Tag: family

No more narrowboating this year – so what is next?

Narrowboat Thuis is back at the marina in Stone for the winter and we are back in our house in Lancashire. As always, we are a little sad at the end of this year’s adventure, but we will be back on “the cut” next year, and can look forward to the next few months of bricks & mortar life.

And I can engage in my favourite pastime of making plans. I get bored very easily and the idea of a quiet retirement fills me with dread. So we will have a couple of weeks at home, seeing family and friends and doing jobs around the house, and then we will be off to North Uist for six weeks.

North Uist is a small island in the Outer Hebrides. We have stayed there before and it will be very peaceful at this time of year. The tourists will have left and restaurants & attractions will have closed. But what will be left for the locals is simply stunning scenery and amazing nature. The weather will either be sideways rain, in which case our cottage with the open fire will be very welcome, or it will be clear and sunny with the best light in the UK. My brother in law is joining us for the first week and he is unconvinced. I can’t wait to take him to see some of the beaches and see what he says.

After the Hebridean trip it will be Christmas and maybe skiing in January. And then, all too soon, it will be February and we will be back on the boat. Come the end of this year I will have been retired for five years. Is it time to go back to a job? Not yet!

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It’s autumn on the Shropshire Union

It really feels that as we have entered September, we have entered autumn. I am waking up in the dark for the first time since March. It rains every day. I am wearing a top as well as a t shirt. I have even started wearing jeans instead of shorts.

So what is good about narrowboating in autumn?

Well one thing is the light. The sunrises and sunsets are just so beautiful. We are currently traveling in the middle of the Shropshire countryside and I look forward to walking the dogs each morning.

Another thing I love is my fellow boaters on the canal. I enjoy boating with the novices during the summer. But it is great at this time of year when my fellow boaters have a little more experience and knowledge. I spent an evening in a proper boaters pub yesterday, geeking out about the life with people who have lived on board since childhood.

And finally, best of all in autumn the insects start to die off. The sunny days have been nice this summer, but the horse flies and wasps less so. I have a boat full of spiders, which helps, but a few frosts will help even more.

But as we head towards winter, there is one thing I am not looking forward to, and that is muddy towpaths. Narrowboats are easy to clean, because they are small, but it is an uphill battle when the dogs bring in their dirty footprints every time they go out.

So what is in like in the “real” world? Are you enjoying autumn too, or missing the sun?

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Maybe wild swimming isn’t as bad as I thought

This week we have been on holiday in Scotland, staying on our niece’s farm. It has been lovely to be back in Scotland. While we love our house in Lancashire and our summers on Narrowboat Thuis, we have both missed this wonderful country, and the family and friends that live here.

We have had many adventures this week. Ten Pin Bowling, Stately Homes, beach walks with the dogs, eating Polish food (it’s a long story), Lammas Fair, family meals, celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary, watching a herd of cows being moved, listening to the very noisy sheep. But my most scary adventure was going dipping with our son Martin (Tin) and his girlfriend Cheryl.

Tin and Cheryl are big fans of wild swimming. All year round they seek out waterfalls, lakes and lochs to dip in. They have amazing countryside in Scotland and they say that going in cold water is invigorating and great for the health. It has never appealed to me.

But on Saturday, Tin had booked a visit to a beautiful country park for four people, where they have a sauna next to the lake. The two people that were meant to join Tin and Cheryl were unable to come so they invited Mandy and me.

Cheryl and Tin jumped straight in. Mandy found a shelved area to slowly immerse herself. And I stood on the edge of the platform for a good ten minutes, trying to build up the nerve to jump. Eventually I made the leap and the shock of the cold water took my breath away, even though it was a warm sunny day.

But I soon warmed up in the water and it did feel good. We then alternated time in the very hot sauna with leaps into the lake. I felt a little dizzy but I was enjoying myself. And best of all, for several hours afterwards I felt energised.

So while I am not sure I will ever become a dipping fan in the way that Tin & Cheryl are, I would do it again, especially during a heatwave. I guess it goes to show that even at 61, every day is a school day.

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Is this the best way to spend a Wednesday?

This Wednesday I spent the day with my brother in law Stephen, and nephew Noah at “The Hundred”. I have written about this event in previous blogs. It is a very short form of cricket, where each match takes only a couple of hours – a bit different from the traditional 5 day test match.

There are pros and cons of each form of cricket and I like all of them. I have very happy memories of spending a day at a test match when very little happened all day. To use the modern phrase, it was “mindful”. I ended up in an almost meditative state.

By contrast the men’s match this Wednesday required full attention. The motto of The Hundred Is “every ball counts” and in this match it was very true. The game between the Manchester Originals and Southern Braves swung each way and the other and with the final few balls to go, there were still four possible outcomes. The Braves could have lost their last two wickets and been all out, the Originals could have had the most runs, the Braves could have had the most runs, or it could have been a tie. What a match!

But another reason I like The Hundred is that it is a proper family day out. There are many more children and women than at traditional cricket matches. There is a singer in the breaks, a DJ to get us all worked up, a band of drummers, and even fireworks. We took a picnic and drank beer (non alcoholic for me because I was driving). For various transport reasons we had a dreadful journey home, but I still went to bed with a big smile on my face after an awesome day.

The best news of all is that I get to do it again Saturday week, when I join my brother and family for our annual pilgrimage to see the Invincibles play at the Oval. And even better, my Oval Invincibles shirt will be a bit less out of place than it was on Wednesday.

What has been your best day out this year?

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Are families like fish?

Benjamin Franklin said that “guests, like fish, start to smell after three days”. Last weekend we had both sons and girlfriends staying with us for just over three days. Did they start to smell?

Firstly it is worth saying that I had the very best time, with the whole family. For various reasons we were not together at Christmas. We saw Tin and Cheryl at New Year but we have not seen Rob and Alessa for months. It felt very special to be all together at our new house in Lancashire. We went for walks, played games and ate so much food, from amazing onion soup at a fancy French gastropub to foot long eclairs from St Anne’s Pier.

The boys got on well, with fewer arguments than normal. And Cheryl & Alessa are both our favourite girlfriends/fiancées ever. In some ways they remind me of Mandy, because it is very clear who is in charge, and they suffer no nonsense from their menfolk, while staying kind, generous and patient to our many foibles.

So did the guests start to smell? Tin took me to one side on our final walk on Beacon Fell, before they set off for home. He said “I know you have had a wonderful time this weekend Dad, but if I said to you that we had decided to come back to the house now I know your face would fall.” He is right. Mandy would have been very happy, but that was not my plan. And as readers of this blog know, I do love a plan. Later this year we are hoping to spend a week with each couple in the Outer Hebrides, so I have no problem exceeding the 3 day rule, but only if that is the plan.

So no, they did not start to smell, but maybe I did. I love it when we have visitors. And I love it when it is just the two of us.

Do you feel the same or do you just love being with friends and family?

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What should I do at the airport first thing in the morning?

I appreciate that followers of this blog probably think that all my life is a holiday. Since I retired I have been able to fulfil many of my bucket list wishes. We spend our summers on a narrowboat and have travelled most of the canals of England. We have spent a month in Orkney and a month in the Outer Hebrides. I interrailed all over Europe for a month. We have skied. We have stayed in castles. I am a very lucky chap.

This week we are having a proper holiday in Lanzarote. Mandy’s brother and his wife invited us to join them for a week. A free holiday in the sun, after weeks of cold, wet, dark, was too much to miss.

We are flying from Manchester and have arrived hours early. I always arrive early when I fly. I panic (unnecessarily) about hold ups in security and missing boarding. In my 60 years of life I have never missed a flight so perhaps I need to relax more. Or maybe the reason I have never missed a flight is because I am obsessive about it.

Either way, it means I always have hours to kill at the airport. What should I do?

The traditional way to use up airport time in the UK is to drink lager. There are only two times it is socially acceptable to get drunk first thing in the morning – Christmas Day and at the airport. There are an awful lot of people here with pints in front of them. But I can’t face that.

We could book an airport lounge. We always used to do that. We could sit on sofas with plenty of space, drinking “free” coffee and reading the newspapers. It is a comfortable way to fly. But prices have recently got ridiculous. It used to cost about £15 a person, but the price here for two of us would have been nearly £100. That is not good value for money.

We could go to the gate early. That would certainly mitigate my lateness paranoia. But the seats are always uncomfortable. They often change the gate. And it is boring.

We could have breakfast. T2 at Manchester has been recently refurbished and there are a wealth of restaurant options. They are pricey at around £17 for a full English, but it’s a lot cheaper than a lounge. I think that is a good choice.

And I still have time to add another option. What better choice for using time at the airport than writing a blog. You should try it.

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Traffic jam on the Llangollen Canal

It has been the quietist summer on British canals for many years. Volunteers from the Canal & River Trust tell me that boat numbers are down a third on last year. There are many reasons for this including a post Covid desire to go abroad, prices being too high from hire companies, and the very wet weather. However that has all changed since the beginning of September and this week on the Llangollen canal has been as busy as any I can remember,

The Llangollen is notoriously a very busy canal and we would not usually have chosen to travel it till later in the month. Often when the kids have gone back to school, retirees get their boats out of the marinas and busy the network. But we had the opportunity to travel with Mandy’s two brothers and their partners, who we’re hiring a boat for a week. It has been a lovely week. We have been down to the very end of the pretty Montgomery Canal, and then along to Llangollen, over the famous Pontcyscyllte aqueduct.

For some reason I don’t understand it is not just old folk like us on the canal this week. Every hire firm seems to have been fully booked for the first time this year, and the cut is full of holiday boaters., We have met groups from America, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden as well as English and Welsh. Why are they all travelling this week?

It has made some of the navigating a little tricky. There was one moment where I thought there would be a standoff between the queue of westbound boats who could not get into a single track tunnel because of boats coming the other way, and a queue of eastbound boats who could not leave the basin after the tunnel because of boats on the aqueduct coming the other way.

Having said that, it has been a really lovely week, full of beauty, adventure, engineering and family. Not a bad way to spend a week… and my life.

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I hate weed

There are certain jobs on a narrowboat that are not very nice. Pumping out the toilet tank is perhaps the worst. But pulling weed and rubbish from around the prop comes a close second. And this week’s canal from Chester to Ellesmere Port is one of the weediest in the country.

If you drive through the vegetation at normal speed, the propellor turns and pulls the weed around it. This causes the steering to fail, the boat to go much slower, and even the engine to stall. To avoid this, there are techniques we have learnt. Drive at speed up to the patch of weed, and then take it out of gear. The boat hopefully floats through the weed unscathed. Or if you do get some weed, try a hard reverse to “spin” it off again. But if neither of these works, you have to moor up the boat, lift the deck boards, climb into the engine bay, unscrew the weed hatch cover, reach down into the murky cold water and pull the weed off the prop and rudder. Fortunately this week I have only had to do that a few times.

It was worth the effort though, because we were able to moor for two nights in the middle of the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port.

I have written in a previous blog about nights in the museum, but suffice to say it is one of our favourite moorings in the mornings and evenings when no-one is around and we have the place to ourselves. It is also a place full of history, where the Shropshire Union Canal joins the huge Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey. In times past it would have been a dirty, noisy dock with hundreds of workers and surrounded by heavy industry. A quiet place today, full of memories.

My son Rob says he loves most of my blogs but not the ones where I complain about something that has annoyed me this week. Sorry Rob but I don’t like weed.

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Five reasons why I love a day at the cricket

I have always been a casual cricket fan. I may watch the highlights on TV of an evening. If there is a big England match, I will keep in touch with the score. Occasionally I will go to one day of a test match, enjoying the slow pace of life, as nothing much happens most of the time. More likely if we are travelling on the narrowboat, I will find a local village match going on, and I will sit on the grass for an hour or two, enjoying the sunshine.

For the past few years my brother has invited me to a day at the Oval cricket ground in London, to see “The Hundred”, a relatively new competition in which each innings lasts just 100 balls, taking about an hour and a half to complete. During the day there is a women’s match and a men’s match, so four innings, lasting from about 2pm to 9.30pm.

It is one of my favourite days of the year. Here are just a few reasons:

* It is a family day. There have been different members of the family each time. This year it was me, my son Martin, my brother Mike and my niece Lucy. We don’t get to see each other much so it is always a fun reunion.

* The Hundred results in excitement. With such a short innings the batters have to take risks all the time, trying to hit fours and sixes and often getting caught. That usually results in matches that could go either way throughout. There is the razzmatazz of fireworks, a DJ and a singer, taking a lead from American football and baseball.

* But it is still cricket. While each team has its own supporters, we all sit together and pretty much everyone gets on. When someone does well they often receive a polite clap rather than whoops and cheers.

* I get to drink beer! We go up to London on the train and it is usually a fairly boozy day, starting in a pub and then moving into the ground. The good news is that I am a somewhat lightweight drinker so slow down in the evening, and wake up the next morning with a relatively clear head.

* My brother makes an awesome picnic. There is plenty enough food for the whole day. This year’s highlights were a ham and cheese bap, made with a strong blue cheese, and homemade sausage rolls, that he cooked freshly just before we left in the morning.

It is just a great day out and I have already requested an invitation for next year. You should try it.

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Am I too old for festivals?

The weekend before last we visited our eldest son Rob and his fiancée Alessa in their new house in Sussex. We had a lovely few days, eating well, drinking well and seeing the sights. I had not realised how beautiful that area of the country is, with rolling chalks downs and extensive views of the sea. Before we arrived Rob called to ask if we would like to join them at “On the Beach”, a music festival in Brighton. Mandy said she would prefer to stay at home with the dogs but I decided to go. I quite like the bands (The Kooks, Maximo Park, Kate Nash and others) and it sounded like an adventure.

I did enjoy the festival. The music was good, the weather stayed mostly fine and we had a few beers. But I did feel old. I was one of the oldest there and I confess I was glad we sat halfway back instead of pushing forwards into the mosh pit. I was also glad when we left before the last few songs so that we could beat the traffic.

If I had been Rob’s age I would have laughed roundly at such behaviours. What an old fogey! But I think at 60 it is time to embrace old fogeyism. I can enjoy occasions such as On The Beach without having to pretend I am 20 again.

What do you think? Is it good to act my age, or is that the first sign of the downward slope towards senility and death?

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