Almyne 2009
Mon, 1 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. The first of the month, where does the time go, halfway through the year already.
When they had disappeared I started the washing. Mike, a friend of Kath
's turned up to fix her shower, which was an immense relief for her as she not only uses it to shower, but also to do the washing. She empties the washing machine into the shower tray and then uses the shower pump to get rid of the water. Works really well.
After that she went into Chirk to do some shopping.
We all spent a relaxing evening mulling over the days events.
Tue, 2 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. When they had disappeared Kath did some of her washing while I took all the new back boards off Destiny and sanded them and prepared them for painting.
Kath's shower pump packed up about a month ago and what with one thing and another (like visiting me) her washing load has built up till it is almost overwhelming. Spent most of the day washing, while I did my homework for the courses I am doing and checked the myriad of emails that have accumulated over the past couple of weeks. This kept us both busy till the children returned from school.
Scott
built a raft out of several empty wine flagons and some assorted pieces of timber and he and Kaia
spent the evening getting very wet trying to balance on it and falling into the water more often than not.
Wed, 3 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. When they had disappeared we took Almyne along to Chirk marina to get a new gas bottle, they do not seem to be lasting very long at the moment. Lifting out the old bottle it still felt quite heavy, so played about with the regulator and it seems that it is, to use the vernacular, broken. In it's present state it only allows me to use about two thirds of the bottle before it tells me that it is empty. Oh well, guess I'll have to have that looked at.
Back at the tunnel mooring I managed to give the new back boards for Destiny a coat of primer, (they will need several more). Later Kath and I set off to Wrecsam (Wrexham) to do some shopping and a few other chores that were important. Caught the bus from the end of the tow path by the bridge.
I got most of the shopping while Kath was completing her tasks and met her in a pub, where we had a pint each and a bite to eat. Kath was assailed by loads of people that she knew and it was getting quite late by the time we finished getting the shopping items that I had not been able to find.
Caught the bus back to the boats and we were assailed by D'fer
and Rowan
as soon as we opened the doors to Almyne.
Dinner, a DVD and off to bed after another exhausting day.
Thu, 4 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Moved all the boats from Whitehurst tunnel to the B & B.
First off, we had to take Destiny along to Chirk and turn her around, which Kath did really rather well in the marina entrance. She was particularly pleased as it is the first time she had tried it there.
Came back to Whitehouse Tunnel where I hitched up Almyne Too to Almyne and then followed Kath along to the B & B moorings. Moored up Almyne and unhitched Almyne Too and moved her along to a space big enough to get Destiny in later when we get back from Trevor.
We then took Destiny along to Trevor across the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, collecting the children along the way, where we put some diesel into Destiny and arranged for the dry dock for Destiny for a week Monday.
This is needed so that the bottom can be blacked and some work that needs doing can be completed as well.
After collecting the children, but before completing the journey to Trevor, we allowed D'fer and Rowan
to have a swim. They both thoroughly enjoyed that and succeeded in getting us all a bit wet in the process.
Back at B & B Scott made raft out of a piece of wood and the life ring, and he and Kaia
spent the early evening fooling around in the canal.
Fri, 5 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. When they had disappeared Kath started the washing (again) while I cleared the top of Destiny and washed and rinsed the whole top deck. There is much more of it than there is of Almyne and it took me much longer than I had anticipated. Well worth the effort though.
By the time I had finished, the magic (or is it a curse), had worked and it started raining. Kath was not too pleased and I helped her take all the washing into Destiny, where she hung it all up and continued to catch up on the rest of the washing. I spent the afternoon catching up on my homework, again, and by the time the children arrived back from school was shattered and fell asleep to the sound of the pitter patter of raindrops on the cratch cover. Woke around six and started preparing dinner, which Kath actually cooked, while I tried to update the site.
After dinner we watched DVD to the sound of rain on the roof.
Sat, 6 Jun 2009
It's the weekend, no school, and, yes, you've guessed it, pouring with rain. We had planned to go to Llangollen (the town) but with all this Welsh weather we decided to play 'spot the Englishman'. Apparently you can spot them a mile off, they are the ones without a waterproof.
By lunch time the score was 22 to Kath, 15 to Scott, 14 to Kaia and 8 to me, well I have not had the experience that they have, and apart from that I gave them a good start by not having a waterproof myself.
Spent the afternoon doing crafty things. I finished making some miniature besoms while Kath made half a dozen friendship bands. Watching her gave me the incentive to finish off some of the rope pulls that I started oh so long ago, and by the end of the day it looked as if we might just be starting to build up a stock of items to sell.
Sun, 7 Jun 2009
It's the weekend, no school, and it is still raining.
Nothing for it but to amuse ourselves with DVDs, 'Porterhouse Blue', 'Hot Fuzz', 'A life less Ordinary' and 'Jewel of the Nile'.
that passed the day painlessly enough.
Mon, 8 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. Stopped raining about half seven, still overcast but not raining, this is Wales.
Took a walk into Cefn Mawr to do some shopping at the local supermarket. Got waylaid on the way by the cycle shop and the charity shop. In the cycle shop Kath purchased some 'Slime'. (This is a puncture repair substance.) I got a new landing net to collect the tennis balls that D'fer keeps dropping in the canal.
At the charity shop Kath bought an 'over locker' for five pounds. Now I have heard of an over locker before and when I have listened to people talking about them there seems to be an aura of envy about them. It seems that this particular piece of equipment is something special in the way of sewing.
Anyway, did the supermarket shopping and caught a taxi back to the boats. It took nearly half an hour to put everything away, by which time Kath did not feel like playing with her new toy. I had to conceal my excitement and enthusiasm for playing with the 'over locker', after all, it's not mine.
After a rest the children arrived home from school and the evening routine kicked in, so still no over locker.
Tue, 9 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. Kath has a crick in her neck and it is really painful. It might have been caused by sleeping with the cratch doors open and the draught, or it might have been caused by sitting making friendship bracelets all over the weekend, either way it is painful.
Spent most of the day watching DVDs and drinking tea and coffee, and re-charging the 'hand warmers' for to apply to her neck; another day when I don't get to see what an over locker does.
By late evening and Kath still not being able to move her neck, even though she was dosed up with Ibuprofen, Paracodol and Cocdomol, I remembered the heat pads that I used when I had my aching legs and arms last Christmas. Got them out and applied one to her shoulder and neck. Not instant relief, but soon made a big difference.
At least she might be able to get some sleep tonight (and I might too).
Wed, 10 Jun 2009
Cannon
Up early to get the children off to school. Well, actually I laid in while Kath sorted them out. Her neck was much better this morning and with enough movement to join in with life again, as long as we keep applying the heat pads and dosing her up with pills.
Simon
and Georgette (his girlfriend) visited for the afternoon and we all went for a meal at 'The Telford', a local hostelry, ending up at 'The Mill' a favourite pub, for 'one for the road'.
The Mill has a pool table and Kath and I had a game of pool, the first for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I might just challenge her to another game one day.
Eventually fell into bed well after midnight, thinking about playing with the over locker.
Thu, 11 Jun 2009
As the children stayed with Nat
last night we had a bit of a lie in. I had forgotten how much hard work children can be, purely from the amount of attention that they require.
Georgette was taking Simon into Wrecsam hospital today for a blood test, so Kath
and I cadged a lift. Kath
had an appointment as well, so I accompanied her. It all went well and she does not have to attend again for at least six months.
Did a little shopping after hospital, purchasing all the bits and pieces to black the bottom of Destiny next week, and a great big tin of Grapefruit segments for ninety-nine pence, really good value for money and we can have grapefruit for breakfast. Even if we throw half of it away it is still good value for money.
Destiny is booked in to the dry dock at a local boat yard so need to have everything ready and waiting. At thirty pounds a day it is sensible to be prepared.
During the afternoon Kath got the over locker out and adjusted the tension by hand, winding the needles with the had wheel. Having got the tensions right we plugged it in and pressed the pedal. Lots of whirring but no movement. Something is broken. I dismantled it and soon spotted the problem, a cog had moved along it's shaft and was not meshing with the cog it was meant to drive. Pushed it back up it's shaft and reassembled. Plugged it in again and pressed the pedal, away went the material, needles rushing up and down, threads whirring off the spools and then nothing, the cog had slipped again.
Dismantled and put some epoxy putty on the end of the shaft after re-positioning the cog. Waited a while for the epoxy to set and plugged it in again. Whirr whirr, spin spin, away it goes. Worked well for several inched
s and then nothing again.
Dismantled it (again) and this time got a press fit electrical connector (designed for cars) and removed the connector bits, just leaving the crimp bit. Squeezed this on to the end of the shaft that holds the recalcitrant cog, and reassembled again. This time it worked and stayed working. Hooray.
Scott and Kaia
decided to go swimming this evening so spent some time in the canal getting chilly.
Tried to get an early night, but we spent the whole evening and most of the wee small hours planning the next year and putting the world to rights.
Fri, 12 Jun 2009
Overslept, children had a day off school. Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Painted bottom boards for Destiny. Kath cleaned and tidied Destiny, a task that she has been trying to achieve for some time between acting as intermediary twixt Simon and Nathan (two of her charges), going to hospital and showing me the area and preparing for the bottom blacking.
Scott put the second name plate on Almyne Too, so that is now she has one on each side, as she should.
With Scott spending the evening (and as it turned out, the night) at Nat's the three of us had a quiet evening in playing games and listening to music.
Sat, 13 Jun 2009
View From Almyne
Shady Kath
Evening Vista
View From The Bridge
Sunny Kath
10 miles 2 locks 2 tunnels
It's the weekend, no school, and guess what, it's NOT raining, it is a bit overcast, threatening a little rain later on, but we can hope. Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Steve
(Kaia's dad) came to collect Scott
and Kaia
about ten and when they had all gone Kath
and I took Destiny along to Chirk Marina to turn her around ready for Monday and the dry dock for bottom blacking.
An uneventful journey, through two tunnels and to the marina, where Kath winded superbly, only the second time that she has tried it there in Destiny.
Back through both tunnels, allowing a GRP cruiser to overtake us just outside the marina (and let us know that there was no traffic in the tunnel) and moor up again with Almyne and Almyne Too.
I prepared a light lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches accompanied by pickled onions, pickled gherkins, mushrooms preserved in oil and Maraschino cherries, while Kath battened down Destiny for the weekend (and prepared Almyne for the journey).
Having done our 'work' for the day we set off for a 'day out' in Almyne to the Montgomery Canal junction.
The sun was making up for the rest of the week and giving us his best, so much so that it was shorts and T-shirt weather, almost the first this year.
Kath was in her element on the tiller and it was a delight to me to be able to sit and do next to nothing whilst travelling. Through the second tunnel I went up to the cratch and it was quite a different experience to see the roof lit up right in front of me with next to no noise from the engine. Emerging the other side there were eight boats waiting to come through. We had done well getting Destiny there and back before the queue started. It is the first time I have ever experienced the closest thing to a traffic jam on the canal system.
Once through the tunnel it was simply 'plain sailing' or cruising if you prefer.
Chirk aqueduct was much easier for me to negotiate as I was sat in one of the easy chairs on the stern and could not look directly over the edge. (Just in case you are not aware, I have a mild fear {phobia} of heights. I tried walking across the bridge at Deception Pass and was totally unable to lift my left foot off the ground and put it on the bridge; but that is another story.)
Shortly after we emerged from Chirk Tunnel we caught up with a boat in front of us that was travelling really slowly. Now anyone who knows my normal speed of travel will know that when I say that they were travelling slowly I mean slowly. It was almost an irritation, but it gave us the opportunity to watch the buzzards on the stretch before New Marton Locks.
The Slow Boat To nowhere, went through the first lock while we moored up and took on water. By the time we had replenished the tanks another boat was coming up through the first lock, so it was in our favour. The second lock was also in our favour so that part of the trip was good. Well, mostly good, D'fer suddenly remembered what locks are all about and came alive with an empty lemonade bottle for me to throw for him.
By this time the boat in front had disappeared and the rest of the journey was just blissfully peaceful with the occasional bit of excitement seeing 'The Old Man of the Cut' in a field just past the locks. He is a big old heron.
The most exciting part of the trip was the hire boat that came hurtling through a bridge hole, spotted us, anchored up and ended up across the canal, blocking everything and ending up grounded. He managed to make just enough room for us to scrape through and as we were going through the bridge hole we looked back to see the crew of the other boat heaving and pushing on boat poles while revving the engine to try to push the boat off the bottom of the canal, only getting themselves more aground. They might just get afloat again by the time we return tomorrow.
Now I must let you all into a little secret here, Kath like what she calls her 'evening coffee'. This is black coffee with a shot of brandy in it.
Today, evening started about half past three. I must also be honest here, I have a glass of wine, or a can of beer when the sun goes over the yard arm. The sun went over the yard arm about half past three this afternoon.
We continued to motor on to the Montgomery arm, selecting nice places to pull over and moor up on the way back. Having reached the Montgomery arm, winded and started on the return journey, by seven (and an evening coffee and a glass of wine every twenty minutes) we just moored up at the first convenient place.
I had prepared the vegetables for dinner during the journey, so Kath was not too disappointed at having to prepare dinner after a long day on the tiller.
We supped on pork chops baked in maple syrup, garlic and ginger accompanied by new potatoes with butter, carrots, butternut squash and peas and a couple of slices of potato and rosemary bread.
P S Kath can stay another week after a meal like that. (And she says that I can say so too).
Full to bursting, we sat on the tow path using the barrel barbecue as a log burner watching the sun go down and enjoying a(nother) glass of wine. A perfect end to a wonderful day.
Sun, 14 Jun 2009
Morning View From Almyne
Beware Falling Rocks
Passport Control
Chirk Aqueduct
Low Fat Trifle
10 miles 2 locks 2 tunnels
Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Set off from the Montgomery arm before midday.
We did note that the grounded hire boat was nowhere to be seen, so we assume that they did get themselves afloat after all.
I think that the 'Slow Boat to Nowhere' must have pulled over early last night and turned around, because it was not long before we were behind it again. Really not a problem, but it was interesting to see a holiday boater enjoying the trip the way that they should be and taking things slowly.
I think that 'The Old Man of the Cut' is getting used to us now as when we passing him today, he just stood on a fence post and waited till I got my camera out and turned it on before he flew away. One day I will get a proper shot of him.
As we arrived at Chirk aqueduct we spotted a boat coming towards us over it, so we pulled in and waited. Then we spotted another following it, and another after that. Three boats, our turn next. There is a protocol on the Llangollen (because it is all narrow tunnels and aqueducts) that three boats in one direction and three in the other, just to keep traffic flowing.
Well Today I saw my second traffic jam. Nine boats came over the aqueduct while we were waiting our turn and by this time the boats were piling up behind us as well. Eventually they stopped coming from the other direction, although I am almost certain that the last boat coming overs stopped halfway to take photographs, either that or he had a very small engine for a very big boat.
Passing over Chirk aqueduct I spotted the boundary between England and Wales. It is interesting that there is no passport control getting out of Wales and into England, but to go the other way you need identification, passport, proof of income and you have to fill in a disclaimer that you will not be a burden on the system and that you will not overstay your welcome. I suppose it is just like any other European or African country really.
Between Chirk tunnel and Whitehouse tunnel the canal passes through a cutting and although there are no signs up saying 'Beware Falling Rocks' I think that it might be a good idea to put some up. There is the one rock that fell down the bank a few years ago and is so larger that BW are unable to remove it.
Today, evening started about half past four. The sun went over the yard arm about half past four this afternoon.
As I am writing this on Thursday, I cannot remember what we had for dinner on Sunday, but I do remember the trifle. Sponge, fruit cocktail, lime jelly, custard and Elmlea double cream, which his indistinguishable from cream but with half the fat - see Kath really is looking after me.
Mon, 15 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Took Destiny down to the dry dock. Kath reversed her in and the marina staff put in the dam planks (yes, that is dam as in blocking up the water), pulled the plug out of the bottom of the dock and we watched Destiny settle on the supports holding her up, while the water drained. There was a little adjustment as to position to make sure that we could work all round, but that stage went well.
My duties and responsibilities for the week are chief cook and bottle washer and general factotum. I hate painting (and I am not very good at it and I am not particularly robust,) and I don't do heavy lifting things.
Started off getting the pressure washer ready and tried it out. Not very good. Checked with the marina staff and they agreed that it was not good and that we would be better off hiring one from a hire facility. Kath got on the phone and ordered one for tomorrow.
Martin, who will be doing all the welding phoned, he will be arriving tomorrow. With little else that we could do for the day we just tried to get everything organised ready for a good start tomorrow.
Tue, 16 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Toast for breakfast, we've run out of grapefruit, washed down with a cup of tea, accompanied by a glass of grapefruit juice. That ninety-nine pence tin lasted really well, we must get another.
Cycled to Destiny this morning. My first time on a pushbike for a long time. It was not too bad as there are two gates where you have to get of and walk the bike through, I needed the rest. Then there was the aqueduct. I managed to walk across with the bike, holding on to D'fer 's lead (fortunately I think he realised that I was not comfortable and he walked beside me all the way without pulling). Not a pleasant experience, but I made it without looking too much of a fool.
Pressure washer arrived just after nine, got that up and running and we all started washing and scraping the sides and hull of Destiny. By early evening she was pretty well ready for her first coat of paint, but she has to dry first.
Knowing that Destiny sits a little low in the water we were aware that some ballast needs removing, so I started looking at taking up the laminate flooring to get to the floor boards. From the looks of it I will have to take everything up, starting at the front of the boat and working to the back where the ballast needs to be removed. Got all that up and stacked up in the bathroom area, it's a good job we don't have to live on Destiny while all the work is being done.
Cycled back to Almyne shortly after nine, after negotiating the aqueduct wit the bike and D'fer again. Still not nice.
Wed, 17 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Toast and a glass of grapefruit juice for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Off to the dry dock.
Today the cycle ride was a little easier and I let D'fer walk over the aqueduct on his own, but I still kept my eyes firmly fixed on the house half way up the hill on the other side.
Kath started on painting the hull and got nearly half of it complete by the end of the day.
With the laminate flooring up I proceeded to try to lift the big sheet of ply that forms the base of the floor so that I could get at the ballast.
Why, you ask. Destiny was over-plated some years ago with a piece of steel 6 mm thick, seven foot wide and fourteen foot long. Now this is a lot of weight. Kath thinks that when it was done the compensating amount of ballast was not removed from the boat, which is why Destiny is about four inches deeper in the water than she is meant to be. This shows up because the vents in the gas and battery compartments are below water level and they should be at or above water level.
I managed to get two of the ballast slabs out and, my goodness, they are heavy. I couldn't shift any of the others because there was nowhere to get purchase on them. I will have to drill into each of them, put in a rawlplug and screw and use that as purchase to get them to slide into a position where I can lift them. We only want about eight or ten of them out!!
The cycle ride home this evening was less traumatic than other evenings, even though it was after dark, perhaps I am getting used to it.
Thu, 18 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. I woke up and rolled over towards Kath and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. She started and said 'What was that", quite panicky. Quite right too. She had awoken to see a face pressed close to hers, staring into her eyes, just be a bit of a shock when you are not expecting it, especially if the face is mine.
Toast and a glass of grapefruit juice for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
The trip across the aqueduct is getting easier each day, one day I will be able to actually look into the distance over the sides, although I don't think I will ever be able to look down.
Kath continued with the painting. There is actually quite a lot to do. Destiny is after all sixty four four long and she needs to be painted from the bottom plate four foot up. That's one hundred and twenty eight feet of garden fencing, painted with a thick sticky black bitumen based paint, not an easy job.
I managed to get another four ballast slabs out of the bilge of Destiny, and spent most of the rest of the day trying to get some semblance of order into Destiny after the mayhem I have caused by ripping up the floor and the ballast.
Now I must explain here that I have lived a comparatively solitary life (apart from one or two interludes) for nearly fifteen years and I am very comfortable with my own company. That is not to say that I don't like the company of others, but I have become a bit set in my ways and like my own space.
This past week has been quite an eye opener for me about myself.
There has been Kath , Scott , Kaia
and myself, along with two dogs living, eating and sleeping on Almyne. Each day the children had brought something else back from school, or selected one of their favourite possessions to bring back to Almyne from Destiny.
Today when we arrived back at Almyne, after a long days work there was nowhere to sit that did not have clothes or bags on it, the children's beds were stacked up against the only clear wall and I was tired. So also were the others I admit. The children promptly occupied my bed to watch a DVD and Kath and I stood in the salon looking at each other thinking 'where do we start'.
We started with dinner, just beef burgers with oven chips, accompanied by a simple salad of cucumber, tomatoes, finely diced cabbage and celery on a bed of chopped lettuce, washed own by a cup of evening coffee for Kath and a glass of red wine for myself, while the children had a glass of orange juice and lemonade.
After a short break for the main course to go down, Kath made a desert of sliced bananas, maraschino cherries, raspberry angle delight all topped of with grated chocolate.
I think I'll let her stay another week.
Fri, 19 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. I woke up and rolled over towards Kath , talked to her for a few moments until she started to come to and then gave her a kiss. The response was much more what I had hoped for, a sleepy smile.
Toast and a glass of grapefruit juice for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea. Raining today, so another challenge for me crossing the aqueduct. It was not enough to make me cross it twice a day for a week, now I have to negotiate it in the rain, slippery as well as 921 feet above the river (Kath tells me it is only 129 feet, but I still don't believe her).
Spent the morning in preparation for laying the laminated flooring and general tidying up.
Martin welded the chims on either side of the bow (to help protect the bottom plate) and finished patching up the hole in the back (with two layers of plate just to be sure). He then set ME to grinding down the remains of the old skeg in preparation for putting on the new one.
Doesn't sound too much but all in all a very busy and tiring day.
Sat, 20 Jun 2009
No school today, but still an early start with so much to do and so little time to finish it all.
Today's trip across the aqueduct must be the most traumatic so far, it was windy. I made a point of keeping towards the canal because as Kath says, she can swim but she cannot fly, so if the wind blows her off she would rather fall into the canal than over the edge of the aqueduct.
Martin finished off all the welding and Kath painted all the final bits to finish off.
I say he finished off all the welding, what he actually did was to weld the skeg on, replace the tiller assembly, including the new rudder cup (a bearing to reduce wear), and the rudder, we can't go far without a rudder.
The final bit of welding was the kick plates to stop the rudder hitting the bottom plate when turned to full extent.
Martin finished, he left to go home and make friends with his dog hat had been left without him all week.
Of course, now Kath had to paint all the new bits, with two coats of paint before floating tomorrow morning. There was just enough paint to do this, but she still extracted the last dregs and found somewhere to paint again.
Sun, 21 Jun 2009
Today is the day for floating Destiny. Arrived at the boat yard shortly after nine and started doing all the tidying up necessary to float her.
No problems over the aqueduct, perhaps I am getting used to it after all.
Spent the first hour or so tidying up the dock and putting everything back on Destiny that we could prior to floating. Did not want to put too much back on board in case we needed to remove some more ballast. The best calculations so far (by me, Martin and Nigel {the boat yard expert}) was six to eight slabs and having already removed six we might have to remove another two.
Just before eleven Nigel came into the dock put the 'plug' back in and took out the first plank holding back the canal. As the water slowly filled the dock like a giant bath tub Kath didn't want to look, just in case her baby didn't float! Everything went fine however and it was time to check Destiny's line on the surface of the water. The stern had risen out of the water about two inches but still not enough so I started to negotiate lifting yet more ballast out of the boat. Then more ballast, then more ballast, then more ballast, then even more ballast. Eventually, around five hours and a busted back later we had destiny sitting sweet in the water with a total of fourteen ballast blocks sitting on the side of the dock. One last tidy up in the dock we said our 'thank you's' and our 'goodbye's' to the wonderful guys at Anglo Welsh, well they are now top of the Christmas card list along with Martin, and Kath
very tentatively inched Destiny forward and out of the dock into the fresh air, careful not to scratch the shinny black sides of the hull. Kath
pulled in close to the side to load the bicycles onto the roof and then let me go inside to make a brew whilst she took Destiny over the aqueduct.
Upon arriving back at Almyne Kath rustled up some ravioli in tomato sauce for dinner and afterwards settled the children down to bed. A long arduous day that has left us all with a great sense of achievement and relief that the floating went well.
Mon, 22 Jun 2009
10 miles 4 tunnels 4 aqueducts
Well actually 2 tunnels and 2 aqueducts twice.
Spent the morning in preparation for laying the laminated flooring and general tidying up. Just before eleven mum
rang and told me that she was at Trevor. We stopped everything and hot legged it along the canal, across the aqueduct and in to Trevor, picked up mum and Peter, shuffled vehicles around and set off on a journey to England and back.
Across Froncysyllte aqueduct, through the lift bridge and we moored up for a bite to eat. Half an hour later we set off again and arrived at Destiny in time to collect Scott and Kaia
on their way home from school.
Two tunnels, and one aqueduct and some leisurely cruising saw us arriving at The Poachers at Chirk in time to enjoy a diner of .
We then set of on the return journey and dropped mum and Peter
off at Irish Bridge (after a late 'pudding' of fresh pineapple, banana, cherries, smothered in butterscotch angle delight sprinkled with grated chocolate), shortly before ten in the evening, thank goodness for the late nights at this time of year.
Tue, 23 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
While I replaced the laminate flooring Kath had a go at the washing, mountains of it. Five hours later with the floor in the salon down and the washing line covered, Wales reminded us that it rains in Wales.
Five minutes later all the washing was in Destiny and we were tucked up in Almyne listening to the pitter patter of the raindrops that were washing the air clean.
(Just in case you have noticed I will admit to not having updated the site for so long that I have forgotten most of what has happened and totally lost track of what happened when).
Wed, 24 Jun 2009
Sports day today. Got Kaia of to school, DesinyScott was staying with Nat
last night so we did not have to bother with him.
Walked along to the school playing field to watch the whole school enjoying a warm sunny summer day, all eighty of them, it is only a small school.
Another day when I have forgotten most of what happened.
Thu, 25 Jun 2009
Up early to get Destiny Scott off on his trip to the Natural History Museum, he has to be at the train station by seven oh five.
I had been up most of the night with twitchy legs and completed seven 'Challenging' sudoku puzzles and felt quite guilty when I realised that Kath had not only seen Scott
off to the station but also cycled to school with DestinyKaia.
Poached eggs on toast for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Having made a promise to Scott to get his web site up and running before he returned from his trip, I spent all day wrestling with the built in web server to get it working. Eventually I gave in trying to use the 'easy to use' software and did it all by hand. Much easier in the long run.
With Scott 's site up and running I duplicated it and set up the sites for Kath and Kaia as well, now we all have blog sites to write up our daily activities. Methinks that the computer will be going all day every day to keep up with all the typing and picture adjusting.
Dinner of Salmon Cous Cous, with some lentil, mixed seeds, sultanas, parsley, thyme, ground coriander, mushrooms and sweet potato with a fresh diced pear to set it all off.
Scott arrived home just after eight and set to writing up his adventure to London and back, while Kaia wrote up her experiences and thoughts for the day.
Nat and Leanne visited for a while and eventually we all retied to bed, ready for an early stat in the morning.
Fri, 26 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school, well actually it is teacher training day, so we all had a lie in. I had spent a lot of the night reading and sitting up with twitchy legs again, so needed a little extra time in bed.
Bacon grill on toast for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea. Well I say breakfast, it was more like lunch.
Today we are all going to Llangollen, so Scott and I did the engine checks on both boats, unhitched Almyne Too and we set off away from Llangollen (about half twelve) to turn round at Chirk Marina (and empty my porta-pottie while we are there) so that we were heading for Llangollen. It's not like a car in a driveway, it is more like being parked on the motorway, you have to set out in the direction you are heading in, whether or not you want to go that way.
Did the winding bit, changed crew, Scott came aboard Almyne, and we transferred some forgotten items from Almyne to Destiny, and then set off for Llangollen proper just before one.
Not a very long journey but very pretty. I will say that the Llangollen is pretty but it's main feature is that it is windy, shallow and narrow. If you can navigate the Llangollen then you can navigate any canal.
Moored up both boats about a mile short of Llangollen itself (I am too mean to pay the overnight mooring fee of £6 per boat per night).
Sat, 27 Jun 2009
Horseshoe Falls
Start Of The Cut
River Llangollen
4 miles
Up early again. Took Almyne into Llangollen, stopped off at the facilities and got rid of all the accumulated rubbish, emptied the porta pottie.
Steve collected Kaia
leaving the rest of us to continue in to Llangollen proper to do the shopping.
Llangollen really is a beautiful village, all black and white buildings layered up the hills overlooking the river, and what a river.
Kath suggested a relaxing afternoon cycling along to the source of the canal, just a short way. (Her idea of a short way and mine still have to come together).
Kath and Scott kindly let me take the lead and set the pace. Although it took us quite a while and we stopped off on the way to let the dogs have a swim (and for me to have a rest).
Now Kath tells me it is only a couple of miles from Llangollen to the Horseshoe Falls and it is only about a mile from where we are moored up to Llangollen and I am sure that she is right. What I did not realise is that Llangollen spreads for miles and miles from one side to the other. Add the two miles on the other side to the one mile into Llangollen and that makes three, add on the extra nine miles to get through Llangollen and that gives a much more realistic idea of the cycle ride I went on.
I have to admit though it was well worth the effort for the views and scenery.
Not only that, we got to see the start of the Llangollen canal. The start is the point where Thomas Telford started the canal to get water from the Llangollen river to Birmingham (or some other place that needed water) and was originally intended just as a source of water. It was not until the advent of pleasure craft that it was made navigable from Trevor to Llangollen, and it is still not navigable from Llangollen to the Horseshoe Falls.
The ride back was even more exhausting, although Kath and Scott took it in their stride. Scott even cycled into Llangollen on the way back to purchase some chips from the chippy (I think that Kath was glad not to have to cook after all).
I don't know what the others did but I had an early night and slept like a log.
Sun, 28 Jun 2009
4 miles Today we took Destiny in to Llangollen. DestinyScott 'winded' her very successfully and we returned to our mooring point where I leapt off and jumped onto Almyne for the return journey to Trevor.
A very pleasant journey with only intermittent rain (rather than rain half the time) stopping off for a bite to eat at lunch time and arriving back at the water point moorings around four, in time for Steve to return DestinyKaia.
Just to pass the time, Scott decided that he would walk along to where Almyne Too was moored and tow her back, only a matter of a couple of miles. Kath
and I discussed the project and decided that it would be OK and that he could only get into so much trouble.
He set off with a boat pole, (for punting) and a couple of ropes to use as 'centre lines', saying "Back in half an hour or so".
Half an hour later he phoned and said that he was having difficulty pulling Almyne Too around moored boats. I knew this was going to happen and was already prepared to go and get him (them), so set of to meat him. A short while later he rang to say that he had got a lift from another boat and that they were towing him. I continued walking towards where he should be and eventually met up with him and his tow-ers.
They 'set him free' with about three quarters of a mile to go, so Scott and I towed Almyne Too the rest of the way. I had already negotiated with all the moored boat skippers that I could walk along their outside top planks, so going past the moored boats was not too much of a problem.
(Since it was Scott's project I must admit I let him do most of the towing and did little more than guide Almyne Too, and I made him operate the lift bridge - all of which he did in good humour and heart, although he did admit that the task was bigger than he had envisaged.)
Arrived back at Almyne on the wrong side of the canal, so rather than towing her another mile to a bridge where we could walk over we just climbed aboard and punted Almyne Too across to the right side of the canal.
Nat and Leanne turned up after tea for a chat.
Early night as Kaia has to get up for school tomorrow. Scott
has already been de-registered, so will not be attending again for the foreseeable future.
Mon, 29 Jun 2009
Most of the day was spent dodging the Welsh weather, you know, rain, shine, rain, shine, shower, shine, drizzle, shine, sunshine and a little more rain to keep you on your toes. No chance of getting any washing done.
Didn't see much of Kath today as she was on Destiny cleaning and tidying (she hasn't had much chance to do that for some time) and I was on Almyne cleaning and tidying (I haven't had much chance to do that fro some time), but we did all come together for an evening meal.
Tue, 30 Jun 2009
Mostly spent the day trying hard to remember what I have been doing for the past two weeks and updating the web site. So much has happened and so little has been written that most of the events and experiences will drift off into the ether never having been recorded.
Kaia went on her school trip to the beach and tells me she dug a big hole. She is not very communicative most of the time but occasionally she chatters away like a flock of jackdaws. I think that she has a little trouble with my hearing, so much of the time she talks much more quickly that I can listen and she gets frustrated by me asking her to repeat herself.
Kath made a number of wrist bracelets during the course of the day while I was occupied on the computer and sometime around four ish she went into the bedroom for a rest and fell asleep. It seemed a shame to wake her so I left her alone as long as I could (at least till my tummy started rumbling).
I have made a good job of updating the site today except for the connection. It has taken forever to upload a few pages and now that I am trying to upload a few images it is becoming even more of a problem.
My difficulty is that if I do not upload on the day that I prepare the images, often they do not get uploaded at all. (A shame for all you followers of the site).
Up early to get the children off to school. The first of the month, where does the time go, halfway through the year already.
When they had disappeared I started the washing. Mike, a friend of Kath
's turned up to fix her shower, which was an immense relief for her as she not only uses it to shower, but also to do the washing. She empties the washing machine into the shower tray and then uses the shower pump to get rid of the water. Works really well.
After that she went into Chirk to do some shopping.
We all spent a relaxing evening mulling over the days events.
Tue, 2 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. When they had disappeared Kath
did some of her washing while I took all the new back boards off Destiny and sanded them and prepared them for painting.
Kath's shower pump packed up about a month ago and what with one thing and another (like visiting me) her washing load has built up till it is almost overwhelming. Spent most of the day washing, while I did my homework for the courses I am doing and checked the myriad of emails that have accumulated over the past couple of weeks. This kept us both busy till the children returned from school.
Scott
built a raft out of several empty wine flagons and some assorted pieces of timber and he and Kaia
spent the evening getting very wet trying to balance on it and falling into the water more often than not.
Wed, 3 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. When they had disappeared we took Almyne along to Chirk marina to get a new gas bottle, they do not seem to be lasting very long at the moment. Lifting out the old bottle it still felt quite heavy, so played about with the regulator and it seems that it is, to use the vernacular, broken. In it's present state it only allows me to use about two thirds of the bottle before it tells me that it is empty. Oh well, guess I'll have to have that looked at.
Back at the tunnel mooring I managed to give the new back boards for Destiny a coat of primer, (they will need several more). Later Kath
and I set off to Wrecsam (Wrexham) to do some shopping and a few other chores that were important. Caught the bus from the end of the tow path by the bridge.
I got most of the shopping while Kath was completing her tasks and met her in a pub, where we had a pint each and a bite to eat. Kath was assailed by loads of people that she knew and it was getting quite late by the time we finished getting the shopping items that I had not been able to find.
Caught the bus back to the boats and we were assailed by D'fer
and Rowan
as soon as we opened the doors to Almyne.
Dinner, a DVD and off to bed after another exhausting day.
Thu, 4 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Moved all the boats from Whitehurst tunnel to the B & B.
First off, we had to take Destiny along to Chirk and turn her around, which Kath
did really rather well in the marina entrance. She was particularly pleased as it is the first time she had tried it there.
Came back to Whitehouse Tunnel where I hitched up Almyne Too to Almyne and then followed Kath along to the B & B moorings. Moored up Almyne and unhitched Almyne Too and moved her along to a space big enough to get Destiny in later when we get back from Trevor.
We then took Destiny along to Trevor across the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, collecting the children along the way, where we put some diesel into Destiny and arranged for the dry dock for Destiny for a week Monday.
This is needed so that the bottom can be blacked and some work that needs doing can be completed as well.
After collecting the children, but before completing the journey to Trevor, we allowed D'fer
and Rowan
to have a swim. They both thoroughly enjoyed that and succeeded in getting us all a bit wet in the process.
Back at B & B Scott
made raft out of a piece of wood and the life ring, and he and Kaia
spent the early evening fooling around in the canal.
Fri, 5 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. When they had disappeared Kath
started the washing (again) while I cleared the top of Destiny and washed and rinsed the whole top deck. There is much more of it than there is of Almyne and it took me much longer than I had anticipated. Well worth the effort though.
By the time I had finished, the magic (or is it a curse), had worked and it started raining. Kath was not too pleased and I helped her take all the washing into Destiny, where she hung it all up and continued to catch up on the rest of the washing. I spent the afternoon catching up on my homework, again, and by the time the children arrived back from school was shattered and fell asleep to the sound of the pitter patter of raindrops on the cratch cover. Woke around six and started preparing dinner, which Kath actually cooked, while I tried to update the site.
After dinner we watched DVD to the sound of rain on the roof.
Sat, 6 Jun 2009
It's the weekend, no school, and, yes, you've guessed it, pouring with rain. We had planned to go to Llangollen (the town) but with all this Welsh weather we decided to play 'spot the Englishman'. Apparently you can spot them a mile off, they are the ones without a waterproof.
By lunch time the score was 22 to Kath, 15 to Scott, 14 to Kaia
and 8 to me, well I have not had the experience that they have, and apart from that I gave them a good start by not having a waterproof myself.
Spent the afternoon doing crafty things. I finished making some miniature besoms while Kath
made half a dozen friendship bands. Watching her gave me the incentive to finish off some of the rope pulls that I started oh so long ago, and by the end of the day it looked as if we might just be starting to build up a stock of items to sell.
Sun, 7 Jun 2009
It's the weekend, no school, and it is still raining.
Nothing for it but to amuse ourselves with DVDs, 'Porterhouse Blue', 'Hot Fuzz', 'A life less Ordinary' and 'Jewel of the Nile'.
that passed the day painlessly enough.
Mon, 8 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. Stopped raining about half seven, still overcast but not raining, this is Wales.
Took a walk into Cefn Mawr to do some shopping at the local supermarket. Got waylaid on the way by the cycle shop and the charity shop. In the cycle shop Kath
purchased some 'Slime'. (This is a puncture repair substance.) I got a new landing net to collect the tennis balls that D'fer keeps dropping in the canal.
At the charity shop Kath bought an 'over locker' for five pounds. Now I have heard of an over locker before and when I have listened to people talking about them there seems to be an aura of envy about them. It seems that this particular piece of equipment is something special in the way of sewing.
Anyway, did the supermarket shopping and caught a taxi back to the boats. It took nearly half an hour to put everything away, by which time Kath did not feel like playing with her new toy. I had to conceal my excitement and enthusiasm for playing with the 'over locker', after all, it's not mine.
After a rest the children arrived home from school and the evening routine kicked in, so still no over locker.
Tue, 9 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. Kath
has a crick in her neck and it is really painful. It might have been caused by sleeping with the cratch doors open and the draught, or it might have been caused by sitting making friendship bracelets all over the weekend, either way it is painful.
Spent most of the day watching DVDs and drinking tea and coffee, and re-charging the 'hand warmers' for to apply to her neck; another day when I don't get to see what an over locker does.
By late evening and Kath still not being able to move her neck, even though she was dosed up with Ibuprofen, Paracodol and Cocdomol, I remembered the heat pads that I used when I had my aching legs and arms last Christmas. Got them out and applied one to her shoulder and neck. Not instant relief, but soon made a big difference.
At least she might be able to get some sleep tonight (and I might too).
Wed, 10 Jun 2009
Cannon
Up early to get the children off to school. Well, actually I laid in while Kath
sorted them out. Her neck was much better this morning and with enough movement to join in with life again, as long as we keep applying the heat pads and dosing her up with pills.
Simon
and Georgette (his girlfriend) visited for the afternoon and we all went for a meal at 'The Telford', a local hostelry, ending up at 'The Mill' a favourite pub, for 'one for the road'.
The Mill has a pool table and Kath and I had a game of pool, the first for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I might just challenge her to another game one day.
Eventually fell into bed well after midnight, thinking about playing with the over locker.
Thu, 11 Jun 2009
As the children stayed with Nat
last night we had a bit of a lie in. I had forgotten how much hard work children can be, purely from the amount of attention that they require.
Georgette was taking Simon
into Wrecsam hospital today for a blood test, so Kath
and I cadged a lift. Kath
had an appointment as well, so I accompanied her. It all went well and she does not have to attend again for at least six months.
Did a little shopping after hospital, purchasing all the bits and pieces to black the bottom of Destiny next week, and a great big tin of Grapefruit segments for ninety-nine pence, really good value for money and we can have grapefruit for breakfast. Even if we throw half of it away it is still good value for money.
Destiny is booked in to the dry dock at a local boat yard so need to have everything ready and waiting. At thirty pounds a day it is sensible to be prepared.
During the afternoon Kath got the over locker out and adjusted the tension by hand, winding the needles with the had wheel. Having got the tensions right we plugged it in and pressed the pedal. Lots of whirring but no movement. Something is broken. I dismantled it and soon spotted the problem, a cog had moved along it's shaft and was not meshing with the cog it was meant to drive. Pushed it back up it's shaft and reassembled. Plugged it in again and pressed the pedal, away went the material, needles rushing up and down, threads whirring off the spools and then nothing, the cog had slipped again.
Dismantled and put some epoxy putty on the end of the shaft after re-positioning the cog. Waited a while for the epoxy to set and plugged it in again. Whirr whirr, spin spin, away it goes. Worked well for several inched
s and then nothing again.
Dismantled it (again) and this time got a press fit electrical connector (designed for cars) and removed the connector bits, just leaving the crimp bit. Squeezed this on to the end of the shaft that holds the recalcitrant cog, and reassembled again. This time it worked and stayed working. Hooray.
Scott
and Kaia
decided to go swimming this evening so spent some time in the canal getting chilly.
Tried to get an early night, but we spent the whole evening and most of the wee small hours planning the next year and putting the world to rights.
Fri, 12 Jun 2009
Overslept, children had a day off school. Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Painted bottom boards for Destiny. Kath
cleaned and tidied Destiny, a task that she has been trying to achieve for some time between acting as intermediary twixt Simon and Nathan (two of her charges), going to hospital and showing me the area and preparing for the bottom blacking.
Scott
put the second name plate on Almyne Too, so that is now she has one on each side, as she should.
With Scott spending the evening (and as it turned out, the night) at Nat's the three of us had a quiet evening in playing games and listening to music.
Sat, 13 Jun 2009
View From Almyne
Shady Kath
Evening Vista
View From The Bridge
Sunny Kath
10 miles 2 locks 2 tunnels
It's the weekend, no school, and guess what, it's NOT raining, it is a bit overcast, threatening a little rain later on, but we can hope. Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Steve
(Kaia's dad) came to collect Scott
and Kaia
about ten and when they had all gone Kath
and I took Destiny along to Chirk Marina to turn her around ready for Monday and the dry dock for bottom blacking.
An uneventful journey, through two tunnels and to the marina, where Kath winded superbly, only the second time that she has tried it there in Destiny.
Back through both tunnels, allowing a GRP cruiser to overtake us just outside the marina (and let us know that there was no traffic in the tunnel) and moor up again with Almyne and Almyne Too.
I prepared a light lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches accompanied by pickled onions, pickled gherkins, mushrooms preserved in oil and Maraschino cherries, while Kath battened down Destiny for the weekend (and prepared Almyne for the journey).
Having done our 'work' for the day we set off for a 'day out' in Almyne to the Montgomery Canal junction.
The sun was making up for the rest of the week and giving us his best, so much so that it was shorts and T-shirt weather, almost the first this year.
Kath was in her element on the tiller and it was a delight to me to be able to sit and do next to nothing whilst travelling. Through the second tunnel I went up to the cratch and it was quite a different experience to see the roof lit up right in front of me with next to no noise from the engine. Emerging the other side there were eight boats waiting to come through. We had done well getting Destiny there and back before the queue started. It is the first time I have ever experienced the closest thing to a traffic jam on the canal system.
Once through the tunnel it was simply 'plain sailing' or cruising if you prefer.
Chirk aqueduct was much easier for me to negotiate as I was sat in one of the easy chairs on the stern and could not look directly over the edge. (Just in case you are not aware, I have a mild fear {phobia} of heights. I tried walking across the bridge at Deception Pass and was totally unable to lift my left foot off the ground and put it on the bridge; but that is another story.)
Shortly after we emerged from Chirk Tunnel we caught up with a boat in front of us that was travelling really slowly. Now anyone who knows my normal speed of travel will know that when I say that they were travelling slowly I mean slowly. It was almost an irritation, but it gave us the opportunity to watch the buzzards on the stretch before New Marton Locks.
The Slow Boat To nowhere, went through the first lock while we moored up and took on water. By the time we had replenished the tanks another boat was coming up through the first lock, so it was in our favour. The second lock was also in our favour so that part of the trip was good. Well, mostly good, D'fer
suddenly remembered what locks are all about and came alive with an empty lemonade bottle for me to throw for him.
By this time the boat in front had disappeared and the rest of the journey was just blissfully peaceful with the occasional bit of excitement seeing 'The Old Man of the Cut' in a field just past the locks. He is a big old heron.
The most exciting part of the trip was the hire boat that came hurtling through a bridge hole, spotted us, anchored up and ended up across the canal, blocking everything and ending up grounded. He managed to make just enough room for us to scrape through and as we were going through the bridge hole we looked back to see the crew of the other boat heaving and pushing on boat poles while revving the engine to try to push the boat off the bottom of the canal, only getting themselves more aground. They might just get afloat again by the time we return tomorrow.
Now I must let you all into a little secret here, Kath like what she calls her 'evening coffee'. This is black coffee with a shot of brandy in it.
Today, evening started about half past three. I must also be honest here, I have a glass of wine, or a can of beer when the sun goes over the yard arm. The sun went over the yard arm about half past three this afternoon.
We continued to motor on to the Montgomery arm, selecting nice places to pull over and moor up on the way back. Having reached the Montgomery arm, winded and started on the return journey, by seven (and an evening coffee and a glass of wine every twenty minutes) we just moored up at the first convenient place.
I had prepared the vegetables for dinner during the journey, so Kath was not too disappointed at having to prepare dinner after a long day on the tiller.
We supped on pork chops baked in maple syrup, garlic and ginger accompanied by new potatoes with butter, carrots, butternut squash and peas and a couple of slices of potato and rosemary bread.
P S Kath can stay another week after a meal like that. (And she says that I can say so too).
Full to bursting, we sat on the tow path using the barrel barbecue as a log burner watching the sun go down and enjoying a(nother) glass of wine. A perfect end to a wonderful day.
Sun, 14 Jun 2009
Morning View From Almyne
Beware Falling Rocks
Passport Control
Chirk Aqueduct
Low Fat Trifle
10 miles 2 locks 2 tunnels
Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Set off from the Montgomery arm before midday.
We did note that the grounded hire boat was nowhere to be seen, so we assume that they did get themselves afloat after all.
I think that the 'Slow Boat to Nowhere' must have pulled over early last night and turned around, because it was not long before we were behind it again. Really not a problem, but it was interesting to see a holiday boater enjoying the trip the way that they should be and taking things slowly.
I think that 'The Old Man of the Cut' is getting used to us now as when we passing him today, he just stood on a fence post and waited till I got my camera out and turned it on before he flew away. One day I will get a proper shot of him.
As we arrived at Chirk aqueduct we spotted a boat coming towards us over it, so we pulled in and waited. Then we spotted another following it, and another after that. Three boats, our turn next. There is a protocol on the Llangollen (because it is all narrow tunnels and aqueducts) that three boats in one direction and three in the other, just to keep traffic flowing.
Well Today I saw my second traffic jam. Nine boats came over the aqueduct while we were waiting our turn and by this time the boats were piling up behind us as well. Eventually they stopped coming from the other direction, although I am almost certain that the last boat coming overs stopped halfway to take photographs, either that or he had a very small engine for a very big boat.
Passing over Chirk aqueduct I spotted the boundary between England and Wales. It is interesting that there is no passport control getting out of Wales and into England, but to go the other way you need identification, passport, proof of income and you have to fill in a disclaimer that you will not be a burden on the system and that you will not overstay your welcome. I suppose it is just like any other European or African country really.
Between Chirk tunnel and Whitehouse tunnel the canal passes through a cutting and although there are no signs up saying 'Beware Falling Rocks' I think that it might be a good idea to put some up. There is the one rock that fell down the bank a few years ago and is so larger that BW are unable to remove it.
Today, evening started about half past four. The sun went over the yard arm about half past four this afternoon.
As I am writing this on Thursday, I cannot remember what we had for dinner on Sunday, but I do remember the trifle. Sponge, fruit cocktail, lime jelly, custard and Elmlea double cream, which his indistinguishable from cream but with half the fat - see Kath
really is looking after me.
Mon, 15 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Grapefruit for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Took Destiny down to the dry dock. Kath
reversed her in and the marina staff put in the dam planks (yes, that is dam as in blocking up the water), pulled the plug out of the bottom of the dock and we watched Destiny settle on the supports holding her up, while the water drained. There was a little adjustment as to position to make sure that we could work all round, but that stage went well.
My duties and responsibilities for the week are chief cook and bottle washer and general factotum. I hate painting (and I am not very good at it and I am not particularly robust,) and I don't do heavy lifting things.
Started off getting the pressure washer ready and tried it out. Not very good. Checked with the marina staff and they agreed that it was not good and that we would be better off hiring one from a hire facility. Kath got on the phone and ordered one for tomorrow.
Martin, who will be doing all the welding phoned, he will be arriving tomorrow. With little else that we could do for the day we just tried to get everything organised ready for a good start tomorrow.
Tue, 16 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Toast for breakfast, we've run out of grapefruit, washed down with a cup of tea, accompanied by a glass of grapefruit juice. That ninety-nine pence tin lasted really well, we must get another.
Cycled to Destiny this morning. My first time on a pushbike for a long time. It was not too bad as there are two gates where you have to get of and walk the bike through, I needed the rest. Then there was the aqueduct. I managed to walk across with the bike, holding on to D'fer
's lead (fortunately I think he realised that I was not comfortable and he walked beside me all the way without pulling). Not a pleasant experience, but I made it without looking too much of a fool.
Pressure washer arrived just after nine, got that up and running and we all started washing and scraping the sides and hull of Destiny. By early evening she was pretty well ready for her first coat of paint, but she has to dry first.
Knowing that Destiny sits a little low in the water we were aware that some ballast needs removing, so I started looking at taking up the laminate flooring to get to the floor boards. From the looks of it I will have to take everything up, starting at the front of the boat and working to the back where the ballast needs to be removed. Got all that up and stacked up in the bathroom area, it's a good job we don't have to live on Destiny while all the work is being done.
Cycled back to Almyne shortly after nine, after negotiating the aqueduct wit the bike and D'fer again. Still not nice.
Wed, 17 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
Toast and a glass of grapefruit juice for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Off to the dry dock.
Today the cycle ride was a little easier and I let D'fer
walk over the aqueduct on his own, but I still kept my eyes firmly fixed on the house half way up the hill on the other side.
Kath
started on painting the hull and got nearly half of it complete by the end of the day.
With the laminate flooring up I proceeded to try to lift the big sheet of ply that forms the base of the floor so that I could get at the ballast.
Why, you ask. Destiny was over-plated some years ago with a piece of steel 6 mm thick, seven foot wide and fourteen foot long. Now this is a lot of weight. Kath thinks that when it was done the compensating amount of ballast was not removed from the boat, which is why Destiny is about four inches deeper in the water than she is meant to be. This shows up because the vents in the gas and battery compartments are below water level and they should be at or above water level.
I managed to get two of the ballast slabs out and, my goodness, they are heavy. I couldn't shift any of the others because there was nowhere to get purchase on them. I will have to drill into each of them, put in a rawlplug and screw and use that as purchase to get them to slide into a position where I can lift them. We only want about eight or ten of them out!!
The cycle ride home this evening was less traumatic than other evenings, even though it was after dark, perhaps I am getting used to it.
Thu, 18 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. I woke up and rolled over towards Kath
and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. She started and said 'What was that", quite panicky. Quite right too. She had awoken to see a face pressed close to hers, staring into her eyes, just be a bit of a shock when you are not expecting it, especially if the face is mine.
Toast and a glass of grapefruit juice for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
The trip across the aqueduct is getting easier each day, one day I will be able to actually look into the distance over the sides, although I don't think I will ever be able to look down.
Kath continued with the painting. There is actually quite a lot to do. Destiny is after all sixty four four long and she needs to be painted from the bottom plate four foot up. That's one hundred and twenty eight feet of garden fencing, painted with a thick sticky black bitumen based paint, not an easy job.
I managed to get another four ballast slabs out of the bilge of Destiny, and spent most of the rest of the day trying to get some semblance of order into Destiny after the mayhem I have caused by ripping up the floor and the ballast.
Now I must explain here that I have lived a comparatively solitary life (apart from one or two interludes) for nearly fifteen years and I am very comfortable with my own company. That is not to say that I don't like the company of others, but I have become a bit set in my ways and like my own space.
This past week has been quite an eye opener for me about myself.
There has been Kath , Scott
, Kaia
and myself, along with two dogs living, eating and sleeping on Almyne. Each day the children had brought something else back from school, or selected one of their favourite possessions to bring back to Almyne from Destiny.
Today when we arrived back at Almyne, after a long days work there was nowhere to sit that did not have clothes or bags on it, the children's beds were stacked up against the only clear wall and I was tired. So also were the others I admit. The children promptly occupied my bed to watch a DVD and Kath and I stood in the salon looking at each other thinking 'where do we start'.
We started with dinner, just beef burgers with oven chips, accompanied by a simple salad of cucumber, tomatoes, finely diced cabbage and celery on a bed of chopped lettuce, washed own by a cup of evening coffee for Kath and a glass of red wine for myself, while the children had a glass of orange juice and lemonade.
After a short break for the main course to go down, Kath made a desert of sliced bananas, maraschino cherries, raspberry angle delight all topped of with grated chocolate.
I think I'll let her stay another week.
Fri, 19 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school. I woke up and rolled over towards Kath
, talked to her for a few moments until she started to come to and then gave her a kiss. The response was much more what I had hoped for, a sleepy smile.
Toast and a glass of grapefruit juice for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea. Raining today, so another challenge for me crossing the aqueduct. It was not enough to make me cross it twice a day for a week, now I have to negotiate it in the rain, slippery as well as 921 feet above the river (Kath tells me it is only 129 feet, but I still don't believe her).
Spent the morning in preparation for laying the laminated flooring and general tidying up.
Martin welded the chims on either side of the bow (to help protect the bottom plate) and finished patching up the hole in the back (with two layers of plate just to be sure). He then set ME to grinding down the remains of the old skeg in preparation for putting on the new one.
Doesn't sound too much but all in all a very busy and tiring day.
Sat, 20 Jun 2009
No school today, but still an early start with so much to do and so little time to finish it all.
Today's trip across the aqueduct must be the most traumatic so far, it was windy. I made a point of keeping towards the canal because as Kath says, she can swim but she cannot fly, so if the wind blows her off she would rather fall into the canal than over the edge of the aqueduct.
Martin finished off all the welding and Kath
painted all the final bits to finish off.
I say he finished off all the welding, what he actually did was to weld the skeg on, replace the tiller assembly, including the new rudder cup (a bearing to reduce wear), and the rudder, we can't go far without a rudder.
The final bit of welding was the kick plates to stop the rudder hitting the bottom plate when turned to full extent.
Martin finished, he left to go home and make friends with his dog hat had been left without him all week.
Of course, now Kath had to paint all the new bits, with two coats of paint before floating tomorrow morning. There was just enough paint to do this, but she still extracted the last dregs and found somewhere to paint again.
Sun, 21 Jun 2009
Today is the day for floating Destiny. Arrived at the boat yard shortly after nine and started doing all the tidying up necessary to float her.
No problems over the aqueduct, perhaps I am getting used to it after all.
Spent the first hour or so tidying up the dock and putting everything back on Destiny that we could prior to floating. Did not want to put too much back on board in case we needed to remove some more ballast. The best calculations so far (by me, Martin and Nigel {the boat yard expert}) was six to eight slabs and having already removed six we might have to remove another two.
Just before eleven Nigel came into the dock put the 'plug' back in and took out the first plank holding back the canal. As the water slowly filled the dock like a giant bath tub Kath
didn't want to look, just in case her baby didn't float! Everything went fine however and it was time to check Destiny's line on the surface of the water. The stern had risen out of the water about two inches but still not enough so I started to negotiate lifting yet more ballast out of the boat. Then more ballast, then more ballast, then more ballast, then even more ballast. Eventually, around five hours and a busted back later we had destiny sitting sweet in the water with a total of fourteen ballast blocks sitting on the side of the dock. One last tidy up in the dock we said our 'thank you's' and our 'goodbye's' to the wonderful guys at Anglo Welsh, well they are now top of the Christmas card list along with Martin, and Kath
very tentatively inched Destiny forward and out of the dock into the fresh air, careful not to scratch the shinny black sides of the hull. Kath
pulled in close to the side to load the bicycles onto the roof and then let me go inside to make a brew whilst she took Destiny over the aqueduct.
Upon arriving back at Almyne Kath rustled up some ravioli in tomato sauce for dinner and afterwards settled the children down to bed. A long arduous day that has left us all with a great sense of achievement and relief that the floating went well.
Mon, 22 Jun 2009
10 miles 4 tunnels 4 aqueducts
Well actually 2 tunnels and 2 aqueducts twice.
Spent the morning in preparation for laying the laminated flooring and general tidying up. Just before eleven mum
rang and told me that she was at Trevor. We stopped everything and hot legged it along the canal, across the aqueduct and in to Trevor, picked up mum and Peter, shuffled vehicles around and set off on a journey to England and back.
Across Froncysyllte aqueduct, through the lift bridge and we moored up for a bite to eat. Half an hour later we set off again and arrived at Destiny in time to collect Scott
and Kaia
on their way home from school.
Two tunnels, and one aqueduct and some leisurely cruising saw us arriving at The Poachers at Chirk in time to enjoy a diner of .
We then set of on the return journey and dropped mum and Peter
off at Irish Bridge (after a late 'pudding' of fresh pineapple, banana, cherries, smothered in butterscotch angle delight sprinkled with grated chocolate), shortly before ten in the evening, thank goodness for the late nights at this time of year.
Tue, 23 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school.
While I replaced the laminate flooring Kath
had a go at the washing, mountains of it. Five hours later with the floor in the salon down and the washing line covered, Wales reminded us that it rains in Wales.
Five minutes later all the washing was in Destiny and we were tucked up in Almyne listening to the pitter patter of the raindrops that were washing the air clean.
(Just in case you have noticed I will admit to not having updated the site for so long that I have forgotten most of what has happened and totally lost track of what happened when).
Wed, 24 Jun 2009
Sports day today. Got Kaia
of to school, DesinyScott was staying with Nat
last night so we did not have to bother with him.
Walked along to the school playing field to watch the whole school enjoying a warm sunny summer day, all eighty of them, it is only a small school.
Another day when I have forgotten most of what happened.
Thu, 25 Jun 2009
Up early to get Destiny Scott off on his trip to the Natural History Museum, he has to be at the train station by seven oh five.
I had been up most of the night with twitchy legs and completed seven 'Challenging' sudoku puzzles and felt quite guilty when I realised that Kath
had not only seen Scott
off to the station but also cycled to school with DestinyKaia.
Poached eggs on toast for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea.
Having made a promise to Scott to get his web site up and running before he returned from his trip, I spent all day wrestling with the built in web server to get it working. Eventually I gave in trying to use the 'easy to use' software and did it all by hand. Much easier in the long run.
With Scott 's site up and running I duplicated it and set up the sites for Kath and Kaia
as well, now we all have blog sites to write up our daily activities. Methinks that the computer will be going all day every day to keep up with all the typing and picture adjusting.
Dinner of Salmon Cous Cous, with some lentil, mixed seeds, sultanas, parsley, thyme, ground coriander, mushrooms and sweet potato with a fresh diced pear to set it all off.
Scott arrived home just after eight and set to writing up his adventure to London and back, while Kaia wrote up her experiences and thoughts for the day.
Nat
and Leanne visited for a while and eventually we all retied to bed, ready for an early stat in the morning.
Fri, 26 Jun 2009
Up early to get the children off to school, well actually it is teacher training day, so we all had a lie in. I had spent a lot of the night reading and sitting up with twitchy legs again, so needed a little extra time in bed.
Bacon grill on toast for breakfast, washed down with a cup of tea. Well I say breakfast, it was more like lunch.
Today we are all going to Llangollen, so Scott
and I did the engine checks on both boats, unhitched Almyne Too and we set off away from Llangollen (about half twelve) to turn round at Chirk Marina (and empty my porta-pottie while we are there) so that we were heading for Llangollen. It's not like a car in a driveway, it is more like being parked on the motorway, you have to set out in the direction you are heading in, whether or not you want to go that way.
Did the winding bit, changed crew, Scott came aboard Almyne, and we transferred some forgotten items from Almyne to Destiny, and then set off for Llangollen proper just before one.
Not a very long journey but very pretty. I will say that the Llangollen is pretty but it's main feature is that it is windy, shallow and narrow. If you can navigate the Llangollen then you can navigate any canal.
Moored up both boats about a mile short of Llangollen itself (I am too mean to pay the overnight mooring fee of £6 per boat per night).
Sat, 27 Jun 2009
Horseshoe Falls
Start Of The Cut
River Llangollen
4 miles
Up early again. Took Almyne into Llangollen, stopped off at the facilities and got rid of all the accumulated rubbish, emptied the porta pottie.
Steve
collected Kaia
leaving the rest of us to continue in to Llangollen proper to do the shopping.
Llangollen really is a beautiful village, all black and white buildings layered up the hills overlooking the river, and what a river.
Kath
suggested a relaxing afternoon cycling along to the source of the canal, just a short way. (Her idea of a short way and mine still have to come together).
Kath and Scott
kindly let me take the lead and set the pace. Although it took us quite a while and we stopped off on the way to let the dogs have a swim (and for me to have a rest).
Now Kath tells me it is only a couple of miles from Llangollen to the Horseshoe Falls and it is only about a mile from where we are moored up to Llangollen and I am sure that she is right. What I did not realise is that Llangollen spreads for miles and miles from one side to the other. Add the two miles on the other side to the one mile into Llangollen and that makes three, add on the extra nine miles to get through Llangollen and that gives a much more realistic idea of the cycle ride I went on.
I have to admit though it was well worth the effort for the views and scenery.
Not only that, we got to see the start of the Llangollen canal. The start is the point where Thomas Telford started the canal to get water from the Llangollen river to Birmingham (or some other place that needed water) and was originally intended just as a source of water. It was not until the advent of pleasure craft that it was made navigable from Trevor to Llangollen, and it is still not navigable from Llangollen to the Horseshoe Falls.
The ride back was even more exhausting, although Kath and Scott took it in their stride. Scott even cycled into Llangollen on the way back to purchase some chips from the chippy (I think that Kath was glad not to have to cook after all).
I don't know what the others did but I had an early night and slept like a log.
Sun, 28 Jun 2009
4 miles Today we took Destiny in to Llangollen. DestinyScott 'winded' her very successfully and we returned to our mooring point where I leapt off and jumped onto Almyne for the return journey to Trevor.
A very pleasant journey with only intermittent rain (rather than rain half the time) stopping off for a bite to eat at lunch time and arriving back at the water point moorings around four, in time for Steve
to return DestinyKaia.
Just to pass the time, Scott
decided that he would walk along to where Almyne Too was moored and tow her back, only a matter of a couple of miles. Kath
and I discussed the project and decided that it would be OK and that he could only get into so much trouble.
He set off with a boat pole, (for punting) and a couple of ropes to use as 'centre lines', saying "Back in half an hour or so".
Half an hour later he phoned and said that he was having difficulty pulling Almyne Too around moored boats. I knew this was going to happen and was already prepared to go and get him (them), so set of to meat him. A short while later he rang to say that he had got a lift from another boat and that they were towing him. I continued walking towards where he should be and eventually met up with him and his tow-ers.
They 'set him free' with about three quarters of a mile to go, so Scott and I towed Almyne Too the rest of the way. I had already negotiated with all the moored boat skippers that I could walk along their outside top planks, so going past the moored boats was not too much of a problem.
(Since it was Scott's project I must admit I let him do most of the towing and did little more than guide Almyne Too, and I made him operate the lift bridge - all of which he did in good humour and heart, although he did admit that the task was bigger than he had envisaged.)
Arrived back at Almyne on the wrong side of the canal, so rather than towing her another mile to a bridge where we could walk over we just climbed aboard and punted Almyne Too across to the right side of the canal.
Nat
and Leanne turned up after tea for a chat.
Early night as Kaia
has to get up for school tomorrow. Scott
has already been de-registered, so will not be attending again for the foreseeable future.Mon, 29 Jun 2009
Most of the day was spent dodging the Welsh weather, you know, rain, shine, rain, shine, shower, shine, drizzle, shine, sunshine and a little more rain to keep you on your toes. No chance of getting any washing done.
Didn't see much of Kath
today as she was on Destiny cleaning and tidying (she hasn't had much chance to do that for some time) and I was on Almyne cleaning and tidying (I haven't had much chance to do that fro some time), but we did all come together for an evening meal.
Tue, 30 Jun 2009
Mostly spent the day trying hard to remember what I have been doing for the past two weeks and updating the web site. So much has happened and so little has been written that most of the events and experiences will drift off into the ether never having been recorded.
Kaia
went on her school trip to the beach and tells me she dug a big hole. She is not very communicative most of the time but occasionally she chatters away like a flock of jackdaws. I think that she has a little trouble with my hearing, so much of the time she talks much more quickly that I can listen and she gets frustrated by me asking her to repeat herself.
Kath
made a number of wrist bracelets during the course of the day while I was occupied on the computer and sometime around four ish she went into the bedroom for a rest and fell asleep. It seemed a shame to wake her so I left her alone as long as I could (at least till my tummy started rumbling).
I have made a good job of updating the site today except for the connection. It has taken forever to upload a few pages and now that I am trying to upload a few images it is becoming even more of a problem.
My difficulty is that if I do not upload on the day that I prepare the images, often they do not get uploaded at all. (A shame for all you followers of the site).
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