CHERTSEY

BOATS, BRIDGES, BOILERS ... IF IT'S GOT RIVETS, I'M RIVETTED
... feminist, atheist, autistic academic and historic narrowboater ...
Likes snooker, beer, tea, rivets and solitude, and is strangely fascinated by the cinema organ.
And there might be something about railways.
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Sunday, 19 January 2020

Back with a (slightly) new look for 2020

Yes indeed, here I am. Thank you to the couple of people who have been in touch recently to ask if I'm ok, and if so, where the hell I am. Yes, I am fine - just had a nasty attack of blog fatigue, compounded by the common seasonal ailment known as Semester 1, which results in severe shortage of time and energy.

But here I am, kicking off an important anniversary year for Chertsey, with a new 2020 masthead drawn from this stunning 1970 photo which Richard Pearson sent me last year.
This is Chertsey somewhere on the Grand Union (but Richard has no recollection of where - an indentification challenge if anyone is up for it!)  en route from Gopsall to Croxley in August 1970, on her last commercial trip.

Despite the drastic fall-off in the last quarter, 2019 still saw the second highest number of posts, as the blog now enters its second decade. In terms of boating, however, the year was an absolute disgrace. How many days' boating did I do in 2019?

Four and a half.

Four and a half days. Alvecote to Braunston. Braunston to Alvecote. Alvecote to the winding hole somewhere short of Glascote, and back.

I think I can say with some certainty - barring utter disasters - that I will improve on that this year. There's just the matter of arranging leave around the August exam board ....
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7 comments:

  1. Richard Thorpe19 January 2020 at 22:18

    Its great to see you back. I missed your blogs.
    All the best Richard NB Tyto Alba

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  2. Alf19 January 2020 at 22:48

    Time you got a propere job that does not interfere with boating !! ;-o

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alf19 January 2020 at 22:49

    Proper withgout the "e" !

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  4. Jim20 January 2020 at 07:50

    As someone suffering from chronic "blog fatigue" myself, Welcome Back!

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  5. Nev Wells20 January 2020 at 14:32

    Welcome back and thanks for making my 2019 boating efforts seem extensive !

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  6. Alan Fincher20 January 2020 at 21:08

    As you say there are not many clues to locate where on the GU that photo may have been taken. However it may not be as hard as you might think. Travelling South from Braunston to Croxley the vast majority of the towpath is to your left, the opposite of your picture. Relatively little of the canal has the towpath on the right, as you travel south, and even less has a slight rise in the land away from the canal, an unmade bank, and significant tree growth. My own feeling is that it may either be passing through Boxmoor, or (probably more likely), approaching Apsley.
    There seems to be an angler (?) and this spot remains popular for them today. I'm not saying it is, but I can't immediately think of better candidates.

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  7. Alan Fincher20 January 2020 at 21:13

    I should also have said our blog has also become a bit dormant, but largely because we tend to only do it when out and about, and we have not been anywhere since August... (I have less excuse, as I don't have a job to go to!)

    ReplyDelete

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