Job done(ish) and Yarwood

Rain stopped play on Monday so I walked to get ' the package' leaving the last side to be polished on Percy for Tuesday. Two of us putting on and taking off made short work of the fettling of Percy. 

Feeling quite good and then a real head turner came past.....

That's Lesley and Joe's 'can't call it old' boat so ' last but one' boat is a better description. I was lucky enough to get a guided tour a couple of years back when they came through Fradley - it's a lovely boat inside and out.

The title is based on the fact one side really needs another going over as the polish we used was quite old and not really buffing up well. A reason to revisit ......

Recovery operation

Conscience is an important moral guide. It drives good behaviour in the main and that has to be a good thing.

Now back to this picture .....

It was taken as we set off on our four counties cruise on the 4th July from the double culvert bridge in Grub Street cutting. I’d walked ahead with Leia to video Rachel coming along this atmospheric cutting. I dropped a poo bag to take the shot and forgot to pick it up when I left to rejoin the boat.

Skip forward to yesterday 27th July and Leia and I walked back to the cutting to collect the ‘litter’ and it was still there.... a little trampled (!) but intact so conscience cleared and plastic removed plus a nice if not wet walk for us both.

Not a normal day

Well yesterday we got 3/4’s of the boat washed and polished. She’s got a few little chips on the side Fountains pebble dashed for me nothing too bad but will need spotting in over the next couple of months.

We took a judgement call on the starboard side not to try and polish it from the gunnels so as Rachel set off for a bit of shopping ( her first shop since March) I took Percy to the Grub Street winding hole to present the last side for polishing. By the time we rendezvoused back neither of us fancied the extra work so we put the cleaning stuff away, ran a deep bath had a soak and a couple of drinks and relaxed.

My goodness the canal was busy. Compared to our recent four counties cruise where we saw very few boats moving they were a constant flow today. As there are few locks close by boats do get clumped up as faster boaters catch the slower ones then have to go slow (go figure). I was pleased to moor up again and watch them chug by.

The forecast rain arrived in the early hours of today Monday 27th July. There is something extra nice about being on the boat when it’s raining hard on the roof.... especially lying in bed.

So today is a wet day until about 5 so no polishing. - that’s a tomorrow job. Today is a kick back drink coffee and read my latest detective Kim Stone (Angela Marstons  - author) book. Not a normal day as usually there is something being ‘done’ I may black the stove.... watch this space, otherwise a lazy boat day. 

We all do it, some more than others

Many have a rose tinted view of boat ownership, they see the lovely pretty canal boats chugging along the cut and imagine themselves at the helm, enjoying nature’s linear slide show. But what they don’t see is the on going maintenance, cost and hard work that is needed to keep a boat tidy.

I cannot rest easy knowing Percy is in need of TLC, I’m not the sort who gets the cleaning stuff out at the end of each days cruising- yes I’ve see them, they even have individual job roles and set to as soon as they moor up. I’m jealous of course as I set to with the fishing rod and then beat myself up over the cobwebs and bird poo that signals a lazy boat owner.

So every now and again and today (Sunday 26th July) is a now and again day we set to with buckets and cloths to spruce up our pride and joy .... but it’s bloody hard work and I know come the morrow I’ll be aching like a man who aches a lot. It’ll be worth it as it’ll allow me the right to fish and ride my motorbikes ( therein  lies the issue.... too many interests) and start worrying about when I need to do it all over again !

Plus it’ll give me the option of posting some pictures of the shiny boat.

Makes you want to cry

I’m reading a book at the moment called Stargazing by Peter Hill. It’s his recollections of his time as a relief lighthouse keeper in the seventies in Scotland. It’s quite enchanting and very well written. The reason for the blog title is his observations of the change in a lifestyle that I liken to the loss of the staff who looked after the canals with a passion akin to ownership.

It also reminds me of a old colleague Tom ( long passed sadly) who was a guard on the trains in the 50’s. He was a porter at the university Green lane campus and he used to tell some lovely tales of sunrise views from the back of the guards van as they trundled across the country.... another lost lifestyle.

....and to present day, in a lesser context Sandra on NB AreandAre recently blogged about their  visit to Midland Chandlers Teddesley and the fact it’s not reopening. Just serving ( for the time being) on line orders. It’s all change and towards a faceless online automatic future. Not something that in my opinion is good for us, we need contact and society will be the worse for it.

Anyhow I hope Peter will not mind me using an extract from his book.....

“As I write this there are no longer any manned lighthouses around the coast of Britain. No aspiring novelist is up in the light chamber doing his word count with pencil, mental arithmetic and youthful optimism. No human presence is there in case of emergency. No wise old men are teaching the young the ‘routine’ and the ways of the world. No Finlay Watchorn passing on his culinary skills or Jim Codey teaching a boy to row and set down lobster creels. It’s a damn shame and it makes you want to cry.”

Pondering a cratch

On Waterlily we had one, but it was a bit small but essential for keeping a few bits in. We have the fore cabin on Percy that to be honest is a dumping ground. I should practice the one season rule - if we don't use it within a year then it comes off the boat.

The small issue is the fore cabin is remote from the main saloon. Percy is a 60 foot boat but take the engine room out and the well deck plus the fore deck then you have your working space so it would be good to bring the fore cabin into use a bit more. Putting a cratch in/on would connect the forecabin to the saloon and also provide more weather protection for the well deck and saloon doors.

I may have to seek professional advice on what would look best. I could opt for the cratch to just go to the doors of the forcabin and step down to the top of the forecabin (just realised that would not work as there is a flip over hatch to make entry into the forecabin easier) Or we just cover the whole forecabin with the black cloth look at the front of the boat. The latter would mean less to protect with regard to paintwork etc. So if we are to go with a cratch it would be a long jobbie covering the forecabin which in turn would give us space above the forecabin to store more stuff !

Might give Bethsaida covers a call as they are literally 50 yards up the cut from us and would have an eye for the art of the possible.

Mayhem in Middlewich

Yes I was back at Middlewich yesterday. Sadly not on Percy but on my Honda Nc750x. When we arrived at Middlewich on Percy it had taken us 7 days to get there from 'home'. On the bike about an hour and that was via some narrow lanes for fun.

When we were there on Percy I said to Rachel this will be my new Gongoozler place of choice. (previously was Stone) and so it was today and what interesting things to see. As I have said previously the turn onto the Wardle canal is a bottleneck not helped by only one top paddle working  (as was the case when we went through) When we were there last Friday evening we followed a single  boat around with little delay. Today when I arrived there were three boats waiting to turn from the south and one from the north, then the lock gates opened and it was four waiting from the south.

I recon it was taking a good half hour to process a boat onto the Middlewich branch so the boat arriving in the lock would have had over  2 hours to wait to get onto the Wardle canal !

Then it was the hire boaters turn to entertain (sorry it's what gongoozlers do !) I am surprised there is not more 'planning' when they have a junction to navigate. The wind was hitting their port side causing them to kite across the canal and into the far bank. The first (what looked like a 70 footer ) was pinned to the far bank and the next one out exactly the same. A bit of forward planning and someone on the bow rope to help pull the bow around would have helped. 

Another error was to have all the crew on the tow path so no one to help push/pole the bow off ...the picture below shows the little huddle of crew (middle left of the photo) watching the poor fella scrape the (tidy looking) hire boats side along all the bushes/trees while thrashing the poor engine to try and recover his skipper reputation. All been there and done it !

Then it was off to a busy Audlem where I did not stop allowing the bikes sat nav to take me to Meaford.

Here is one of my P&J's. Just right for exploring and taking it to places where the other 330kg bike would be a risk to take. This one is 239kg a mere light weight  !!

Then it was a bimble home via a diversion as there must have been a nasty accident just up the road in Kingsley Moor as there was five police cars two fire engines two ambulances and the air ambulance. Sadly nothing acting in urgency, so be safe out there whatever you are doing.