C&RT reply to my lobbying question

All quite predictable and did not answer my challenge about lack of onward communication and engagement with the government. To be expected as they no doubt have an eye to the future (financing) and would not wish to be rocking the boat at this time.

At least the zoo’s are to reopen based on them being an outside based facility...... !

Interesting they use the word guidelines ... I thought it was the law .... certainly the protesters gathering  have been described as breaking the law?

Charley (Canal and River Trust)  9 Jun 2020, 09:35:18 UTC  Hello Neville, Thank you for taking the time to get in contact; I do hope you are safe and well. Please accept my apologies we have not been able to come back to you sooner. The majority of our navigations are now open, with a few exceptions that are listed in our stoppage notices. Some staff-operated structures need advance booking while other locks remain closed with small periods of time allocated for boat movements. Please check our latest update on this. In Wales, separate rules apply that mean you cannot visit your boat yet. According to current government guidance, those who do not liveaboard should not stay on their boat overnight. The government guidelines state that anyone cannot stay at second homes, or away from their permanent residence, this includes boats. Once the government provide us with further information regarding this, we will be able to update our website. I hope this clears things up a little, please do not hesitate to get in contact if there's anything else we can help with. Best wishes, Charley

A tempter for sure

Tuesday this week was the last day for a while of the super weather we’ve been enjoying in lockdown. As we should have been on the Llangollen now as it's Rachels holiday we drove over to the boat to do some chores and take a little cruisette to the Knighton woods winding hole and back. It did feel good to get the donk going, untie the ropes and get the green off the bottom of the boat.  

Before the cruise I gave the fore cabin a sort and clean followed by a sort and clean of the engine bay tool store.... a metal box adjacent to the second fuel tank, no tools in it but it is where I keep all the various spares and other bits such as bolts fuses etc. I keep my tools in a dedicated box in the back cabin that gets moved into the engine room while cruising. 

The less favourable weather has seen me fettling my new motorbike  - adding all the farkles taken off the one I recently sold as part of the upgrade. If the weather continues to be unsettled I’ll go to the boat and lay in the cables needed to connect to the switch I have ready to enable the generator to be connected to a hook up at the back that’ll switch between that hook up and the inverter. 

A peevish post

Good word peevish. One that was used a lot in my childhood. Growing up with four sisters there was at times a lot of peevish behaviour in our 2 up 2 down terraced house.

Following on from my last negative post (the next one will be more positive ...it has to be ) I got to thinking what a great opportunity it is for local councils to send out their officers to check the number of marina berths that have residency which do not have 'residential berth' status. I know Mercia has a few residential berths that pay council tax and can be used as a full time residency but there must be thousands of marinas and on line moorings that are occupied by full time live-a-boards that do not carry residential status.

Certainly when I lived aboard for two years at Fradley I was 'breaking the rules' C&RT did not seem to care otherwise they would be checking more. I guess so long as you give them a mail address for correspondence they consider this your main residence. Easy to get around using friends or family addresses.

Like I said a peevish post really, but it did get me wondering what proportion of marinas and on line moorings are 100% residential.

PS don't worry if you are in the above camp and reading this - I'm not going to start a campaign or dob you in !

C’mon C&RT get lobbying

In their announcement on the 13th May C&RT gave their outline to opening the waterways fully. The   big date was the 1st of June when the waterways were to be fully opened for travel. In mid May they advised they were lobbying government to remove the ‘ second home’ connections to those thousands  of boats sitting like ours waiting to be used fully with onward trips from marinas and mornings with overnight stops to enable those onward journeys. The 1st has come and gone and no news, no update. I’ve written to C&RT asking where our representation is .... even if it’s not good news it needs updating.

I am trying to be good, we were out the other day and I was trying hard not to assume some boats out were marina or online moorers stopping out for the night(s).

I’ve been good to this point, as much for our safety and to tow the government’s line, today for some reason it feels hard  - maybe it’s seeing all the protesters disregarding their own safety. A hard decision no doubt for a cause some feel its worth risking lives for, I certainly respect  the peaceful protesters for taking the risk and the risk to others. I certainly have no respect for those that resort to violence in demonstrations against violence. My old dad used to say to me “He who strikes the first blow looses the argument”

Anyhow come on C&RT get lobbying and get communicating with us boaters.

Why is it called Cherry eye bridge

One if not my single favourite bridges on the system I’ve travelled so far is Cherry Eye bridge on the Caldon canal. It helps it is in such a beautiful peaceful setting and a 20 minute walk away from where I live. 

This video is Rachel bringing Percy through the bridge on my retirement cruise to the basin in September 2017 

I was recently in the post office in Ipstones. - the village across the valley I can see from our lane where I noticed a local history book called “The Churnet Valley Footsteps Through Time” by Lindsey Porter

ISBN: 978-1-84306-567-8

A really interesting and informative read. Amongst other fascinating facts and history it tells the story of Ironstone that was discovered in the valley. The closer to the centre of the valley the richer its red colour. The red dust from the ore left rings around the miners eyes - this gave its name to Cherry eye bridge just west of Froghall. 

There goes another one ....

.... holiday that is. Now I know my moaning is poor show when there is so much suffering in the world and in this country also. A few holidays (yes yes I know plural holidays ....) lost is not the worst thing.

With that coverall out of the way...

• We should have been loading Percy up tomorrow for a cruise up the llangollen canal for a couple of weeks. 
• Last Bank holiday I should have been out for a few days with a group of motorcycling friends based in the Peak District. 
• In the early to middle May I should have been riding the North Coast of Scotland with a good friend.
• In June I should have been in Normandy on my bike with a group of southern riders. 
• In late June we should have been in a holiday cottage in Anglesey with our lads and families.

All gone west due to this virus. I have my personal views on it but they are best kept personal as they might be a bit too controversial for this blog or any airing outside of my head. And today Facebook rubs my nose in it reminding me we were in Times Square this time last year - people watching  !!

Greedy greedy holiday pig  - yep but then again this is my retirement, this is what I worked for saved for planned for so yes I'm well peed off but still thankful I have what I have and am able to stay relatively safe.

The other day  I did exercise my rights to ride my motorcycle to a place, meet one other person (Steve) and took some exercise walking along the Ashby Canal.

Same again yesterday only this time to meet another friend to pass on my gimbal and microphone I used at my mother in laws funeral as he was doing the same for his dads funeral, just three of them and a Zoom broadcast for others across the country. 

After dropping off the gear at Eccleshall I rode up to Audlem as we'd have been on our way there today on Percy. We are planning a one day visit to Percy  in the next couple of days to no doubt garden - might have a mini cruise to get the green off the hull .....

At least it got a clean before we had to go home

Says it all really, we cleaned the cottage in the Am then drove over to Percy to initially give the little garden some tlc. I ended up washing the starboard side as well as the back and the front. The front was covered in cobwebs... the spiders really do like this part of the boat.

Percy really needs a proper wash and polish, but we need the right ( not bright sun and high temperature) conditions. It is sooooo much easier to wash the boat at Shebdon compared to Fradley. Water tap by the boat is a singular pleasure as it the close proximity of a winding hole.

It’s just so frustrating  not being able to stop over... I understand and comply. Doubly frustrating as we were due another lost holiday from Friday for a couple of weeks... we had planned the Llangollen or four counties.... the latest release of controls ( shops) is a good indicator we are going  the right way, so we may get some time away....

For now a couple of pictures of our hard work.