etc away. We saw a little liquidizer in Aldi, which was the answer.
I now save the compostable stuff in my lovely new genuine Buckby
bucket, liquidize it & tip it on the bank. You often see boaters
kitchen waste in the hedges which I think looks unsightly, where as
my tippings aren’t visible at all.
I’ve
had a bit of a knitting frenzy these last few weeks and have finished
John’s jumper and 2 pairs of socks for me, plus I have a third pair
with hand spun wool are on the go. Our Canadian friends are
expecting twin grand children later in the year, so that’s a bit
more knitting too.
We
have just arrived in Fenny Stratford after a sunny but chilly cruise
through Milton Keynes.
Friday, 6 April 2018
Easter in the north west
I
wrote this blog at the beginning of the week, however, where we were
moored at Long Itchington there was very little signal, using the
internet reminded us of dial up days!!! So as we’re now in
Leaminton Spa the reception’s just fine.
Rainbow Long Itchington |
On Hesketh Bank |
We
hired a car and went to Heather & Jason’s for the long Easter
weekend. The journey there was VERY slow as we set off so late
Thursday afternoon, the M6 was solid just about the whole way and we
did an average speed of 25mph!!! Enterprise the car hire people offer
a pick up service, which we’ve not used it before as we’ve been
within walking distance of them, however, they were 2 ½ hours late
picking us up, they didn’t charge for the second driver as a good
will gesture.
Ada & Dale arrived at Heathers early Good Friday morning. We
walked on Hesketh Marsh that runs along the banks of the River
Douglas, we didn’t see any narrow boats going along it on their way
to the Lancaster Canal though. Nikita was very upset at the amount
of rubbish that had been washed onto the marsh, so we filled my
collapsible shopping bag and she carried as many plastic bottles as
she could. Magnus as usual picked up as much drift wood as he could
for us to burn. Saturday we went to Chorley as Ada & Dale think
they’d like to move there and the kids did an Easter Egg hunt at
Botany Bay’s outlet shop. Plus, we just had to have a pint at one
of our favourite pubs The Bob Inn, in Chorley market. The tide was in
at Southport when we went there on Sunday and the kids picked up
shells. We had a lovely warm sunny weekend, apart from Monday when
we had snow and rain for the drive home, but the roads were clear &
we made good time. I think the Midlands must have had a lot of rain
while we were away as the tow path appeared as deep as the canal and
the River Itchen had burst it’s banks.
Hesketh Marsh by River Douglas |
Driftwood fire |
Nikita's marsh rubbish |
The
chaps from Colecraft have been and fully assessed our side hatches
and front door and will do the work at the end of May. So we’re off
for a bit of spring time cruising.
It
was lovely to have a brief chat about boating and more importantly
spinning, this afternoon with Billy & Jane on Betaine Spirit, 168
as they cruised by.
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