Tag: Dogs

Five ways to enjoy a holiday in Scotland when it is raining

We are staying for a month near Pitlochry in the middle of Scotland. This is not so unusual for us. This time last year we were in North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. One thing to expect in Scotland in the autumn is rain. And this week has been particularly wet,

People often ask us why we would go somewhere wet and windy for a holiday. The answer is that there are many ways we can still enjoy ourselves. Here are just five.

1. Hunker down

We choose cottages with open fires or wood burning stoves. There are few things as cozy as warming yourself in front of real flames. The Scottish government have also invested heavily over the past twenty years in fast fibre for remote communities, so we have good Internet and can stream what we please. This week we watched all the Slow Horses episodes while the gales howled outside.

2. Get out in the fresh air when you can

There are gaps between the heaviest showers, and I don’t mind getting a little wet. A brisk walk with Lulu is great for my mental health. The scenery here is simply stunning and one benefit of all that rain is that the waterfalls are magnificent!

3. Eat well

Scotland may be famous for deep frying everything and this example may just reinforce that idea, but Scotland also has some of the best seafood you can find. This was the freshest most tasty fish and chips that I have had in a very long time. Just what you need to warm the cockles on a cold damp day.

4. Find adventures

Yesterday I drove out to Rannoch Station, probably the most isolated railway station in the UK. From there I got a train to Mallaig on the western coast, just over the sea from Skye. This West Highland Line is widely classed as one of the top train rides in the world and the views were spectacular, whether crossing bleak moors, clinging to the sides of gorges, crossing the Harry Potter viaduct, or looking out to sea. A day to remember.

5. Wait – it will get better

I woke up this morning to this view from our back door. It is beautiful. And the forecast for next week has a couple of days of bright sunshine. I will get out and make the most of it.

Those are just five ways to enjoy this wonderful country at this time of year. Can you think of more? We are very lucky to be here..

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Star Wars Planet Niamos is just up the road

I took Lulu for a seaside walk this week. Usually if we want to go to the beach, we go to St Annes, which is not far away. But this week I fancied somewhere different, so I took her to Cleveleys which is about a 20 minute drive from home.

Cleveleys is a quiet town, mostly populated with retirees (like me) and culturally far away from its sister Blackpool. It is more commonly known as Thornton-Cleveleys because politically is joined up with the ancient village of Thornton. Cleveleys grew rapidly in Victorian and Edwardian times as somewhere for posh people to visit and take the water. Many of them stayed at the massive Hydro Hotel, which had salt water pools and Turkish baths.

The promenade is concrete with an Art Deco styling and that is what attracted the producers of Star Wars series Andor to form the setting for Niamos, a holiday resort planet, under strict rule from the Galactic Empire. There is a famous scene where Cassian Andor is arrested and held against a wall by android K-2SO.

©️ Lucasfilm

This image is often recreated by the many Star Wars fans that visit Cleveleys, dressed as characters from the film. When I was there this week, there were no stormtroopers or rebels, so I found this view through the famous wall.

Instead of recreating film scenes, Lulu and I just wandered along the beach and the prom, enjoying the walk, taking in the fine views and chasing other dogs. It’s a lovely place to visit, even without any cos play.

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Why is Pete’s Blog late?

I have been writing this public blog ever since I retired, nearly six years ago. I used to write a blog for my team when I was working and it sort of carried on from there. Typically I write it on a Thursday, fettle it a little and then publish it early on Friday afternoon. So why am I sitting here on Saturday morning?

I could give you many excuses.

If you remember in last week’s blog I was pondering whether to take Narrowboat Thuis north or south for our last adventure of the year. We decided south, but unfortunately after a couple of day’s boating, Lulu the dog had a rather nasty stomach upset and we decided she needed to get to a vet.

We do know a number of vets along the canals, but as Mandy and I reflected, we both came to the conclusion that we were just not feeling it on this last trip of the year. The weather was not great, I was not getting enough power on my solar panels, and it just felt that we were pushing to do another trip just because we have had less time travelling this year, what with weddings, anniversaries and stuff.

So we drove back to our house in Lancashire and took Lulu to her “home” vet here. The good news is that she is recovering well. So now we have three weeks before our next big adventure – a month in the wilds of Scotland.

If you read my blogs regularly you will know that I hate being bored. So I came up with a monster list of jobs I could now get on with. And that is what I have been doing this week. I have booked a “once in a lifetime” visit to Canada for this time next year, including trains, planes, automobiles and a cruise ship. I have sorted a new bank account to cover our travel insurance and motor breakdown. It appears that buying my own travel insurance would have been twice as expensive because I am old. I have bought a new heat pump tumble drier that I am ridiculously excited about. And I spent a day back at the marina, winterising the boat. That means taking off clothes, towels, bedding, cushions, crockery, glasses, cutlery, food; emptying the water tank, fixing and painting the side door, varnishing the window sills and many other little jobs.

I woke up this morning feeling good and preparing to take Lulu on a lovely circular walk by the sea, when suddenly I realised that after about 300 editions of this blog, for the first time I had forgotten to write.

So what do you think? Do I have good excuses? Or after six years am I finally learning to be retired and relaxed?

Nah. It’s just not good enough. Sorry!

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How do I get back my walking fitness?

For the past year, while Ziggy Dog has been unwell, the lengths of my walks have reduced. Now that I just have Lulu I thought I would get back to it. So on Thursday I took her out to do a chunk of he Ribble Way in Preston.

It was a lovely day. The weather was mild. The countryside was beautiful. I got to pretended I was a train on the old tram route into the city. But after 3 miles Lulu had had enough, and got back in the car with Mandy. And after 6 miles I too was knackered.

This is a far cry from the days when I did many long distance walks including the Pennine Way and Wainwright’s Coast to Coast. In those days, 6 miles would be the first fast stretch before breakfast.

So what is the problem? I suppose that at 12 (Lulu) and 62 (me) we are not quite the young pups we once were. I think I need to learn not to push Lulu too hard. We went on a longish walk together when we were in Scotland and it took her three days to recover.

But that is no excuse for me. I may be older and more rotund, but I can definitely regain some of my walking legs. So rather like runners do with Couch to 5k (I hate running) I think I need to build up to longer walks step by step. They will mostly be flat walks when we are out on the boat because canals tend to avoid hills, but when the boating season ends I can try a bit more up and down. Time to see if my new blood pressure tablets are working.

All fine words, but as my Dad used to say “Good intentions butter no parsnips”. Let’s see if there is any action.

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RIP Ziggy

Our dog Ziggy passed away this week. I thought long and hard about whether to write about her in this blog. It is not really the cheery vibe I am used to. Some people will question why it is such a big deal. She was only a dog. Other people will object to having their own sad memories triggered. But I have decided that writing about something else would be disrespectful to Ziggy. She deserves a few words.

We chose Ziggy and her sister Lulu from a litter of Cairn Terriers born in Doncaster in August 2014. Actually, she chose us, walking over to ask to be picked up and cuddled. She was never the most elegant of dogs. She had a broken leg as a puppy because her bones grew too fast, and always walked with a strange gait, rather like muffin the mule. She had big brown eyes that frankly could get her anything she wanted. And what she usually wanted was sausages.

Lulu was our mad dog – chasing squirrels and snarling at the world. Ziggy on the other hand was quiet and loyal. There was nothing she enjoyed more than a “Ziggy cuddle”, where she lay on her back in my arms, with her head dangling to one side.

I would take the dogs on long walks. They particularly enjoyed the West Highland Way and the Southern Upland Way. Lulu would charge ahead till she got tired, and Ziggy would stay close to heel, hoping for treats. We went on long holidays to Scottish islands – Skye, Orkney, Islay and Uist. They loved beaches where they could run a round like mad things.

And both dogs have always liked being on Narrowboat Thuis, their home from home. Ziggy would sit on the back deck of the boat, watching the world go by, while Lulu scanned the towpath for something to bark at. In the evening Ziggy would try to push her luck, asking for an early tea because she was sooooo hungry.

Two years ago she was diagnosed with multiple cancers and given three months to live. The vets have been amazed how our miracle dog in fact survived nearly two years, and had such a happy time. The last few months were more difficult. She was dosed up with pain killers and couldn’t come on those long walks with her sister anymore. But until a couple of weeks ago she was still clearly a contented and happy dog. In the end I think she had finally had enough but obviously it has been very sad to let her go.

But I refuse to leave Ziggy with sad thoughts. My phone screen saver provides random photographs of the dogs and I was worried seeing Ziggy would upset me. But as I see her again, I am reminded of so very many happy memories. She was the best.

Rest in peace my wonderful, loyal, cuddly dog Ziggy.

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Should I be grumpy that Canal & River Trust have not fixed Bosley Locks?

In early May a boat crashed into the bottom gate of Bosley Locks. Bosley are a flight of 12 locks on the Macclesfield canal that raise a boat 118 feet over just half a mile, taking you from the bottom of the canal to the top. They have been closed since then and I am becoming irritated by Canal & River Trust (CRT) not fixing them.

Going down Bosley Locks two years ago

The problem with the locks being out of action are that boaters like us cannot get up to Macclesfield and the Peak Forest Canal without them. There is a theoretical alternative route through Manchester but the Bridgewater Canal is closed due to a breach a couple of years ago, and the Marple flight of locks at the other end of the Macclesfield has just closed due to a broken balance beam.

I have some sympathy with CRT. The damage to the gate was extensive and exacerbated an existing problem with the gates leaking. However, they took weeks before deciding to drain the lock for a proper examination, and then a while to install scaffolding and fix the issue.

As you probably know, we pootled along the Caldon Canal for a while and had a lovely time, but last week they said it would be open at 4pm on Tuesday so we set off. Then, at 1pm on Tuesday CRT sent a notice that they had found another issue and would not be opening. Next update is Friday but I am not holding our breath. We have winded (turned around) and come back to Kidsgrove.

I don’t have a problem with the gate failure. Stuff happens, especially with two hundred year old locks. But I think they should have found the second problem when they examined the lock weeks ago. And I think their communication should have been a lot better throughout.

But we do not live on a boat to get grumpy. We enjoyed our trip up to Congleton, and I had a lovely afternoon looking at the museum and town hall there. It must have been such a dirty smelly mill town a hundred years ago, but is now bright and feels optimistic. And we are currently moored in one of our favourite places, just north of the Harecastle tunnel, where iron ore in the soil makes the canal run red, and the birds seem to sing all day long.

There is another lovely route down the “heartbreak hill” flight of 31 locks towards Middlewich, so we will probably head that way when the rain stops. A good friend is visiting us next week from New Zealand via South America, so we do not want to get too far anyway.

And who knows, maybe on Friday they will tell us Bosley is open again. Life’s too short to be grumpy.

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Is the Caldon Canal the most beautiful?

In last week’s blog I pondered whether we should take Narrowboat Thuis along the Caldon to Froghall, along the Macclesfield and Peak Forest to Whaley Bridge or up the Trent & Mersey to Middlewich. Our answer was to try to do all three. This week we have been cruising the Caldon, and it is one of the quietist and most beautiful canals we have visited.

We left the Trent & Mersey in Stoke at Etruria. This is where Josia Wedgewood had his china factory and it has much industrial history. When we passed through there was a canal festival going on, so the canal was lined with historical boats and maybe a thousand gongoozlers (people who like to watch boats).

The first few miles of the Caldon are notorious and you are advised not to moor if you don’t want to meet dodgy characters. So it was no surprise when the boat suddenly stalled with a duvet wrapped around the propellor. Fortunately I have recently purchased a bread knife to keep in the engine bay for things like this and after a few minutes I had cut myself free.

A few miles later, the character of the canal changed completely. Surrounded by trees and plants it meanders through Staffordshire. We cruised up the Leek Branch first and moored for a couple of days by a lake. It was very peaceful except when the cows decided to visit.

Then back to the mainline and through the Churnett valley to Froghall. At times the canal is only wide enough for one, but not many boats come down here so it was fine. There is a tunnel at the end of the navigation but it is too low for NB Thuis so we turned around.

The strangest thing for me about this lovely canal is that it was not always this way. It was built for heavy industry and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it would have been filthy with effluent from lime and flint kilns, coal mines and colour mills, feeding the factories of Stoke on Trent and further afield. We are currently moored next to a Flint Mill museum, which is absolutely fascinating. Who knew that fine china was made with more ground flint than clay. I did not even realise that bone china is actually made with 50% cattle bones.

So is the Caldon the most beautiful canal? I’ll let you know when we have been back on the Peak Forest!

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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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The ducklings are back!

Just over a week ago, Mandy and I were commenting that we had not seen any baby birds this year. It is lovely to pootle along on Narrowboat Thuis, watching for the ducklings, goslings, cygnets, cooties and moorhen chicks. I am not sure why moorhen chicks don’t get a cute name like the others.

Well this week the ducklings have started arriving and I have seen new families every day.

This group of ten ducklings were so small we wondered if they had ever been in the water. Mummy duck jumped into the canal in front of us, and one by one the ducklings followed, kicking their legs to try to work out how to stop going in circles.

I learnt something new about ducklings this week. Apparently the mother only lays one egg a day, but does not sit on the nest to incubate them until she has a full set of eggs. That way they all hatch at about the same time. Very clever.

I took Lulu dog for a walk to a bird sanctuary yesterday. The geese were being quite aggressive. I reckon that may be because they also have eggs coming up to hatching. Now we have the ducklings I look forward to seeing the other birds. It is a great time of year for nature and a great time of year to be on a boat.

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Does March have the biggest temperature differences?

Living in a house, it is easy to ignore the weather. Central heating and good insulation literally insulate us from it. On a Narrowboat things are somewhat different. This week has given us a good example of that. We have had the most beautiful blue sky days. Great weather for Spring boating.

On Wednesday the temperature on the boat got up to 26°C, even with all the windows open. But overnight the clear skies dropped the temperature to 1°C. I think this must be the greatest daily difference I have seen. In Winter the temperatures stay cold. In Summer they are hot. And in the Autumn they tend to be mild.

It is a special time. I have loved starting the daily cruise with ice on the roof and wrapped in layers and a coat. I have loved shedding the layers as the day goes on. I have loved mooring up early afternoon and taking Lulu Dog for a walk to see fields full of lambs.

It’s a good time of year.

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