Wednesday 18th
June to Sunday 22nd June
Thursday 19th June
Yippeee! We actually got some
painting done yesterday, with me painting more of the roof and Wifey beavering
away with a scraper on the stern deck.
We’re now at Burland, on the
Llangollen and will stay here for today and, hopefully get some more painting
done. But, if it gets to be as hot as yesterday, not much will be done.
Friday 20th June
This boat painting is a
pretty slow job. I had hoped to finish painting the port side of the roof
yesterday, but we still had the patches to cover with undercoat, so that was
our first job. However, later in the day the weather looked set to change for
the worst, so the next stage was left for the rest of the day. I did manage to
finish sanding down our boat pole and give it a coat of mahogany wood stain.
Saturday 21st June
Had a great day yesterday.
After topping up with diesel at Swanley Bridge Marina, we headed off towards
Wrenbury but, instead of going all the way through; which is our normal
practice; we stopped at the moorings just after bridge 12. There, once we had
our coffee, we set to on the boat work. Whilst I completed the port side of the
roof, Sheila removed the old and flaking stain and varnish from the top wooden
bar on the stern deck. Well, she removed about a third of it; in the fine and
hot weather we’re enjoying now, the task became very tiring. Anyway, that’s
some of it done.
I’m still having problems
with this wireless mouse. This morning while typing into this blog the darn
thing just stopped working. After re-booting the laptop it still didn’t work,
so I switched to the old mouse and checked in Devices and Printers section and,
lo and behold, it’s not there, whereas the old one is. The tailless is now
working again, but it still doesn’t show in Devices and Printers!! Strange!!
Guess I’ll have to buy a new one asap.
Sunday 22nd June
Having travelled the two
miles and three locks in just over an hour yesterday morning, we are now at
Wrenbury.
Prior to leaving our earlier
moorings and whilst I was preparing brekky, I happened to spot a fox in the
field alongside the canal. There’s nothing unusual about this but, what was
unusual was seeing another fox following the first one. I assumed the second
one was the vixen, simply because she was a little smaller. What was odd about
this sighting was that the vixen suddenly stopped and turned away. She then
trotted towards the trees on the other side of the field and flopped down on
the ground. She sat there for a few minutes, got up, wandered towards the trees
again and then flopped down again. The last I saw of her was when she finally
gave up and trotted into the trees. I kept a lookout but the dog fox didn’t
return. I wonder if they’d had a row!!
Anyway, we’ll be staying here
today and will visit the local watering hole at lunchtime.
Important Message
Maybe not to the landlubbers
following this blog, but very important to us boaters.
Wrenbury is a beautiful
village on the Llangollen canal, which runs for about 44 miles and already has
four, good sized marinas, the nearest of which is only five miles away.
Last year when we passed
through the village; as we do every year; there was no mention of a new marina
being built here. However, when we walked into the village for some shopping,
we spotted notices pinned up all over the place. It seems that, following
objections to the earlier submission, which was obviously rejected, the plans
have now been re-submitted for a 200 berth marina.
Sheila and I do not believe a
marina here would be necessary or advisable, since there are already four along
this canal, all of which regularly advertise empty berths. Besides which, a
huge marina would disrupt this village and would prevent boaters from stopping
here on their travels and, as a consequence, the local shop and pubs would lose
a great deal of business. This is because the current moorings along the
towpath would be mostly lost to the marina.
We object most strongly to
this new marina and, we hope that anybody reading this blog, will click the
following link and voice their disapproval too. Please go to www.savewrenbury.co.uk and read what
the organisers of this petition have to say.
Most boaters are not against
new marinas, simply because they do like plenty of choice as to where they have
their home base, or wish to moor up for the winter, just like we do. However,
some canals already have an abundance of marinas, and the Llangollen is one
such canal.
Your help would be much
appreciated.
On that plea I will now post
this short blog.
Take care and enjoy your
week, whatever you may be doing.
Dave and Sheila
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