Wet, cold and windy

Yesterday was reasonably uneventful, but didn't it drop cold last night? I went down to Tamworth with Sue Cawson for a roast dinner with some friends (thanks Malcolm), by the time we left to drive back to Norbury the wind had got up which brought in a lot of rain during the night and more leaves off the trees. I've never seen so many leaves on the cut - it's playing havoc with the back pump in the dry dock. It's still drizzling now but it's bitterly cold. Blanche; that's the lady who delivers our newspapers to us all year round, said that there was sleet early this morning and one of the roads up near Buxton is closed due to snow! Looks like winters here for sure - best order some more coal as it's selling quickly at the moment.

I took an offer on another boat we have for sale yesterday, so I am now waiting for deposits for three boats. Hopefully these will arrive in the next few days. I've advertised the new boat that arrived at the weekend, she's called Eliza and you can find details here.

Ron and Brenda arrived back with the boat that Simon took them to fetch from Saul Junction on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal last week. They've had a couple of good days boating since they came off the river at Worcester, due to it being in flood. They tied at Stoke Prior on Friday night. Saturday saw them tied in Birmingham City Centre and they had an excellent day yesterday, after leaving Brum at 5.30am and tying up here in the basin at 4.30pm. This one's called No Frontiers and will be advertised for sale later this week. Another boat that certainly is well worth a look at. 70 foot long, recently painted and full of equipment to make it an ideal live aboard or luxury holiday narrow boat.

Here's a couple of pictures of their trip.

Debris in the river following a spring tide.

If you look closely you can see the speed at which the water is moving and how high up the banks the water is.

Jack keeping a watchful eye down 'ampton.

I know the dates are wrong on the pics, sorry!

Docking today - as I explained yesterday. So Mick and Dean are out swapping the boats over. It's not fun doing it when it's this cold, handling wet ropes, pushing and pulling on cold handrails. That's the benefit of a lot of the old carrying boats. They were fitted with wooden handrails and were no where near as cold to the touch as the steel ones. I suppose it's progress though?? Once the boats in the dry, Dean will be busy with the pressure washer cleaning the boat off and the dock out. We keep the dock clean, the reason being that if silt and leaves build up, the dock stays damp and the paint won't dry.

Sue's off to Ellesmere Port today, to help get plans together for the gathering of working boats there at Easter. It's an annual event and well worth a visit, as is the museum. After the gathering a trip is being organised to lock out onto the Manchester Ship Canal, then out onto and across the Mersey to Liverpool. A trip I would love to do, so I better get some holiday booked!

A new moorer has arrived this morning, so when we have finished shuffling boats about, we will move her onto her mooring on the mainline of the canal. We have a few moorings left; both on the mainline and down the arm, so if you need a mooring click here for full details.

We've got a motorhome going out on hire today, still waiting for it to arrive back from the garage following a service and the cam belt being changed. I hope it's back for 3pm, ready for the customers...

Have a good day!

David