Another adventure overseas

Our friends and neighbours left the marina yesterday to cruise the system for 4 months. They intend to explore the Chester ring, the Llangollen canal and of course the Grand Union. I felt a pang of envy as we waved them goodbye. I am really keen to explore the canal network more, but Phil does not share my enthusiasm.

The original idea of moving to the boat was Phil's. It was intended that we would reduce our outgoings and I would not have to work so hard. I was working sometimes seven days a week, teaching from Monday to Friday in school during the days and at home in the evenings and then also teaching on Saturdays and rehearsing on Sundays. It was a crazy time and I was becoming burnt out. It was such a liberating feeling moving onto the boat and the first year was spent relaxing and just working three days a week in school. It was a fantastic time.

I would like to explore the inland waterways, but I understand that the reasons that Phil suggested the move to the boat were not neccesaily due to a love of boating, but rather for my benefit. I respect the fact that he doesnt want to explore. We do get out and about occasionally, which is enough for him and satisfies my love of boating and the outdoors, so we compromise well.

I love travelling abroad and working for several weeks at a time, in the knowledge that I can relax afterwards for long periods. However, it seems that a pianist is always in demand and my periods at home are now being filled with more and more playing commitments. I do love the opportunity to play, but these last few weeks have been jam packed with a recording session and lots of rehearsals. I am giving a concert tomorrow evening and I am starting to feel the stress of overdoing things and those old knots in the pit of my stomach are returning.

Added to that, my 92 year old mother is not well and lives 300 miles away. I had to do a flying visit last week to sort out her appointments and some sort of longer term care for her. Our NHS is fantastic and the people who work for it are committed and helpful, but it is creaking under the strain of  a lack of funding. I came home exhausted and frustrated, having had to go through hoops just to get a basic level of care for her. I had hoped to catch up with friends while there, but dealing with beaurocracy is all consuming!

On Sunday, Phil decided that I needed a bit of  relaxation, so we had lunch at our favourite hostelry (Snatchams, so named because it was where the press gang operated in days of yore). We just managed to leave before the incoming high tide cut us off, which is a frequent occurence there. I did note a touch of disappointment in Phil's voice as we left, I think the prospect of being stranded in a pub for a few hours rather appealed to him.

We then drove to the other side of the river for a walk, a bit of bird watching and to collect some wood. The high tide had brought in loads of lovely seasoned wood and we filled the car to the brim with it.

A view of Snatchams from the other side of the river - it is completely cut off!

Plenty of wood is washed up, so we are able to replenish our wood stores

More lovely wood!

Hmmmm

We saw lots of bird life

The scenery is gorgeous

Waiting for the farmer to bring the cows in for milking before we could drive through

Otter news is that I caught something on the camera last week which looks very much like it. There was a splash and a line of bubbles. It was definitly something big, which moved very fast, but we didn't capture an image of it. Here is the video, but I'm not sure whether it will play on here. The last one didn't seem to work.

I fly overseas again next week and so at least will get into some kind of normal work routine, but won't be posting for a while.

Back at the beginning of June, cheerio for now!

Al :)

British Summer Time

The clocks went forward by one hour last night and we are now officially in British Summer Time. You would not know it though, as it is cold, wet and windy here today on Easter Sunday.

In fact, only two weeks ago we had snow and I had a very different view on my walk up to the University to practice my piano:

The canal was very pretty in the snow though:

We are still persistently chasing the otter, but it is getting to the start of the season for the leisure boaters to start turning up and so the Marina is becoming busy, which I think is discouraging it. The Kingfisher is also less commonly seen and again, I think we have missed the opportunity, as it has probably flown to its breeding ground now.

Last weekend, the weather was warm and Spring like, so a huge number of boats took the opportunity to have a trip out. This left the marina virually empty. I noticed on the exposed jetties that there were fish scales and remains on many of the the struts underneath the jetties. I then opened our duck hatch and saw the same under our jetty.

I decided to set the camera up underneath, pointing along the length of the jetty. I had done this before, with no luck, despite being sure that we had heard the otter splashing around on many occasions. This time we put it on the video setting and left it for a couple of weeks. We were very excited to find that it had been triggered on a number of occasions. Disappointingly this was largely by ducks. Then we looked at the following clip. Something, (maybe the otter), was looking very closely at the camera, but it soon revealed itself. A word of warning .... do not look at the video if you are of a nervous disposition!

I have been working in the UK on and off over the last few weeks and have had a concert and some recording work to prepare for, but we did manage to visit two of our favourite bird watching sites on my days off and I managed to get some good bird pictures:

A very colourful Bullfinch

One of our favourite birds - the Wren

Nuthatch

I also managed to get quite a good picture of a goosander which was swimming around the boat. They are flightly wild ducks so I was very pleased

We were out walking the other day when I heard a rustling in the hedge. I just managed to capture this little fellow before he slunk away. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a complete shot of him:

This has been quite a long blog, but there has been a fair bit to report and I have been so busy with work and other projects that I have not had time to post.

I am travelling overseas again soon, but hope to post again a few times before I go.

Al :)

A bit of local history

The weather has finally changed for the better. Although we still have had some rain, we are now getting cold, crisp bright days. The mornings in particular are icy underfoot, so extra care has to be taken on the jetties.

We have been trying to keep the fire in overnight. We have a slight dilemma here, because coke throws out a lot of heat and warms the boat up effectively, but it burns itself out very quickly. Large lumps of coal in the form of Ovoids are much slower to burn and usually will last the night, if we bank the fire up. This means that we can rescue it in the morning, without having to relight it. However, they do not provide the same intense heat as Coke, which we now need with the very cold weather. Wood is great for bringing the fire on, but as a source of heat it is not enough at the moment.

So it was an icy start this morning. I dont think the kingfisher will be fishing off the perch we put up for him!

There was a thin layer of ice on the canal

The cold mornings have woken me up earlier and so I have been rising early and taking the opportunity to get up to the University where my piano is and doing a few hours of practice, without being disturbed. I have a concert coming up, so am spending several hours a day practising and rehearsing.

The roads tend to be icy early in the day, so I'm reluctant to cycle at this time of year. It takes about 30 minutes to walk the two miles and it is a lovely and interesting walk, so I thought I would share it here.


I walk down the lane past the old mill cottages.

They were built in 1676

It wasn't far for the mill workers to walk the short distance to work

The old mill is now disused and is a listed building. Quite right too as it is the oldest surviving mill in England. It was a silk mill and was in operation from 1739 until 1971.

The church just in front on the Mill. A big church for such a small village

The Graveyard with the hills of Bowland in the background

So sad, so young.

I have only found two casualties of WW1 from the village so far

The River Condor which runs through the village

When I returned from my mornings practice I walked to the end of the jetty to check our mooring ropes and I startled the kingfisher which flew across the jetty and off under the bridge. It had been fishing off our perch, so now that I know that it likes it, I shall sit by the window in the comfort of our bedroom and be ready with the camera! As a friend of ours said the other day, our boats double up as a warm and cosy 'hide'. Perfect for nature watching.

I shall leave you with a picture of a beautiful sunset we had two evenings ago.

Al :)

Gales and missed opportunities

Typically, the weather improved just as we were flying out to Madeira for our holiday. We had a few days of crisp cold bright weather before we left, but as soon as we returned, the weather reverted to wet and windy conditions and it hasn't changed since! I am currently sitting on a rocking boat with storm Henry beginning to build up around me! Apparently the wind will increase as the day goes on and will reach 60 miles per hour by this evening.

Madeira was wonderful. The weather was warm and sunny, the hotel was first class and the people were so hospitable, as we find all over the world. We explored most of the island, especially the hills and mountains. Here is a picture of Phil at the summit of their highest mountain Pico do Arieiro. At 1818 metres it is the highest we have ever climbed.

Before we went away I had set up the Otter camera on the video setting, but when I came back there was only one video and it was too dark to see anything. All that could be seen was some movement and splashing under a jetty by the end boat, but it was inconclusive. I have reset it on picture mode now and have put it on the bow of the boat next door.

 This will hopefully serve a dual purpose of capturing the otter and the Kingfisher. I brought back a stick from our allotment yesterday and have tied it to the front of the boat to encourage the kingfisher to perch on it.





















NEWS FLASH!

As I was sitting writing this I heard a splash just under the boat where I am sitting. I looked out of the window and there was the otter! It was so close I could have touched it, its head was out of the water and it was eating a fish. I was mesmorised! Too late to reach for the camera. I watched it for about 30 seconds and then ran to get the camera, but it was too late, it had disappeared. I rushed off the boat and could see it splashing under the jetty two boats down, but it was not fully in sight. Lesson learnt ..... always have the camera to hand! The kingfisher also flew off a boat as I was making my way to the laundry block this morning, so two sightings in one day. I told a fellow boater I bumped into and she said that it often fishes off the end boat where I saw it. I told her about the stick we had set up and she said it would perhaps be too rough there for it and it would prefer fishing in the quieter empty berth by the end boat. This made perfect sense, so I am going to move it from its current position to that jetty. One day I WILL get pictures!!! I am feeling extremely frustrated at the moment!

We are now completely out of wood, both wood stores are empty.

However, it is the time of year when trees are being pruned and felled and I always keep my ears open for the sound of a chain saw.  I intend to have a few long walks down the tow path over the next few weeks in the hope that The Canal and River Trust will have been out, tidying up trees adjacent to the towpath. Of course any wood that I collect now will not be burnt until next year as it will need to season. I will simply fill the wood stores and leave it for a year.

I am beginning to get a small collection together and we will need to spend an afternoon chopping it up.

We will still need wood for burning now though, but this is easily obtained after a high tide on the Esturary. We collect wood washed up on the bank and this is always seasoned by the sea. I love foraging for wood and it really does save us a lot of money. We recently calculated our fuels costs for the past year and the total was about £600 for the whole year. This covers coal, gas for cooking and diesel for our central heating and propulsion when we take trips out. It also includes electricty for lighting and appliances.

However, although wood burners are wonderful and cosy and are a cheap source of heating they do have occasional downsides. Because the wind has been gale force, it has blown down our chimney on several occasions, pushing smoke through the vents and into the boat. At its worst it completely fills the boat with smoke and I have to open all hatches and doors and put the fire out.

I will leave you with some pictures of the sun setting over our boat the other evening when the weather was a bit calmer.

I am now even more determined not to miss any more opportunities to capture the wild life on camera. Watch this space!

Al :)

Rain, Rain Go Away.....

....... and DON'T come back another day!!

I'm sure that old nursery rhyme was composed when rain was probably a fairly regular occurance, but only in small doses. We have now had rain every single day since I arrived back in the UK. Most days it has rained continously without a break and it has on occasion been of a velocity that I am more used to seeing in places like India and Malaysia during the monsoon season.

Apart from the people who have been affected by the floods, the impact on us is minimal except that we find it hard to find opportunities for getting out and chopping wood for the fire. However, it is just so depressing to go through the day surrounded by dark, grey, wet weather.

I did manage to get out for a short walk last week and all the fields were flooded:

At least the canal is full

We have booked a holiday in sunnier climes next week, so hopefully will be able to get some sun and much needed vitamin D!

The inclement weather has also prevented me from getting out to stake out the Otter and Kingfisher properly, but the wildlife camera is now operational again and we have heard the Otter swimming under the boats on several occasions in the early hours of the morning. I'm just hoping that it will pop up in front of the camera one night! As for the Kingfisher, it is often seen fishing off the front of our boats. I caught some pictures of the heron one day sitting on our front button, so I'm thinking it may be worth setting up the camera at the front of the boat to try and capture the Kingfisher.

Add caption

We had an interesting experience of synchronocity yesterday. When the caretaker is not here, we look after requests for fuel from passing boaters. A continuous cruiser dropped by to buy some coal. We know most of the people who live on their boats on the canal, but we hadn't seen him before. It turns out that he is a student in his final year at the University. While I was on the other side of the world, I used my days off to explore and on one occasion I had taken the ferry over to one of the many small Pacific Islands and cycled around it. It turns out that his parents live on that island and I had probably cycled past their house!

On that note I will leave you. More when I return from my holiday....

Al :)

Storms and floods

I arrived back from the antipodes just before Christmas to unprecedented bad weather. Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank had already wreaked terrible damage on homes near to us. One village was completely cut off for several days, after the river which flowed through it burst its banks and flooded all access roads. Our village was without power for two days and the city centre was inaccessible. There was some shortage food because the Supermarkets near us were either closed, due to being flooded, or because they had run out of food and supplies couldn't get through.

We felt so sorry for those people who have temporarily lost their homes. We realise how lucky we are, since living on a boat is probably the best place to be at the moment. As the canal has risen all we have had to do is to slacken the mooring ropes, to prevent the boat from tilting. We were also not really affected by the loss of electricity, as we lived off our batteries for a few days and recharged them by running the engine.

However, not all boat owners were unscathed by the situation. We are reasonably safe in the Marina because we are moored to solid jetties, but those on the towpath were not so fortunate, as the force of the water pulled out their mooring pins and when the water went down, this was the scene in a number of places along the canal network:

I feel so sorry for this boat owner whose boat was completely submerged

I was also shocked to see pictures of our city centre. Here is a street that I often drive down, completely submerged.

I was saddened to go into town last weekend in the aftermath of the floods to see so many shops near to the river, shut due to flood damage.

I just hope that 2016 is a better year weather wise and that these devastating scenes do not reappear next Christmas.

On to more positive matters now. The Otter is a regular visiter around the boats, usually early evening and in the early hours of the morning. I have had to take the wild life camera down, due to rising water levels threatening to swamp it and high winds which could have damaged it. However, I have a new tactic. I was talking to a fisherman who was fishing on the canal side when I went for a walk the other day and he told me where the Otter's Holt is. I am planning to take a chair down and sit opposite it for as many hours as are neccessary, in the hope of getting a picture. I plan to do that over the next few days, so watch this space.

We have some Goosander who are feeding on the canal and I did manage to get some pictures of them, but because they are wild ducks, they never let me near enough to get a decent picture before taking flight. I have also seen a Kingfisher fishing regularly up by our locks, but again I can never get close enough. I plan to go and sit quietly up there one day to see if I can catch a picture. I have decided that that really is the only way to do it.

While I was overseas I managed to get a few serendipitous pictures of some lovely birds which I thought I would share. Here they are:

White Throated Kingfisher

Bell Bird

Red Billed Gull

Kereru

Tui

Variable Oyster Catcher

I now have a break from work, until I get my schedule for the coming year (if I get any work!). I am self employed so rely on being invited to undertake work by the company I am contracted to, but there are no guarantees.

Until I get any work I will at least have the time to post more frequently.

It just leaves me to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Al :)