Month: May 2026

Where shall we go for our next narrowboat trip?

We are back on Narrowboat Thuis for the next six weeks. Earlier this year we took a couple of months to go south to Oxford and back. So for our next trip it will be north. Despite the heat this week, the canals still have plenty of water so all options are open.

We could visit the Caldon Canal from Stoke. We had one of my best canal days there a few years ago, when we moored up near the end of the navigation in the countryside but within a walk from a steam railway holding a beer festival. The Caldon also has a lovely branch heading towards Leek.

The Macclesfield and Peak Forest are two of our favourite canals. The Macc has loads of history and a good mixture of town and country, while the Peak Forest has two of the best mooring spots in the UK. One overlooking a beautiful valley in the Peak District. The other, Bugsworth Basin, at the end of the canal with a lovely walk on an old limestone tramway.

Or we could head up to Middlewich, with Heartbreak Hill stretching my lock muscles, and the best fish and chips on the network,

Our preference is the Macclesfield and Peak Forest, but the Macc is currently closed at Bosley Locks, after a Narrowboat sank in a lock, getting stuck on the cill. The boat has been recovered but it damaged the lock gates. Fixing them has already taken a week and could be quite a while longer.

So what shall we do? Any thoughts?

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How much curry is too much curry?

So here’s the thing. Mandy doesn’t like curry. It makes her feel sick. In her younger days several people tried to convert her with different meals but she just doesn’t like curry. This aversion is so strong that she won’t let me eat curry either because she says she can smell it through my pores.

This is a real pity for me because I love Indian food. Back in my working days I used to travel to India a lot, and I really enjoyed the variety of the cuisines and the many layers of flavour.

So when Mandy is away I make the best of it. Once a year she goes off for the weekend with her nine school friends that she has stayed close to for nearly 60 years. This time they were in Ludlow and by all accounts had a lovely time.

Meanwhile I took the opportunity to eat curry – lots of it. On Friday evening I went out with my brother in law and sister in law to the Jai Lounge in St. Annes. We knew its reputation was excellent and it lived up to the hype. It tasted really authentic and I loved it. My Kashmiri Lamb with a garlic nan was especially good.

Saturday morning I had some left over curry from my freezer, in an omelette for a rather delicious breakfast, and at lunch I made a garlic chilli chicken with plain rice. Yum. Saturday evening there was a chicken madras and a king prawn bhuna, accompanied by poppadoms, pickles and more rice.

On Sunday Mandy was coming back in the afternoon, so I had a quick breakfast of leftovers, and then sprayed the whole house with air freshener, and opened the big doors into the garden. At lunchtime I finished off the poppadoms and pickles and sat down on the sofa feeling replete.

I had had the most wonderful weekend. And I wonder. Is there such a thing as too much curry? I don’t think so.

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Not a bad way to spend my birthday

Once a year we have a weekend away with Mandy’s two brothers and their partners. This year the weekend coincided with my birthday and we hired a beautiful renovated chapel in the South Lake District.

I can’t think of a birthday weekend I have enjoyed so much. The weather was cool but sunny. The house was stunning and comfortable. We had great food and great drink. The pub was a real community local serving tasty real ales. We walked along the banks of Windermere, and up to a castle for a picnic. We had a delicious breakfast at a bakery. We did a circuit of Tarn Hows, and wandered along the Ulverston canal from town to sea, imagining how it used to be with an iron works and ship building. We played games and read books. We saw tiny baby pheasants and cuddly highland calves.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we have already booked next year’s trip, further north in the Lakes, near Keswick. And guess what? It is my birthday weekend again. I had better start dieting now!

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Is Blackpool just pubs and B&Bs?

We are back living in our Lancashire house this week. We are not so far from Blackpool. Blackpool has a terrible reputation, not all of it justified. It is true that there is a fair amount of crime there, but no more than most UK towns. It is true that it is a bit “chavvy” in the summer, with stag and hen dos wandering the streets in various states of inebriation. It is true that some of the shopping areas are looking a bit run down. But it also has some lovely areas.

I took Lulu for a walk this morning to Marton Mere, on the edge of Blackpool. It is a lovely tranquil nature reserve, based around a lake, with pretty paths snaking round the reed beds and bird hides. During our walk we heard reed warblers, Cetti warblers, wrens, robins, white throats and many more.

It is amazing to be so close to a town and still be in nature. Narrowboating can feel the same. Sometimes I know we are travelling through the middle of a big city, but perhaps we are in a cutting, surrounded by trees, and it could be in the middle of the countryside.

I think anywhere you are you can find peaceful spaces, as well as noise and excitement. I know which I prefer.

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Which is better – a lazy week or a busy week?

This was the final week of our two month trip to Oxford and back. Most of this adventure has been pretty busy. There are usually lot of jobs to do – moving the boat, filling with water, checking the engine, visiting a new town, shopping for groceries. You know the sorts of things. I like to be busy. Mandy laughs at me because when we have a day off, I normally make a list of things to do, and enjoy ticking them off. So for me this has been an odd week. We found ourselves well ahead of schedule and so had lazy days, with maybe an hour cruising, and including three days when we just stayed in one place doing nothing.

It was a good place to be. The sun was shining and at this time of year the nesting birds are all calling to their mates. Using the Merlin app I listened out for them and in one five minute period I could hear about twenty different species, from willow warblers to robins.

I went on some walks, cooked some food, watched some TV, read a couple of books. A thoroughly lazy time.

It was nice to be lazy. We are, after all, retired. We are allowed to be lazy. But I don’t think I am very good at it. I found myself twitching and needing to find urgent tasks. I touched up the paint on the outside of the boat. I cleaned and painted an old windlass, and the “napppy pins” we use to moor up against Armco on the towpath. I found a stately home to visit.

One morning when I woke up, I found an angler set up just in front of the boat, staring at the canal, lost in his own thoughts. He left about 4pm. I don’t think he spoke to anyone. I don’t think he caught any fish. I expect my son would tell me he was being “mindful”. My idea of hell.

So yes it has been a lovely lazy week, at the end of a lovely couple of months travelling on Narrowboat Thuis. But enough now. We have to return to the house for a busy month of May, filled with weddings, reunions and trips. I am looking forward to it.

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