It was one of those days when we had nothing planned because we had done our travelling the day before and thus could stay put. It was slightly annoying that we only had an intermittent internet connection, so we walked along the towpath to see if it improved, but no such luck. A faint drizzle accompanied us as we explored the village and local church, ending up by the lock where two boats were going down. We helped with the gates and chatted to the crew. One of the boats moored up alongside us and we helped pull them in, continuing to chat, which resulted in them inviting us for a drink in the early evening. Returning to our boat for lunch, I happened to glance out of the hatch as a boat was passing and realised it belonged to our friends A and S who we originally met at Dunchurch marina, when we first bought Naomhog, on the Grand Union Canal, nearly three years ago. I grabbed hold of the windlass and took off along the towpath to set the lock for them and open the gates. They are a few years senior to us and had already come up the Caen Hill flight and were feeling pretty tired. S told me that he had asked God for a couple of angels to come and help them with the lock and suddenly R and I appeared! We told him he was our angel, because he was able to help R tighten our fan belt – a job that R did not relish doing on his own, as he was unsure how to do it, but he knew S had a lot of experience with engines! We had known A and S were somewhere on the K&A but it would have been so easy to miss them, especially as they are travelling in the opposite direction to us.
One further delight of the day was meeting B and J for supper in the local pub. We first met B and J when our children were at primary school together over thirty years ago, but they moved away and we had not seen them for many years. We knew they lived near Marlborough and it was such fun catching up with them. The years rolled away and it was as if we had seen them yesterday!
And as for today, we started travelling along the Long Pound and it really is as beautiful as we have been led to believe. We even briefly caught sight of a kingfisher and then a duck with its four ducklings. I’m saddened at how few ducks and swans there are on the water. Far less than on the other canals we have been on.
R is reading Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens at the moment (we went to the Dickens Museum in Doughty St, London, and it is well worth at least one visit, if not two). Imagine his surprise as we passed this boat, as the name held no meaning to me, but he had just read it as a quote from Nicholas Nickleby:
You may have wondered at my silence as once again our journey faltered, plans changed and adaptability is the name of the game! Monday night saw us sitting on a cold platform in the middle of a small pretty village called Pewsey, a claim to fame being a train station with a fast link to London. And a CoOp. Oh, and a swimming pool! Unfortunately, the nine minute train service between Pewsey and Bedwyn is infrequent – 0730 in the morning or 2122 in the evening, but incredibly useful when one has a car that needs parking at a distance from the boat. We hadn’t taken into account the chill in the air or the lack of pub food on a Monday night – once we had finished exploring the rather sleepy village we had an hours wait on the station platform. Not all gloom though! Returning to the boat late afternoon, we off-loaded various supplies and then drove the car to Pewsey Wharf with the intention of finding a place to park the car for 4 days. The CRT car park charges £8 per 24hrs and we would have to remember to renew the parking daily. Walking along the towpath we were a little dismayed to see very limited mooring spaces, until I spotted a sign that said ‘mooring available to AWCC members’ (courtesy of being members of the Boaters Christian Fellowship, we are affiliated to AWCC). I rang the appropriate person who confirmed there is one vacant space that we are welcome to use. Additionally, he allowed us to park the car in the boat club car park. All for a small donation to the club!
Ten days away from Naomhog meant the boat batteries were so flat we couldn’t risk turning them on for electricity purposes without charging them first. That involves running the engine (we don’t possess a generator), a very anti social thing to do after 8pm. It was nearly 10pm by the time we walked along the towpath from the train station so we undressed by the light of a camping torch and hoped that the coolbox contents would survive the night as there was no possibility of running the fridge. Our mobile phones were running low of charge so there was nothing for it than to plunge ourselves into darkness (I have re covered the porthole cushions and not a chink of light shows through) and forfeit any late night murder mystery! Funnily enough I slept quite well!
Just as well as we had a long day yesterday, accomplishing a total of 13 locks. We are now in what is known as ‘The Long Pound’, 15 lockless miles through the Vale of Pewsey which we are led to believe is very restful and beautiful. R is fairly exhausted having done a lot of walking along the towpath between the locks, spread out just far enough to not make it worthwhile hopping aboard. The initial nine locks seemed daunting when we set off at 0830, having just had a boat pass us going in the same direction but far enough ahead that there was no chance of us catching him up. However, it transpired he was a single boater and had spotted us behind him and kindly waited so we could travel together. I much prefer being in a double lock with another boat. Not only are both boats protected from too much banging around in the lock chamber but it also is less wasteful on water. One lock was so choc full of weed that it took R about 10 minutes to close the lock gate on our departure. He made very good use of the boat hook, flinging the weed out of the water but it was really hard work as a clump of sodden weed is much heavier than expected!
Upside down! No idea why and I can’t seem to rotate!!
We climbed to the top of the summit where water levels are very low. This problem was solved in the 19 century by a steam engine pump system that has now been replaced by electric pumps. However, when they failed a few years ago, the old pump was put into service once again and worked perfectly! The Crofton pumping centre is now an attraction of great interest, houses in the museum and many visitors flock to see the steam pump in action monthly during the summer season. We passed the scene of the lorry accident and surveyed the damage.
Please look at them sideways!
The summit reached, we enjoyed a half hour cruise, including a 500m tunnel, before approaching the final four locks. Undecided as to whether we would do them on that day, we said farewell to our single boater companion who forged ahead whilst we stopped for a leisurely lunch. My thinking was that if a boat came up in the opposite direction, we would go down as the lock would be set by them in our favour. We could not remember the last time we had been in a lock going down – our whole journey along the K&A since last September has been up, up, up! So very important to remind ourselves not to get caught on the sill, by setting the boat too far back in the lock chamber. As we contemplated our afternoon options, two boats came up in the lock and behind us another boat appeared. It seemed the sensible option to finish the final four locks with the approaching narrowboat, especially when we saw it had a crew of 12 men! Plenty of extra hands and muscle should it be needed! Chatting away, I discovered they were a men’s group that had been taking a week’s boating holiday every year for the past 30 years. I think the beer sampling is as important as the boat! Some of them were also in a boat syndicate, a co-ownership arrangement for time sharing the use. Asking where the syndicate boat was moored and discovering it was the same marina our friend BBT has a syndicate boat, I asked if they knew him. Not only is he in their syndicate, he was responsible for starting the men and beer boating trip all those years ago! It’s amazing the coincidences on the water. BBT was instrumental to R and I when I first got it into my head that I wanted to be a boatee. A chance pub session with him led to us realising he was the fount of all knowledge on boats and trains and I have been gleaning his pearls of wisdom ever since! Especially when I need to get boat and train synchronised. He is a walking train timetable! He also has a windlass that he is more than happy to accompany around said trains to come and help us when we have a lot of locks to do! So we are indebted to him and his wife, PJ, who let’s him come out and play!
We moored up shortly after the last lock in a beautiful spot, the only downside being that our plank is on an upward slant which makes it a little tricky getting off the boat safely, especiallyin damp conditions. It is incredibly dark and quiet, such a contrast to London. Walking to the local pub, in the hopes of finding a decent internet connection as we haven’t got any on the boat (nor do the pub!) I was struck by the beauty of a quintessential English village. Thatched cottages alongside some stunning houses. Verdant hedgerows. But no people. No village shop. No post office. A pub and a church (which we will visit today as apparently it has a renowned clock) and a village hall. I told R that I didn’t think I could live here. Lovely to look at, great for a retreat, but so, so quiet! And I’m not sure what we’ll do for vittels when stores are deplete. The nearest shop is the CoOp in Pewsey and the bus timetable didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence – even if we got to Pewsey I’m not sure when we’d get back!
It’s a drear morning and as I walked the towpath, searching for signal, I passed an enormous widebeam travelling towards Gt Bedwyn from Pewsey, where they had discovered the pumpout was not working. In order to empty their waste they have to travel more than the journey we did yesterday and back again, which necessitates 26 locks! Then they can continue on their way, at least in the knowledge they won’t be caught short! Probably 14hrs of travel to do a 40min return car journey!
One surprise regarding the peace and quiet – with expected regularity trains whizz past the canal only 10 or 12 meters from the towpath!
Every cloud has a silver lining – due to a lorry damaging a bridge over the canal at Burbage (thankfully the lorry driver was OK), we are halted once again in our progress, but it meant we have just spent a delightful day in Marlborough. We took the bus, (I was really impressed with Wiltshire county’s prebookable system) and swam at the leisure centre, although first we had to purchase swim trunks for R. The charity shop we happened upon had a brand new pair of trunks, unfortunately in a small size, but R gamely squeezed into them! (Oh, the joy of being clean with copious warm water to wash body and hair!). Then coffee and cake in a de-consecrated town centre church, used for concerts and exhibitions, very close to the impressive buildings of Marlborough College, precariously close to the main thoroughfare of Marlborough town centre and it looked like the students had to cross over it frequently to get to other school buildings.
Finding the laundrette was a challenge, hidden in a corner of a back street (just as well because I made R take off his shirt to pop it in the wash – anyone remember the infamous Levi advert in the 80’s?) and while R waited for the clothes to dry I spent an hour perusing the charity and numerous ladies clothes shops, as well as doing a bit of birthday shopping for R. As he was about to lambast me for my rather large carrier bag, I was able to forestall him with the assurance everything was for him! A Waitrose meal deal overlooking the river in a small park just off the high St, sitting in the sun, enriched the outing.
Then I found an amazing home furniture and curtain shop that stocked rolls and rolls of fabric and offcuts. Wanting a new lightweight fabric for the boat windows, as the present curtains currently have speckled lining, due in the most part to damp and mildew, I was delighted to find 6M of an orange fabric, not only as an offcut, but also then half price! Someone else in the shop was buying a metal rod for some curtain making project and I realised that was exactly what I needed to measure the water level in our tank so I bought one too! All in all, it is probably fair the day was more fun for me than R, but a plus side fro R was seeing the surrounding countryside and he got away from the boat chores.
I realise I’m a planner. Nothing I like better than to plot our route to the hour and the day. On paper at least. What I am realising is what a waste of time! Last week I had mapped out exactly where we were going to moor, on which days and how much travelling we would do. I approximated how long we could cruise before the fuel tank empties (although I am now getting a bamboo cane from my sister so I can be more precise in my calculations!) and arranged for family troops to come and assist us with the Caen Hill flight. All that changed in an instant when we heard about the lorry incident
Two hours ahead of where we are currently moored the canal is closed, not only for bridge damage assessment, but also to enable the diesel spillage to be mopped up and bits of debris from the wreckage to be removed from the canal by a dredger. The nearest dredger is at the bottom of the Caen Hill flight and will take two days to arrive. As the bridge is at the summit of the canal, believe it or not, there are low water levels! No one knows how long the wait will be, but R and I decided the best thing was not to move any further along the cut. We are near a shop, a pub, a railway station and a bus stop (never knew that would excite me!). Meanwhile, numerous boats are passing by and the towpath is filling up, with some very precarious stretches, where long planks will be essential and boaters will be required to walk quite a distance to the nearest shop. Even filling up with water will be tricky because if a mooring spot is vacated temporarily, to go to the water tap, some other boater is likely to usurp you! The backlog of boats is going to hamper our journey, so we have decided to delay the Caen locks and remain this side of Devizes for a bit longer. As it is the most beautiful stretch of countryside I don’t regard this as a hardship. I just have to trust my willing band of lock assistants are still at the ready when needed and that nothing else unforseen occurs. Living in the present, practicing patience and adaptability are skills we are having to embrace. There is no other way to continue to enjoy the ride!
The lovely part is having time for friends and family who happen to be in the area or who fancy a day out. The only recommended pub within shouting distance we have now frequented three days out of the last four and are almost able to recite the menu As we are no nearer getting to a fuel pump, my brother kindly arrived with a couple of gerry cans of diesel as the engine needs to be run daily to keep the boat batteries topped up. An accompanying picnic of ham, beef and chicken sandwiches was also very welcome, especially by R, who is getting a little bored of the rigours of vegetarian dining whilst on the boat! We still have the Hungerford market veg to finish up! Walking with my sister-in- law along the towpath, she spotted a Common blue butterfly, which apparently is not that common. Trying to take a picture proved impossible as when the butterfly landed on a leaf, it immediately closed its wings. We spoke to some of the other boaters moored up. One couple of advanced years decided to do a year’s boating which has stretched to 24! They have been around the whole network at least three times – something to aspire to!
We met up with an old friend from the Czech Republic on Saturday who was staying at our flat with his 16 yr old daughter and five of her friends for the weekend. I could quite imagine the state of our flat with so many teenagers living in it for three days so I suggested we meet in Reading! I was taken with the unusual brickwork of the outside of the main parish church which looked like a chequerboard.
And to finish, this evening as the sun began to set:
There’s a lot of waiting around on the canals and if you can find it in your inner being to slow down and not mind, it makes for a much more pleasant journey. Yesterday, we wanted an early start (for us, 0915!) as we had 8 locks ahead of us and about 4 hours travelling time. Arriving at a popular destination much after midday usually means the good mooring spots will be taken. Our first lock involved a herd of frisky cows and a swing bridge across the lock, which had to be opened before we could rise up in the lock chamber. The swing bridge got stuck so I had to climb onto the boat roof and up the ladder to assist R. Just as well as the lock gates kept opening and if R had done all this on his own, he would have been circumnavigating the lock afew times! Fortunately another boat, travelling in our direction arrived, just as we left the lock, so we agreed to set the lock ahead and wait for them to catch us up. A wise decision as we then shared all the locks with them, which halved the workload and shortened our journey time.
We made use of our extra time by visiting one of the oldest group of almshouses (14th century) in the country, built as a large quadrangle, around its own chapel. It was a detour on foot of about half an hour and as we walked along the road we were reminded how close we are to everyday life and yet, travelling the cut oftens feels like the middle of nowhere. The train line is incredibly close to the canal, running parallel for large sections. It gives one a fright when suddenly you hear a loud rumble, the first thought being, ‘what is wrong with the boat’! It’s also the juxtaposition of the incredibly slow moving, peaceful, beautiful canal and the noisy, fast paced mode of train transportation. As time goes on, more and more canal boats are likely to be hybrid or fully electric, which will increase the calm and quiet, with only the bird song as an interruption, which may or may not be appreciated, as currently they are starting at 0430hrs as I know from experience.
We had our first ‘marital’ of the season a couple of days ago. The waste tank needed emptying and R decided sooner rather than later, even though it involved using a pump out that was the wrong side of the canal for our waste tank outlet. As the hose was long enough to reach across the boat, R said he would balance on the side, holding the nozzle tight so as to form a good seal. Meanwhile I had to make sure the water hose, at the other end of the boat, also reached the waste outlet so that I could intermittently swill the tank out with fresh water. It’s a stressful procedure because you only have about 10minutes to complete the task before the electricity runs out and the pump abruptly dies. There was a pause button on the pump controls, so once the waste tank was empty I had to press pause, jump onto the top of the boat with the water hose and aim the fresh water down the hole, without touching anything. I certainly didn’t want R touching my clean water hose! Once off the boat roof, I restarted the waste pump for the fresh water to be pumped out. As we had some time left, but I didn’t want to jump onto the roof again at speed, I took the water hose inside and aimed the water into the toilet bowl (again making sure the hose remained clean!) and as I squirted clean water into the bowl, R simultaneously pumped it out. The skill is making sure the tank is empty by the time the money runs out and the pump stops pumping! Otherwise, you may half fill the tank with water before you even begin to fill it with waste! So certain was I that all this was a bad idea, I made R empty his pockets and remove his wallet and mobile, (a measure of his true worth!) just in case he fell in the canal . He didn’t!
We proceeded on into Hungerford without mishap and had a delightful couple of days exploring the small market town. It has a fascinating history and the best fruit and veg stall I have ever come across in a country market. A large variety of produce, some I had not seen before. Getting carried away, I now have a surfeit of veg that I really don’t know what to do with – recipes welcome! Otherwise R will be subjected to my mother’s favourite ABC soup recipe – all bits combined!
We were able to moor right outside the parish church. I think it may be the closest church to a canal in the country. Both the vicar and his wife are Waterways Chaplains, a fact that was shared with me by a very lovely lady of 93 who chairs a Christian writers forum on Zoom, that I recently joined. It is coincidental that this lady lives in Hungerford, so we were able to meet in person rather than just virtually! She gamely came on the boat, no mean feat as this involved walking on our 6ft long gang plank. Moorings without a plank are few and far between on the K&A. My fears increased as she told me a friend recently fell, broke his hip, contracted pneumonia in hospital and then died, so she was wary of having a fall herself. I almost made R carry her off the boat before accompanying her along the uneven towpath to her car. I didn’t want a broken hip on my conscience!
Mooring up was the most fun we have had in a while! Everyone who knows the K&A suggested we invest in an extra long gang plank. All well and good, but the longer they are, the heavier they are and more unwieldy to manoeuvre. Ideally, we need a light aluminium plank, but then they are easy for someone to walk off with! We knew where we wanted to stop but hadn’t taken into account the enormous fauna between us and the towpath. Our first attempt, which also involved cutting back a swathe of jungle, almost ended in disaster as even R decided the gang plank was ever so slightly precariously balanced. It landed on the bank side at the bottom of a small steep slope and it proved almost impossible to find a steady footing. The plank on the bow end involved R almost doing a running jump to get aboard as it was so unstable. We decided to try our luck a little further along the cut, and managed to fit ourselves closer to the bank just in front of the lock landing stage. The advantage of a reasonably short narrowboat! Even so, we still had to cut back a lot of nettles to make room for the gang plank and avoid too much stinging.
The K&A certainly lives up to its reputation of being a beautiful canal, thus making all the awkwardness of mooring up worthwhile. Sadly there don’t seem to be as many ducks as we remember, from travelling along the Oxford canal afew years ago. R was in a lock chamber and heard what he thought was some sort of an alarm but couldn’t work out how that could be as we have no alarms on the boat. Suddenly he realised he had company – two small ducks were trapped in the lock, unable to fly out. One of them was making an ‘alarming’ noise that explained what R heard. Once the gates opened they went on their way, but it is an unusual sight to see.
Last Tuesday was D day for us! Laden with rucksacks and bags, we left the flat behind and took to the water, 223 days after leaving the boat in the Newbury Boat Club! For the majority of that time the River Kennet has been on red boards, with us advised not to travel as the fast flowing river is too dangerous. A boat without a keel, with a flat bottom, has little chance against the strong flow of a river in full flood and the all too real possibility of ending up sideways on to a weir or tossed about in a lock, banging the boat from side to side, leaves one little option than to stay put, however long it takes!
We filled the water tank to the brim, checked the oil and started the engine with slight trepidation. She started first time and we heaved a sigh of relief, navigating right, out of the boat club and mooring up almost immediately on the towpath. A stocking up of supplies at both Lidl and Tesco meant there was no chance we would starve over the coming few days and gradually we got back into the swing of boat life. Turn off the water when doing ones teeth. Wash ones hands, not leaving the tap running, after handling wet mooring ropes. Only boil the necessary quantity of water for a cup of tea. All these water saving tips soon came back into focus as we took note of where we would find our next water point. The unwelcome news that the diesel supplier, situated after going through our first lock, had closed down, is a slight cause for concern. It appears that refuelling is not very easy on the K&A, so we just have to hope we have enough fuel on board. Visions of carrying 20 litre flagons of diesel is not appealing, but hopefully, it will not come to that!
Wednesday saw us moving through one lock in preparation for friends arriving at Newbury Station on Thursday in order to travel with us to Kintbury. The lock seemed harmless enough, so R looped the mid rope around a bollard and gave me the end of the rope to hold the boat steady. Patiently he waited for the lock to half fill before opening the second paddle, which he did rather quickly. Before I knew it the bow whipped around to the right heading for the chamber wall and as I shouted for R to drop the paddle, so the stern end of the boat clanged against the wall behind me. It took all my strength to maintain a hold on the rope, stretching my body as far forward as I was able. Disaster averted, a day or so later I noticed a couple of angry bruises on my arm and one finger, a stark reminder of how vigilent one must be. Fortunately, even with the severe rocking of the boat, nothing was damaged below decks.
Setting off on Thursday, it was not a particularly long stretch of water, but 7 locks impeded our progress and we were expectant that the trip would be at least 4 – 5 hours. Infact it was nearer to 6, but we were treated to a rare sight……. arriving at one of the locks we were greeted by an engineless widebeam, going down the lock while a beautiful shire horse gently munched on the verdant grass. Once the boat was through the lock, being pulled on a rope, the rope was attached to the horse, who proceeded to walk along the towpath, taking the widebeam and its three dozen or so passengers with him. The boat was skillfully turned around by a couple of helmspeople and then the horse pulled the boat back to the lock, enjoying a well earned rest as the boat rose up in the lock. What a special and unusual sight that was and well worth the delay it caused us. Mooring up at Kintbury we found a wonderful pub for an early supper as both R and I and our guests were truly exhausted by a day back on the water. We were grateful for an early night and, after the light and noise pollution of London life, we appreciated the stillness, blackness and quiet of being in the countryside once again!
Various family commitments took us back into London for the weekend but as we move further west I can see this juggling of two lifestyles getting more complicated, especially when the canal no longer follows the same path as the railway. That is a double edged sword. I have just returned to the boat a day later than R. He kindly moved it through a lock into the picturesque village of Kintbury where the moorings are so popular, you can only stay in them a maximum of two days. However they are a stone’s throw from the railway line and I fear my night’s sleep is going to be noisier than in the heart of the city!!
And so another month draws to a close and I sit writing this from the comfort of my sofa! As our boat has been in a boat club that did not necessitate us holding a Canal River Trust licence, it became obvious halfway through May is was more economical to wait until June before returning to the boat. The boards have recently changed from their red status but reading another boater’s blog, as he navigated off the K&A onto the Thames, I am rather relieved we did not attempt to travel any sooner. We did return to the boat last week and below is an account of what we did:
Last October, whilst cruising on the Thames, our boat stalled, which was pretty scary at the time and the problem seemed to be related to mucky fuel. A bit of a surprise as we’d had the fuel polished in July. Once we reached our winter mooring in Newbury we heaved a sigh of relief, little thinking it would be mid May before we could cruise again, due to the red boards on the Kennet river. A problem with our Webasto heater led to us calling out an engineer, who discovered that we had an exceptionally rusty fuel tank, compounded by a quantity of water in the tank, more than could be accounted for by condensation alone. All pretty depressing really but once Joe emptied the tank, cleaned it thoroughly and replaced the newly polished fuel along with the fuel filters, we felt a renewed confidence in restarting our cruising. Obviously, keeping the internals of the boat in good repair makes all the difference to how the boat runs but so often you don’t realise there’s a problem until its a bit late. My other half tells me the fuel got all joggled up when we were on the river stretch of the Kennet, resulting in the dirty fuel on the bottom getting mixed with the clean fuel above. Regularly servicing helps but it can’t mitigate everything, so suddenly you find yourself in a bit of a fix.
That’s rather like life. Unless we keep our internal self in good order we can find ourselves sinking rather than swimming through life. Negative emotions stop us from living well. Holding onto anger, bitterness, disappointment hinders are ability to get up in the morning and just enjoy the day. The less burdened our mind is from stress and worry, the better we can function. It isn’t always easy to do this in our own strength, especially if we facing some seemingly impossible situations. Sometimes we need a helping hand. Some people use therapy, or mindfulness or finding someone they can trust to share their burdens with. Personally I choose to pray to a God I believe in, who loves us unconditionally, and wants to be our helper throughout our earthly life. Not only is he there for us in our ups and downs, but he forgives us when we screw up, a bit like cleaning the fuel tank. The crud is removed and clean fuel replaces the muck so our internal being runs smoothly. We often live with the belief that we require no extra help from anyone. This is especially the case when all is well and living feels easy. However it’s when the hard times come along we realise life is not so simple. Negative thoughts and feelings from previous years may get mixed into the present, often the case when someone is bereaved for a second time. If they have managed to bury their feelings of grief, without dealing with them on the first occasion, the second bereavement stirs up all the previous emotions and the new bereavement is doubly hard to cope with. In addition to this, we don’t want to run on an empty tank or run out of fuel! We may be good at helping others and not so good at self care, so we end up depleted of energy and zest for life. Now that summer is hopefully around the corner, find opportunities to enjoy nature more, go for walks, chat to your neighbour or just relax in a sunny spot, watching the world go by. We could all do with a bit of a recharge after this wettest of winters so I hope the sun chooses to shine!
Talking of rain and shine, the one thing I have noticed being back in London is how much the weather affects one’s mood. A sunny day and there’s so much to explore and do, but once the grey clouds descend and the rain patters down, it’s hard to motivate oneself to leave the comfort of home. A disadvantage of city life, at least where we live, is that there is not as much natural light as we are used to. A big contrast to being on the boat and we are grateful that we have the opportunity to experience alternating lifestyles.
I can’t quite believe another week has flown by and still we wait…. there was a glimmer of hope at the beginning of last week when the boards shifted from red to amber on the canal, but a heavy rainstorm reverted them to red! Now we are nearer to the end of the month than the beginning, so I don’t feel like buying the required CRT licence which would be backdated to 1st May. It makes more sense to restart our travels on 1st June, assuming that we can!
We have briefly returned to the boat and its a calm, peaceful evening, the sound of birdsong a pleasant change from London sirens and the steady background noise of city living. A fluff up of the cushions (actually it was more, open them, to see what each cover revealed – from spare blankets, to knitted socks, to teatowels – cushion covers are a great storage facility in small spaces!), a cup of tea and an episode of Ted Lasso left us feeling very much at home! Our extravagance ahead of leaving the boat club is the purchase of a new fridge, replacing the one that came with the boat. Unclear of how old it is, neither R nor I think it works efficiently and it certainly looks like it has seen better days. However, as it is still working I advertised it on the K&A Facebook page, free to anyone who wanted to collect it and immediately we got a response. We cannot remove the fridge until we turn Naomhog around as it will only fit through the bow doors, which are presently surrounded by water as we are mooed stern on to the towpath. We are due to have the fuel tank cleaned, which can only be done with the boats stern in its current position. The new fridge is waiting in the boat club outhouse. Nothing is ever simple with narrowboats – so often, one job needs to be completed before another can commence. The couple collecting our old fridge, who are only moored a stones throw from us, are delighted with the delay as they need to make room for the newcomer in their boat – a much desired luxury if the weather hots up.
So back to London and I decided to do a Lidl shop, the nearest one being about a mile away. Lidl offered me a £5 discount on a £25 shop. I still can’t resist a bargain! The shop went well and, having three heavy bags, I hopped home on the bus, little realising until I reached the flat that I had left my keys dangling in the trolley, still attached to the lookalike pound coin. Dumping the shopping, a quick explanation to R and I found myself back on the bus, praying that some honest person would have retrieved my keys. Which they had! All this delayed my cooking of supper for Farnham friends coming for the evening to see us. They had a dreadful journey, both ways, which has not been the norm so far with visitors, but unfortunately, I think they will not want to repeat the experience any time soon!
A few local adverts for the Torrington Farmers market on a Thursday piqued my interest, so we wandered along, hoping to find an array of market produce to purchase. In reality, it turned out mainly to be a host of pop-up lunch stalls, all rather expensive. Then I spotted a stall selling veggie balls, macncheese balls, and meat balls, all with salad or fresh pasta. Profits went to help rehabilitate ex offenders, who also helped run the stall. The guy in charge had done time himself and was aware of the difficulties of starting afresh after a prison term. I would willingly support them regularly if it wasn’t for my waistline. The deep fried balls were all delicious, but seeing them cooked in a cauldron of fat brought home the calirofic content. Well worth it once in a while as a treat and the only stall that was good value for money!
The weekend has been busy. Friends from the north stayed for three nights, one night with their two grandchildren of nearly a year and a toddler. It brought home the realities of family life in a London flat compared to a suburban house and garden. Coupled with a Sunday lunch for 12, because our son decided he wanted to be near Arsenal on Sunday afternoon for the end of season match (no explanation needed for football fans!) along with a few of his friends. I certainly baptised our kitchen. A simple cheese sauce took me three attempts. The first saw me using icing sugar instead of cornflour (wrongly labelled jar!). The second I burnt the roux, because of the absence of cornflour, I had to resort to the butter and flour method. Finally, I made the sauce but could not find my food processor discs anywhere for grating the cheese. I’d forgotten what hard work that could be with a hand grater. And as to where my discs have gone……. how can I live in a comparatively small space yet continually lose everything! Good thing it’s a sunny day – three loads of washing and a challenge to dry without resorting to the tumble dryer – the smart meter remote display is a bit of a reality check!
Making use of our swimming passes I didn’t get very far when I discovered I had everything bar my swimsuit. So I did my 4mins HIIT regime in the cubicle while waiting for R to finish his lengths, which must have looked pretty strange from the outside with my arms popping up and down! Went on an extremely crowded tube and as it thinned out, I realised, even though I was carrying two backpacks, no one offered me a seat. I didn’t know whether to be offended or flattered!! Perhaps an older person being offered a seat is a thing of the past, like so many other niceties that we used to take for granted. But I did discover one useful freebie today – sign up for an Iceland bonus card and if you are over 60, they give you a 10% discount on a shop on Tuesdays – they’ve branched out and do some fresh veg, OK wine, along side some useful household items, so even if you don’t do frozen, there’s savings to be had!
With the boards remaining ‘red’ on the Kennet & Avon River section of the canal we have enjoyed another week of London life, embracing all that is on offer. The freedom of being able to walk for miles coupled with hopping on and off buses – my knee injury now allows me to run short distances – it’s ironic how often the bus you see in the distance is the one you want, but the bus stop is further away than imagined and the only way you are going to get there is by a quick sprint. Having arranged to meet daughter C on Friday morning at Blackfriars bridge, I realised, unless I walked incredibly fast, there was no way I would arrive at the appointed time and my hopes of a bus hop were dashed as said bus drove past me mid way between stops. Fortunately, the bus was running ahead of schedule and as I neared the bus stop I realised it was still there, so with a quick short sprint and frantic waving of hands to the driver, I managed to catch it up. C and I then had a delightful, sunny walk, to Victoria to meet up with my sister, visiting from the provinces. Lunch at Ottalengi’s cafe was a birthday treat coupled with celebrating daughter C finishing her film contract. The food was delicious, especially the vegan chocolate bomb and slice of pistachio rose cake we shared between the three of us. Well worth the twenty minute wait for a table. C then returned home to be part of a photo shoot her housemate L is involved with, prior to the release of a book she has written. L had asked me too, among others, and then found she’d asked too many people, so I got stood down – I’d been looking forward to my 15mins of fame, having my hair and makeup done! Instead, I found myself dragging my poor sister through the crowds in Oxford St to peruse my favourite bargain shop, T K Maxx. Some things I over zealously upcycled in our house move, deciding 30 year old towels did not warrant storage space, but visitors, coming to stay, find towel transportation slightly cumbersome. I decided to rectify this!
Earlier in the week my friend A came for a night and not only did we walk to every H&M in the vicinity (she was looking for a particular blouse that unfortunately had sold out everywhere) but we then walked to Marylebone Road to a hairdresser that sells an award winning hairbrush. I felt it would be a perfect birthday present from R to me! We discovered the shop was technically closed as A pushed opened the door and found her hand covered in wet paint, due to redecoration on the bank Holiday weekend! A very kind lady, realising how far we’d walked, in the rain, opened the till so i could purchase said hairbrush and, hearing it was my birthday, even included some expensive complimentary hair product for both me and A! An early night was called for once we eventually made it home coupled with a stiff G&T as a reward for an impressive step count!
The following day, we walked to the wonderful health food shop near our local swimming pool because I had noticed it stocked a brand of chocolate A was trying to buy but had been finding it difficult to get hold of. En route home a man stumbled and fell, banging his head. We waited with him until he felt stable enough to stand, and then, supporting him either side, we escorted him back to his home, a nearby homeless shelter, realising he may be in a bit of trouble for being slightly the worse for wear. He was a very friendly chap and grateful for our help, but a reminder to me how sad and difficult life is for many people and it’s all going on around us in plain sight.
A brunch with R’s nephew found us in the throws of Notting Hill and I felt very at home crossing a canal bridge, seeing the narrowboats moored up. We took a stroll along the Friday/Saturday Portabello street market, heaving with people and seemingly stretching for miles. A colourful array of stalls, presently mainly trinkets, whereas once upon a time it used to be furniture and bric a brac. Easier to take a trinket home as a souvenir I suppose! I shall return again, alone, at a quieter time, so I can meander at my own pace and not drive R mad at my dithering! There is no doubt the density of humanity takes some getting used to in our new habitat and learning when best to venture out will be a necessary skill. We are fortunate that we can retreat to the boat when it all gets too much, although it is fair to say that where we actually live is remarkably quiet for London aside from the occasional siren. You get used to them, as we also have become accustomed to the quiet tremble of tube trains beneath the house!
I didn’t think I’d ever manage to replicate the hospitality of our Farnham home in London, partly because we live in a much smaller space, but that didn’t seem to matter this week when we had twelve for supper. My friend J produced the most amazing cake – really very London posh, so what it lacked in size it made up for in taste! There was even a slice left over, as it was so rich that it easily fed a dozen of us. The blend of Farnham and London friends made me feel very at home in our new abode and excited at our new venture. There is always something new to explore, from the wine bar that has been fashioned out of a previous London ‘underground ladies and gents convenience’! Not entirely sure I want to repeat the experience – seemingly still has the original tiles on the walls! To the amazing Kings Place arts centre where we listened to a harpsicord and violin duo, performing traditional scottish tunes with a contemporary twist. They were amazing. Situated along the canalside, it incorporates a bar and restaurant, known as Rotunda, because it is round I imagine, had been on my list of places to try ever since we moored opposite it nearly two years ago. It always appeared too exclusive and I presumed expensive, but the actual arts centre is priced so that it is affordable and enables the emergence of new talent.
Wine bar!
A short return to the boat to spring clean and fill the water tank, which took a very long time as it was totally empty. We entertained a two year old who loves Rosie & Jim, so her grandparents thought a trip to a real narrowboat would be fun, which it was. Be even more fun once we can move, but it’s been good to get back on the water and to feel the gentle rocking of the boat as we go to sleep. I had forgotten how much it does that, especially when R or I are just moving around! Fortunately we came back on a hot and sunny day, our dehumidifiers had worked a treat, so there was no feeling of dampness. Just a host of spiders webs and a gentle layer of dust to be swept away. The river is still running fast and overnight there was yet another downpour but we are feeling more confident that returning to the waterways is just around the corner!
What I am learning about parking….. we had a carpet delivered last week, 5m x 5m, so the carpet fitter wanted his van close by. A traffic warden appeared. I said I was new to the area and was happy to pay for a visitor’s permit once the carpet was out of the van, but wanted to avoid paying £47 for a trade permit. The kind traffic warden gave us the necessary leniency to get the carpet unloaded and told us, with a visitor’s permit we could park in a pay by phone space. When I checked this with Camden Council, they said we can only park in a permit holders space. The warden’s advice could have led to a fine. At the weekend you only have to pay to park for five hours, from 0830 to 1330 on a Saturday morning. However, the maximum time allowed for a visitor’s permit is 4hrs. Our son P arrived on Friday night by car and parked in a Pay by phone space, ready at 0830 to pay for an hours parking. Then at 0930 the car had to be moved to a permit only space with a 4hr visitor’s permit. As well as getting one’s head around the parking, there is the congestion charge to manage, which is only free until midday on Saturdays and Sundays and then after 6pm. Far easier not to have a car and make use of our travel passes and our feet!
Sometimes, though, a car is useful. How do you get rid of a moth invested carpet if the carpet fitters and the council refuse to take it? It’s tricky getting to the dump without a car – I rang a waste removal service recommended by the council and Mr B quoted £100 for removal of carpet, having assessed quantity of rubbish by photographic evidence. The men who actually collected the carpet charged us £150 which was considerably more than anticipated. After challenging this with Mr B he agreed to refund us £37 but it made me wonder if we were being ripped off by the van men!
Fortunately for us, we do have friends and family with cars at the ready, which we appreciated greatly today. All our daughter H’s belongings had to be relocated from one storage facility to another, after her unit was crowbarred open by thieves. We had no idea what to expect on arrival and were greatly relieved to find nothing had been stolen, just a few things forced open to reveal the contents. It was, however unsettling to feel someone had tried to rifle through her private possessions. H lost her confidence with the company storing her things, so we moved three car loads of boxes, across London. One car decided to avoid the congestion charge by taking a longer route and one car went straight through the centre of the city, which took a far shorter time. The payback of the congestion charge was enjoying the spectacle of the various architecturaldelights through the ages. Every time I find myself involved with H’s removals, and I have lost count of the moves she has had, I say ‘never again’.
We’ve found a wonderful piano bar down the road, with a daily two hour happy hour. The piano is constantly being played with requests from the clientele whilst a singer meanders through the tables. Coupled with a two course early bird set menu at our local pub en route home, it makes for a reasonably priced night on the town, all done by 9pm!
There’s a swimming pool within a twenty minute walk. Membership for the year is £7.30 and enables us to swim weekdays 8am – 4pm with no extra cost! The second time we went, a voice called out my name – the daughter of an old friend from Farnham was in the changing room with her three children. What was more extraordinary was that she didn’t live nearby – she was just on a day out and decided the children might like a swim. The bargain cost of swimming is negated by the wonderfully stocked health food shop on the opposite side of the road, that happens also to sell delicious pastries and homemade bread!
We’ve been taking to the streets and walking hidden parts of London. R decided he wanted to see ‘The Monument’, so I found a 3 mile walk that began at Tower Bridge, with The Monument near to the end. Knowing how difficult it is to follow a walk back to front, we started from the beginning, only to find there was so much of interest to see that by the time we got to Liverpool St Station we had run out of energy to complete the walk. We shall pick up where we left off and eventually get to see The Monument, marking the start of the Great fire of London in 1666. We may think we have it bad in this day and age but it’s sobering to think that the fire was only the year after the Plague that had wiped out a good many people.
For those of you who are Abba fans, I can recommend Abba Voyager as an entertaining experience. I went with son P, who kindly gave me an Abba outfit to wear. He himself ran out of time to find one, so in a last minute dash, R and I walked to a wonderful fancy shop which was a cornucopia of delight, with very helpful staff. I managed to kit him out with sale bargains rather than rent an outfit I would have to return the following day. Walking to the venue alone, a very kind man saw me looking a little lost and, even though he was on a bike, slowed his pace to walk with me – it was obvious from my dress where I was going! Not nearly so many people were dressed up as I imagined would be, so I felt a little conspicuous, but I received quite a few positive comments for my efforts and P definitely looked the part too!
One stress of flat living is how to do the washing, without clothing taking over every radiator. I can put it outside, as long as it’s not visible or drape on a clothes airer in our upstairs sitting room on sunny days. After much research into heat pump tumble dryers (which appear to be the most economical of the tumble dryer options) I decided I would hang clothes in the utility room and use a dehumidifier to extract the water. With only one small clothes airer the prospect of drying bedding still loomed as a challenge. Imagine my delight, when walking back from swimming, I spotted a large clothes airer abandoned on the side of the pavement. With my daughter’s voice ringing in my ears that this is the way people get rid of stuff for others to take home and use, if useful, I felt uplifted at my first pavement bargain!
It’s a beautiful, sunny spring morning and I have just made first use of my London 60plus Oyster card for an early morning trip to my daughter’s past of town. The joy of crossing Blackfriars bridge, the old and the new mingling together to form a stunning array of architecture, the beauty of the glass constructions captured in the sunlight. A stripy multicoloured bus passes and I’m struck by the modernity of London, returning here to live after nearly 40 years. The energy and the buzz fills me with delight. There is always something new to see and so much to do. A friend recommended a series of books “Hidden walks of London” and yesterday we embarked on a trip to the Barbican taking in the remains of the old London wall and a clutch of churches, some still resplendant, some but a shell of their former selves, damaged either by the fire of London in the 17th century, enemy bombs in the 20th century or just decripit by age and time. A visit to the Barbican centre to see half a five storey building covered in 2000sq meters of amazing purple cloth, hand sewn together by locals in Ghana, organised by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama. It coincides with a new exhibition, Unravel: the power and politics of textiles in Art. It inspires a great sense of wonder and worth seeing if you are in the vicinity before August 2024.
Walking through Postman’s Park (a location used in a film called ‘Closer’) it was very humbling to observe a wall of Edwardian tiles, each one describing an act of self sacrifice, such as an 8yr old boy dousing the flames on his younger brother, only for him to die when his own clothes caught alight.
Have you strayed onto the wrong blog? Where’s Naomhog and what happened to the narrowboat dream, you may be wondering! This, my friends, is a detour and everytime you see it’s a “Later London Living” post, feel free to ignore if it is of no interest. However, I have missed writing my blog and as the counterpart of our canal life is now a flat in central london, I thought it might be fun to share the juxtaposition of life on a narrowboat, predominantly countryfied and life in the big metropolis. Both are at times equally fascinating.
If we could, we would by now be back on the boat, heading along the Kennet & Avon towards Bath and Bristol. We cannot control the weather! Record rainfall means the Kennet river levels remain high and the streams flow too fast for boats to navigate safely. The delay has enabled us to move house and start settling into our new life. There have been some funny moments. Like the first time we had to leave London, for a thanksgiving service close to our old home, picking up our car en route, a bus journey away. The bus stop is opposite our front door. We managed to miss three buses before we eventually sorted ourselves enough to commence our journey. Not helped by R deciding to use the ‘communal’ recycling, unaware that if the door shut behind him, he could not get out. I suddenly received a panicked phone call from him, trapped in the cupboard. Thankfully, he had his mobile with him. It may have been a while before I realised he was missing. I was busy making friends with the postman! Then, as we stood at the bus stop, he said he thought he might have forgotten something. “The car keys” I remarked as another bus came into view!
Our move itself went reasonably smoothly and I can recommend our removal company, who couldn’t have been more accommodating and helpful. It was more problematic for the couple we bought from – although they were in receipt of our remittance, their bank did not release payment to their vendors, thus denying them access to their new property. My biggest stress was realising just before bed, that the duvet I had thought was coming out of storage was infact two pillows. Not much comfort to our friend D, who was staying the night. In the two days she was with us, she deep cleaned the kitchen and two shower rooms and helped us unpack all our boxes. Almost fourteen years to the day, we helped her move house and she wanted to repay our kindness, which she certainly did. In a short space of time we have painted some of the walls and hung all our pictures. So now we are out and about exploring the locality, becoming familiar with our new surroundings. Perhaps one reason we feel so at home is that we are a ten minute walk from the flat we lived in when we were first married. And a stones throw from the canal – it was coming into London by boat almost two years ago that seeded the idea of a return to the capital and a radical lifestyle change.
NarrowboatTLC 