Durham

Great Revelations

1. When the sign on the door says 'wet paint' it applies to the whole building, not just the door.

2.Paint on Coats is designer

3. Paint on trousers IS fashionable

4. Paint on clothing does not equal go faster stripes, but rather asthma attack.

5. Durham is full of hills.

6. People under 30years of age can walk up hills very rapidly, very quickly and still speak. Don't try to keep up

7. comfort is not found in an entire packet of chocolate minsrels

Lunch on the Rochdale

Janet certainly knows how to do lunch!

OOooops

Steve was passing the boat so I took great advantage of his presence in order to move the dinghy to gain access to the gas locker. He admired my swift manoeuvring around the bow (whilst keenly waiting for me to fall in!), and we went in to put the kettle on for some coffee. Still no gas.

Top tip - before changing your cylinder over make sure you haven't switched the gas tap in the kitchen off first.

DOH DOH

At least the dinghy isn't over the gas locker now!

daft place to keep a boat!

Do you remember i bought a dinghy? Do you remember I put it on the front of the boat? Well, I came in to make a cup of tea and my gas had run out....

So, I have to move the boat to get to the gas locker. What a stupid place to put it in the first place - the gas locker requires access at all times doesn't it!

DOH!

Clegg Hall

Clegg Hall as it was:



and one of the pictures I took of it as it is:



You can read more about it here and here

Honda Outboard

If anyone hears of a Honda 4stroke 2hp outboard for sale for a good price, DO let me know. It will have to be second hand as my piggy bank isn't enormous.

day 7

A trip to Heptenstall:

day 6

Day 5

Rather interesting mechanisms for opening the gates in confined places:

Day 4

day 3

Day 2

Janet caught a fish!

Day 1 on the Rochdale

Rochdale Canal

Hurrah!!!!

1 sleep to go!!!!!

HURRAH!

Hmmm.... you might start thinking I am excited about the trip at this rate.

Shire cruisers have been absolutely fantastic and RJ, one of the crew, has been promoted to hero for all the organising he has done. Janet is hero in command for being fabulous and keeping the southern regiment informed about everything, and the water on the Thames has gone down enough for two crew members to get their boats in sensible places so they can come too. Hurrah.

I spent the morning in a fantastic laundrette doing all my washing and the rest of the morning drinking coke. This is not good because I keep burping.

If you are on the Rochdale or in the vicinity DO come and visit or wave at us. We are on Sussex (the hire boat).

Narrowboat Build

Not long ago I was rather excited about the possibility of bobcat coming through Abingdon where I was moored at the time. Unfortunately they couldn't make it, but they are in the middle of having their boat built so I have enjoyed following it on line. I find the boat build process rather fascinating, especially having seen Maffi's boat built via web cam. Maffi's boat took AGES to build. Looking at Bobcats is constantly surprising me because the steel is coming together very quickly. Their blog can be found here

Dinghy

I have a dinghy! Hurrah!

Carl is going to post me some galvanised oar crutches. Lock Boy is going to fish out the plans for his oars so I can make my own with some sort of guideline, and then I need to find an outboard engine and I am away!

HURRAH!

out in the dinghy

As you know I have been looking for something to go out in so I can explore the backwaters of the Thames and Canals in this area. I have the plans to build my own boat, but so far I have not been successful in finding somewhere to build it as I need somewhere dry for the epoxy to set. I looked into a lockup garage from the council, but the cost of that added onto the cost of making the boat made me think it might be cheaper to buy one! A very kind Graham offered his alotment shed, but it is a foot too short, and I am reluctant to mess about with the plans I have and shorten them. So, I am in stale mate.

Andrew is currently moored down the towpath, and he has a dinghy and outboard so we went exploring down swift ditch - one of the places on my hit list of backwaters to visit.

It was great fun..

we went down narrow places like this:


through overgrown places like this:


and found big places like this:



I had the best time ever! It was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!

Rochdale Canal

On Saturday a few of us will be on a shire hire boat 'doing' part of the Rochdale Canal.

I can't wait!

25mph and a long term project

Materials:
One bottle of fizzy drink
one open window
a car travelling at 25mph
A bored passenger
A co-operative driver
A hearing system (ears work OK).

Method:
Open the bottle of fizzy drink and consume a few gulps of liquid. Place the base of the bottle on the opened window ledge and start the car moving. When the air is rushing over the top of the opened bottle (which will be when the car is travelling at approximately 25mph) maintain a constant speed and tune the note. The note can be tuned by sipping liquid out, and if you have an enormous mouth and are completely and utterly vulgar you can sip liquid out, store it in your mouth and spit it back in again incase you take out too much.

The results are most satisfying. I am now collecting fizzy drink bottles so I can play tunes whilst travelling.

Top tip - remove the bottle and replace the lid BEFORE you hit the speed humps.

I think I will start with silent night.

The boaters high tech flood mark

As you know the country has been experiencing quite a lot of rain. Maffi is moored in a slightly better position than last time, and instead of marking off scaffold poles to ascertain the movement of the water, he has marked his window:



Apparently the top one was where the water was when he started taping yesterday morning.

Bantock Butty For Sale

I saw this boat at Easter and thought it was absolutely gorgeous, it is now for sale on ebay. It is unsuitable for me right now, but I hope it goes to a good owner. More details here

Respect?

They don't have their own hospitals and now they can't stay in some hotels. What on EARTH is this country thinking of? The Government keeps calling for respect from its citizens yet it fails to respect those men and women, those sons and daughters, out there fighting our wars. Gordon Brown has turned up to the airport to welcome our sports people home, but never once has he turned up to welcome home our bodies, nor those who come home from fighting.

Tipped by the Taxi

I took a taxi this morning the cost of which was £5.60. We are taught to tip, and I was thinking that perhaps I would this time. Before I could, the taxi driver said "£5.60 please... aw go on, give me a fiver instead"

I nearly fainted!

Do all passengers get tips for riding in taxi's!?

Things that wouldn't fit in my suitcase