Seeing the sights... on land

We concluded that it probably wasn't the best day to be visiting gardens as we drove to Lincolnshire under a sky grey and hazy with Saharan dust. But at least it wasn't windy and rainy, and the flowers would still be out, despite the gloom above. So we arrived, first at Easton Walled Gardens.

We came here four years ago, while were having a short break in the area. It's a lovely site, and the flowers were a delight. The whole place is a major project, having once been the site of a rather grand house which was so badly treated by British soldiers billeted there during World War 2 that is had to be demolished after they vacated it. It's not the first time we've heard this story about the abuse of such houses as this, and it angers us each time, that people who gave up their homes for the sake of the war effort had to lose them entirely. How on earth was it allowed? At any other time, it would be called vandalism, and treated a a crime, with compensation paid.

The project is going well, and we saw a number of signs of improvement as we wandered the grounds. None of what remains of the house is open to the public, however.

Having eaten a lovely lunch there, we moved on to nearby Woolsthorpe Manor, the house where Isaac Newton was born, and spent much of his life. We'd been here before, too, but were glad to return to refresh our memories, and to see and learn new things, too.

The tree still remains under which Newton sat when he developed a theory of gravity. His diary makes no mention of an apple falling on his head, though, as the mythology would have us believe!

It was a good day out, despite the atmospheric pollution.

Today, Said the Maiden start their tour, supporting Dave Swarbrick at 14 venues around England and Wales. Caerphilly tonight. Have fun, Maidens!

The short cruise!

On Thursday of last week, we went again to the cinema, this time to see "Labor Day".

"Depressed single mom Adele and her son Henry offer a wounded, fearsome man a ride. As police search town for the escaped convict, the mother and son gradually learn his true story as their options become increasingly limited."

This is another highly entertaining film, superbly acted and directed, especially young Gattlin Griffith, playing Henry.

As we left Cineworld, the sky had cleared a little, and the wind dropped. Perhaps tomorrow we'd be off on the cut. When we got back to Kantara, Grace cooked a large banana cake, nibbles for the cruise!

Boaty banana cake

2 eggs

4 ozs butter

6 ozs caster sugar (or dark brown sugar)

8 ozs self raising flour

pinch of salt (not literally a pinch, you know what I mean)

heaped teaspoon of mixed spice

3 large or 4 small (ish) overripe bananas

couple of handfuls of sultanas (if you like)

Cream the butter and sugar till it's soft and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, then the banana.

Fold in the flour and spice.

Stir in the sultanas.

Use a bit of milk to make it softer, or a bit more flour to make it firmer as necessary to get a soft dropping consistency.

Put into a suitable greased container and bake at about gas mark 5 in a dodgy boat oven until...hmmm... until it's done. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour in mine.

Sure enough, Friday proved to be a bright and still day, albeit a bit nippy for the time of year, so off we went. We didn't get to leave until around 1:00pm, and we stopped for lunch an hour later. There were few other moving boats on the water; we saw perhaps twelve in the five hours we travelled.

After lunch, the sky had clouded over a bit, and a wind had sprung up. We set off into that wind, and started to feel rather chilly. Travelling slowly because of heading into the wind, we arrived at Welford Junction wondering if we'd reach the end the Arm before the light failed us, but we carried on.

The water was shallow for long stretches, slowing us even more, but we arrived at a good mooring at around 6:00, and just in time before the light gave out.

The next morning

We ate at The Wharf Inn that evening, the very best mushroom soup we've ever tasted, followed by a superb beef lasagne and salad for me and, for Grace, a chicken and leek pie - which we had to send back to the chef because the puff pastry was not properly cooked. Shame. Their food is generally very good.

We woke to a beautiful Saturday morning, and set off towards Foxton. Our passage was delayed 30 to 40 minutes by a boat ascending Welford Lock, being filmed for Chico Chugg, to be a CBBC programme based on a series of children's books.

Their progress was further hampered by another film crew filming them, making a documentary about film-making.

It was a fabulous day to cruise. Clear skies, bright sun, and very warm. There were again few boats moving, and we had the canal to ourselves most of the time. We moored for the night at the top of Foxton Locks.

Sunday was again a beautiful day. We had a leisurely start, and our departure was even later than we expected because of our failure to remember that the clocks went forward that morning! Our descent of the staircase was at a good pace, aided by a couple of lockies and a host of helpful gongoozlers.

Coming out of the bottom lock, we turned right onto the Market Harborough Arm of the canal - new territory to us. I had problems with the second swing bridge, crossed by a road. In order to swing the gates across the road at each end of the bridge, one has to make sure that the bridge is fully closed - to the inch! But unfortunately, it had the habit of moving slightly as soon as I moved towards the barriers; the mechanism for anchoring it was clearly faulty. This was only solved when a man came along and gave me a hand.

This was followed by an unmoorable stretch, so lunch was late, and when we finally found a good spot at which to eat, we decided to stop there for the rest of the day and night.

As we ate that evening, we listened to Said the Maiden doing a spot on Sue Marchant's evening show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, big smiles on our faces.

Monday's weather continued the warm, springy weather trend, and we made our way down to the basin at Union Wharf, Market Harborough. The canal and the countryside were lovely, but the water had a great deal of floating detritus; cut reeds and pieces of tree, sometimes large, which made travel potentially hazardous. We moored just outside the basin, and Grace went into town for a bit of shopping.

After lunch, we winded in the basin, and returned up the arm towards Foxton again. As had happened on the way up, we found ourselves from time to time behind holiday boaters on their way out of or into the Union Wharf where the Canal Boat Club hire company is based. It made us smile, seeing some of them going so slowly and tentatively; they happily allowed us to pass them at a more confident pace.

The swing bridge was not as problematic as before. I had a brisk walk from there to the first swing bridge at the Foxton junction, opening that in time for Kantara and a Canal Boat Club boat slip through and turn left to the bottom lock. It was only five minutes before the "last boat up" time, but the volunteer lock-keeper let us in, with one boat immediately above us, and the one behind. I was met by Joanna from Smudge in the berth next to us at Yelvertoft. Joanna is a volunteer lockie, and she helped me up most of the staircase. Fifty minutes later, Grace drove Kantara out of the top lock, and to the nearest suitable mooring, where we stayed the night.

Tuesday was our longest cruising day. As regular readers will have noticed, we don't strive to do a particular number of miles each day, or achieve a particular destination, nor cruise for a given number of hours. Rather, we keep going until we find a good place to stop for the night, and this might be mid-afternoon. But this day we set ourselves the marina as a target. The weather was lovely again, although it was beginning to deteriorate a little by the time we got to Yelvertoft. With some slow miles behind other boats, a leisurely lunch, and a no-hurry attitude, we pulled into our berth at around 5:00pm. 47 miles and 22 locks.

It was a lovely start to our cruising season. Today, it's raining!

Jolly good boating weather? Hey ho!

Strong, cold wind; rain; very strong, cold wind; heavy rain; sleet; thunder and lightning; more wind – strong. OH! Sunshine! But still the wind! We were expecting to start a week's cruise this week, but the weather outlook is miserable, so it might have to wait. The skies have been amazing.

Meanwhile, Colin has fitted the new pump in the Alde, and closed the extraneous hole in the hull. He'll be back soon to drill the new hole for the cratch cover stud. Roy's just been to look at our latest ideas for the galley renovation. Soon we cruise, hopefully. But the weather has to show willing first!

We have six cruises planned for the year, totalling around 16 weeks. Market Harborough, Brentford, a week with Michelle (not 100% sure where to yet), Llangollen, the Ashby canal and Coventry with Christine and Mike, and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Yesterday we saw "The Grand Budapest Hotel", a strange, often surreal film with an unusual cast list. Fascinating, amusing, very entertaining.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of Gustave H., a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent."

This afternoon, we stock up with food so that we can set off to Market Harborough just as soon as the weather lets us. The is no point getting wet, cruising in the rain; nor is there any sense in mooring up at the bank in the rain when we could be moored here with a landline! And, oh! - it's just started to pour down! With hail!

Best boat clock ever!

I've just hung a clock, given to us by Grace's sister, Christine, and her husband Mike - a gift on the occasion of our Ruby Wedding Anniversary back in December. It's just perfect for boaters!

Sorry about the reflections!

Ready to cruise

With the car empty and the stuff now home on Kantara, we're ready to go. Did I mention the Alde boiler not working, though? It turns out the pump has died of old age, so we're waiting for Colin to get one, and he'll fit it for us when he comes to close a hole in the hull which used to accommodate the vent from a tumble drier. The hole is currently covered externally by a grille, but we found that the recent gale-driven rain actually forced its way through that, so it's best to close it altogether.

Colin will also re-locate the misplaced stud for the foredeck cratch cover. When a man from Bescan came back in November and fitted four studs to fix the bottom edge of the cover to the hull (to stop it flapping about and sagging so much under the weight of wind, rain and snow), he located one stud about two inches offset from its other half on the cover. Fortunately, I didn't pay them and told them to come and put it right when we came back this month. They've gone into liquidation. And the canopy job they did for one local boat before they folded was rubbish! No further comment!

Last Friday, we joined two ladies at screen 5 of Rugby cinema to see "12 Years a Slave", rather late, but one we had to see after its recent awards successes.

"In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty at the hands of a malevolent slave owner, as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity."

A very disturbing film, but brilliantly acted and directed.

On Saturday, we made our final trip back to the house for that last carful of stuff. We're going to use the car more this year as a shed! If we keep unseasonal clothes and footwear in the car, along with a lot of of the books we want to read, then we don't have to stuff the boat so full.

Naomi cooked us all a wonderful family Sunday lunch. Her dear cat, Samson, attacked my hand when I was trying to save him from being beaten up by a local moggie, leaving me looking like an extra from a vampire movie. It swelled up painfully, and I had to see the doctor the next morning, who put me on a course of antibiotics.

We returned to Kantara that afternoon. The weather's been rather wet and windy since, until this morning, when it's milder, less windy and dry. We're to do just a short trip to Market Harborough next week. We have a friend's wedding to attend next month, then we'll be off down the GU to London.

Back!

We came back yesterday. The day had started very foggy in St Albans, and the fields alongside the M1 were variably swathed by the stuff all the way up. We arrived at the marina as the sun was beginning to appear, and the afternoon and evening were gloriously springy.

We offloaded all the stuff we'd brought, dewinterised the boat, cleaned right through - it was surprising how much light mould had developed over the past three months, which we've not had previous years - and packed the stuff into drawers and cupboards. The Alde stove didn't work when we switched on the pump - very odd, since it was working the day we left Kantara back in December - so we lit the Bubble stove, which smoked profusely, filling the cabin with diesel fumes. The chimney wasn't blocked, and all was fine when I relit it fifteen to twenty minutes later. I can only imagine the chimney couldn't "draw" because it was cold and damp. After a quick meal and a bit of telly, we went to bed feeling quite exhausted.

Our unexpectedly early return to St Albans on Monday afternoon coincided, as I said in my last post, with Said the Maiden's invitation to support Clannad in their appearance at St Albans Arena. Grace, Steve and I got tickets to attend. It was a wonderful gig. The Maidens performed superbly to an audience of almost 800, and Clannad - I'm not a great fan - were well worth hearing (now 40 years on from the start of their career). Said the Maiden attracted a lot of attention, sold lots of CDs, and lots of new followers joined their mailing list. It was a brilliant evening.

Clannad & Said the Maiden

It was foggy again this morning, after our first night on Kantara for thirteen weeks. I couldn't see one end of the boat from the other end! But the weather's really beautiful again now, mild and sunny. And we have a number of little settling-in jobs to do!