Messing about on the river…
I’m currently sitting at the dinette and the boat is temporarily moored underneath a huge road bridge as it’s the easiest place to moor up to use the waterpoint. I thought whilst I have an hour to wait whilst our tank fills up I will update you on what’s happening. ((Oh such joy you bring to our lives. How would we manage!))
The weather is still glorious! Can you believe it? Yes, I know, farmers, gardeners and probably we will be moaning soon if we don’t have any rain as we do need water for many different reasons but this has been the warmest April I’ve known in many years. I do remember ((Before records began)) probably 8-10 years ago when I broke up from the college I was working in and it was a glorious April and one year back in February 2002 or 2003 we were both doing temp work and were going to finish in the May but the weather was so nice we gave up early. ((I roll my eyes at your life. I really do!))
Anyway, what’s happening I hear you cry ((no you don’t that’s an echo because you’re old and have dodgy ears)) We are currently cruising down the Oxford Canal and soon to be arriving onto a part of the river Thames which leads to Lechlade on Thames. I’m really hoping I have a signal as the brochure is currently being created Newark Book Festival in July and all the events need to be on the website in the next two weeks so along with the other NBF team I need a signal!
I returned to Newark for a few days for work and to catch up with friends after enjoying a glorious April cruising the Oxford canal – what a stunning canal and as we have the car we can now explore a lot of the countryside. If you ever think the UK is a grim place to live then I challenge that you’re not getting out enough. I’ve travelled quite a lot in my nearly 50 years ((HAHA)) but I’m shocked how beautiful the little villages and the areas around this canal. If you have the time and money I highly recommend hiring a boat on this stretch. The wildlife and views are breathtaking.
It’s been much better than I thought having the car and our routine tends to be to cruise for a few hours and then walk back and get the car or if we’ve cruised far Chris goes on his pushbike. It means we see even more of the canal and the countryside which is wonderful. There are so many things we spot as we cruise along which we cannot look at properly as on the boat.
Due to working on NBF I’ve not had chance to do much on my thriller book but I have been having ideas which are going into the mixing pot. It’s getting their mum, I promise ((Lying to your own mother! Shocking!)) My Jersey book One Step Ahead has a publication date of the 19th June so that’s exciting. More to come next month on the events.
I had a lovely request from Waterways World which is a canal magazine asking for a copy of Lost the Plot to review so I’ve posted that to them so fingers crossed for a good review and a few sales. As I’ve mentioned before the margin for profit is very small now due to publication costs as this is a self-published novel and so I need to sell 4 books to even make the postage money back so here’s hoping!
Right, as I sign off for another month listening to the sound of the pigeons roosting inside the bridge and hoping they don’t decide to poo on the roof I bid you goodbye and I hope you’re enjoying this glorious weather. xx
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Lost the Plot – Story of our canal adventures
