Theres Welsh for you

On Wednesday, last week, I went to Wales. Now I know south Wales like the back of my hand, my mother comes from there and I have spent many a happy 6 weeks school holidays with my 30+ cousins. I suppose at such a young age, I didn't really appreciate the beauty, but as I have got older I do now. But last week I went to North Wales. The drive is only about an hour or so from my home in Crewe and what a drive.

The scenery is stunning, as you can see from the photograph above. We drove along the A5 through the Snowdonia range of mountains. I have to say, it was the best road I have ever taken. It was far prettier than the Yorkshire Dales and they are lovely enough. We drove to Anglesey to Beaumaris castle. Beaumaris was packed with people, and my one gripe about the place was not being able to find a place that served dinner all day long. Most of the places serve meals between 12 and 2 then again at 6 till about 10. We didn't get there until 2.30 (Daughters and make-up, don't ask!!!) but found a nice little cafe serving snacks before going to poke around Beaumaris castle. http://www.castlewales.com/beaumar.html.

It's a lovely little castle which offers spectacular views over the Menai straits. You can walk along the ramparts and some of the spooky corridors inside. An hour should allow you enough time to see it all. I can't believe we walked out of there to be greeted by my neighbour (from Crewe) who was there on holiday with her children and grandchildren. They say the world is a small place, but I suppose with Anglesey not being that far away from Crewe it wasn't so much of a surprise!!

We took a lovely drive back along the A5 as I had booked a B & B in Trevor. Our plan was to go to Llangollen the next day.

The B & B was run by Elaine, who greeted us with a really warm welcome and was situated across the road from Trevor wharf. It also overlooked the Pontycysyllte aquaduct. I cannot praise the B & B enough. Elaine had thought of everything, unlike the B & B in Bainbridge, (3 beds 2 cups and 2 tea bags) She provided us with a fridge, microwave, toaster, T.V, Sofa and hairdryer plus plenty of cups, plates and cutlery and a WHOLE tea caddy full of tea bags, which made Kai very happy. (He does love his tea that boy)
http://www.llangollen.com/borrows.html

If you ever want B & B in the area please consider this place. The breakfast was HUGE and believe me I can eat!!! The views from the garden are amazing, as you can see.


I finally got to see the Aquaduct in the flesh, and before I stood on the edge of it, even tried to convince myself I would walk over it, but to sum it up in 3 words 'No F*****g way!!!!!' My head for heights is not what it was when I was a mere slip of a thing!!! I did go for a walk beneath it though and showed the Londoner in me when I asked a local if it was safe to walk down there. (Well it was 7.30 in the morning!!) The area surrounding the Borrows rest is lovely and there are 2 pubs close by (Telfords inn and Australia arms) to get evening meals. Elaine though, at present, doesn't take credit or debit cards.

The next morning after our massive breakfast (Seriously we didn't eat until late evening) we drove to Llangollen as we wanted to take a horse drawn canal boat to the horseshoe falls. The trip lasted about 45 minutes and seemed really strange to me as it was so quiet being pulled along by a horse. Just the clipping and clopping along was very nice.

Riddles in Yorkshire

I am back from my travels. I have travelled across the country and have finally seen the Yorkshire Dales and North Wales.

Our first stop was at the Forbidden corner in Coverdale. Apart from the fact that for the AA directions I put in the wrong post code and ended up about 10 miles away, we found the place before our allotted entry time which was 3.45 pm.

It is a sort of maze set in 4 acres of gardens, which was originally developed for the personal use of the landowner and his friends, who persuaded him to open it to the public. There is a small cafe and a beautiful picnic area should you arrrive early for your entry time, in fact I would suggest arriving early on purpose so you can have a nice picnic (Weather permitting) and just take in the views. I must admit, I was rather excited at the prospect of going to this place as I had seen it on a gardening show on cable and thought it looked rather different.

We queued up for our allotted entry time and were given a leaflet with little sketches and riddles written on them, it was up to us to find them in whatever order we wanted. To be honest, we weren't too serious about finding everything, because Kai is only 3 so would have liked whatever he saw anyway.

I don't want to spoil it for you, but there are lots of little surprises, some may scare younger children. It has been well thought out, but is really unsuitable for the disabled (walking disabled) and not child buggy friendly. There are also lots of dark narrow passageways, but they are exciting and scarey together. At times I found it a bit frustrating as we would catch glimpses of something tantalising only to never find our way to it. Which I suppose is just a darn good excuse to go back again. There was one part that Kai really hated as it scared the hell out of him, but his Mum and I picked him up and made a joke out of it and managed to get him through it.

I have to say, it was a unique experience. My advise if you are visiting is to
A. Try and get an a.m or early p.m time slot. It can get very busy and in confined spaces (Of which there are quite a few) a bit claustrophobic
B. Go outside of the major school holidays
C. Take waterproof footwear/clothing if it has been raining
D. Don't rush around hoping to see everything as you probably won't
E. If you have a long way to travel, try a cheap B & B and make a short break of it as the Yorkshire Dales are extremely beautiful and worth exploring


I will be going back again, at the moment it doesn't matter to me when, as Kai is in nursery so he can have time off when we feel like it. I will be staying in Middleham next time as it is only a 10 minute drive and looked a lovely villiage to stay in. We stayed in the Rose and Crown in Bainbridge (About a 12 mile drive) which was mediocre, although the locals were friendly.

I will be blogging next time about North Wales, but not today.

Time off at last!

I am off next week, my daughter and grandson are coming up with me tomorrow and at long last I am going to explore the surroundings.

I must admit I am going a bit far afield. My first visit is to the Forbidden corner in the Yorkshire dales. Apparently it is a sort of maze/folly set in 4 acres of garden and you go and find things and get squirted with fountains on the way. I am really looking forward to that. http://www.yorkshirenet.co.uk/theforbiddencorner/

Then on the recommendation of my friend Sharon, we are going to Llangollen. I have found a nice little b & b set right on the canal within walking distance of the Pontycysyllte aquaduct. I doubt I will be walking it, but I am going to take Kai for a horse drawn boat ride!!! Just who is the 3 year old here?!!!

Anyway, I have joined the 21st century, bought myself a nice digital camera and on my return will try and load some pics!!!

Knowleypowley

Knowleypowley Where have you gone? :-)

Olympic towns and Eyesores

Until I bought a house in Crewe, I had always lived in Straford (east London, not upon-Avon) in fact, I still live there most of the time as I kept my job in London, so am there Monday through to Friday staying with my parents.

I have to admit, it has never been the most charming place to live. I can't really say there are any pretty places in Straford. There has always been a multicultural mish mash of people, which I liked. BUT then came the Olympics.

I came home from work last night via a different route and I couldn't believe the building work that is going on. It seems that every spare mini car park is being turned into 'luxury apartments'. Some are even selling on the basis of them being 'affordable housing'

One of these developments is being called the 'Stratford eye' It is being built slap bang along side the railway line, which must have 200+ trains thundering past per day along with the nuclear waste train pottering along at the dead of night when it is less like to kill people should an accident occur. As far as I can tell the only people who might buy a place there will be train spotters!! The view on the other side isn't much better, the Stratford one way system, 1000+ cars thundering along, so for god sake don't hang your washing out !!! It will probably get renamed the 'Stratford eyesore' by the locals. You can see this monstrosity and all the developers gush for yourself, ignore the computer generated surrounds, the area doesn't look like that at all as it is being build beside a busy road bridge.
http://www.lqgroup.org.uk/creating-places/regeneration/case-studies/case-study-stratford-eye-newham,137,AR.html

The last lot of 'affordable housing' that was build was selling for £100,000 for a 2 bed apartment for a 1/2 share, and was snapped up by landlords before they were even built! The place is now full of people who are speaking any language but English and are probably getting ripped off by their landlords, because lets face it, someone has to pay the mortgage don't they? And the locals are not silly enough to pay that kind of rent! That too has a glorious view of the railway line and Leytonstone high road.

The sad thing about all this 'development' is that every little back street pub I used to go to has gone! I can think of 5 straight away. One is a shop, one has been turned into 'luxury apartments' (Also overlooking the afore mentioned railway line) one is a community centre (useful at least) and the other 2 demolished. When will it all end?

The property market and prices have gone crazy in Stratford. And all because of the Olympics! What I want to know is this. In 6 years from now, after the Olympics have been and gone, will the property prices crash? Once the landlords can no longer rent their properties for £2000 a week due to it's proximity to the Olympic stadium, will they sell in droves? Will the developers finally stop building on postage stamp size plots? What will become of these 'luxury apartments' because believe me, Stratford will never be mistaken for Chelsea. There will always be muggings down Forest Lane and prostitutes plying their trade on the local council estate and Newham council will never have 'luxury' properties.

I don't want you to think that since I moved away I consider myself better, I am PROUD that I come from Stratford, in fact when I go to Crewe my cockney accent comes out more and I am only too glad to tell people where I come from. I suppose I am sad to see the place that I have known all my life disappear. Still we all have to move with the times, I just really hope they turn out to be great times for Stratford and it's residents.

Oh and Newham council please note. On the Carpenters road estate, next to James Riley point, there is a building going up which I can only assume will be housing that is going to be sold at over inflated prices due to is 'view' of the stinking Bow back river. It makes that tower block look a real eyesore. Do the residents proud and either paint or knock it down!! And just one other thing, please make the developers incorporate car parking, the residents are fed up with paying parking charges then not being able to find somewhere to park.

Squirrel nutkins new image

Ok Ok I know squirrels are classed as vermin now, if we catch one we are not supposed to release it back into the wild. They are just rats with lovely bushy tails, but we have a lot of them around and about at the university where I work.

I have just been sitting here in my office after a rather hectic day (End of the financial year!!) and one just popped into my open window. Sadly I had no nuts to offer, and I suppose I shouldn't really as it might chew the data/telephone cables but hey ho, it cheered up a rather dull day.

I rescued a baby one once. I did show it a tree but as it was so young it followed me and I eventually ended up taking it to my friend SHARON'S house and putting it in her tree, where it lived quite happily.

I could never kill one, I'd rather leave that to a stray cat that lives in the courtyard. So what am I supposed to do with it? In fact, if we are not supposed to release them back into the wild,what is anyone supposed to do with a resident squirrel? Answers on a post card..............................

Tatton

I went to Tatton Park on Saturday, for the RHS flower show. I have never been to one before and was convinced that I would come back with arms fulls of plants.

We were lucky actually, despite the bruv-in-laws car causing problems just outside of Crewe and us having to drive back to get my car, we went to Tatton Park via the A50 , which was completely empty. In fact, we drove over the M6 and looked down at all the traffic. We drove straight into Tatton, got parked and were there in time for opening.

It was mightily hot on Saturday, so some of the gardens were not as fresh, but there were definitely one or two I would have scooped up and built in my garden. The most popular place seemed to be the Coutry living marquee. I really wanted to have a good look around it, but only managed 5 minutes before I wanted to kill someone so we left.

Price wise, plants, gadgets and gismo's weren't that expensive, you had to keep and eye open for the best nursery exhibitors as some did tend to sell the straggly plants, but in general, the place was wonderful.

I did notice that one or two of the flower beds seemed to have a canal theme going on. I did take a few photo's with my 'antique' camera (35mm film) One day, I may learn how to upload photo's and add some.

Must mention the idiot who took his dog along and left the poor thing in the car. The announcer did say that the rangers were about to break his window to rescue the dog, lets hope they did as it was an expensive car. Serve the tosser right for taking the dog in that extreme heat. I just hope the dog was alright.

So would I do it again? Definitely, only I hope next time it is a tad cooler. I hate the humidity as I go around looking like a soaked tomato, but then my sister does too, so I didn't feel so self consious about it!! If anyone has any ideas on how to NOT look like a soaked tomato, I would be very grateful. Oh and I bought 2 plants. 2!!! And they were the same. I just hope the hot weather hasn't withered them this week.

Big brother

I know I am a saddo, but I have watched Big Brother since it started. I must admit I haven't watched as avidly as before, but I did Friday.

I am sorry all you Nikki fans out there, but I couldn't stand her!! Those bloody tantrums were like watching my grandson and he is almost 3, in fact I'd go as far as to say, he is more mature than that!!!

Anyway, my point is this. When she came out of the house, had they primed the audience to cheer to make her feel better? She was told she was a very popular housemate blah blah blah. Oh Yeah? How come she got voted OUT of the house by Joe public if she was so popular? All that cheering just enforced her belief that throwing tantrums gets you what you want! No I am not sorry to see the back of her, lets hope she fades quietly into oblivion, although I suspect she won't. Hopefully we'll see the back of Jayne next :-)

First picnic in years

Oh what a wonderful weekend.

My daughter, along with her partner and (almost) 3 year old son came to stay with me this weekend, and as glorious weather was forcast, I decided to go to the peak district and have a picnic. A friend recommended the Dovedale area and thats how we found ourselves in Ilam http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/ashborn/ilam.htm.

What a pretty little villiage it was, deep down in the valley. We parked the car in the country park, which is now run by the national trust (£2 for 2 hours parking and £4 for 4 hours and over). We found a nice shady spot under a tree and had a picnic. I haven't had a picnic for years and thoroughly enjoyed it.

After lunch, we went for a walk along the river and then over to the church. I could have stayed there all day, but I promised my daughter a ride around the peak district.

From there we took the 515 to Buxton and at this point I would like to give a special message to a particular 'driver' of a high powered silver car (Don't know the make but quite flash, 2 seats and probably only got 2 miles to the gallon out of it) When overtaking, please try to limit it to one car at a time and not on a hill with a bend in it and a cyclist struggling to get up and around it. Also, once past the car, please keep your eyes in front and try not to concentrate on your rear view mirror intent on calling ME names when the dick on your head is so obvious for all to see, oh and lastly, should you have a serious accident, please please please make sure you only injure/kill yourself and not some poor innocent road user that KNOWS how to drive safely. (although I am sure you KNOW how to drive safely, you just have a total disregard for those that wish to.) It's not cool to be reckless

Anyway, we got to Buxton in one piece, They had a carnival there this weekend, but we didn't stop. We took the Macclesfield road, branched off towards Congleton and saw the peak from a different angle. I really want to go back soon and explore some more little villiages tucked away there. I kinda liked driving the roads, sometimes I felt like I was on a big dipper.

Breaking news! Breaking wind

I was having tea ( in a cafe) with a certain senior member of managment the other morning and out of the blue there was this huge rip roaring fart sound. It was the look of sheer fright on her face that made me laugh out loud. She said she never felt it coming and by the look of terror on her face I believe her.. I just thank god I wasn't sitting behind her.

Moan moan moan

My dad has always said that the biggest crooks in this country are insurance companies and I have come to the conclusion he is right. They have you by the short and curlies all ways.

I am going on holiday on the 26th of October, I am also due to have my gall bladder removed, but despite the fact I booked my holiday in MAY 2005 and have had insurance since then (I discovered, free with my bank) I will not be covered for anything gall bladderish on my holiday. This presents a bit of a dillema really because on one hand, I MIGHT have something gall bladdery go wrong on holiday but then the other alternative is to cancel the holiday.

I have a friend who has a permanent medical condition, which, COULD threaten her life a lot easier than a gall bladder can threaten mine, but because she is not waiting for an operation, her travel insurance will cover her for her illness and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. TESCO quoted me £141 for a single trip!!! Bloody robbers!!!!

Anyway, what I have decided to do now, is postpone my operation until after my holiday and take a chance. I have pretty much got it under control with a low fat diet so I don't envisage too much of a problem. My free travel insurance with my bank isn't offering me any less cover than an expensive travel policy so I might as well use that.

Grenada here I come. Oh I can't wait!!!!

Mind the B.O

This is going to be short and sweet.

I went back to work this week. I work in London and the temprature has been sweltering as most of you know. I have been most grateful for my air conditioned office. In fact I have a very nice new office along with a radio.

Anyway, I was listening to LBC on Tuesday and a news bulletin came on saying that the tempratures were sooooo hot on the London underground that the staff would be giving out free bottles of water to passengers.

The thought that struck me most at that moment was basically, bollox to the bottles of water. London Underground staff should be giving out free aerosols of deodorant. I know it has been hot, but really, some people's body odour is so obviously more than a day old. Don't people wash their clothes and bodies anymore? I am not talking about tramps, I am talking about suited and booted people who have jobs to go to.

I am going to write to LUL and suggest that instead of putting bottled water posters up and giving them away free that they have sweet smelling days and anyone with BO gets told to BOG OFF and walk with their arms glued to their sides.

Please, people who use the tube, be kind to your fellow passengers and sniff yourselves before you venture out of your homes. Having to wear a peg on your nose, on the tube and in this heat is not on!!!!!

Cheeky lady

O.K Sharon wants you to know this story, so I will tell it.

As I have mentioned I recently had a medical emergency. Basically I have been suffering with my stomach for some time so after quite a few days of major discomfort I decided to take myself off to the local A & E. To be honest, I felt a bit guilty about it, I mean the A & E is for ill people isn't it? I felt like I was making a fuss, but got a friend to take me there anyway.

I got to see the doctor really quickly, it was 10.30pm on a Saturday night and, surprisingly, I was the only one waiting. She took a look, took some blood and then told me I was a 'bit yellow'. I had a blockage in my bile duct and I was going to have to be admitted. I was admitted with what I stood in, pajama's that had seen better days, no underwear, a waterproof jacket and my gardening shoes. The next bit is important so read on.

How many of you have been told by your mothers to make sure you are wearing clean underwear in case you have an accident? Well listen to her. I am going to add to that advice. If you ever have to go to A & E, take a little bag along with you that contains some underwear and your purse at least. I had NOTHING.

My friend, bless her, had been up for 24 hours and I could not have expected her to go back to my house and get some stuff, but I did ask her to pop in with some stuff the next day. In the meantime the hospital gave me one of those lovely gowns that gape open at the back, so I put it on and kept my PJ pajama bottoms on too.

I didn't get any stuff until I had been in the hospital for 2 days. Luckily for me, I have a friend that hates wearing knickers, but she at least bought me some.

One evening during a visit, the ward sister came to see me and tell me there was a telephone call for me. My Patientline thingy wasn't working, so I hopped off the bed and off I went to take it. I then heard all this sniggering and laughing. It was while I was at the phone I realised that my bum had been on view to all the other patients and all their visitors! Thank god I did have drawers on but believe me when I tell you it was still not a pretty site.

Ordinarily I would have been too embarressed to go back and face my audience but luckily 1. The nurse gave me another gown to wear the other way which covered up the gap and 2. I was just too ill to care anyway.

So Sharon, I have told the whole internet that I have flashed my knickers to complete strangers, and once I link my blog to yours, the whole internet will see you frequently go without knickers and then blame it on absent mindedness and that complete strangers have seen a whole lot more!!!

Here is a link to Sharon's blog. She's not a bad old stick really and can be quite amusing sometimes.

http://www.theblockandback.blogspot.com/

Anyway, that is my blog. Not really funny now, you had to be there, but then who knows, maybe you were!! If so, I apologise, I know it wasn't a pretty site, but I wasn't of sound body at the time.

Crick

I am back now after a little medical emergency. Time to blog.

I went to the Crick boat show this year, bloody hell, what a saga. I went M6, M1 then what happened? Got to the exit on the M1 to be informed the exit was closed! Bugger. I took it anyway and was informed by a nice policeman on the roundabout that due to a serious fire there was a divertion. So I took the diversion only to be diverted again and onto a huge queue! So it took me 2 hours to drive from Crewe to Northampton then another 2 hours from the turn off to the marina, which by the way was a mud bath!!

Anyway enough moaning. I LOVED it. There were boats everywhere (surprise surprise) I specifically wanted to see the Big Fish narrow boat co's boat as they look nice but as it was the only one not to offer me plastic covers for my boots so I didn't bother. I caught up with it on Waterworld this weekend.

The place was packed, I took my grandson along (He's 3) and all he was worried about was getting his face painted. So after making that our first priority, I took him to look at some boats. He likes them, but as I am determined to turn him into a narrowboating gardener, thats all well and good anyway. I must admit the choice was breathtaking. Big ones, little ones, all with mod cons. I looked at one in particular and was going to go to their open day near me, but my health intervened. So some other time for that.

I have to say, even if you don't like boats, go to the Crick boat show. The jazz band were excellent (Ask my dancing grandson), the boats wonderful, and the people friendly. I will go again next year and maybe I'll see you there.

Baptism of fire, wind and rain continued...

Baptism of fire continued!!!

Day 3
Day 3 wasn't too bad, weather wise or luck wise really. We needed to take some water on board and get a pump out, but there was a marina at Wrenbury. I walked down to the marina, only to be told the awful weather the previous day had burst their water pipes (HOW?) and there was no water to take on or any to pump out with. Whats more, we could forget about going further than Wrenbury as a tree had come down at the next lock and BW had closed that part of the canal!!!

At Wrenbury there is a lift bridge, an electric one. Being such green narrowboaters, we were a bit scared to use it but we had no choice. We had to get out of Wrenbury to get to a (new) turning point to go back again. We started off towards the lift bridge, and there was our first bit of good cheer of the holiday. There were engineers working on it, so they very kindly stopped the traffic and opened it for us. I must admit we made a bit of pigs ear getting through it, but get through it we did. We went up to the turning point, turned around and started to go back.

After a while the sun came out, and it started to dawn on me that despite all the things that had gone wrong, I was really enjoying myself. The 2 Chrisine's and Lucy were moaning about the cold, the weather, no supermarkets!! But me? Put it this way, I have never had a hobby I was totally absorbed with, but being on that canal boat felt 'right' as if I belonged there. It was like falling in love and I started to look around and enjoy the scenery and tranquility. It was on the way back that we noticed how much higher than usual the water level had been the day before. One lock we had gone up in had finally stopped filling about half an inch from the top of the lock gate, going back down it was a lot lower, and the bywashes a lot slower. We decided to go to Nantwich and stay there for a few days.

Day 4
After spending another night at Hurleston we made our way to Nantwich and moored up. I had never been to Nantwich so was really surprised when I saw all the tudor style buildings. It was raining so we found a nice (another!!) pub and had lunch there. Lucy and Christine 1 were thrilled to bits because there was a supermarket and a Woolworths!! Christine 2 pottered about in the shops and I settled down to a nice Migraine. Oh well.

Day 5
It was pretty uneventful really as we stayed in Nantwich. The lady at the laundry in Nantwich marina expressed surprise when I told her I was loving it. She told me that after the storm a lot of seasoned boaters had given up and gone home. She also told me there were a lot of stoppages on the canal because of fallen trees. Nothing untoward happened, the boat started first time, we got water and finally had enough shopping to cook our own dinner!!!

Day 6
We had to start making our way back towards the marina, in 5 days I suppose we had travelled all of a 10 mile round trip!! That day was absolutely beautiful, a real Indian summer day. Lucy and I were on the back of the boat steering and dancing about to the radio. There wasn't a soul about apart from cows, sheep and birds. We made our way back to the pub we had stopped at the first night, and there we saw the boat that had pulled us off the ledge the second day. I think they were highly relieved to see we were actually able to steer the boat now and much better boaters than when we started. The 2 Christines and Lucy were thrilled to bits about going home the next day and vowed NEVER to set foot on a boat again. I was a bit sad. We spent the afternoon cleaning and scrubbing the boat, had some lunch then set off up the Middlewich branch to moor up outside the marina. we spent our last night on the boat uneventfully, with me raving on about what a great time I had had and the others promising not to accompany me ever again.

Day 7
The morning started bright and early for us, as Arthur was meeting us at the lock at 9am. He walked onto the boat and stared in amazement. 'Goodness!' He exclaimed 'The boat is so clean' He then went onto explain that when hirers took the boat back it was sometimes in a disgusting state. So if you are one of those hirers, SHAME ON YOU!!!!.

Finally we got to Crewe station for a 10.30 train back to London. We got there to discover the 10.30 had been cancelled, but the guy informed us that a London train was due in on platform 5 in 5 minutes. We were on platform 6 and at that moment, I looked up and saw a virgin train come onto the next platform. We ran with our luggage and all piled on it, found a seat and settled down. After about 10 minutes, I looked up and saw that the train was actually on platform 11. I jumped up and said to the others ' Quick, get off this isn't platform 5, we are on the wrong train!!'
We ran down the carriage, just started to gather our luggage when the train started pulling out. Panic stricken, I asked another passenger where the train was headed and he told me Hollyhead!!! As far as the others were concerned I was dead. They cursed me and made me explain to the train manager that we were on the wrong train. Very kindly he didn't charge us and told us the next stop was Chester and to get off there and come back. To add insult to injury for the others, on the way to Chester we passed the marina we had just come from. Lucy was not impressed. I think in the end, we got back to Euston about 5 that evening as Railtrack were still working on the points.


True to their word, my daughter Christine and her friend Lucy have NEVER set foot on a boat since. I live in the area now and pop down occassionally to the marina. I often laugh about my 'Baptism of fire' I did take my daughter there recently and she wouldn't even go and stand on the boat. Her son loves it, but then he is only (almost) 3. I have had quite a few boat holidays since, all of them have been fantastic. I just love being on a boat. I must have been a working boat person in a previous life!!

Christine and Arthur will have 4 boats next season, the business has taken off really well. If you are interested you can get them at www.cheshirecatnarrowboats.co.uk

Baptism of fire, wind and rain

I have absolutely no idea, how we ended up on a narrowboat. I know I booked it obviously, but it wasn't our intention to go narrow boating. My daughter and our neighbour, her friend, and myself and a friend of mine decided to have a week away. It was left for me to book something and initially I tried Centre Parcs but they were far too busy and far too expensive, and so I started surfing the net.
I came across this web site, offering Narrow Boat holidays. They were a little one boat company, I looked at the dates available and our week was free, so I contacted my friend and said 'How do you fancy a week on a narrow boat?' She was all for it, so to cut a long story short I booked it.

I must admit, the weeks leading up to it were filled with some trepidation. None of us had ever been on a narrow boat before, I kept worrying about sinking it, crashing it. But as the day drew near, we had our train tickets booked and had decided on the Llangollen canal. So along came the Saturday we were to set off and there began the 'holiday from Hell' for Christine, Christine and Lucy, but my baptism of fire!

A few weeks before our holiday started, there had been a rather horrible train crash at Potters Bar, this apparently had been caused by a faulty repair to a point, so on the day we were off to Crewe, Railtrack decided they were going to check all the points practically all over the country and most train journeys were going to be delayed due to speed restrictions.

We got to Euston and it was heaving with people. There were TV crews milling around asking what people thought of the train delays. Most people were furious, but not us because we were going on holiday on a Narrow Boat!!! We found our train, then sat on it for a hour before it moved anywhere, eventually it left an hour and a bit late and we began the journey to Crewe at 20 miles per hour!! By 3.45pm, when we had only reached Stafford, I thought it would be best to phone the owners of the boat as they had been expecting us at 2. I explained we were going to be late, they were great about it, but did warn us we wouldn't be allowed to cruise in the dark and as it was the end of October, it would be dark very soon.

We eventually got to the marina at about 4.30, we grabbed some basic supplies at the marina shop, and they were basic, had our run through on how the boat worked with the owners, what to do on a daily basis to ensure we didn't sink, how to go through a lock, then bless, them, they took us down the canal to a pub and moored us up there and then was gone.

We had a really nice evening there actually, a nice meal a few drinks, it was halloween so we had to vote for the scariest waiter (They were all dressed up as ghouls and ghosts) then staggered back to the boat for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow was a big day, WE WERE ON OUR OWN.

Day 1
We woke up to rain, not a lot of rain, but rain just the same. Christine senior got to work on the breakfast from our meagre supplies and I went to the back of the boat to start the engine for some hot water. I turned the key, kept it on the heating element for 30 seconds then turned. The engine coughed, spluttered but wouldn't start. I patiently tried again, it still wouldn't start, so I tried again, and again and again. After 10 minutes I came to the conclusion that the best thing to do would be to call the owners. Luckily for us they had an arrangement with an engineer, so told us to wait and they would send him along.
Eventually the engineer came and got us started. An hour after that, saw us pushing off and starting our journey towards the Llangollen canal. We did all the usual things narrow boaters do on their first ever trip. Nearly hit moored boats, panicked everytime we saw another boat coming towards us, went across the canal instead of along it. Had to get rescued by another boat when we got stuck on a ledge, it was a bit of a laugh actually, until we got to the junction at Hurleston. We were meant to turn right, and go through 4 locks, but they looked so scarey I went straight on towards Nantwich, I just panicked, we went under a little bridge and as we emerged, this HUGE gust of wind just took the boat and pushed us towards the tow path.
An hour later saw us still trying to get away from the bank, Arthur, the owner, had told us not to use a lot of throttle so we didn't, as a consequence every time we pushed the front of the boat off, the wind just blew it straight back to the bank again. We were stuck fast!!

Lucy started stressing, then crying, to make things worse, it really started chucking it down with rain. We pushed the boat off the bank, the wind just kept pushing it back, we were trapped!!!

Then we heard this whistle from the bridge behind us, there was Arthur and Christine! The owners, our saviours!! They had decided to come and find us so they could take the boat to a marina to change the batteries! Thank god!! Arthur got us away from the side like the true pro he is!! It was great really because as we cruised towards the marina, we got extra tuition. He changed the batteries on the boat, chugged us back towards Hurlston Junction for the Llangollen canal, took us through the locks, and moored us up as it was beginning to get dark. His parting words were ' I've moored you up nice and tight, there's a storm coming, but it will be gone by 11am tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your holiday!!' Then he was gone.

Day 2
The day started at 5am. It wasn't planned that way, it's just that we all got woken up by a loud BANG on the roof of the boat. Then, as I slowly came to, I noticed this distinct rocking motion of the boat. It was rocking from side to side quite violently, then I became aware of this whooshing and howling and rustling, along with the occasional noise of something falling onto the roof. I jumped down from the bed and was very glad to see, that at least, the floor was dry and we weren't sinking!! There is a gentle current on the Llangollen. It brings water from the river Dee to some reservoirs at Hurleston, it usually meanders along at about 4mph. I looked out of the window, canal side and saw the water moving along a tad faster than that. The water was full of leaves and bits of wood and branches, it was then that I saw that the trees were bent over double in the very high wind. We were moored under some huge trees and if was probably something falling from them that had hit the roof. It must have been a force 10 gale outside, so I decided to make a cup of tea. There we all were, huddled all together with a nice cup of tea while we waited for the heating to warm the boat, it was 5.30 in the morning. Then the rain started, really heavy heavy rain, which then turned to sleet. I actually found it quite cosy. The others didn't!!

Apparently, it was the worst storm since the year dot, there was widespread flooding, the river Dee had burst its banks (Remember the same river that takes water along the Llangollen to Hurleston) Trees had come down, homes were under water and my mobile beeped non stop with texts from wellwishers enquiring if I was still alive!! Arthur was right though, by 11am it just blew itself out, we got the boat started (eventually) and chugged on up the canal. We needed supplies urgently and had to get to civilisation soon. We didn't realise until the next day, that the Llangollen canal was about 5 inches higher than usual, we had a few hairy moments coming out of flooded locks, being dragged back towards the bywash taking the water past the lock. We went through this really spooky bit of wood and ended up at Wrenbury.

Wrenbury post office was sight to behold. If you ever go to Wrenbury, do go into the post office, it is a mini supermarket too and sells the most delicious pies and pasties from a local baker. Nice cheeses and bacon, in fact, very nice food of all sorts. I highly recommend it, oh and in the summer, the villiage of Wrenbury have a scarecrow hunt too!!

We spent the night there, we had a nice meal in one of the local pubs, had a look around the villiage which is pretty and spent a peaceful night on the boat.

But that's it for now, my baptism of fire is to be continued..........

Nothing much

Well I am feeling a lot better than moany old yesterday, it is probably something to do with the weekend being upon us.

I am going up to Crewe this evening, courtesy of Virgin. I like going back to my house, it really feels like home to me. Until 3 years ago, I had only ever lived in London, and although I still work in London during the week, it is more bearable knowing I can escape the place for the weekend.

Oh, I booked tickets for the Crick boat show! I managed to get my daughter to come along, even though she hates the sight of narrowboats (mmm maybe a good blog there!!) I convinced her that it wasn't all boats and my Grandson would really like it. Really, it is an attempt to convert him into a narrowboating gardener! He's 3, so very easy to influence.

Crick isn't until the bank holiday weekend, but it is my first proper inland waterway boat show, so I am really looking forward to it. I am going to poke around all those boat exhibitors and maybe find that wild streak I so wanted yesterday!! Oh and they have a hog roast!!

Anyway, I am off now. I think I WILL write about my 'Narrowboat holiday from hell' Next week, it just might raise a few smiles.

Oh what shall I do?

Well I have finally got around to blogging again. I am going to have a moan to myself.

I have worked all my life, as most people have, but I have WORKED. I brought up my daughter alone, so often than not I went straight from one job to another, sometimes working all day, all night then back to my day job again. I have no regrets about it, I had the stamina and if I didn't keep the roof over our heads, no-one else was going to. Thankfully now, my daughter has grown up into a nice young woman with a son of her own and I can start to do the things I want to do. The problem is I can't decide just WHAT THAT IS!!!!

I work in London but have a nice house in Crewe, so I go home on Fridays for the weekend then stay with my parents during the working week. What I THINK I would like to do, is buy a nice narrow boat, find myself a nice mooring and then, over time, cruise the whole canal system. BUT (and isn't there always one of those!!) I need to work, whats more another pair of hands on a narrow boat, if not entirely essential, preferable, especially when going up and down in the lock.

There is nothing stopping me, I have a nice chunk of equity in my house, add a tiny marine mortgage and that would buy me a very nice boat from a favorite narrow boat builder of mine. I am just too darned 'sensible' to do it. All these bloody questions go around and around in my head. What would I do for money? Is it the 'right' thing to do to sell a house (that gains capital) to buy a boat that depreciates. Would I worry about my parents, who are both in there 80's? I would definitely miss seeing my Grandson whenever I wanted. If I did it would the idea of it be more appealing to the actual doing it? Am I running away? Oh boy I could go on.......but I won't. I get really frustrated with myself at times and wish I had a wild streak in me that just DID things like that! Mind you, I was like this for ages about moving up to Crewe, so I suppose I should just carry on as normal until I say' Right, thats it, I'm doing it!!!' You never know, you just may see me chugging along the canal one day.

My first time

Well, here I am blogging for the first time, I must admit I am very nervous, I mean supposing I bore you all to tears? I mean I can't think of anything that would be of interest to anyone but me. You are all spectators, watching me lose my virginity, blog speaking that is.

My name is Carol I live in Crewe but work in London and I have just had a long lunch celebrating. I own a house, 3 cats, 2 goldfish and a Vauxhall Corsa. Hey ho isn't life grand? I often ask myself what I would do if I won lots of money and I must confess I would probably have to sit and think about it for a few months. I would probably buy a narrow boat and sail off onto the inland waterways. Do you think that one could get bored after a while knowing there is nothing they cannot do?

Anyway, I must say congrats to someone (you know who you are), so congrats, please remind me to slim into my party dress as I want to be bridesmaid. I must also say a huge Thankyou to you and R as I wouldn't be able to live my double life without you's and I feel I don't say Ta enough. Thats it for my first time, I am glad I could share it with you. Once I get the hang of this thing I might get funnier :-)