I was woken last night at 1:30am by the wind which had torn
open my cratch cover on one side of the boat and it was flapping and slapping
on the roof, it was already damaged, the zips have come unstitched and a few of
the press studs are either missing or unable to connect properly due to
shrinkage in the cold weather, I guess after 13years of life it’s to be
expected, so it’s on my list for replacement at some stage or I may get rid of
it altogether. Being as the boat is a large steel container all the noises are
amplified and it sounded far worse than it was, I did look out but there was no
way I was getting dressed and venturing out to attend to it, so what with the
noise and the rocking of the boat it was a rather restless night. This morning
I went out and rolled up the offending section of the cover so it cannot repeat
the disturbances tonight.
I walked the towpath this morning for a couple of miles, it
was extremely windy and in a couple of open areas it was fighting to push me
backwards, I passed two boats on the move, both attempting to get into locks as
I passed, the first boat had two ladies on it and while attempting to get through
just one gate they barged open the second gate a bit, not much they could do
about it, the wind was the master, the second boat had a couple on it and they
decided to haul the boat in using the ropes, a sensible method when there are
two of you but not something to attempt if solo when the wind is so powerful, I
did wonder why anyone would want to move in these conditions but I suppose they
had their reasons, I haven’t seen anyone else moving today.
Having walked a couple of miles I turned and set off back,
now the wind was behind me and it blew me right into The Three Horseshoes at the Winkwell locks, so I
had no choice but to indulge in a pint of Bombardier, another first for me
since taking up this life, a lunchtime pint, I tried to avoid it but the wind
was master again, it was my sort of pub 16th century, oak beams,
open fireplace sadly unlit, quiet background music and no machines or TV’s to
be seen, and complimentary newspapers to read, a lovely half hours stop.
This lovely old boat caught my eye, it looked absolutely beautiful and
well maintained, the owner should be proud.
And this house had its own bridge
onto a little island in the river that runs alongside the canal, a delightful spot for a glass of Pimms when the sun is shining.
Back on the boat I intended to look around the area but the
weather turned wet again so I’ll keep that for tomorrow,
it’s sunny again now but
the wind is still very strong, hopefully it will die down in time for Easter.
No comments:
Post a Comment