Where were you this time last year?

I have been looking at my photos from last year and realised that this time last year we were here.....



The River Nile !



On the 26th we had a really early morning start to the Vally of the Kings. I still have a stone taken from the Vally on my desk in front of me . I know I should not have taken it but in essence it is a large quarry and stone all around. You never know who has handled this stone in the past...

I cannot recommend this holiday enough. I am tempted to return. It is such a fantastic place with so much to see and so much to do and the people are very friendly.

If you can do it.... you only have the one life and it is not a rehearsal and tomorrow may never come !

Nev

Another casualty of time and the weather

A screen shot off my blog yesterday. Ann & Kev off NB 4Evermoore are putting her up for sale - see here

One thing that is consistent on the blogging front is the attrition rate. It makes me wonder how much of a turnover there is on boats and why?

Ann & Kev cite time and reviews of life goals (I hope they do not mind me making that assessment from their blog ) I can understand that but it must be a really hard decision. I think the more you put into a boat , the harder to sell. Those like Ann and Kev who had their boat build from scratch must have the harder decisions as it is theirs and has only been theirs.

We still feel like the new owners of Waterlily as she was with her past owners for a decade. The paint job and other changes we have undertaken make us feel more a part of Waterlily history. These boats can and will last many many years which makes it feel more like they have a soul and they are willing partners on the waterways. We are as much part of their history as they are of our memories.

Good luck with the sale ...I hope you get the same response as Mike did on Zulu Warrior (top name for a boat BTW)

Do you have a calling to a certain location on the cut?

It could be it is just a favorite place but it could be a natural calling to return to a place you have been before. For me it is the canal between Great Heywood and Stone. Ok its not necessarily a place but a stretch? It could be that it is because it is one of the routes we do quite often, not sure.

It has made me wonder if we should relocate to one of the marinas at each end of this patch - Great Heywood or the new Aston marina. However I don't think I could do the marina boating. We like ad hoc visits and where we are now we can just light the fire and relax with nice views. If we were in a marina it would mean moving the boat onto the cut for every visit. I could see us in a marina at some point when the comforts are more important.

Anyhow I need to get aboard soon ....

Nev

Sunken boat Flycatcher

More info on the sad wooden boat Flycatcher comes from the Narrowboatworld forums...

If it is the case as Ralph off Grey Nomad ponders the owner is aboard another boat then the story does not have quite the sad end, but it is still a piece of history off the canals.

The fact there is some story but not the 100% full picture heartens me in a very strange way. The towpath telegraph is often mentioned and the casual friendly informed medium it represents knocks the information superhighways clinical exposure of all fact and figures into the bushes. Its almost the over the garden fence communication of yesteryear, makes me feel all nostalgic, long may it continue as it is the friendliest face of communication.



Nev

May last year...

... we were just off for the cruise that should have seen us doing the four counties plus the Llangollen In the end due to an unexpected health issue we cut the trip down and did a very relaxed four counties.

On the way out I had a couple of mates aboard and we passed NB Flycatcher which had recently sunk approaching Shadehouse lock at Fradley. I took these pictures .







Chris from NB Belle has recently blogged about the final removal of NB Flycatcher. It appears she will be broken up, a real sad end to someones P&J. I tried to find out about her age from Jim Shead's site but only got basic details. Anyone know how old she was - I expect she had been cruising the canals for most of my life !!

Nev

You have got to do better....

The lack of boat time is having an effect... I know you can get cabin fever and marina fever but i think I have house and work fever !

But you lot are not helping, I need my daily dose of medicine, according to the prescription that is daily blog updates from boaters out and about on the cut, it is a spliff of life on the cut that you need to provide me so please deal away.

For no other reason than every time I reflect on last years boating this mooring comes to mind





Location ...??

Nev

Recession, what recession....

That is how it must be for some businesses. Imagine I drop into a car showroom and say I want to buy a BMW M5 or maybe a couple of second hand Lotus Europa's or a second hand Porsche 911 the sales person would be very very attentive. Test drive, finance, call me a few times at home, maybe even offer to let me sleep with his wife...... they would chase the sale. So why is it then when I express interest and leave my details with a broker regarding a new boat nothing happens after a week?

I think they like their boats floating in their for sale mooring rather than cash in the bank.

So the cash will stay in my bank and I'll fill my mooring with Waterlily.

Nev

Have you noticed.......

The first five days of the New Year I blogged every day......then I went back to work... yep that dirty four letter word. For those out cruising its the place you have to go to otherwise you cannot afford the boat and the house and the cars etc etc. Then again do I really need the house and cars. I should stop these bad thoughts now.

I am really enjoying reading a few of the blogs of those on the move. You can almost smell the woodsmoke in Sue's blogs on NB No Problem So I am planning ahead for this year but that will be the subject of another blog as it will involve a return trip to somewhere we went before but never made it to the end.... can you guess??

Other thing to note it is noticably getting lighter in the evenings now !!

Nev

I should say.....

.... very belated happy New year to all.

I set up three or so posts to come out a day after each other then went on the boat. We arrived by taxi (son no.1 Tom ) and put away all the food I had brought to see us through a few weeks, sorry days. The gas fridge did its usual no play party trick, I presume the tip the sparc arcs to is rusted so it takes a few plunges on the igniter to eventually get the backfire then a few more gets us the pilot light. I think when we get new batteries we may look into a new eclectic fridge - any recommendations?

We just relaxed and it was nice to spend both part of Christmas day and the whole of New years day aboard.

We had a couple of good walks, one off to Alrewas Hayes to look for our next boat neighbour's dog who had decided to have a day to her self in the woods. We walked a track we had not done before which makes a great dog walk in the future. Bonnie eventually turned up in the dark at about 7pm - a good 11 hour walk

Sunday both sons joined us for beer (for me) and food in the Swan. Monday saw us doing some chores which included MOVING THE BOAT .... but only across the canal to water up and we must have been empty because it took ages. We waited our turn as the livaboards came in for their water first.

I lobbed in 20 litres of diesel so now we need to resupply our two cans plus I have all but used up the three bags of coal plus we have emptied one of our two gas bottles.

While I watered up I cleaned the roof - the bird $hit is a real annoyance. and it has stained the roof now. I knew we should have gone for red rather than cream.. grrrrr

So started the boating year aboard. Now I just need to plan my 2011 cruising....

Nev

Should note that taxi boy number 2 son Callum came and collected us on Monday, quite like this service !

4th year of blogging

I was not sure if when I started it would carry on, but it is now starting to be a really nice diary of my boat ownership.

2011 has started appearing on my blog archive....



What is interesting (to me) is the count consistency. 2010 being the lowest number of posts but not by much. Also it works out a blog every third day which is much better than I thought I would do and shows how much crap I have in my head.

One question - is it possible to back up the blog locally to your hard drive?

Nev

This will appear on the 4th but written on the 1st - I will be back at work... :-(

Almost a year on....

I went walking on the 3rd January 2010 and blogged about it here

As I had picked up on the foggy weather forecast I thought it would be good to go a lonely canal walk in the fog so I loaded my very willing walking companion into the car and we set off to walk to the last/first broad lock on the T&M at Stenson from Findern just past Mercia marina.

I like this walk because it does not attract the marina/Willington walkers as much so you get the space to yourself.

There pics are from my camera phone so not great but give a good feeling of the harshness of the canal at this time - certainly compared to the same time last year see link above.



Below is looking back to the Findern bridges ghosting out of the fog



This was not the thickest piece of ice by a long way but shows what needs to thaw before we can all start moving again.



Coming to a prop near you, that and all the other crap been lobbed onto the ice to test its weight. This will at least float so will be seen unlike the cones and other rubbish on the ice.



One lonely gennie running at the Stenson marina rattling out its shrill wail carried on the fog, quite a lonely scene.



And they have given more freezing weather out for the new week or so !

Mercia walk part 2

I blogged about meeting Andrew Denny at Mercia the day after Boxing day.... here

I have only just got around to putting a few pics up from the walk. They are taken off my Iphone so not a good as they could be.



Very artistic but those footprints .........



All ready for the walk. There were a few stoves going and one poor lady walking her water to her boat iced in well down.



So many animals big and small taking advantage of the 2,000 mile bridge mother nature has installed this year.



It looks like water but it is water with a lot of ice under it



Charles has a read of the blog over Christmas so I thought I'd better add him to it - taken from the road bridge looking back to the service point at Willington

Nev

Spot the Christmas present

One of the trips to the boat over the last few days meant I could take my Christmas presents over there. Rachel has discovered Nauticalia which means I get some useful gifts for the canal boat owner.

What you can see is the brass paraffin lamp that will help the batteries over the coming months. The bits you can't easily see is the fold away bow saw and perhaps my favourite a lovely brass map magnifying glass for those days pre planning routes and walks with the OS maps.



The beer is mandatory of course.

This one is for Heth to show ours in full burn, dog is an optional accessory but we tend to find she appears when the fire reaches temp.



The one thing the eco fan is good for is temp awareness as a slow spin means more coal.

Nev

Having Granny for dinner.....

... took a drive/walk to Mercia marina yesterday and stopped off for a welcome food stop at the cafe/restaurant/tea room.

Anyhow in there for about five minutes when we met up with Andrew from Granny Buttons and was able to have a really enjoyable chat. We have conversed, agreed and disagreed about stuff but shared a common passion for the canals. He is the daddy when it comes to canal boat blogging so it was good to finally meet up and do the face to face communication thing.

Just a shame we did not get a photo, but it was good to chat. I will make time to visit Granny and get some ideas... the grandad was a little tired today.

Nev

What's the weather doing....

....not sure can't see cause of the fog !!



From the BBC web pages, at least its not snow or ice.

Might make for some interesting walks as I think the fog night or day makes for a very quite eerie atmosphere.

Take care

Nev

The only thing missing ......

Doing some window shopping to keep me entertained and I found this beauty....Clicky

As far as I can see the only thing missing is the dinette......oh and the £80,000 !!

Try and put me off this one ?

Nev

From the crew of Waterlily - bit like strictly come dancing

Have a laugh on us ....

Merry Christmas

Nev and the crew of Waterlily

Christmas day - a trip to the boat

Rachel is working today, the health service does not have a Christmas break, in fact it is one of its busiest times.

My lads were both out last night so they are in bed sleeping off hangovers. So I took an 8am trip to Waterlily. The A38 has never been so quiet. I only saw 2 cars south bound all trip.

Took a bit of time to get the fire going today but it is now glowing hot and cooked breakfast has been consumed and now I am off for a walk before heading back for Christmas dinner with my mum.

Happy Christmas - as couple of Christmas day Fradley photos

Nev

BW advice - run for cover...!

Just been emailed the latest BW boaters newsletter. Within it there is a section on how to cope with the cold weather.

Like most BW are struggling to cope with keeping services going in the really cold and snowey weather.

I did rather like this section...

"BW shares the view of the Residential Boat Owners Association (RBOA) that live-aboard boating is not for the faint-hearted – a message that they consistently promote at waterway events and on their website. Resourceful boaters will take cold weather challenges in their stride. We’d urge others to seek home comforts in more conventional types of accommodation during harsh weather. We also strongly recommend a visit to the RBOA’s website, www.rboa.org.uk for helpful cold weather tips.

BW offices will be closed from 2pm on 24th December until 8.00 am on 4th January. If you need to report a fault during this period, please call Freephone Canals on 0800 47 999 47. The call handler will take your details and you can expect a call from the local duty supervisor within an hour. The duty supervisor will ask you for information to help him or her diagnose the problem before they contact the relevant contractor."

Honest I feel and most probably good advice. I have left the second section on as it contains contact numbers for problems over the Christmas period.

Nev

Walking on water

Only one bloke I know of did this successfully.......so who do these people think they are...?

Shallow end of the gene pool

A more appropriate warning is to those of us who have dogs - keep them on the long lead as they may well fancy their chances on the ice.

Nev