Devizes and around

After Jill, Rod and the kids had gone on Sunday (the kids having been delayed a couple of hours because Steve's car wouldn't start, and he had to call out the AA), Grace and I postponed our exploratory walk around Devizes. The weather wasn't good, and we were feeling tired from late nights and early mornings over the past few days, so we stayed in and watched "Girl with a pearl earring", a really good film from the stock of DVDs in this house, AND "The men who stare at goats", which we brought with us and was really quite awful.

We awoke on Monday morning to a cold house, with the central heating boiler registering a fault, and this delayed our stroll around Devizes. When we did get out, the weather was cold and damp, and we were glad to find a number of shops, ranging from interesting to fascinating, through which to browse. We bought ourselves a beautiful mirror to add to the small collection we have in the house.

In the same shop, I was much amused by one particular key fob. Amongst dozens, each of which bore one of the "Keep calm" slogans which have found their way onto so many items over the past few years...

...I found one which summed up perfectly my feeling about these mottos!

Unfortunately, St John's church, next door to our house and said to be rather beautiful inside, was locked. We'll have to try again another day. 

We walked out to the canal down by the Devizes Wharf and Canal Centre. It was all deserted, so we walked down the towing path to the next bridge, and made our way back to the house from there.

After lunch, we went for a drive, first of all to the Caen Hill flight of locks on the outskirts of the town, then on a scenic tour around the nearby countryside, returning across Salisbury Plain. The weather was dismal, the scene devoid of other people, and the locks forbidding. We're looking forward to navigating them one day, though, in good weather and with other people about.

In the evening, we watched only part of "Cruel Intentions" because it was such an awful film!

Our Ruby Wedding Anniversary

December 15th marked our 40th Wedding Anniversary. On 13th, Grace and I drove to Devizes in Wiltshire, to stay in a house there for the week. We arrived around 1:30pm, and met the delightful Sue, co-owner of the house, who made us very welcome and showed us around. My sister Jill and her husband Rod arrived later, and we spent a good evening together, catching up, not having seen each other for over two years.

The kids arrived the next morning, bringing with them food to feed an army, it seemed! and for the next several hours Naomi and Eddie were hard at work in the kitchen.

We were joined in due course by Grace's three sisters, brother-in-law Mike, and niece Kathryn with son Jake and partner Alistair (Kathryn has the distinction of being the only one of our several nieces and nephews who was present at our wedding, so it was very fitting that she should be there), and Grace and I were given some lovely, generous presents. At lunchtime, Naomi served up a fantastic buffet meal of some ten savoury dishes with salads and sauces, plus an amazing chocolate cake, and a huge Eton Mess - I was too busy eating to get photos of all of it!

Flowers decorated the dining room.

After the meal, we enjoyed an afternoon of games, chat and much laughter. It was an excellent day, and a superb way to spend this anniversary of ours.

Some of the family aren't very familiar with canal life, so I put together a slideshow to give them something of an idea.

With a couple of hours or so to drive back to Somerset, Grace's side of the family left later that evening, while Jill, Rod and our kids stayed the night. Our thanks go to them all for sharing a memorable day with us.

Our last day before we leave Kantara...

...was beautiful!

There wasn't a cloud in the sky most of the time. It was cold, but still, without the bite that there was yesterday. It was good to see a number of boats pootling past the marina, making the most of the weather. We we've been busy shopping, packing, and doing various jobs to prepare for returning to St Albans tomorrow. It's been a great year, with more cruising than last year, and we're looking forward to a good deal more than that next year.

I doubt that I'll be blogging over the winter, but don't forget to come back to the blog next year! We'll be back at the end of February, or the beginning of March. Have a very good Christmas, and a happy New Year!

That last trip of the year

Shortly after Colin left, having carried out Kantara's annual service, we took the boat out. Heading north up the canal, we spent almost four hours navigating to the winding at bridge 28, having lunch shortly after winding, just above bridge 27, and returning to the marina. The weather was good as we left - cold, but still - and improved still further on the return. We passed only four other moving boats, and the world was very peaceful. It was really good to be out again. I really miss it when we're not cruising.

I took no photos. That stretch of the canal's been photoed out!

It was already starting to get dark when we got back, and we cosied in under the glow of the fairy lights and the fire.

Not the best photo, but... our fairy lights :-)

Our last week this year on Kantara

We've just come back from watching "The Butler" at the cinema, another extremely good film based on reality and featuring a superb cast from both sides of the Atlantic.

As Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.

Last Friday, we saw "Philomena", starring Judy Dench, and Steve Coogan as journalist Martin Sixsmith.

A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.

These Tesco vouchers we get (we don't shop much at Tesco any more, but our credit card is one of theirs) have been really well used on cinema tickets this past year, having paid for our entry to 16 films in the past 13 months.

Yesterday, I forgot to switch on the water pump when I lit the Bubble stove, and the system overflowed a bit over the floor. Consequently, there was not enough water/antifreeze in the Alde for us to have it alight overnight. Of course, we then had the coldest night so far! Today, I added more antifreeze, having checked that the system will be protected against frosts of up to -15º Celsius, and we'll be warmer tonight, whatever the frost.

Colin comes tomorrow to give Kantara her annual service. I really ought to do that job myself next year. The next day, we have a man from Bescan coming to fit fasteners along the bottom of our cratch cover, to attach it to the hull so that it doesn't sag inwards under the weight of snow or strong winds.

After the annual service, we really need to take Kantara out for one last trip this year, in order to mix the new antifreeze through the system. The mix is weak at the moment because of the water loss the last time Colin worked on the boat. We didn't have enough antifreeze at the time to add to the gallons of water we had to use to top up. Fingers crossed for lovely weather like we had for our final trip last year.

Then it's back to St Albans, our home from home. We've been warned to go back after Saturday, because Naomi and Jess are having a joint birthday party then! Hmmm... 

Winding down

As I write, the sun's shining brightly from a clear blue sky, but there's a strong, cold wind blowing. During the night, however, and for most of the morning, it rained hard, and there were flurries of snow from time to time. It was very cold, and we left our Alde gas stove on a low setting all night - too low, as it turned out, for it was still too chilly in the boat when we awoke.

It was sunny and bright as we drove back here from St Albans yesterday morning, too, but it was very cold in Kantara when we arrived, and it took a few hours of Alde alight, and later the Bubble stove, to make her feel cosy again.

Sarah-Beth and Jamie's wedding on Saturday was a good occasion, and the journeys to and from Newbury were good. Sunday we lay in a bit, then had a lazy day. On Monday, Grace had a dental appointment, and the rest of the day was spent avoiding the weather.

Donnington Grove Country Club

Carole and Stuart on Jimsonweed have had a canopy fitted over their stern and, speaking to the guy who was doing the job, I think he's the man to fit fasteners to our cratch cover/hull. The price he gave me is far less than I had expected when we discussed the job with AJ Canopies some months ago, and he's done a good job on Jim. I'll try to get ours done before we leave Kantara for the winter.