Sunday 17th May 2020



Beccles were leaving us today, bound for Tattenhall Marina where they had friends they had promised to do shopping for. It was a shame to break up the group but it had to happen eventually. We said our goodbyes to Terry, Sonia, Jess and Lauren. No doubt we will meet again in the future.

We walked up to visit Lol and Jackie off Caramia, moored above the lock, and spent a nice hour or so with them. They are a lovely couple, great fun and entertaining.

We called into the chandlery on the way back, my rope had arrived. Brilliant, now I can get on with some more wrap-around fendering.

At long last we managed to get a phone signal and speak to Tracey and the kids. This is the only down-side of Syke’s, the phone signal is very poor and intermittent. It was lovely speaking to the kids, it had been a long time, and great to use face-time and actually see them. We miss them terribly but are determined not to venture into Middlewich and risk seeing them. Manny’s voice has broken.

On the way back to the boat, we noticed that four of the five fishermen that had been on the towpath for the last three days and two nights had gone. They had not had a single bite between them in all that time and are putting it down to the quality of the water, full of green algae probably from the lack of boat movements meaning the water is not getting oxygenated.

We had decided that I would make a set of fenders for Gaia as a boat warming present and so, after measuring up, I set to, to make these while Brenda prepared a Sunday Roast chicken dinner for us all.

The four of us, Brenda and myself, Danny and Jemima, sat outside with dinner. It was nice to be having dinner outside. Food always seems to taste so much better outdoors and it was much enjoyed by all.

Afterwards, Danny went off to collect Jacob from Nantwich. I finished the first fender for Gaia, Danny and Jemima were very pleased with it. Jacob was so excited to be back with Jemima and his dad and we had missed him. We sat with a few more drinks before bed.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday 22 nd June 2020   Brenda went to Devaney’s, the Middlewich butcher’s first thing, only to find them closed on account of a family bereavement, so went instead to Morrison’s. I stayed on the boat, readying to move and doing more work on family history. On Brenda’s return we both went to Morrison’s for a mega shop. Such hard work lugging loads of shopping back to the boat. We have decided we need to buy a second sack trolley. After the shopping was unpacked and stowed away, we had a cup of tea and some lunch and left the mooring just before 2pm. It felt so bloody good to be off cruising again, picking up where we left off when we left Middlewich on 10 th February, over 4 months ago, supposedly on the start of the cruising year after spending most of the winter static, in and around Middlewich, before the Corona Virus lock-down stopped us, and everybody else, dead in our tracks. We had an uneventful trip as far as Aqueduct Marina where we moored. When Bridge Street wa
Read more
Wednesday 24 th June 2020   Again, last night, the farmers were cutting and turning grass in the nearby fields but then, about 10pm, a heavy dew came down and stopped them working. And gave us a quiet night. We left the mooring just after 9am in order to arrive at Venetian when Susan opened at 10. We passed up Minshull Lock, such a pretty place. The lock-keepers cottage here, we nearly bought when we first moved back to Cheshire in 2000.                                          Minshull Lock-Keepers Cottage                                                    Marina Dwellers at Syke’s Hollow   Syke’s Hollow had been reclaimed by the marina dwellers, Gazebo Wharf as they term it, 6 boats in all. Good for them. I suppose they will be there now until the end of the summer. At the marina, we took on fuel and a gas cylinder, bought some goods and Brenda had a well-earned ice-cream. Susan was pleased to see us
Read more
Image
Friday 22 nd February 2019 The fog first thing this morning was so thick you could see no more than 50 yards. A harbinger of a nice day it turned out. We were on the move by 8am for the mile run-in to Atherstone and we moored just before the top lock near a road bridge that is very convenient for the town. We are opposite the derelict factory of Wilson and Stafford. This was a felt hat making enterprise that made hats that were exported all over the world until closure about 35 years ago. Apparently, slaves on the West Indies sugar plantations all wore hats made in Atherstone. The factory is a blight on the town. It has been sold several times for housing development and would make desirable apartments. The frontage of the building is listed but the problem lies inside. There are many chemicals absorbed into the fabric of the building including mercury, a heavy metal used in the making of hats and asbestos. It would cost a fortune to demolish or develop, including clos
Read more