Laundry challenge It’s funny the things gongoozlers* ask about boat life, the standard is, ‘Isn’t it cold in winter?’ and many have a romanticised image of life on the waterways. To be fair they probably share the same ideas I had when I bought the boat – an idyllic sunshiny world, where mermaids sing and […]
Canals, hats and Atherstone The Coventry Canal, winds its way from the centre of Coventry to Fradley Junction, where it meets the Trent and Mersey Canal. Along the way it passes through the small Warwickshire town of Atherstone. Atherstone is well known for its 300 year role in the manufacture and sale of hats. When […]
Blowing up a shower pump When things go wrong on Pea Green it is often a cause and effect chain of events, usually all avoidable. This was definitely the case in July 2020 when I inadvertently set about to blow up the shower pump and almost started a fire onboard. So, this is a cautionary […]
Don’t mention the pandemic….. It’s impossible to start my first post of 2021 without mentioning the unending roller-coaster of living through a global pandemic. We are still going through this worldwide virus and who knows when we will emerge? So, here’s a tale that weaves around an old Wedgwood teapot, dark histories and the Pea […]
Oxford locks In total there are 46 locks on the Oxford Canal. I only cruised the south Oxford in 2019 leaving me with 41 to navigate, 82 if you count there and back. This included Somerton Deep, one of the deepest narrow locks on the English canal system. However, my nemesis came in the form […]
Food conundrums Food, or rather locating shops to buy it, always looms large when I am out on the cut. This is weirdly true of trying to purchase natural yoghurt. This ongoing food-buying anxiety was ever present on my long summer boat trundle. Summer 2019 saw me and Montefiore – Montague (aka Monte-Moo the Boat Cat) heading towards Oxford […]
Excuses…… Before I head towards Foxton via Bridge 51 I must apologise for my lack of posts. Over 6 months since my last post, how on earth did that happen? Just to be clear, I have neither fallen off the planet nor the back of the boat. In fact, I have no good reason to […]
Welford Remembers This past weekend marked 50 years since the Welford Arm was re-opened in 1969 after 13 years of abandonment and vandalism which began in 1946. In May 1969 Sir Frank Price, chair of the British Waterways Board and boat-owner came to Welford to mark this momentous occasion. The restoration saw the beginning of […]
Blacking hocus-pocus Back in 2016 when I bought Pea Green, she had to have blacking done. This boaty hocus-pocus was a mystery to me and was further compounded by talk of sacrificial anodes. I had no idea about either. I didn’t see the work being done, as I was away in Armenia and Georgia at […]
Mild winter The first part of winter 2018-2019 has been unseasonably mild in Northamptonshire. The canal and marina have hardly frozen, unlike the winter of 2017-18 when it was frozen hard early in December. I have been out both walking and on Pea Green. Monte the Cat and I headed out of the marina on […]