Weekend 9th – 10th February 2019



We decided on a quiet weekend. The wind throughout the Friday night/Saturday morning was horrendous with the boat buffeting and surging against the bank, you would have been silly to attempt to move. There were actual waves on the canal and you don’t see that too often. Last time I was on the water in weather like this I was getting well paid for it.




Saturday, Brenda called into the pub to collect a repeat prescription sent out by Tracey, then walked into Longford to get it filled and collect our post.

I stayed on board and cleaned the boat through including cleaning the windows.

We then both settled down and watched the Rugby on TV. Neither of us much felt like eating so we just had sandwiches on our knee and had early nights.

Sunday, the mooring next to the water point had come free so, after breakfast, we moved the 100 yards down the bank after first reading up on how to drive a boat, it seemed that long since we had moved. The weather now has calmed down and there are noticeably more boats moving. We have seen very few go passed in the time we have been here although mainly due to the canal being iced-up for so long, about 6 days altogether.

We filled with water, prepared the Sunday dinner and went off to the Greyhound for a few. The Greyhound is a very busy place anyway but especially it seems, for Sunday lunch with even standing room at a premium. However, we are now in with the boating crowd so can always get a seat and somebody to chat to. We really enjoyed our few pints, it seems such a long time now since we felt we could settle.

We returned to the boat to watch the England – France rugby match, only to find that, by moving the 100 yards, we didn’t get a tv signal. We watched the match on i-player but the internet too, kept freezing although the match did restart where it had left off. It was frustrating but we elected to preserve rather than move again.

We had our Sunday roast after the match and are again, headed for early nights.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Thursday 22 nd November 2018 We were awake during the night and watched a lovely, bright, full moon in a clear sky with a thick ground mist. When we woke this morning the world was white after a hard frost. Apparently it got down to -4 ˚ overnight. The stove has remained light since its first lighting on 19 th October. This morning was no exception and the boat was cold but not overly so, the stove having been damped down overnight. However, we did turn the heating on for ½ hour to warm the boat up while the stove was heating up. We haven’t had the heating on for some time but the times we have, has been when the boat has become cold. We still haven’t yet mastered the regulating of the heating. If it is left on too long, the boat becomes oppressively hot and remains so for a long time.   We went for a walk to the nearest village, Stockton. The walk was along a main road to begin with and was not pleasant with all the traffic and narrow verges to walk on. We w...
Read more
Image
Sunday 14 th July 2019 We went for a walk around Avoncliffe before a slow cruise covering the 1 ½ miles back into Bradford and were, yet again, lucky enough to find a place on the 48 hour moorings. Avoncliffe is a tiny, delightful place and a very popular stop for walkers and cyclists. Around the Cross Guns pub are a few cottages, all staggered towards the river bank and dominated by the Aqueduct. However, looking at signs from the past, it had once been a thriving small-scale industrial centre with water mills and factory mills concerned with the cloth industry. The up-market Avoncliffe Villa apartments bely their past as, first the Bradford Workhouse, then a convalescence hospital for injured First World War troops and later a hotel. Right our Bradford moorings, down a small embankment, is Barton Farm. The farm buildings are all Medieval and consist of a Manor House, a Granary, one of the best examples of a Tithe Barn and several other buildings. Today, the Tithe Barn ...
Read more
Image
Monday 30 th July 2018 We ambled about in the morning. Brenda did some housework and I walked up into Winsford for some shopping. The day was not good, a lot of cloud and threatening rain. Matt brought Manny and Eva out to us at 3pm. Just as they turned up the heavens opened with heavy rain. It was great to see them both, they are here for a week, so hopefully we won’t get sick of them and make them swim home. Once Matt had gone we waited a short while for the rain to stop and then set off. We passed under the two bridges that make up the roundabout at the bottom end of Winsford which we have travelled over countless times by car. As soon as you pass under the first bridge you are off Canal and River Trust waters. We winded at the entrance to the marina being careful not to venture too far into the flash because of the danger of shifting, shallow sandbanks and then started to retrace our route. This now put us right at the start of the Weaver Navigation and by th...
Read more