A Tale of Aerials and Osteothingies

There is, we are discovering, a natural rhythm to this boating life. Periods of intense boating activity are interspersed with periods of staying put and mixing with them "English" (You need to be a lover of Harrison Ford's film "Witness" to get the derivation of this boating term . The discerning reader will,of course, also have noted that that the phrase "staying put" is not in any way connected with a phrase denoting "inactivity". Well at least, not while you have a Granny on board!

While speaking of the more mature woman, it is interesting to note how you can bring immense pleasure to her life by the mere purchase of a shiny six foot aluminium pole and a brass deck socket. "What is the old fool on about now!" you cry. Well if a boatman is to get a bit of piece and quiet in the day, herself needs to be provided with her daily dose of "Countdown" each afternoon at four (together of course with tea and cake). (As an aside, herself has declared that the girl Rachael is every bit as good as the Voordman with the numbers -the wardrobe is visibly smaller. If you are not a watcher of Countdown this will mean nothing to you and all we can say is............... "Get a Life!") To continue..... if this can be provided the Boatman is guaranteed some peace and quiet; provided that is the snores are coming in on his deaf side - the mature woman has perfected the art of "dropping off" in the afternoon. "And where is all this leading," you ask. Well you see it all comes down to TV reception and with all this moving about to frequent retuning.

Now if you want to ensure good reception a chap would say, "Buy the biggest aerial you can get. Look at this. Marvelous; 56 element job suitable for weak signal areas. Sorted". But the female mind does not work this way. She can't be doing with all that iron mongery on top of the boat. Makes it look untidy. Gets convinced by the man in the chandlery that this neat little Avtex job with built in signal booster powered from the aerial socket on the TV (5 volts) is the answer to a girl's dreams. In practice though, stuck to the boat roof with the very neat little suction mast it come with it's, we have to say, rubbish. His giant array of coat-hangers does the business. Which is where the shiny, six foot, aluminium pole and brass deck socket come in. She is convinced that the neat little job needs to be up higher and so the Braunston Chandlery provides the pole and we have to say,in our present resting place, at the top of the Ashby Canal, at Snarestone,........ she is right. There it sits, some 10 to 12 feet above the surface of the canal and we have good reception, digital channels and all.Countdown viewing assured. We wait with bated breath to see how it performs elsewhere. But,.............. he has also got a universal clamp so the array of coat-hangers can be rousted out and fitted to the pole in case of need. Nothing is going to get in the way of his afternoon peace and quiet.

People appear to either love or hate the Ashby Canal. This is rural, meandering, lock free boating. In places narrow, often shallow, no place for boy racers. No great industrial architecture of bygone ages either. Small settlements along its course. A coal canal, with, in its day some 28 pits of the South Derbyshire coalfield. Views over open fields with neatly trimmed, sloping sided hedges. This is hunting country. The Bosworth battlefield site and centre where the 32 year old Richard III met his end in Kings Field next to the canal. Well actually, probably not. The pleasant walks up Ambion Hill it seems do not look out over the battlefield site. Recent research and field archaeology appears to show that it was about a mile away. Still a good walk though and an interesting afternoon's visit. And for the steam enthusiast the restored Battlefield line Shenton station.

Since our last visit in October the number 7 bus now goes every hour and a half instead of every hour from Snarestone to Ashby. Which is where the Osteothingie comes in. You may recall from the last post stories of dodgy backs and grimacing. Well to cut a long story short, he who smugly declares that he has learned to manage his back problems will one day eat humble pie. And he has, by the bucket. Icing regimes, gel packs, sacro-iliac joints, nerve roots, inflamtion, analgesia and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory compounds all come in there somewhere. Lets just say he can now stand up straight (just) and may well be sleeping in a bed again tonight,emphasis on sleep.

On a more cheerful note we have re-aquainted ourselves with the delights of the Globe Inn by the moorings here, great Sunday Lunch (not served on tea plates), nice beer. As an interesting postscript, we left here in October to travel to Bath for the winter. It took us three weeks. From leaving Bath the return has taken us three months!

What's all that stuff about old dogs and new tricks?

Spring is definitely here. Canal side is ablaze with yellow celandine. First the willow and then the hawthorn buds burst. The world is turning green. Flowering cherry in gardens and trees along the cut are all blooming. We've had some glorious sunny days and now the fire is only lit in the late evening or early morning when herself decides "I'm cold!".

Our big dog, Micah, a lurcher of a beautiful golden hue, now well peppered with the white of age is a dog of somewhat aristocratic demeanour. A dog not known for rapid response. "Do I have to? Oh well if I must I suppose I will." A dog of somewhat Eeyorish temperament. "Don't worry about me. I'll be all right in this cold damp corner." But not for long. Himself gets up to make the morning tea. Where is big dog? You can't miss him. Curled in his bed which he has dragged right in front of the fire! couldn't get it any closer. If it had been any closer he would have been in the fire! Like herself, he doesn't like to be cold.

After the Kennet, the Thames was a pussy cat. Beautiful countryside, beautiful houses but definitely the habitat for GRP river cruisers. After a night at a lock landing stage at Days Lock for lack of suitable narrowboat mooring we continue north to Abingdon, one place on the Thames with plenty of moorings for narrowboats. The Thai Orchid was excellent as we spend a couple of days and manage to ring at St Helen's before we continue up to Oxford, dodging scullers and eights all the way. Up past Oxford and into Dukes cut to be back in paradise, .... a narrow gauge canal.

The weather is not as good with windy dull mornings and threats of rain. Afternoons are glorious though and on one such we arrive in the centre of Banbury on a Friday afternoon. Banbury a town that embraces it's canal with the great Castle Quay moorings right next to the shopping centre;...... dangerous! Friday evening and a return visit to Fabio's, best Italian restaurant in the district. Palm Sunday Service in the baroque church is good, although dodgy back prevents a trip up the tower. Monday night at Claydon and friends drive over to join us for an evening meal. Napton locks and we descend from the summit to Napton junction and so along the Grand Union to Braunston to spend Maundy Thursday and Good Friday with the good folk at All Saints there.

Now he's got a new toy. Waterway, a GPS system for inland waterways. "What you want a Satnav for canals for? there's only one way you can go!" Women just don't understand do they. Now Mike Kelly the man behind the program lives in Braunston and so himself drops in for a chat. Need a doctor, dentist, pub, laundrette? All this stuff is available as POI's (points of interest) on the map. As Mike's wife explains, the program had its conception the time they were out in the middle of nowhere and she has a husband in agony, needing medical attention and she has no idea where they are. The program has all the text from the Nicholson's canal guides incorporated. The advantage over printed guides being that as users email in corrections and new info it is updated very quickly. Updates appear every couple of weeks for download from the website. After pointing him to the Dove download, 4,000 towers with rings of bells (including practice nights) have now been added. It also has lots of caravan/camp sites next to waterways so we can point friends to places they can come and see us for a weekend in the camping season. Route planning with distances and expected cruising times, together with measuring tools complete the suite. Have a look at http://eureauweb.com/eewnew/

From Braunston we've moved on to Rugby and the mooring next to Mr Tesco. Easter Sunday and a half hour walk into the centre of town and the church of S Andrew; unique in that it has two rings of bells. The old church was rebuilt in the 1850's but the medieval tower with its 9cwt ring of five bells was retained. Then in the 1890's a much more impressive tower and spire where added on the NE corner of the church and a 24cwt ring of eight bells was installed. On the first Monday and second Sunday of the month they ring the five and on the others the eight. So here we are, Easter Sunday, second Sunday of April and join in ringing the five (ring from 9.45 to start of service at 10.30). "Nice to ring on a number of bells I feel comfortable with," she says. She's suffering from eight and ten bell overload although she can stand up to Grandsire and Stedman triples with some confidence. The local Met Office forecast has let us down for the first time. The promised sunshine hasn't materialised. Tomorrow we continue north towards Ashby.

And so dear reader, our story is up to date. From now we trust we will manage to keep posting in a more timely fashion.

Not for those of a nervous disposition!

Well we all have those phobias that convince us that the sky is about to fall in. For Big Dog it's fireworks and as for Litle Hairy Dog? He's just found out....... smoke alarms. Well you see we had, as all good holders of a BSC (Boat Safety Certificate), a smoke alarm. But it was ten years old and well, push the little test button and....... silence. So we had to get a new one sometime. On a train visit to Newbury himself eventually gets one. Fixes it. Presses the little test button and......... silence. A duff one. So when we eventually arrive in Newbury by boat we get it exchanged fitted and fine and like all good smoke alarms, you are concocting some culinary delight and ....... beeeep!!!!! Well for a small hairy dog this is the trump of doom. The sky is about to fall in. Panic, shake and quiver, pant. Next day same thing. Oh b.....er, "Take the battery out," she says. Trouble is that now, the smell and sound of anything frying and........ shake, quiver, pant the thing hasn't gone off but it could do and then the sky WILL fall in. It's a hard life for a dog.

But we get ahead of ourselves. On the appointed day we move off to Hungerford and as planned joined a very good ringing practice. Went to the club for a cheap pint with the lads and lasses, as you do and himself (she declined) gets invited to ring in a quarter peal of Grandsire Triples on the Sunday evening for Evensong. Well we had planned to move to Kintbury for the weekend with the locks opening. "We'll come and fetch you," they say. "It's not far". It's then you get paranoid about the fates not wanting you to leave a place because the news from BW is, "Navigation closed at Burghfield lock. Boat sunk in mid-channel!" So we stay at Hungerford for the weekend.

The sun is shining it's warm so we grasp the opportunity to renovate the paintwork on the hull sides; she look lovely. Ringers recommend the Downgate pub for a good honest Sunday Lunch and our sons come to visit (it's Mothering Sunday). The quarter peal? Didn't get it; but himself acquitted himself well enough and has been promised another attempt when we return this way.

So Monday we set off for Newbury and spend a nice day there. Now this is where the waterway becomes a navigation where the canal joins the River Kennet for long stretches and this is where the fun begins (for those not of a nervous disposition). The sight of rushing water emerging from the channel on the left and the big rubber balloons round the sides of the narrow Newbury bridge give some intimation that this passage will not be at the usual leisurely 4 miles per hour. After watching to see how others tackled the task we go for it and after regaining quieter waters, do what all good boaters do after such an adrenalin rush; visit the laundrette.

The Kennet may be a small river and there may not have been any rain to speak of for weeks but it certainly knows how to flow. Sunken boat due to be raised Friday so on we go. Winds are strong making boat handling tricky so it's open both gates at the broad locks rather than the usual just open one and slide through. Sky looks black, sudden squall and some well placed trees to quickly belay mooring ropes prevent us being on the towpath with Avon Rose on the offside. Next day move off, share a lock, river section, quite wide, under the M4, round the corner, ALL ASTERN! Large tree blown down across the channel and a broad beam boat secured to the bank and it with its skipper wielding a saw to try and cut a way through. This is Friday the day we expect the sunken boat to be raised. Suddenly two white pick-ups drive into the field. Hurray the boys in blue to the rescue. "Sorry sir, we're just assessing the situation." It's the dreaded Safety Elf again. "Need a boat to do this. Can't have lads wielding chainsaws without a stable platform. Off they go and another 15 minutes with the saw from our friend on the broad beam and we have a way through.

Next stop lock 103 and a walk down the towpath to see the divers in the water raising the sunken boat sufficiently with well placed air bags to winch it to the side. Well by mid Friday afternoon it's out of the way and off we set for Reading.


Now you might think that is enough excitement. But no, and we haven't told you about the Woolhampton lock where you have to open the electrically operated road swing bridge a hundred yards downstream before you leave the lock and the mad reversing and leap to shore with the stern rope so your crew doesn't have to walk 2 miles to rejoin ship. The trip through Reading is something else. County lock; lowers the boat by 1 foot 2 inches. Nothing to worry about. No..... only it's on a blind right hand corner while the river goes straight on over a foaming weir. The trick is to alight under the road bridge on the bend and walk the boat round; but the current is so strong if you don't judge the landing right, shall we say you are glad your boat is made of steel. Then when you walk the boat out of the tail of the lock you are glad of the kind passer by who helps you heave it out of the eddy sucking the boat into the tail of the weir. And then the river narrows and one way traffic is the name of the game, controlled by traffic light! Push the button, we've got a green light, go.o.o.o.oo.!!!!!!! Sharp left into the Reading loop for a night's mooring. A loop off the main channel it might be but still a good flow so mooring was shall we say... interesting.

Saturday morning and out onto the Thames. It blowing a chill wind but at least we are going upstream which makes handling easier and we have big locks mannned by friendly lock-keepers, except that is for the ones that aren't. (It is out of season. River boaters don't come out in force till Easter it seems). At the unmanned ones herself amused herself pressing the buttons to make it all work. The Thames is wide, plenty of room, pretty scenery, grand houses and..... lack of good moorings for passing narrowboats.

The Bedwyn interlude

Well there we were at Great Bedwyn and where are we now? Great Bedwyn. It was the wrong kind of ice or snow or mud or whatever and so what the day before had been "We're just a couple of days behind," has turned into a two week extension of the stoppage at Kintbury. First passage through on Saturday 21 March. Thank heaven for the bakery. At least we can console ourselves with fresh bread every day...... and of course cake.

While herself was away He's been and explored Marlborough. "You'll like Marlborough dear, about every third shop is a coffee house or tea shop." And she did. Good bus service every hour and market Wednesday and Saturday.

Well If we are going to have to hang about for another couple of weeks we might as well do it in Bedwyn. Definitely a doggy village; even has it's own professional dog walker. Lots of footpaths and walks up the hillsides and through the forest. Savernake forest, (beech and oak with the occasional carpet of snowdrops); pronounced Sav-ver-nak we are told. The dogs enjoy a morning walk to Little Bedwyn along the tow-path each day and halfway there in the evenings. Tow-path walking good as both can be let off the lead, being fenced in on two sides.

Now you see some remarkable sights along the tow-path at times. Things to take your breath away. One in particular was presaged by big dog suddenly ducking (I've never seen a dog duck before) as this ghostly white apparition suddenly emerged from over the hedge. A barn owl, out on the hunt just as the sun was setting. As it swooped low over the wetlands, the low sun reflecting off its pale underside, flight that looked like a huge butterfly in slow motion. Amazingly beautiful as it circled round past us and we looked it full in the face. On the other side of the canal is an iron-age hill fort by which is an ancient chapel now used for storage, which we learned later is where it lives.

We had said, when we were in Devizes, that a trip to Avebury stone circle would be good; but because of the bad weather we never made it. Well yesterday we did. A lovely sunny day and bus to Marlborough and then the Swindon bus to Avebury and a delightful day. What's there to see is all down to marmalade! Alexander Keiller the archaeologist in the 1930's used his inherited fortune from his family's marmalade business to uncover buried stones and restore the monument to what can be seen today it seems. It's now in the care of the National Trust.

Today is miserable. It's trying to rain and the weather forecast is for possible snow. But are we bovered????? Well not as long as it just comes for a day. Tomorrow is market day and we need to go and see if the laundrette we have heard of in Marlborough is still open. The washing machine on the boat is fine when we are on the move. (Even he did a couple of loads while she was away). The problem this time of year is getting stuff dry. Oh the trials of the boating life; though you could hardly call backing up 100 yards once a week to refill the water tank boating.

15 mar
So there I was, peacefully drinking the mid-morning coffee and suddenly the boat starts to rock violently from side to side. No it wasn't the after effects of the red wine! Then again, sound of tremendous wash from a passing boat; some maniac not slowing down, clonk on side of boat. Didn't hear an engine, in fact didn't see a boat. Are we being bombed by enraged ducks demanding breakfast? There goes another. Peak out of the window and........mad canoeists! It's the Pewsey to Newbury time trial. One of the preliminary events on the K&A before the Annual Easter big one - Devizes to Westminster. A hundred and twenty six miles in about twenty hours we were informed by a squad of eager Royal Engineers out on a training day during the week.

We were about to start on one of our trips into Marlborough when we met them; market day, laundrette or some such. The laundrette is down a little alley behind an antique shop. You get it all to yourself on non-service wash days and Krumbs sandwich bar three doors down makes the whole thing bearable - takeaway soup and baguettes to die for. After a delicious nut and bean creation herself is now on an urgent quest for a supplier of chilli jam!

Anyway, getting back to the canoeists; rather than sitting and getting sea-sick himself and the dogs set off on the morning walk down the tow-path. There are not just one or two of these guys. There's an entry of something like 200! Setting off in pairs at minute intervals they keep coming for hours. By the time they reach us they've already been going for over and hour and a quarter. What a way to spend Sunday. And it's not just straight paddling. On the K&A about every mile it's pull your boat out f the water, pick it up and run round a lock, back in the water and off you go till the next one. Mind you, the enthusiasm varies a great deal. It ranges from the real hard cases (with their team of supporters arriving by car or bike at the next lock, stuffing energy giving bits of banana or chocolate into the paddlers' mouths as they race past with canoe on shoulder and topping up their water bottles) to the pair of lads lustily singing Jerusalem and Christmas Carols as they paddled on in apparently no particular hurry.

Spring is definitely in the air. Even big dog had a mad canter round in circles in pure delight this evening. Temperatures are rising. We let the fire die during the day. This evening was lovely and balmy, still air, fish rising. Needed a fly line and a rolling cast. A pair of young lads camping by Burnt Mill lock had a 12lb carp the night before. The local paper reported a Salmon caught in the K&A - the first reported in the waterway for 150 years! And another surprise, we saw a Little Egret down by the river (white, small heron-like bird). We will miss the place.

Devizes to Bedwyn

From Devizes we moved on to All Cannings to be frozen in again. Lovely community village. Have re-opened their village shop by running it as a community service, manned and run by volunteers. Been so successful that they are building an extension to give them more retail and storage space. Good ringing with an active band of 14 including teenagers and adult learners. They were glad to see us as we were able to help them do more with the learners. Nice pub too!

We then took Avon Rose home to her first mooring at Honey Street at Gibson's Boat Services, filled with diesel and chewed the fat with the man. The sawmill was also able to provide us with half a load of logs, now piled on the roof, so herself is a happy bunny; "I like a wood fire". The fact that she occasionally fills the boat with smoke by keeping the fire door open ("I like to see the flames!") and sets off the carbon monoxide alarm is neither here nor there. The Barge Inn is also our kind of pub; wood floors, log fires and welcomes dogs on leads (do a very nice line in cheesy chips - small dogs quickly scavenge any dropped by large dogs because they are a bit hot!). Also a centre for crop circle enthusiasts; last summer was a good year for them mine host informs us.

A pause at Pewsey for the weekend to attend church (missed the ringing, they stop 15 mins before service) and watched the rugby in the pub by the canal on Saturday. Himself and the landlord the only England supporters there! It was full of them Welsh and an ex pat Aussie! Outrageous!!! Nice village with lots of shops (small town really) but somewhat remote from the canal; good fifteen minute walk with hill.

So we've moved on to Great Bedwyn to pause here for a week as we have nearly 3 weeks before Kintbury locks are open. Lovely church, heavy six but they only practice on the first Monday of the month and service ringing by arrangement only. She's jumped ship! Lured away by the promise of a soak in a hot bath. These part time sailors! The excuse is she's going to help our daughter decorate their new kitchen. Good train service from Bedwyn into Reading and Paddington. A trip to Newbury for a day out is perfectly feasible. He'll have to kick his heels here on his own; making do with fresh crusty bread, pies and cakes from the village bakery. It's a hard life for an old boatman. Aaaaaaaaah.

On to Devizes

When you see the middle 16 stretching before you in a row like that they can seem a little intimidating ; but we did it (all 29) in just over 4 hours coming up. Worked well with Bob and Pam, on their way to the sawmill at Honey Street to pick up a 38 foot spruce pole to make a new mast for their sail boat at Bristol. And so here we are in Devizes where, as elsewhere, the snow came making everything look very pretty. The temperature dropped and the canal froze and everything got very slippery. Ducks are walking on water, swans are acting like icebreakers and both our dogs have managed to slip and fall in while getting ashore over the rear of a boat we were moored next to for a couple of nights.

Now if you are a large and rather bony dog with not much fat you don't appreciate drafts. So much so, that in the middle of the night as the saloon temperature falls a bit, you get up, have a wander around and let the human beings know that you are not happy! Your bed may be very soft and equipped with folded blankets on which to rest your head, but if there's a draft round your back it just won’t do! What joy then, to be in Devizes with its excellent pet shop on New Park Road. Herself finds a dog bed in the Sale that matches the boat décor, but more importantly has nice high sides that curl round your back and keep the drafts off you. Oh joy; dog heaven. Go out in that weather? You have to be kidding! Hairy dogs of course just don't care.

It was one of those "what shall we do today" moments. What do you do in Devizes when you've got a few days to kill? Visit the Wiltshire Heritage Museum of course, hoping to look particularly at the Neolithic exhibits. The problem with out of season visits is that is when the builders come in, so half the museum is not available (including the Neolithic....damn!). The consolation is that the entrance fee is waived. And as we wander round herself says, "Isn't that.......?". One look, battered trilby on the back of the head, flowing locks appearing from under the brim, strong Wiltshire accent; yes it’s Phil Harding from Channel Four's Time Team doing the day job. "I have to shake your hand," she says, "I've listened to you so many times on the telly". You never know who is going to turn up.

So now we are waiting for the weather to improve so we can move on. We've deposited our read books and completed jigsaw at the Oxfam shop and bought and started another Jiggy. A nice steak and kidney pudding would go down nicely in this wintry weather. This white stuff is all very pretty but it's time it went.

Well if you are going to test if you can survive a winter on the water then you might as well choose the worst winter weather for 13 years and see how you get on. And............... well OK. We haven't been cold. We've been frozen in several times, but keeping a sharp look out on local weather forecasts and ensuring you are near to all services when temperatures plummet is the way to go. February really is a dreary month but the evenings are lightening and the snow drops are out so spring is coming. The last couple of days have had some lovely warm sunshine to lift the spirits but with great patches of snow still about where sun has failed to penetrate it is very soggy underfoot.

Small dogs require stilts, their undersides are much too close to the ground. Their fluff and tail attracts muck and twigs like a magnet. What should be white and pink comes in from the morning constitutional dripping liquid mud. In the shower again followed by chasing up and down the boat and rubbing itself on the carpet. "I hate being clean!" The super pet shop in Devizes did have a waterproof small dog coat that zipped at the back so the undersides were covered and had little sleeves for the legs. Herself was tempted but knew he would hate it, so resisted. Snow was still on the frozen ground then so mud was not such a problem.

It's been a long time coming!!!

Well the last post was in January and now its April already and at last another post. The private blog has continued on a regular basis but I've failed to keep this one going due, in some extent, in trying to decide how to continue. Are folk really interested in yet another canal travel log? The answer is I don't know. Friends seem to enjoy what I write. And then when I sign in I see that "The Meanderings" has a follower, so someone is interested.

And so dear reader I came to the conclusion that rather than attempting to run two completely different blogs I will publish here an edited version of the other. You, no doubt will soon let me know if it is of interest.

So stand by, a rash of posts to come in quick succession, as we catch up with the Meanderings of Avon Rose.