Fudge it

A quick post tonight as it’s late and I’m cream crackered. A good day though, well at least until 7pm when A and I both turned our attention to the work that we should have done earlier. But it’s a reasonable trade off, cruising in the daytime, slogging away in the darkness, although shoehorning the dogs’ dinner and our dinner in as well has made it a long old night. Not helped much by the tin opener self-destructing and both of us losing our tempers trying to liberate some pilchards with a Swiss Army Knife.

But from the lowlight to the highlight of Monday – mooring behind the fudge boat in Middlewich. I only stopped because I saw them taking delivery of about 10 tonnes of caster sugar. I had mistakenly assumed that they bought in and resold their fudge but no, quite the contrary, they make all of it on board, in a single trusty pan on the stove top. Well that changed things completely – this was something definitely worth breaking the diet for so I willingly took up their invitation to go to the hatch for ‘samples’. I got a bit worried when the samples box emerged as there were 20 plus Tupperware boxes inside it each with a different flavour fudge in – I could see my diet being wrecked for about the next week as I was surely duty bound to taste them all. Thankfully, each sample was just a tiny taster rather than a big lump and I made my excuses after number four, moving to quell any insistence that I try the ‘rhubarb and custard’ or ‘cherry brandy’ with an order for four bags – choc mint, choc orange, choc banana and mocha, which I handed over to A as an early Easter gift. Judging from the alacrity with which he scoffed the stuff this afternoon, it was very fine fudge indeed.

We called it a day at about 5.30, mooring up at Marbury, but only just as we had a massive fight with our stakes and the concrete-bank-masquerading-as-grass, which the bank won of course. We shuffled a bit further on and got in okay, but a few more rings around here wouldn’t go amiss. But it would be wrong to end on a negative note as I absolutely love the run up here from Middlewich and today has been a real joy, recalcitrant tin openers not withstanding. Goodnight.

Years roll back while clocks go forward

Definitely one of those days I’d happily have back at the end of my life – the first proper day’s cruising of the year and what a corker! Warm sunshine more redolent of May than March, chatty, happy boaters, uneventful locks, glorious scenery, a hysterical dog walk when Monty decided to race the boat with daddy at the helm, dragging us all in his wake, and here we are, tied up snug for the night just shy of Middlewich. Tomorrow, we’re aiming for an early start so that we can get up to Anderton while also making time for a conference call in the morning – fingers crossed, we’ll be down on the Weaver come Tuesday.

Such a contrast to yesterday, which was basically horrible weather-wise but was brightened up considerably by the arrival of Geoff and Mags off Seyella for a cuppa, chat and dog inspection. Two hours later we were still going strong but dogs’ walking needs broke up the party rather precipitately – we do hope we’ll catch up with them again later in the year as they are marvellously warm and genuine people, the sort you feel better for just being around.

One look out of the porthole this morning confirmed that the forecast was accurate and I didn’t hang about, walking the dogs and then pootling onto the service dock for fuel and a pump out. It was there that I had a very uplifting experience – I think. The boat tied up on the other side of the cut is one we’ve seen a lot of and we’ve talked to the owners quite a bit too – we’ve just never picked up on their names. Anyway, his head pops out of the sidehatch and recognizing the boat, says to me, ‘Where’s your mum?’. An odd question but maybe we’d talked about mum when we chatted in Llangollen last year so I said, ‘Hopefully in France where she should be.’ Then he says, ‘That’s your mum’s boat isn’t it?’, at which point I think he’s been on the port a tad early. I replied, ‘ No it’s our boat, the same one we were on when we saw you in Llangollen last December.’ He stops and stares and then blurts out, ‘Oh my god I thought you were your daughter ! You look so young! And half the size!’ Much merriment ensued and I felt elated until at least half past two when I realized that up to November I must have looked like some ancient fat old walloper. Now I’m mistaken for my own ‘daughter’…maybe he should get his eyes tested… come to think of it he was squinting into the sun…

I also discovered during the day that the GPS application on my iPhone has had loads of new features added to it, which I will have a play with over the next two weeks. Out of curiosity I set it running to record our speed, as I’ve always believed that we are the slowest boat EVER in the whole wide world of canals. I was surprised to see it register 3mph so maybe I’m imagining it but we are always being caught by other boats…it doesn’t bother me as you can’t be in a hurry on a narrowboat but it sometimes has me wondering whether we’d have enough oomph to punch a tide or cope with a strong stream.

Interested to see that the old canal stables house at Minshull Vernon is for sale – it’s been beautifully converted although it seems to be fenestrationally-challenged. Took a look earlier at the estate agent’s website to see what it’s on for - £610,000! Are you having a laugh? Yes, it’s got a great view but then so have I – and I’ll have another one tomorrow which will be just as nice. Bricks and mortar? Pah, you can keep them. I’m a confirmed water baby. No, make that a water daughter.

Learning the ropes

Although we’re a few weeks away from leaving our long-term mooring, mentally we are already gone. Some people would argue that I’ve been mentally gone for a while but that’s another story…That’s perhaps why these few days pinned by the wind above Swanley locks have been so interesting, because, while not doing anything that we haven’t done a hundred times before, we are thinking differently. I am in ‘Greygal at large’ mode, looking at things from a liveaboard/continuous cruiser perspective. Now I know that we’re not actually going to be these things for some years to come, but cutting the umbilical chord from a ‘fixed marina berth in perpetuity’ situation has encouraged a quasi full-timing mindset.

For example, now I know why ccers are so organized and attentive: they plan when they’re going to shop or when the shop will come to them; they keep tanks topped up/emptied just in case; they keep a good eye on the weather and take advantage of weather windows; whereas we just sat back and enjoyed the lull in the storm when we should have been moving to tackle the ‘no milk ergo no coffee’ crisis that developed yesterday...and potentially the water one if himself decides to shower with his usual gay abandon.

As it was, because we’re still within reach of our car, that little crisis was soon solved with a shopping trip and a double lug down the towpath, once with shopping, the second time with coal. Who needs to diet when you get all this exercise for nowt? But soon we’ll be travelling/working and the car won’t be in reach; the weather may still be bad; we may still be a day’s cruise from a waterpoint; and the fortnight’s supplies that we brought with us may have been polished off within the week. So we need to get our act together a bit, I reckon. Although work/cruises tend to last only 1-2 weeks, I can envisage longer sojourns, particularly over the summer when things are quieter for us – and of course, there is the new dynamic in play of propelling ourselves around from A to B which may well demand extended stints on board. No hardship, but planning will be to the fore.

Despite the grim weather, we’re thoroughly enjoying our time out. Geoff and Mags on Seyella are still with us, our dogs disgracing themselves as we walked past this afternoon, kicking off at lovely Meg through the window. Susie went straight up to the glass, peered at Meg and let rip with a fusillade of bossy barking. Honestly, she is such a show up! After a close encounter with a dead fox (there’s an equation here: the more minging something is, the greater the attraction) we came back and set about lighting the fire, so we are now all toasty and contemplating dinner.

Earlier this morning, we had a visit from Mike of Dutchy Engineering to discuss a few bits and pieces we want doing to the boat before we leave the area in May. If you’re within an hour’s drive of Nantwich, I can thoroughly recommend Mike for all things boaty – he’s conscientious in his work, his rates are very reasonable and he is professional in his approach eg he actually rings you when you ask him to, which is more than a lot of canal-related traders seem to manage. Also to be mentioned in dispatches today are Snaygill Boats and Lemonroyd Marina, both of whom responded to my request for information about casual moorings.

Last but not least, my thanks to all those people who left comments last time round – it’s great to know that we’re not alone on this journey and that there’ll be a welcome in the hillside when we travel Pennines-wards.

Plan C takes shape

I don't hang about me. A quick email exchange with the very helpful and obliging Nigel Stevens at Shire Cruisers and we've got ourselves a temporary billet on the Calder & Hebble sorted. So we'll go from Nantwich in late May, taking three weeks to go up the Macc, Peak Forest and Huddersfield canals and onto our summer residence at Sowerby Bridge. We'll probably shuttle between there and the Aire & Calder over the course of a week or two with the odd weekend thrown in, before moving on properly at the end of September. We'll use our autumn hols to tackle the Rochdale and then head as far south as we can before Christmas, the ultimate destination being Stenson, but with probable stop-offs at Preston Brook and Great Haywood along the way. We'll then use 2010 for a good old chug around the southern canals. Wow, this sounds exciting even on paper – what's it going to feel like actually doing it?