Standing for Election!

Well, I've taken the leap and put my name forward to stand as a candidate for the Canal and River Trust Council.

What's that, I hear some of you ask?

In a nutshell, British Waterways controls most of the inland navigation in the UK. It is a quango responsible to DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs - but DEFRA sounds sinister, eh?). The quango is going to cease existance in April, to be replaced by a charity. Essentially, a charity is taking over the function of the former quango.

The new charity will have Trustees and a "Council". This Council consists of 35 people - some elected, some appointed - from various constituencies that use the waterways. 4 of this seats are available to boaters - and an election is being run to fill them.

If you would like to help me in my candidacy, or find out more, email me on macdonaldpj@googlemail.com or visit my webpage - http://www.peterforcrt.weebly.com/ (website still under construction though, so bear with me!) At the moment I'm looking for people to sponsor me - I need 10 - so if you've got a BW licence and fancy helping out, get in touch! If you've already sponsored someone, don't worry - you can sponsor as many as you like.

Wish me luck - off I go....!

Christmas Afloat

The lead up to Christmas, for us as for most, is a hectic time. For us, it meant lots of driving too and from the boat, performing in schools and at Christmas parties - even at the Canadian High Commission. Both Drew and I were glad when we had finished the last performance of the "season" and could have a day or two of "rest" (by which I mean preparing for Christmas) before Santa came to visit.

At the moment, we're moored near a little village called Grafton Regis - only a handful of houses, but one of the Queens of England was born here (hence the "Regis" in the title of the village). It's a gorgeous place to be - we overlook a field with grazing sheep and a 13c church.

On Christmas Eve, we decided to be good and go to Midnight Mass. The church we went to - St. Lawrence's, Towcester, is 600 years old - amazing to think how many midnight masses would have been celebrated there, and under what circumstances!

All was going well, until Drew felt a bit woozy and had to sit down. A few minutes later he said he wanted to leave, and on the way out collapsed! The Ushers were very helpful, and we knew it wasn't the warming whiskey he'd had on the way to church. A quick trip to A and E confirmed low blood pressure - prescription? More salt in his diet!

On the day, our friends Robyn and Reg, their 16 month old son Evan, and cousin Gordon came to the boat for a meal. Getting a Christmas meal ready in an ordinary kitchen is work enough, but preparing it in a small space a few feet long and wide is even more of a challenge - but we managed. We had a great time - and it was good to celebrate with good friends.

My brother, his wife, and her parents were in England for Christmas - but in Swindon - a few hours away. Jetlagged from their flight over, they wanted to meet up on boxing day, so we stopped in at their hotel on the way down to Bath to visit Drew's cousin and family. Another nice meal, more chocolate, and a bit more driving!

We saw my brother and the family again on the 28th, checking into their hotel for the night and enjoying the pool, sauna, and free electricity! On the 29th we went to explore Bradford upon Avon (one of our favourite towns), Avebury, and Bath. That night, we stayed with friends Donna, Reedy, and their son Ethan.

So, our "post Christmas" season has been busy!

We're keeping warm - the weather has been lovely - and keeping busy - including planning how to spend an Arts Council Grant Drew received (what a great Christmas present!). All and all, a great end to the year.

All the best, everyone, for a wonderful 2012.

Back on the Grand Union

Wow - time sure flies. I hadn't realised it had been quite so long since I updated this blog until my mom asked me about it - at least my mom is following me!

So, where were we? Oh yes! Bath and the Kennet and Avon Canal. Seems like years ago!

Those who know English geography will know that Bath is in the West Country. We've since turned around, and went back up the Kennet and Avon to the Thames.

The Kennet and Avon has been a wonderful experience. Much of the canal is rural, and it runs through some beautiful countryside. The countryside itself bears the marks of ancient inhabitants, with stone circles, earthworks, and other iron-age remnants.

It was great being in the West Country, but we did seem to have a lot of work going on in London and the South East, which meant that our trusty little Fiesta travelled up and down the M4 countless times. The only injury she sustained was a flat tyre, and that was while parked near the boat - so really, I couldn't have asked for better motoring luck.

The Kennet and Avon joins the River Thames at Reading. Apparently there is nice mooring in Reading, but I've never found it. Our night there, we were moored next to a very grotty park where there was evidence of drug users, and we saw a "sex act" being performed. Not really the kind of place you want to stay for long - and we didn't!

Cruising on the Thames is an entirely different experience to being on the canals. By and large, on the canals you have to operate the locks yourself, where as on the river they are much larger, and are done for you. Mooring is also more difficult on the river, as along the canal, one side is always "Towpath" - and so public land, but on the river, much of the bank is privately owned - which means you either can't moor there, or need to pay. Still, we saw some beautiful properties...!

We left the Thames at Oxford, continuing north up the Oxford Canal. We've done this bit before, and were back in territory that was familiar. The Oxford, Leicester, and Grand Union canal all join around Braunston, and so we took the Grand Union canal south, and are now slowly chugging towards Marsworth - where we like to spend our Christmas - it's a bit of a tradition now.

Ever wondered why the path on the side of the canal is called a "Towpath"? At first I thought it was a "Toepath" - i.e. somewhere where people walked - but it's actually the path that the horses used to walk when they towed the boats. The photo is of a horse drawn boat we encountered on our way to Reading.

Autumn is here, and winter is almost upon us. Dark days, and the little light we do get is used mostly to collect wood! We're still warm, though, and waiting to see if we get a bit of Christmas snow.

Ancient Graffitti!

I'm sure I've said it before, but one of the things that has always fascinated me about living in England is visiting buildings and monuments that are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. The town Hall in Antigonish - my home town - was built in 1905 - and I remember, even in the 80's, thinking "Wow! That's 75 years old!". Nowadays, when I visit a church and see that it's Victorian - a mere 150 old, I think "Meh. Let's find a proper old church".

Of course, many ancient buildings and monuments have survived in England for hundreds of years because of their beauty and the fact that they remained useful and relevant to those who lived nearby - but often it's hard to imagine the people the actually used these places. You can imagine the work and craftsmanship that went into building them - but WHO built them? What were their names?

At the moment our Narrowboat is moored in Bath, Somerset. This city was built as a Roman spa town, and became very fasionable in the 18th century. The city is a world heritage site because of its wealth of Georgian architecture. Though beautiful, what struck my eye was a piece of graffitti.

I guess some things never change - I saw this piece of graffitti - if you can call it that- under a bridge in Bath.

To think that it was carved before Canada existed as a country is amazing. I've since seen graffitti under bridges from the late 1700's.

Mr. Hodges - your stone graffitti has now entered the digital age!

Want upper arm strength? Try the Caen Hill workout!

What is 2 1/2 miles long, 70 metres tall, and takes 3 hours to climb or descend? Caen Hill!

Caen Hill is a series of 29 locks near Devizes, Wiltshire, on the Kennet and Avon Canal. Drew and I have been moving to boat towards Bath as we have some work in the West Country and Wales over the next few weeks.

We hit Caen Hill a few days ago, and began the slow descent towards Bath around 11.30 in the morning.

Thankfully, we met a boat that wanted to "share" the locks with us, which sped up the entire process a bit - and took some of the weight off my shoulders!

For those of you who don't know about locks on canals, very quickly, locks on broad canals (like the one we are on) consist of 4 gates - two at either end of the lock - and 4 paddles (which are plates of metal or other doors inside the lock gates that can be opened to let water in or closed to prevent water escaping.

To operate the lock (going down) goes something like this:

1) Skipper moors up and drops off the "locker" (for want of a better term! - the person operating the lock)

2) The locker checks to see if the lock is full. If it's full, he opens one of the gates so the boat can get in. If it's not, he opens the two paddles on the top gate to let water in so that the water level in the lock comes to the same level as the level on the canal where the boat is.

3) Once the boat is in the lock, the locker closes the gate, goes to the end of the lock, opens the two bottom paddles and lets the water escape from the lock (thereby making the boat drop down)

4) Once the water level in the lock is even with the water level below the lock, the locker closes the two paddles and opens a gate letting the boat out. Once the boat is out, he closes the gate and tries to hop back onto the boat.

Doing this 29 times is hard work! The paddles are heavy to raise, the gates often sticky and also very heavy - and running up and down the lockside to open and close gates and doors is good excercise.

When doing a "flight" (series) of locks, if you manage to do it with another boat, the whole process is sped up as while the crew of one boat operates the lock both boats are in, the crew from the other boat can run on to the next look and get it "set".

It was a long afternoon -but afforded us with some beautiful views of the Wiltshire countryside!

The next week or so will be spent mostly behind the wheel of our car as we speed up and down the M4 going to our many gigs over the next few weeks. We may end up looking back on the Caen Hill day with envy - but at the moment - well, my arm is still sore!

Gin Palaces, a sick cat, and a lot of locks!

Well, we survived London!

The canal in London - or at least the one we did - may not be beautiful, but it certainly is convenient! For the first time in my life, I was able to get out of bed, walk a few hundred metres, and find a tube station! When I lived in London we lived "south of the river" - so tube (subway) stations were few and far between.

But, we needed to move on and so hit "old Father Thames" with gusto! We'd never taken the boat on a tidal river before, and the currents took some getting used to - but Drew managed well! I made tea and worried!

Moorings on a river are harder to come by then on the canal - but we managed to find them when we needed to. The biggest differences - aside from the currents - were the size of the locks (Huge! 5 boats sometimes!) and the size of the boats! Those who live and play on the Thames are rich. Really rich. Their boats are huge - their houses are huge - and we saw millions of pounds (£!) worth of boats and houses in a few days. One night, moored across from a beautiful mansion, I barely suppressed my urge to start shouting "hey - do you give to charity? Well, if you can afford a house that big, you don't give enough!".

We are now back on the canals, having left the Thames at Reading and joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. While the Thames was nice, in my heart of hearts, I prefer the canal - not as rough in terms of navigating, but a bit rougher - and more "real". Real people - real boats - and though the houses and boats are smaller, every bit as beautiful.

Oh - and Monty the cat had a viral infection - thankfully easily sorted (though expensive) and, seeing as he caught 3 mice last night - he's clearly better!

From Rural Idyll to "The Big Smoke"

Finally, after having spent a lot of time in Hertfordshire, near Tring, it is time to "stretch our legs" a bit and head off down the canal.

Drew got some bookings in the West Country, so a few weeks ago we decided to upgrade our Boat Licence to enable us to go onto the River Thames and other rivers. We will be slowly (4mp/h) be moving towards Bath!

The last few days have been spent cruising towards London, where soon we will join the Thames and head off west.

Cruising from morning till the afternoon brings back lots of memories of when we first moved onto the boat. We spent most of our days cruising in a mad dash to get to Yorkshire (we failed!).

Then, as now, the car was in London, which meant that we could spend the day cruising and the evening relaxing. Since about March, when we retrieved the car from London, any cruise along the canal meant a bike ride or walk back for me to get the car and move it along. Now, as we don't need the car for a few weeks, we are able to fill our days with cruising - and cover a fair bit of ground. We left Tring a few days ago, and now are in West London. We certainly didn't push ourselves, but it has been nice to moor up somewhere new each night....

Well, I say new...

We spent most of the first few days re-covering the Grand Union Canal that we did when we first moved off from the Slough Arm over a year ago. Once we passed the Slough Arm, though, on our way to London, we started "virgin territory".

It is odd being in a city again - and moored here. At first I was a bit nervous - imagining gangs of youths attacking the boat our untying our mooring pins - but after a false start yesterday (we abandoned our first mooring after a gang of youths on the bridge were hurling abuse at passers-by) we found a good mooring in North West London. We're now near Ladbrooke Grove - much nicer!

Here's hoping the moorings keep showing themselves, and the weather stays fine - and the cat adjusts to city life!