Fat boat

Narrow locks, narrow canal and lo! a fat boat just appeared….

A HOLE!

The electric blew AGAIN yesterday while I was trying to fit this shoreline socket. I think it must be my jigsaw as it was smelling a bit ripe; time for a new one (HURRAH! – my next one will not have yellow on it) My neighbour came to the rescue and I used his power. 

So here it is.  I haven’t bolted it in yet because the ‘let’s not let Bones electrocute herself’ guru may need it out for something technical – like attaching a cable, or something.  Once that is done I can bolt it this side and out some lovely trim around the hole on the inside.

Misty September

I just love these glorious still, misty, dry autumnal mornings:

Holes

This my dear friend is a hole.

 

It ought to be a much larger one for this week the good ship goes under a transition and Allan is coming to share his ‘let’s not let Bones electrocute herself’ expertise of fitting 240 shore line to the good ship.  It was a day for holes because my neighbour was having a jolly good time digging out a hole for a new mooring ring. I joined in with my drill and fabulous assistant.  I changed tools for the jigsaw, lines it all up pulled the trigger and nothing had happened.  The electric blew!! It wasn’t restored until after dark so I was quite grumpy.

I soon cheered up because the fabulous Tim came to replace my A string! OH HAPPY DAYS! Now the twang has gone the piano sounds marvellous. The string will take a few weeks to settle in, but we are much cheered on the good ship.

The hole will be addressed again this evening.  I must do the hole because without it the weekend’s plans will be irritating.   I had planned to gallivant with Dr Bradley who is in the area but the hole must be done!

Cor that was fun!

Happy memories from London this weekend!

I whizzed down on the train to Marylebone to see ‘Another Way’ which has now been nominated for  three Offie's (Off West End) awards - best new musical, best actor, best actress. This is the second play the writer has had nominated for an award.

I got on the bus, discovered it was the right bus going the wrong way so I got off the bus and got a little black bus to my sisters house.  I stepped into the road to hail the little black bus and there I broke another of London’s rules. The Hackney Carriage is only allowed seek custom when they are stationary.

It was Pa’s 70th birthday this weekend so we treated him to a weekend of treating. One of which was lunch in a champagne bar and a jolly good gossip. It was absolutely brilliant.  On the walk down we spotted some doors by the bins. My sister tracked down the owner, I dashed back to get them and we piled onto the bus, down to the champagne bar, back to the station over the platforms and back to the bus.  Here is my dad taking a turn….

I later discovered it is an offence (maximum £500 fine) to carry a plank across a pavement.  We wouldn’t have been fined because this is not ‘a’ ‘plank’ it was a beautiful set of window shutters.  and even with the wildest imagination window shutters are not planks!

Home to Oxford, a trip to the flicks to see Rush and a jolly good spring clean on the boat.  My feet didn’t touch the ground.

I loved London. Having heard so many people enjoying the waterways there I am even more determined to walk them.  Last year I started a tradition with myself of going on a birthday walk. I was wondering where to go this year, so perhaps I will do this.

Pompey Harbour

Finally we made it to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard!

The Waverley: built 1946

HMS Warrior 1860:

HMS Victory: launched 1765

over 2000 oak tree, 27 miles of rope rigging, 4 acres of canvas sails total cost £63,176 which is about £50million today

The Mary Rose: lanched 1511

in service for 34 years, underwater for 437 years and after 35 years out of the water it should have dried out.

The Mary Rose was by far the most enjoyable exhibition for me.  When I was a nipper a chap came into our primary school and told us all about the Mary Rose. He was one of the many divers involved in it.  When they went down they found all sorts of things and some of them are on show:

They had human skeletons there too!

It was fascinating learning about the shoulder blades of archers!  At the time there was a law that made every fit male in England practice with a bow from an early age. Amongst the human remains found with the Mary Rose there were individuals with changes to their shoulder blades and back (bone density) which could be a result of drawing heavy longbows.  The English and Welsh archers were feared for the speed, skill and strength.

On her side

“Woooh!” Said the passenger “Back up! BACK UP!”. In a rare moment of compliance I did just that. I was guided to a car park where, on it’s side, at the back, was a boat!

I peered in through the door and found it unnervingly spooky.

OH MY! Reverse into a boat why don’t you?!

The pictures say it all!  The hand brake was on in the car. Surely the driver didn’t just reverse the car into the boat and thing ‘yep, that is securely parked’ and walked off… perhaps the hand brake failed….

So how was that camping trip!?

Well, the first great achievement was putting up the tent without falling out and going our separate ways.
We packed up the rucksack and set off for our walk. We looked back, proudly, at the constructed tent only to realise just how close to the  family next door we had stuck it – we were the only ones that had used as little space as possible.  I suppose tents don’t have that ‘moor as closely together ‘ rule us boaters use in busy spots.
The walk was great.  We spotted a man hanging around in the middle of the field…

He was at the top, and his mates were 50m down.
We arrived in Castleton.

My shoe laces were irritating me so I popped into the shop to get some new ones. It seemed simpler to buy them already attached to the shoe so I left my old boots behind and marched out in decadent splendour.  Besides, laces packaged in a boot is so much nicer than in those plastics things.
We went on to the pub for a lunchtime pint and continued our walk.

I suppose they have enough of a surplice for there always to be over 250 bags…I suppose they dash out and change the sign on a particularly good selling day.
Our walk saw us walking up past Odin’s mine. My pint at lunchtime got the better of me and I had to have a sleep in the field. I fell over on my side and collapsed into slumber. My friend was rather rude about my need for a nap but it wasn’t long before their snoring and dribbling was echoing through the valley.  It wasn’t long before we were back on the route up past Odin’s Mine

No Odin but a nice sign

then back to the biggest tent in the world to cook supper
the front doors overlooked our neighbours so the side door was commissioned. 
The camping was pretty good. The wind was horrific but then the campsite is in Windy Knoll. 
Home to spread the tent out. I noticed three huge anorexic tarantula’s eyeing up the bedrooms when I lay the tent out to dry. I suppose they will have moved in by now. pah.

Tixall

I just love it when something that comes around the corner makes ones heart jump… STEAM!

Crinan Canal

The Cinan canal is 9 miles long, was desgined by John Rennie and work on it started in 1794 and finished in 1801. There were problems and part of it had to be redesigned which fell to Thomas Telford in 1816. The canal was completed in 1801. provides a navigable route between the Clyde and the Inner Hebrides and saves the long diversion around the exposed Mull of Kintyre. 

Crinan Sea lock.

along about and on the Crinan canal

The gates leak here too.