C.L. Peache's Blog, page 32

Day 37 – Wednesday 23rd August – Cruising the Erewash

Started off at a bit of a different morning with grey cloud and the threat of showers. We scarpered early to bed last night as we were both tired having not done a whole day of locks like that probably since we had our big cruise last year! My muscles on muscles ache this morning but it’s a nice aching body from having a bloody good day cruising in beautiful sunshine and not from just being old ((I’m saying nothing Peachy absolutely nothing about your upcoming big birthday!)) actually Brackets it’s a year and half until I celebrate the half century! Anyway, back to it. It was a really peaceful mooring before Gallow Inn Lock I didn’t hear a thing all night. ((I bet the locals reported an earthquake from your snoring!))

The consequence of an early night meant we were both awake and enjoying our morning drink in bed. I like this time as I catch up on what’s happening in the world and do a few social posts to advertise my books or Youtube channel. Incidentally if anyone is reading this who has read one of my books and haven’t left a review then it would be very much appreciated. ((Unless you didn’t like it of course then don’t worry about it!))

I have lock lust ((just stop Peachy. We honestly don’t want to know. I’m going to short circuit with the images in my head!)) as the Gallows Inn Lock gates have been replaced – not sure when but they are the newest looking lock gates I’ve seen. Beautiful crafts’person’ship and the mechanism on the lower locks are just wonderful to use. The ground paddles are too hard for me to do and the gate paddles a bit stiff but I manage. Slowly does it.

The next lock Larklands comes around pretty quickly and there seems to be more rubbish in the canals along this stretch. We already have a bag as a tail on the stern ((You always have a bag on!)) but it’s not around the prop so hopefully we won’t need to go into the weed hatch again. There is another boat coming through which is only the second boat we have passed whilst cruising so the lock gates are open which saves us a bit of time.

The next lock looms soon and we are tackling Potters Lock ((No relation to the famous wizard I don’t think))  a really nice chap stops to help with gates and a good old chinwag with chris whilst I set the lock. It’s great talking to folk on the canals. One chap tells me that his parents used to run barge & butties along the canal and he said things haven’t changed in a hundred years as the women still do all the work! Ha!

On that I’ve been trying to take over doing the cruising a bit more just to get my experience. I feel pretty confident really with the boat but it just falls naturally that chris likes cruising and I like doing the locks but I want to make sure that I can do the whole lot should I need to, so I need to prize the tiller off chris more to get some practice.

Right, I’ve managed to sit down and write some of this in real time as it’s a bit drizzly out after doing the last lock  ((more like you wanted a coffee!)) the boat has been grounding out a little as the canal is so shallow and chris keeps popping the boat in reverse as this clears the prop shaft a bit ((I think this blog is getting a bit sordid)) to get rid of the weed and rubbish. Time to get up now though as we are nearly at the next lock.

I prefer to write a little bit on the blog as I go along otherwise I just forget everything. But since we haven’t been on this canal before and it was so beautiful yesterday, I thought I would treat myself to a full cruising day. Right, I’m off!

We are here! ((well that’s spoilt it hasn’t it!!??? Honestly after writing 13th books don’t you know anything about setting the tension. If I were your publisher, I would dismiss you right there!)) It’s 17.23pm and we arrived at the boatyard about 3.30pm.

To continue from where we left off we made it to Barker’s Lock number 70 which I think where we started to hit a bit of trouble with locks as a lot of them have the vandal locks on which I will show in one of the vlogs. We didn’t think we had a vandal key so it was all a bit slow as we couldn’t open some of the ground paddles or gate paddles due to either the fact they were too heavy or locked.

It was really bad when we came to Stenson’s Lock as only one paddle would open. All of the other locks had the vandal locks on them. So after much faffing as the gates would just not open due to the amount of water coming into the locks because they leak. Chris found a tool to open one of the vandal locks and off we went. I eventually found ours on the boat. We haven’t had to use them until now. If you’re going to do the Erewash then you 100% need the vandal key otherwise it will be equally very slow or you just won’t be able to get in or out!

I make myself another coffee as we have a bit of a stretch until the next one. Again, there is some issues with weed and the water being shallow and we can hear the bottom of the boat grounding out so good job we are off to have the bottom blacked, although they don’t actually do the bottom just the sides really ((Again with the innuendoes!)) I don’t mean it but what other words do I use?? ((Undercarriage – no that’s not right – you’re corrupting my brain!!)) Shipley Lock is the next one along and the paddles are quite difficult but I manage to open them. There we plenty of people hanging about in cars and vans here. Not that they were any trouble. I made the mistake of not realising the paddle was open on one side.

((Watch out folks a shift in the time thingy continumumumumum…)) It’s Tuesday 29th August and I’ve only just got chance to finish this blog post. You will see what we have been up to in the coming week but I’m shattered so bringing this one to a close as it’s 6.30pm and we have been non-stop today with one thing and another ((I cannot wait for you to share what happened Peachy!)) Well some people might already know if they follow me on social media!

I’m too tired to fill in the lock and facilities info so will add that in another day and also continue everything that happened when we arrived at the boatyard! Also too tired to find a picture so had to use an old one!

Until tomorrow when you will no doubt hear my moans from my aching body! x

Day 36 – Tuesday 22nd August – Trent lock to near Gallows Inn lock

Okay, today is the day. We are up early to get this show on the road as we start the cruise up the infamous Erewash Canal! So, why do I say this? Well, ((Peachy this is going to be a long blog so keep it short and be warned people. Might as well book yourselves a weeks leave for the next two blog posts!)) we’ve heard a lot about the Erewash Canal, it has a reputation for stiff locks, low water, trouble from kids, lots of weed and added to the fact the canal doesn’t go anywhere as you have to return on yourselves and the other day I’d spoken to a lady whose boat had been trapped on the canal for I think it was 7 weeks, we headed out with just a little bit of trepidation.

Just as we head into Trent Lock (60) which is at the mouth of the canal I hear the familiar noise of the paddles been wound up as I head to the gates, sure enough a lady is there. To be fair she had not long started and offered to close it again but we wanted to get onto the water point just above the lock. Also, never pass up the chance for a good old natter especially with someone I found has lived on the canal for a long time.

Few top tips are not to moor at Cotmanhay – I think this is mainly down to kids playing up. Apparently, they have tackled a lot of the issues they had with kids so whether this is historic issues, I don’t know. Along the route we met loads of kids, mainly fishing, some hanging about as kids do but I said hello to them and all of them were friendly. Other things she mentioned was one of the locks was tricky – I cannot remember which one she said but we had a problem at Stenson’s Lock so maybe it was this one. Also, there are only water points at the beginning and the end of the canal so obviously that’s likely to put people off. Once through the lock we moor up to the right and do the usual boat services; toilet, water and rubbish.

It’s a beautiful cruise as the sunshine we haven’t seen much off this month, has appeared and we enjoy a coffee whilst using the services before heading off feeling apprehensive but looking forward to a day of cruising, finally!

The water is so clear and it’s amazing to see the canal is teeming with life. So many different types of fish and massive crayfish as well as the odd tyre, traffic cone and tomorrow something we have never seen in the canal! ((Ohhh, nice hook there Peachy.)) As you can see, I didn’t have time to write this blog on the day as once we’d cruised, I was shattered and straight to bed the moment it went dark so I apologise if some of this doesn’t make sense ((You rarely make sense Peachy))

Arriving at Long Eaton (61) lock I’m just starting to set the lock, the paddles seemed pretty easy on the gates but due to the depth of these locks, this one is 6ft 3inch and the fact they are double locks ((This means they can fit two normal narrowboats in or one widebeam.)) and a CRT chap arrives with his greasing gun ((Calm down there Peachy)) and I have a good old chat with him about the canals in general, the moans and groans people have which are justified in many cases. He tells me about the chance of low water in the pound at Pastures Lock I think he said ((This is why you should write this down on the day Peachy! Imagine you being in court and being relied on to give evidence… “Well, your honour ‘I think’. Hammer down dismissed contempt of court for being forgetful)) Hey, stop picking on me it’s because I’m peri-menopausal. I can barely get dressed properly most days never mind remember anything. ((This is quite apparent from tomorrow Peachy!)) Anyway, where was I? oh yeah, we get through the lock and the CRT chap kindly closes the gate for me and off we go. Oh also, there were two swans when we arrived and one quickly got out of the lock and the other stayed in and panicked as the water went down. When I open the gate it swifty legged it into the distance leaving the other one to fend for itself, but fear not, they were reunited.

Next is Dockholme lock (62) and 7ft 9inch deep this one! There is a lot of weed stuck in the paddles which means they are quite leaky and this probably is the reason some of them are heavy as well as old mechanisms. The locks do seem to be well maintained, more than I thought really based on what I’ve heard. It’s evident that there has been a lot of problems with vandalism as many of them do have the anti-vandal locks but they all seem well greased. Helps with the chap coming around to maintain them. He said if we had any problems at all to ring the office and he would come and find us – which was very nice of him. Once emptied I try to open the gates and one of them just won’t open more than halfway but it’s okay as the other one is open fully. As I mentioned these are double locks and we can fit through one with no problem. But I think it’s generally good practice to open both in case your boat bashes the other gate which obviously causes varies issues. Upon investigating I realise there is a bike tyre stuck between the lock wall and gate so that explains that!

Boat in and I close the gates and head off to open the ground paddles which are very very hard! In fact, on this whole canal there was only a couple I could do and if we needed them open Chris needed to do them. The idea is to open the ground paddles so the lock fills up from below this creates much less turbulence from the water spewing from the lock paddles. These lock gates are very leaky so it takes a while for it to fill. Job done and onto the next one.

Somewhere between Dockholme Lock and Sandiacre lock it’s a boating first as Chris heads into the weed hatch! There isn’t much but just enough to slow the boat a bit. More about weed later!

It’s getting onto about 1pmish now as we think about stopping for lunch but when we arrive at Sandiacre lock (63) which is 8ft 4” deep we meet our second boat since setting off at 8am this morning and they have left the gate open for us so in we cruise. I only managed to open one ground paddle and overall these are very stiff even for my Yorkshire muscles.

We manage to find a mooring where the little shopping baskets are on the map. We have a well deserved break as my old hip is giving me jip! We haven’t done a cruising day like this last summer which involved so many locks as most of the ones on the river Trent have lockies or are key operated. I know later I’m going to be in serious pain! Chris heads to the very convenient Lidl which is about a 3-minute walk as I rest my hip. Lunch stop done we decide to crack on as see what else we can get done today.

It’s a stunning cruise as we head to the next lock. This canal is beautiful and very interesting. Lots of industrial heritage with many tall mill chimneys shadowing the skyline. I’ve said the water is crystal clear and it’s mesmerising. There are the usual suspects hanging about as the ducks and swans turn up to see what they can steal from us. They are usually loitering around one of the locks waiting to cause mischief .

Between Pastures Lock and Stanton Lock the water level is low and the odd scraping noise on the bottom means we have a slow cruise in this pound but no matter, we do have somewhere to be but we have left enough time so just enjoy looking at the beautiful area. We should have more time on the way back so I will try and add some more detail for those wanting to do the Erewash Canal – please don’t be put off by other experiences. Yes, the locks are hard but that’s just a challenge. The beauty of this canal needs to be enjoyed.

We crank it and do one more lock – Hallam Fields (66) before finding a lovely mooring spot with the five-star luxury canal find which is Armco! (see a previous blog – add link for pics and what this is) and moor up about 6pm for a well-deserved dinner and go to bed exhausted, aching but pleased the first day is done and it’s been such a fabulous cruising day.

Until tomorrow x

Miles/Distance: 6 miles
Locks: 6
Tunnels: 0
Swing Bridges: 0
Facilities…
Toilets: Trent Lock and the end of the Erewash – nothing in-between other than stopping at places and using public or supermarket toilets.
Elsan: Trent Lock and the end of the Erewash – nothing in-between!
Bins: Trent Lock – none at the end of the Erewash
Showers: None
Waterpoint:  Trent Lock and Langley Mill – as above, nothing in-between
General: Many of the locks are heavy due to the size of the locks and gates. They are quite leaky and some of the mechanisms are broken or have the anti-vandal locks on them. Don’t forget to bring your anti-vandal key else you will struggle!

Day 28 to 35 – Isle of Man – Tuesday 15th August – Tuesday 22nd August

((Hey you’ve changed to numbers for the days and what’s with posting this late at night!)) I know, I needed to change the titles as they were getting too long so made more sense to have numbers and what with doing boat jobs and one thing and another I’ve only just had time to finish the blog. ((Well, it’s upsetting my rhythm. I hope you know that!)) I’ve created one blog for this week as it’s a break away from the canal blogs! Back to them tomorrow hopefully.

Tuesday 15th: A car trip from Trent Lock to Derby train station to catch my train which would ultimately see me arrive at Bentham in North Yorkshire on the doorstep of the Yorkshire Three Peaks where my family live. Mum and I are going on a coach trip to the Isle of Man with Bibby’s of Ingleton. I’ve always wanted to visit the island as it’s the home of the TT which is something we watch every year. The train is on time ((SHOCK HORROR!)) and it’s nice peering out of the window, not only looking at the amazing views across the dales but also the canals which pop up here and there from Leeds onwards… to think one day we will be on them.

Wednesday 16th: My Aunty is in a nursing home in the next village so I pop over and see her and sign of few of my books, bless her she always buys my new books and gives them as gifts to the carers which is lovely. We are picked up from the nursing home by one of mum’s friends who I love chatting with. Her stories about farming many years ago and the sneaky parties during wartime are fascinating!

Thursday 17th: Thankfully we don’t get picked up until around 10am and then don’t head too far up the road as we stop for coffee and wait for other bus trippers to join the coach before heading to Heysham for the ferry crossing to Douglas. We find out that we are on the new ferry – The Manxman and sadly there is quite a delay before we finally get the chance to board. Although, I’m well chuffed as I celebrity spot people like John McGuinness MBE, Michael Rutter and various other motorbike racers, mechanics and racing team folk as they are heading over for the TT races. We arrive in time to go straight for tea at the hotel which is very nice and then head to our room to unpack and have an early night.

Friday 18th: Changeable weather will accompany us for the 4 days we are here but we are luckier than most as the ferry doesn’t run for some of days which sadly means people miss out on their holidays and arriving for the TT trials. After a very nice buffet breakfast we head off into the wet and very windy weather to board the coach with our driver Jeff. We are only on a few minutes and are soon catching the Steam Train from Douglas to Port Erin. We share the carriage with two people from our trip and have a good chat and laugh along the way as we take in the scenes. Luckily, the weather doesn’t dampen the views too much. We arrive into Port Erin and have an hour and half to wander about but the wind and rain really pick up so we brave a walk to look at the coastal point, which I imagine is beautiful when the weather is nice, we pop into a charity shop before heading for a coffee. There is a massive queue as everyone escapes the weather so we sneak over to a pub I spotted and enjoy a coffee and maybe there was a little scone eaten. Then Jeff decides to take us to The Sound which is opposite a nature reserve island. Again, it’s beautiful but would be even better if the weather was in our favour. We do get chance to see the seals popping up to watch us, watching them.

After this we head to a planned stop at The National Folk Museum at Cregneash. We were lucky as the rain held off and was just a little cold and windy as we walked around and looked at the old houses, some of which people still live in so obviously couldn’t go in those. It was really interesting though and thoroughly recommended if you’re there. We met the Manx cat – shown in the pics.

It was back to the hotel, a nice meal and then a walk on the beach before settling down to a film and a game of cards

Saturday 19th: We drove around some of the TT track which was very exciting for me! After watching it for so many years it was nice to cruise around and see some of the twists and turns. How they ride this course at those speeds is beyond me but I love watching it. We drove up to Peel, which was a lovely place with its impressive castle and huge waves crashing against the sea wall. The promised 40-50mph winds have stopped some of the ferries and we have to shuffle around some of the planned excursions due to things closing. I could really have spent all day here just wandering and looking out to sea and wandering around the little harbour. Sadly, we didn’t have time to visit the castle so will have to return!

Back to the bus and our next visit is to Ramsey. It was okay with lots of shops but probably my least favourite place to visit. I much preferred the little coastal villages. It was then a short trip, about 2 mins to catch the Electric train which is where the plans changed a little due to the weather. We were supposed to get off at Laxey and go up the mountain but it had been closed due to the weather so instead we stayed on the train and returned to Douglas where our hotel was. A group on stag do are on board for part of the trip so it was quite entertaining as well as the stunning coastal views it was well worth the trip. It was then back to the hotel for chill out time before dinner.

Sunday 20th: As a little extra trip as we missed out on the mountain yesterday we had a visit to Castletown, again along with Peel these are by far the best places to visit. Very oldie worldly and interesting to walk around. Today was ‘The Football Match’ and they had set up a large screen in the market square and all the villagers were there with chairs and food to watch it, which meant mum and I had a lovely quiet walk around to take it all in. So impressive, especially along the sea wall. Another place I could have stayed all day just enjoying the atmosphere and views. Next it was a drive back to Douglas with free time to meander and then we relaxed with a game of cards and a bit of reading in the hotel before a wander on the beach and our final dinner in the hotel.

Monday 21st: We have a fab, and on time ferry crossing and I hope I will get the chance to visit the Isle of Man again. What a wonderful place with so much to see and do and the people we met were lovely. We arrive back at mums about 1.30pm and I quickly wash my clothes whilst I have the luxury of a washing machine! Sadly, showers stop me drying them so I put them on hangers in the car and then finish of drying them when we arrive back at the boat. I was going to come back on the train tomorrow but Chris decided since he had the car he might as well collect me so we could have an extra day cruising up the Erewash – I’m so glad he did as we would have struggled to get there in time!

I hope you enjoyed this little break for the Isle of Man, if you get chance to go then I highly recommend it. Until tomorrow when we are back to canal days as we go up the Erewash which has a bit of a reputation and we try to get to the end to have the boat out of the water to have its bottom blacked! Latest vlog here…

Until tomorrow. xx
P.S. I did try and add some pictures but my signal isn’t up to much! You can head over to my Instagram or Facebook page and i will add some more pictures on there :).

Day Twenty Seven – A little hiatus – Monday 14th August

We’ve woken up to another drizzly day but boat jobs wait for no-one and it’s off to the Elsan and to fill up with water to do some washing. Tomorrow I’m off to visit mum and go on holiday to the Isle of Man so Chris is boat alone, so the blog will be having a week off as I want to enjoy the time with mum ((You mean you don’t enjoy your time with Chris?)) Of course I do… This holiday was booked before we decided to embark on this cruising adventure and one of the reasons we’ve had to stay in the area as I mentioned earlier. It’s much cheaper to book train tickets in advance so needed to know I could be near the station.

I spent some time getting this blog scheduled and the vlog updated so they are all set to run whilst I’m away. Once the blog returns I should hopefully have more cruising blogs and vlogs and places to share as we cruise up the Erewash to have the boat taken out and blacked and then we vaguely plan to go towards Willington. I’m not saying 100% as who knows! Then it will be a few weeks hanging about and cruising this stretch as we are booked into Mercia Marina whilst Chris goes on holiday – again, this was all booked before we decided to leave.

Right, i hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure so far. ((They will certainly enjoy the break from you I’m sure)) I will be back at some point. If there is anything you want to know about boating life then leave me any questions and I will try and include them in the next blog or vlog. In the meantime you can follow me on Insta or Facebook where I will still be sharing pics of my holiday and if you want to watch the vlogs remember you can sign up to YouTube and subscribe to my channel for free. Also, if you feel like buying one of my books or sharing a review that would be wonderful. For now, it’s goodbye from Brackets ((and goodbye from Peachy)) Until, next time… x

Day Twenty Six – Spinning the boat – Sunday 13th August

It’s a drizzly start to the day so we take the rubbish to the bins and jump in the car as there is a Halfords nearby and Chris needs a bell for his bike which is now fully loaded, although he wants to get a trolley thing for it which I think we should wait and see if we need as it’s just another item to store when storage is at a premium on a boat. Come lunchtime and the day starts to clear and so we decide to spin the boat around as we need to be facing Trent Lock to go up the Erewash when I get back from my holiday to have the blacking done and i get back on the Tuesday and it has to be at the end of the Erewash by Thursday morning so it’s cutting it all a bit fine! It’s less than ten minute cruise to Cranfleet Lock and result!!!!!!!!! ((remember the rule Peachy. Use exclamation points sparingly!!)) The lockies are at the lock gates. To all you lockies, we salute you. I love doing the locks but on days like today when you have a certain mission in mind, it’s nice to have some help. ((For those that don’t know. The canals are only a certain width and depending on the size of you boat you have to find what they call a ‘winding hole’ to turn the boat around.)) thanks Brackets, yeah that’s right. We can turn the boat near where the water point is but then it would be so tricky to reverse the boat, as I’ve mentioned before we don’t have steering in reverse as we don’t have a bow thruster or anything to aid the direction other than the tiller and we don’t want to be bouncing into other people’s boats!

We cruise out of the lock and Chris spins the boat perfectly and I’d wished I’d filmed it but the river is fierce here and I wanted to concentrate and be on hand to help, not that I know what I would have done ((Probably put a life jacket on your coffee machine Peachy – that would be my guess)) It’s back in the lock and I managed to get some great videos of these which should be on the next vlog. We moor up more or less where we were so we are now facing the right way.

Chris needs a part for the water header tank as it’s been leaking. Which seems quite a common thing, so we headed off to Mercia Marina and Midland Chandlers for a new pressure cap, which they not only had in stock but was about £30 cheaper than the other they had! Result, maybe my lotto numbers are going to come up as well! So since we had saved money we used a voucher for the pub and treated ourselves to a Sunday dinner! ((Such a hard life Peachy.))

Day done. Until tomorrow… x

Day Twenty Five – moving day – Saturday 12th August

It’s moving day today as we have used up our time on the pontoon and we are ready for a little cruise, even if it is just back to where we were on the two week moorings. We cruise out and moor up at the water point, fill up the tank on the boat and the water containers which we have started using for washing clothes.

I don’t know if I’ve explained before but here goes. We get hot water on the boat a couple of ways. When we are cruising as in using the engine for possibly an hour this will give us a full hot water tank or we can put the heating on which warms the tank up. Obviously on non-cruising days and hot days when we don’t want the heating on we don’t have hot water as we cannot choose to just have hot water or heating, it has to be both. We could run the engine but we don’t want to do that, not only does it use diesel but it also adds more hours to the engine. So, back in the day when Covid was in full force our boiler in the house broke so we were left without hot water or heating for 3 months. This is just indicative of the treatment received by companies nowadays that it took so long to fix! So we had Christmas and New Year and both had covid during this time! ((I hope there is a point to this)) Yes, so we had no hot water so Chris found a shower pump which is used for camping. This worked brilliantly and we now have it on the boat! So, to get hot water we just heat it up on the gas cooker and then transfer into a bucket which in is the shower and a lovely hot shower can be had! It’s one of the compromises of living on a boat, you have to come up with different ways of being as comfortable on land and this shower pump option really does make a difference. I’ve perfected a 40 second shower now! Eco-warrior here i come! lol

It’s on and off with showers of another kind today as the standard unstable summer weather looks set to stay, but we managed a few little walks and also pop out in the car for some shopping. It’s handy having the car but makes us much lazier as we would have had to go on the pushbikes. I will be glad when it’s sold and we don’t need to use it.

Day done, we enjoy a homemade pizza. Until tomorrow… x

((This is a really short blog so would be a good one to r...

((This is a really short blog so would be a good one to read if you want to pretend you’re following Peachy’s adventure. Although it’s all about her writing and nothing to do with narrowboats)) We have a lazy morning as I carry on reading; The Ophagy. If you love humour and Greek stuff then it’s the book for you. Then it’s the usual social media, vlog and blog stuff.

I mentioned the other day about getting that niggling feeling about wanting to crack on with some writing. I was thinking to myself ((Dangerous, also who else would you ‘think’ to?)) that I haven’t really managed to add any words to my novel. Although this particular book won’t be published until mid 2024 it still needs a lot adding to it. Also my psychological thriller characters have been moaning and also I’ve had an idea for a zombie novel! The thing is, I do have the time to write nowadays so I really have no excuse! ((I realise I’m in danger of being nice to you twice in one week but you do know that you’ve already written approximately 15,500 words just on this blog so far! So I’ve calculated that if you do turn this into a book ‘a year in the life of a canals or the bog guide to the canals’ it will be roughly 236,000 words so I think you might have to have a think about how you do it as that about 150,000 words too many!)) Oh yeah! Maybe I should just cut out all your words… ((Oi, like I’ve said before I’m the best thing about it)) When you put it that was then 15,500 words in just over 3 weeks isn’t bad at all.

In the afternoon my pal and her son come over and we spent a pleasant few hours chilling in The Trent pub garden having a good old catch up. It’s the first friend I’ve seen out on the cut!

I think this is the first blog so far with no narrowboat stuff! ((I’ve already said that!))

Until tomorrow… x

Day Twenty Three – Floating Pontoon – Thursday 10th August

The internet is so bad here. We have barely moved from our last mooring, maybe not even a five- minute walk but my internet is awful and I’m struggling to get a signal so I can edit my vlogs and do any social media ((I bet there are some very happy people right now knowing they have a few days break from your constant waffling!)) I wish I’d edited my vlog at the last spot. To give you an example. At the last mooring I could download a video clip in seconds, here it can be literally an hour! Trying to edit the videos is impossible as once uploaded into the editing software as it just buffers all the time. We are really going to have to get an aerial on the roof to help with this.

It’s a beautiful morning once again and we stop and have a natter with our friends from Kings Marina before going to the water point to fill up our containers. We are going to try the new washing machine so rather than use the water in the tank, we might as well take a beautiful walk to the water point and fill up the containers.

Result, new washing machine works great, from how well this is working I suspect the other one had a problem from the beginning but as we haven’t had a twin tub before we couldn’t tell. It spins the washing much stronger and just seems more stable. ((Not like you then Peachy… stable i mean!)) Rude!

We have a bit of cycle ride into Long Eaton and a wander around the charity shops to satisfy my jigsaw addiction.

I’ve had a strange few days as this new life is setting in. ((Come on now Peachy we all know it’s down to your hormones. You’re at that time of life when the old peri-menopause is kicking in. Actually scrap that. I think you’ve had this attitude and tantrum capability since you were born!)) What! Well there is a bit of the old hormone negativity. The bloody mental anxiety is awful and if I wasn’t living such a good life I would be looking for things to attach it to! Then I feel guilty as I am living this great life but still not ‘feeling it and appreciating it’ ((Spoilt. Told you!)) No, it’s not that. I’ve had a very unsettled but amazing 5 years. Since I was made redundant from a job I ended up returning to, to my travels to New Zealand, Singapore and Syndey ((read it here because of course she wrote a book about it)) the decision to become an author; which is not easy by any means and if you didn’t love it you would not even bother writing as a job. Anyway, what am I trying to say. ((I don’t know but I wish you would crack on. I’ve got a system update to do. I’m getting a new upgrade. It gives me the ability to stalk you on all platforms!)) I suppose that it’s okay not to feel like ‘you’re living the dream’ all the time as some days for whatever reason the other feelings, anxiety and negativity get in the way. Best just to read a book, do a jigsaw, stay in bed, do some exercise, have a glass of wine and wait for it to pass. So with that in mind I perched myself on the stern and read a book.
Anyway, tomorrow is another day and despite a rubbish nights sleep which usually follows a ‘not feeling it day.’ What can you do but ignore it and carry on regardless!

Until tomorrow… x
The book i’m reading in the pic is The Ophagy by Nick Rowe. If you’re feeling a bit fed up then this is guaranteed to make you chuckle!

Day Twenty Two – Floating Pontoon – Trent Lock – Wednesday 9th August

It’s up early and out with the morning traffic as we head back to Newark. It was a lovely peaceful night. We weren’t sure what it will be like over the weekend with being so close to the pub, especially as we have finally been graced with some sunshine!

It’s pleasant driving back, until some absolute plonker in a lorry decides to try and see if he can shove us into a traffic light. Honestly what is wrong with some people! Right then I remember why I’m sick of roads and cars. There are way, way too many angry people on the roads and not to mention the bloody pot holes! ((I will try and infiltrate his sat nav and sent him on a journey from hell. No-one messes with my author and gets away with it!)) Ah, thanks Brackets that might be only nice thing you’ve ever said to me. ((well, if anything happens to you then we are both for it. We are like symbiotic beings)) I don’t know whose got the poor end of the deal there!

Visit done and washing machine swapped we head back to our pontoon. As I said the other day this all feels very weird! You know the feeling when you come back off holiday and settle back into normal routine but obviously that isn’t going to happen at the moment. Well, I hope not, else I will have the biggest tantrum ever seen! ((Don’t worry Peachy. I’m sure one day you will achieve your goal of selling more than one book a year and even make some money out of people laughing at you on Youtube and maybe even signing up to Patreon so you can continue creating content. I mean it’s not as if there is anything decent to watch on tv anymore)) I’m sure there was a compliment in there somewhere!

When we arrive back there is a familiar boat moored up and it’s some lovely people who live in our old marina. They left maybe 8 weeks before we did and have had a right adventure and now they are on their return journey to Kings Marina as I hear there is a party as the marina won an Aquavista marina in Bloom competition and well deserved it was! It was lovely to chat with them. After we wandered back to the boat and dinner made it was time to settle down for the evening and enjoy the wonderful sunset.  

Until tomorrow… x

Day Twenty One – Trent Lock – Tuesday 8th August

I have my delayed zoom call with the feedback team for my publisher. I literally just switch off the computer when Chris comes back from the shop and tells me the water point is free, so we quickly untie the ropes and off we go. There is a large fire in the distance but not quite sure what it was as couldn’t find anything about it on the tinterweb. Let me know if you know – it was in the direction of East Midlands airport.

We moor up at the water point and a lady comes over to chat. Her boat is on the floating pontoon official CRT moorings which we thought we might try and moor on, as I mentioned we weren’t sure about returning the same spot. Anyway, the woman said they were literally about to untie and fill with water when we snuck in! As they hadn’t set off we didn’t know they needed the water point. Anyway, it turns out they are filling with water and then heading down the Soar as sadly the women has to have treatment at the hospital for a long period of time. Bless her, what a thing to have to deal with when negotiating the standard issues with boating. We have a lovely long chat and then she goes back to her boat and we give them a signal when we set off and swap places which works out really well as we can have 3 days on these moorings.

When I say we just swap, it wasn’t quite as simple as that. I walk the short distance to the pontoon so I can be ready to catch the rope and guide the boat in. But the river has such a strong flow that when Chris tries to turn the boat it bounces into the end of the pontoon and then swings the boat back into the river! He turns the boat again ((See the vlog this Sunday for a time lapse video clip which is the fastest The Plot will ever go!)) and a couple from a cruiser in front of us come and lend a hand with a boat hook but Chris swings it in perfectly this time and we moor up. What is so lovely about the boating community is that someone is always willing to help. ((They were probably just worried you were going to crash into their boat Peachy))

Once all safely tied up we decide to put a wash on as it’s not sunny but quite a breezy day but as we are coming to realise stuff breaks on a very regular basis and today is no exception as the washing machine gives up the ghost! ((Oh this what you were alluding to? Wow, well worth the wait!)) Luckily, we had a spare one back at Chris’s folks garage and as we have the car and have to go back to Newark tomorrow we are able to swap them over. You wonder sometimes about things that are meant to be. It wouldn’t have been so easy if we’d have sold the car!

I did manage to get all the bedding done before it broke though. We are grateful for the cratch covers as not only to they provide shelter from the weather when cruising they are great storage when moored up and keep the weather out of the boat, they are a pretty good drying area for clothes as well. If you wondering about getting them for your boat, then if you can afford it, then one hundred percent get them.

We decide to treat ourselves to a little drink as it would be rude not to since the pub is now about a 3.5 second walk from the boat ((Honestly, there is a surprise. You two that close to a pub. The Half-Cut carrying company on the side of your boat could not be better named!))

That’s it. Until tomorrow… x