Saturday 12th May
to Friday 18th July
Saturday 12th July
This morning has started out
with bright sunshine but the canal is now giving up its heat and a mist is
forming. Still, we’re in no rush to leave because it’s only three miles to
Ellesmere and we want to ensure a mooring spot. Saturdays are turn-around days
for the hire boat company at Ellesmere marina, so we don’t want to arrive while
that’s going on. Quite a few of their boats passed us yesterday, so they will
be quite busy taking in boats and renting them to a new bunch of pesky holiday
makers.
Sunday 13th July
The water point at Ellesmere
is not all that big; enough for three boats at a squeeze; but we managed to get
in and dispose of our rubbish, and we then moored up outside the marina.
Last year, when we came
through Ellesmere tunnel, the water flow through it was so fierce, that the
rear fender eye caught the brickwork and twisted it out of shape. Luckily we
didn’t lose the fender or eye plate that it’s fitted to. This year, when that
idiot collided with us at Whitehouse, the whole lot was ripped away, so we now
need a new eye plate.
We asked at the local
chandlery if they had one, and we walked into town to see if the local DIY
store had one, but no luck on either. So, Wifey then referred to her diary and
her list of boat purchases and discovered that we bought the new eye plate at
Braunston last August. Apparently, although the old one had been damaged, I was
still able to use it until such time as we found another one.
We will be passing several
more chandleries before we get back to Crick, but until then we are without a
fender on the starboard front of the boat.
Last year; or perhaps the
year before; we met a lone boater named Andy and his situation was a little
strained regarding cash flow. Anyway, it was somewhat earlier in the year and
the days were still chilly, so we gave him half a bag of coal, just to tide him
over.
Earlier on, before we had
come this far up the Llangollen, we met up with him again and he told us he would
be coming up himself in a few weeks. Yesterday he walked by us on his way back
from town and stopped by for a chat. Since we last saw him he’s finished
repainting his boat and has agreed to accompany us for a drink this lunchtime.
Actually, from a female perspective, I suspect he’s quite an attractive man, so
I have to wonder why he doesn’t have a partner. Perhaps he’s been bitten in the
past and has no desire to be bitten again. Who knows? Nice chap though.
We have some basic victuals
to buy tomorrow, so we’ll be paying a visit to Shrewsbury and calling in at
B&M for much needed tea, coffee and Coffee Mate. Hopefully the weather will
be kind because, for quite some time now we’ve enjoyed lots of fine weather,
but suffered some rain yesterday.
Wifey has now finished
staining our back shelf, so I’m hoping to have my seat refitted soon, which
will allow me to sit down whilst cruising.
Duck eggs for brekky this
morning. Yummee!!
Just as I thought it was
brightening up out there, the rain has started again. Yeuck!!
Monday 14th July
The weather yesterday finally
got its act together and turned bright and sunny.
Lunchtime was spent in The
Ellesmere Hotel with our new friend Andy and lasted over two hours. As I
suspected, Andy has been bitten by the marriage bug and seems content to stay
happily unmarried. Since he spends most of his time here on the Llangollen
canal, I daresay we’ll bump into him again next year.
Meanwhile, we’re staying here
at Ellesmere until at least tomorrow, or even Wednesday morning. We’ll be
taking the bus into Shrewsbury later this morning and then relax for the rest
of the day which, according to the weather ‘experts’, is set to be a scorcher.
Now, as far as repainting the
roof goes, we’ve decided to wait until we get to the Preese Branch of this
canal, which is about seven miles away and, since we’re not leaving here until
Wednesday morning and will be stopping at Bettisfield for one night, we won’t
get there until Thursday.
The Preese Branch is a quiet
backwater of about a half mile in length, at the end of which is a small
marina. So, since not too many boats pass by on a daily basis, we’ll be safe
enough with one treading the gunwale on the towpath side, and one of us on the
wet side, if you see what I mean. Hopefully the weather will still be
favourable at the time.
Tuesday 15th July
We took the bus into
Shrewsbury yesterday and, with teeth firmly gritted, I finally called into 02
and upgraded my mobile. I now have a brand new Nokia Lumia 630, which has all
the bells and whistles and includes Internet access. All I have to do now is
learn how to use it. But, since it is so new, there’s no handbook to refer to,
which means going online to Nokia for any info I need.
Wednesday 16th
July
We had a great day yesterday;
apart from what follows; and spent a very pleasant couple of hours in the pub
with Andy. Fortunately; or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint; we only
see him when we come up the Llangollen, otherwise we’d be spending a fortune in
the local. Not that he’s a drunk, you understand, more like easily persuaded to
join us. Andy has just passed us and says he’s not sure where he’s going to end
up today but, like us, he can please himself how long he cruises for and where
he spends his nights. Dis is de Loife, to be sure!!
This nice, new phone rapidly
became a pain in the, you-know-what and, what made it so annoying was that I
couldn’t put the SIM Card into my old phone, because it’s a wee bit smaller.
Anyway, the first thing I
asked the sales bloke at 02 was to add my PIN to the new one but, as Wifey
reminded me later, this would mean having to enter that PIN every time I wanted
to use the phone. Unbeknown to me, this new phone shuts down when not in use;
something to do with saving battery power. So, what earthly use is a PIN; which
is supposed to safeguard against theft; if it has to be entered every time you
need to use it?
Had it been an easy matter –
for this slow and doddery 72 year old brain – to remove the PIN and take my
chances, I would have done so immediately. Instead I threw a tantrum and
(almost!) followed that with throwing the phone in the canal. Talk about
frustrating. Eventually, after consulting the online info and combining my
limited brain power with that of she-who-knows-better, we managed to rid my
phone of the PIN. All is now well on that score.
I specifically upgraded so
that I can use the Internet and thus drag myself into the 21st
century, so I also need to set that up. I’m told that this procedure is a piece
of cake, but I have my doubts. It may be that certain POP/IMAP info will also
be needed, in which case I will have to refer to those details that are stored
in Outlook. Like I said, it should be a doddle; we’ll soon find out.
Today we’ll be moving on to moorings
just a short distance before Bettisfield and, with a bit of luck I’ll be able
to complete the set-up of the phone and replace the grotty rope on our
lifebelt. But first we have rubbish to dispose of and shopping to buy.
Thursday 17th July
A rather cloudy start to
yesterday and it stayed that way for some time. But, by the time we arrived at
bridge 50, where we stayed for the night, it had cleared somewhat and we
finally fitted my sit-upon on the stern rail. So I can now cruise in comfort.
Other than that nothing
untoward blighted our day, except for my new-fangled mobile phone, that is.
This new mobile has not been
very friendly and, since the SIM card is a different size, I can’t transfer it
to my old phone, so I’m stuck with it and must now learn all its wrinkles.
Yesterday evening, whilst
sitting with my nose in a book, I received a text from my old friend, Dave
Earl, who lives in Lowestoft. That’s the easy part. I then typed in a reply
and, when I had finished I expected to see something there telling me how to
send. Normally a little tick box sits there and, simply by pressing that, away
goes the message. Not this time, so I pressed a little button and up came
another box for writing messages. Yeah, confusing ain’t it?
Anyway, having tapped into
this box, up came another message asking me if I wanted to delete this ‘thread’;
whatever that means. So, hoping that this would remove the empty box, I agreed,
which is when everything went pear shaped. Not only did that ‘thread’
disappear, but I lost Dave’s message as well.
Now, I thought to myself,
I’ll send him a separate text, except that the nice salesman at 02 hadn’t
transferred his number over to my nice, new gadget. Luckily I do have his home
phone number, but I’m now wondering how many other numbers are missing and I
don’t have a separate list anywhere, except on the old phone.
However, as luck would have
it, Wifey also has a phone that is on PAYG with 02, so I’m hoping I will be
able to access the data on my old phone by using her SIM because I may just
have phone numbers on that one, other than the old SIM card. What a blooming
palaver!!
O.K. So, after all that fuss
and bother, I just turned on my nice, new Nokia thingy and searched again, just
to see if Dave’s number was there. Well, it was, and it wasn’t!! I ran through
all the numbers and found one entitled Dave Mobile and clicked on that and, lo
and behold, it belongs to Dave Earl. However, when I clicked on it I came to
another box, which plainly stated Dave Earl’s Mobile. So, I tried editing it so
as to read Dave earl, but I’m hanged if I was able to do so.
I suppose I’ll get the hang
of it eventually, but I would dearly love a handbook on the wretched thing.
Friday 18th July
It’s raining and has been for
much of the night, so we won’t get any painting done today. Yesterday was far
too hot to do anything, much less paint the roof. At this rate we’ll not get
much painting done at all.
When we left Bridge 50
yesterday morning, it was with the express intention of mooring up on the
Preese branch and getting some painting done. It’s just as well that we didn’t
bother because, as I’ve just mentioned, it was far too hot for painting. All we
could really do was sit around and swelter. Luckily for us though, this spot at
Platt Lane is fairly well sheltered by trees, so we didn’t suffer too much.
One strange thing that set
the day apart yesterday was the appearance of a bat. Yes, you read that right,
a bat was flittering about during the day. It first came to our notice when we
heard somebody on a passing boat say, “Oh look, there’s a bat!” But we assumed;
quite wrongly as it turned out; that she had mistaken a Swallow for a bat. Not
easily done, I know, but some folks wouldn’t recognise a Rhino from an
Elephant, so it wouldn’t have surprised us.
Anyway, a few minutes later
we heard the same from someone on another passing boat and decided to take a
look. Unfortunately, with the sun directly overhead, it was impossible to take
a photo of the critter, so you’ll have to take my word for it, it was a bat,
probably a Pipistrelle, since it was so small.
Now, we’ve seen bats flying
up and down the canal at night, but never have I seen one flying by day, except
in the Maldive Island, where they have ginormous Fruit Bats that fly around
during the day and, like most other sensible creatures, go beddy-byes at night.
So, that’s one for you wildlife experts. Do bats fly during the day, or was
this poor creature lost? Perhaps it had been disturbed by human activity and
had taken fright.
It’s still raining and it’s
almost time for Wifey’s cuppa, so I’ll sign off and post this edition of life
as a retiree living on the cut.
Take care out there
Dave
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