Croxley Script

Posting that photo of Chertsey being unloaded at Croxley Mill in 1970 leads me back to the recent trip, and an earlier post, and some wonderful photos sent to me five years ago which I don't think I ever posted... If only I had had a good look at them beforehand, I could have tried to recreate the angles. Anyway, here are three more photos that dg sent me back in 2011, taken I believe, by his dad. They show a pair of Willow Wren boats, Grebe and Wagtail (which the internet - I can't currently lay my hands upon Bread Upon the Waters - leads me to believe were FMC Antelope and Freda) approaching, in, and leaving what is captioned as 'Croxley' lock - formally called, at least now it seems, Common Moor.

Aren't they fabulous?


And here are Chertsey and Renfrew in the same lock on July 30th

This is the nearest to a direct comparison, with the middle one of dg's pictures.

Surprisingly, very little seems to have changed - other than a bloody great paper mill having disappeared.

One for the album

Inspired by my recent re-bonding with Chertsey, and in time for this weekend at Alvecote, I have finally finished compiling a new information sheet (twice as long as the old one and also available as a flier!) and photograph album. One of the reasons for producing it as a flier is so that people can take away my email address and send my any nice action shots they've taken of Chertsey on its travels. So often you see people snapping away - sometimes they even ask! - but by the time you've had a conversation and written down the email address the you're probably out of earshot. So if you've taken any nice photos of Chertsey.... my email address is the URL of the blog less the www. and the .blogspot.co.uk and plus @gmail.com.

Over the years I've had Chertsey (seven now and counting) I have acquired some very nice photos. Many of these however came with the proviso that they not be put on the web, and some that they not be publicly displayed. Hence I have compiled an album for sharing privately (on request) which has the added advantage that I can include more pictures and put them in chronological order, providing a kind of narrative of Chertsey's life.

Looking back through the photos though I found this one that I really love, which I am allowed to share, taken by Richard Pearson of Chertsey loading coal at Gopsall Wharf on August 18th 1970

And this one, of the same coal being unloaded at Croxley Mill a few days later.

I'd still really like to recreate this journey one day.

Woking 2016: The Illustrated Edition incorporating Pub of the Trip

Why this customer thinks the Nelson is the best pub on the cut

However, there are a few more contenders. Not many - this was a trip where we largely fended for ourselves, with serious on board supplies of food and beer. There are therefore just six nominees, and that's including the festival beer tent. In order of visiting they are:

The Samuel Barlow, Alvecote Marina
Always decent food and usually good service, but (special events apart) a limited choice of beer and not a great atmosphere - maybe as good as you could get in a big square room dominated by a close knit group of regulars. It was a good venue for my early birthday dinner though, as we had our own little group. Very dog friendly, and the steak was excellent value as always. Solid and reliable, but somehow for all that, not a favourite.

The Admiral Nelson, Braunston
Still seems to be keeping up its form - the latest revival must have lasted what, four or five years by now? Sadly we arrived there on a Monday, meaning that the full menu - quite understandably - wasn't available. The bar menu is perfectly good, although the charm of serving chips in miniature chip baskets and fish on ersatz newspaper is starting to pall a little. Mega super dog friendly; good beer, nice environment, so this one is still a favourite, and a regular stop.

The Old Crown, Weybridge

Four pounds thirty five, thank you very much. OK, it hasn't got any nasty froth on the top, but all the same. Weybridge is another world. Also in the Old Crown, we had steak and chips. And that was exactly what arrived on the plate. A piece of steak. And some chips. No peas, no onion rings, no tomato, no mushrooms, not even a salad garnish. It won't be giving too much away to say that this one comes at the bottom of the list.

Thurston Brewery Festival Bar
At three pounds a pint you can't knock it, so I won't. One nice flavoursome beer (Invader) which was alternately on and off with one less flavoursome one. Also a porter for those as likes that sort of thing. The head brewer was there serving and told me something interesting which I hadn't heard before, but which sounded plausible - that IPAs aren't supposed to be really hoppy. His take was that the problem with the long sea journey wasn't with the beer going off, as most beers then were matured for a year anyway, but with the flavour of the hops fading, hence the addition of lots, so that it would still taste normal when it arrived, rather than extra hoppy. I accepted his explanation, but added that I like it hoppy anyway. But not grapefruity or elderflowery.

The pub at Iffley lock (on the Thames near Oxford)

The rather useful Perfect Pint app told me that this was in fact called the Isis Farmhouse, which enabled me to check out its opening times (very specific) and dog friendliness (fine), but no one seems to know it as that. We turned up on a Friday which excitingly promised to be a folk night although that side of things was a little half-hearted.

I didn't garner much of the place's history, but it seems to be one of those places that's hard to keep going, largely because it has no road access. A few people (including most of the musicians) arrived by boat, and many more on bikes. In appearance, the place is best described as resembling - well, no, in fact being - a big dilapidated house, furnished with various old bits of furniture, stuffed animal, garden furniture and very tatty soft furnishings.

The ceiling is half painted; the carpet comes to an abrupt halt in unexpected places, and the walls are mostly bare plaster. One barrel of very local beer is available at a time. The menu includes beans on toast, ploughmans, and pork pies as well as a couple of more adventurous offerings. I had a pork pie, and it was excellent, and accompanied by home made bread, the freshest salad and a lovely home made coleslaw.

The Greyhound, Hawkesbury Junction
Another longstanding favourite, a canal pub that somehow manages to retain a tiny bit of a sense of  history and mystique (for all the Nelson's virtues, it sadly doesn't). We arrived early accepting that we would stand around for a while waiting for a vacant table outside in the sun, and our patience was rewarded. Ever reliable for Bass (which I find a bit sweet now) and something Robinson's quite nice and not too strong for me. The mixed grill caused no complaints (especially not from the dog), and we saw two people successfully execute the turn, one of them a hireboater with a broken arm. Neither was a particularly long boat though.

The Greyhound, I think, is the runner up this trip, but the winner is... You've guessed it, the pub at Iffley lock. Go there if you can.
 

And it's over

Day 26, Hawkesbury Junction to Alvecote, 9 hours.

And that's it.

Learning stuff off YouTube

Sat outside the Greyhound last night studying this.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ziNRSQFHNJI
This morning we'll see if I learnt anything

Mixed grill in the Greyhound

Day 25, Hillmorton to Hawkesbury Junction 5 1/4 hours.

Most of it in me, actually.

Stop 'n' shop

Day 24, Marston Doles to Hillmorton, 7 1/2 hours boating and a four hour sojourn in Braunston.

We were away early this morning as planned, and it was lovely. First down Napton (just) and we didn't get stuck at all, so that's good news. And it only took two hours. We stopped at Braunston for essential supplies of vegetables and chimney strings and treated Jim (as recompense for the six am start) to an all day breakfast at the Gongoozlers Rest, which was a very long time coming. We left Braunston at three and tied up here below Hillmorton at six. Jim steered nearly all day (except down Napton) and thoroughly enjoyed it, whilst I enjoyed sitting in the sun.

We'm stoppin'

Day 23, Elkington lock to Marston Doles

Under six hours and just five locks - the Princess Lucy crew could have joined us today. Renfrew were off at 6.20 and we followed a couple of hours later. We got up Claydon very smoothly, and wound our way around the summit. We got word from Pete that they'd arrived at Marston Doles at 11.30 and waited two hours to go down. By the time we arrived, the queue to go down was fourteen boats long so we made an instant decision to stay put, and go down in the morning. I have even got Jim to agree to an early start. Not forgetting of course that we are not entirely certain that we're not going to get stuck in one of them. This means no stopping for steak at the Nelson but holding out for a mixed grill at the Greyhound on Wednesday. Today was another lovely sunny day. As the weather in June and July was so disappointing, I joked that we were saving it up for our holiday and this has turned out to be true; the weather has been fantastic very nearly throughout the three plus weeks we have been out and is promised to continue until we get back to Alvecote. Would it be too much to ask that it be nice for the bank holiday weekend too when we'll be there for their historic boat gathering.

Farewell to our travelling companions

Day 22, Lower Heyford to Elkington lock, 11 1/2 hours

Pete's photo of a bereft Chertsey... You can just see Renfrew's wake in the foreground

 Another eleven and a half hour day, and this time none of it was spent sitting on the bottom. Seventeen locks and a final day in the company of Renfrew. Tomorrow they will be home in Braunston. We'll also be aiming for there but might take it a bit easier. Apparently it transpires that eleven hours hard boating isn't Jim's idea of fun. Whereas for me there's nothing I'd rather be doing. Ah well. Today went really well. There was more water (mostly) but still mile upon mile of moored boats, especially at Cropredy of course where the festival has just finished. I hear that the Herbies waved to Jim as he steered past the marina while I was running down the towpath. Massive thanks to Pete and Irene for their company and to Pete especially for his patience and all the stuff I've learnt (and the things I've been reminded of that I really ought to have known). And for the snatches, and the pub at Iffley

The Living Room's Full of Coal, Mother; or A Trying Day on the South Oxford

Day 21 (Saturday), Iffley to Lower Heyford, 11 1/2 hours.

Including two hours in one pound, which was about fifteen inches down thanks to a log in the paddle at Pigeons lock. We crawled along the bottom until we could crawl no more, then moved a load of coal ballast forwards. Meanwhile some nice people walked two miles to let some water down. After that it was pretty plain sailing but the morning hadn't gone too well and over all this was the most trying day of the trip (so far). The South Oxford has less water than the Basingstoke and more moored boats than the lower GU. Still, we met up with Bones at Heyford and she restored our spirits just as she did on the day of the Great Osney Bridge Disaster of 2008

Stunning day

Day 20, Goring to Iffley

A stunning day, sunshine and cloudless sky. Now in the Isis Farmhouse (properly known as the pub at Iffley lock) What a pub. Local beer straight from the barrel, excellent food from a limited menu, and later the prospect of folk music. And we have raised a glass to the memory of David Blagrove, having earlier today heard the news of his death on the waterways grapevine.

More sun, more river, more locks, more stars.

Day 19, Lashbrook to Goring

Another rivery day, unmarred by anything but the lightest breezes, and a lovely mooring tonight above Goring lock with a field where the dog could have a good run round and we could look at the stars again.

Culture and cake in Cookham

Day 18, Boveney to Lashbrook, above Marsh lock. About 8 hours in total. But we stopped at Cookham to visit the Stanley Spencer gallery, which was well worth a look. Irene then bought us cake!We weren't on great form this morning but things picked up after lunch (cake!) and we're now on another lovely mooring from where we can look at extremely rich people's houses.

Riparian revels

Day 17, Weybridge Town lock to above Boveney lock, 9 hours

An absolutely marvellous day on the Thames. Perfect weather. The platform in the fore end has worked excellently enabling us to easily get out at the front of the boat. Tied up in a lovely spot in time for tea and later lay on the deck watching the stars come out, and seeing an occasional bat. Oh - and most importantly - went through Chertsey lock!

Slightly less good day

Day 16, Woking to Weybridge Town lock
5 3/4 hours

This was actually the worst day of the trip so far, with multiple getting stuck on the bottoms, messing up lock entrances etc - but would have been a normal day five years ago so I guess that's progress. We started well with Sebastian and Izzi helping us down the locks, but it was after they left us the trouble started. Renfrew got masses of stuff on their prop, and had to pull Lindsay (sp?) off a rock. We're still paired up with them and planning to remain so on the Thames. Thirty one Thames locks to go through to take us to Oxford! Jim and I are going to switch steerers at each one to stop it getting too monotonous/exhausting. Second lock of the day once we're on the Thames will be Chertsey and a not to be missed photo opportunity.

Sixth!

Day 15, Woking

Another brilliant sunny festival day filled with beer and sunshine, and prosecco and cake and not doing very much all day except thinking of a name for our quiz team. Being comprised of the crews of Chertsey, Renfrew and Purton, we settled on GUCCI GUCCI GU which we thought was obviously pronounced to rhyme with cootchy cootchy coo, but this had to be explained to the organisers. Anyway, we came sixth out of an exceptionally strong field of nine teams, which I was well pleased with.

Day 14, Woking (Saturday August 6th)
A long and fun packed day, beginning with watching Pete loading eight tons of massive oak planks into Renfrew and ended with Sebastian and Izzi stripping the willow, taking in the purchase of a new cabin shaft along the way. A lovely hot sunny day.

Here at last

Day 13, Coxes lock to festival site, Woking, via winding hole. About 6 1/2 hours.

Yes, we have arrived. I fear further details, including the story of the winding hole where you're not allowed to touch the bank, may have to wait for later, as we have discovered the beer tent and enjoyed a very interesting talk on the history and dubious legal status of the Basingstoke canal, and I'm very tired and it's time for bed.

It moves!

Day 12, Weybridge to above Coxes lock, 1 1/4 hour

Thought to double check the time we're booked up the Woodham locks tomorrow and it's 1000, not 1100 as I'd thought, so it seemed prudent to make a start tonight as Jim doesn't really do early mornings. The Wey locks are quite demanding to operate as firstly the gates are left open on leaving and both these were against us. They're wide locks but you have to use both gates even for a single boat to avoid damaging the wooden gates; likewise you have to use ropes to keep the boat away from them, and you can only cross at one end. So I'm glad we've got two if the three required under our belt before the morning.

Crown Jewels

In the Old Crown, Weybridge. Pint of Directors, £4.35.

Resting in Weybridge

Day 10, Weybridge

Today was a day for a well earned rest. Renfrew left our side at seven to go up the locks at 9.30. Meanwhile we have stayed tied up above Thames lock. The BBC forecast was for a dull but dry day but it actually rained fairly persistently through the morning. We set off for a long walk to the festival site but aborted because of the rain and went into Weybridge instead. A great place if you want to buy a flashy fitted kitchen.

This is where we did some of our earliest boating, on Helyn, and where we worked our very first locks for ourselves.

What a day

Day 9, Hanwell bottom to Thames lock, Weybridge

This morning (or yesterday morning s it now is) seems so very long ago. Renfrew were on a schedule to get to Weybridge by 5.30 - six at the latest as that's the last passage through the lock onto the Wey, and they're due up onto the Basingstoke tomorrow (today, Tuesday) whereas we're not booked until Friday.

We set off at eight and were at Brentford by 9.30. Found a spot on the visitor moorings and used the services before going through the gauging lock and down to the Thames lock for 12.30. Then it was five hours hard river boating to deliver us to Thames lock on the Wey at 5.30 on the dot. We stopped at Teddington for a transit licence which worked out at two pounds an hour. At Weybridge, our Wey transit licence (included as part of the rally fee) would only cover us for a day so as we are here til Friday I bought a three day one. Whether we will explore much remains to be seen. Right now I just want a rest!

Once we'd safely tied up it started to rain heavily - what excellent timing - so the Renfrews came over to take advantage of Chertsey's being fully clothed up, and we played 78s on the wind up gramophone (and, admittedly, on Pete's iPad) and drank beer until midnight. An excellent end to a brilliant four days boating together.

Tomorrow the Thames

Day 8, Rickmansworth to Hanwell bottom, 8 1/2 hours

A later start today, as the crew of Renfrew had a breakfast date so we didn't set off until 10.45. I had forgotten - or failed to appreciate - how much I like the lower GU. Far from being the grubby linear mooring I had feared, it's a good wide deep canal with interesting boats, very few holidaymakers, and very largely friendly natives. I'd say it's a strong candidate for my favourite waterway. And you can't beat doing it in a pair of GU boats. Together we have made excellent time and tomorrow... Brentford and the Thames! We're booked out at 12.30... Just about when it's due to start raining. If you look back at the Warrior blog for August 2008 you will see we have some experience of the Thames in the rain.

We have also almost decided to come back via the South Oxford and risk Napton. One of the locks there is narrow and we don't know whether Chertsey goes through.

Missing mill

Day 7, lock 56 to lock 81, Rickmansworth, 10 1/2 hours

Another great day boating with Renfrew. Passed the final point of Chertsey's working life, and there's not a thing there to show for it, just an estate of new houses. I'll come back to these brief posts and elaborate once I get home.

Missed a bit

That was day 6, Slapton to lock 56, 11+ hours.

Better with two

Boated all day today with Renfrew. Brilliant. Now below lock 56 and about to have another well earned beer. The first was at the Riser as we passed through, well, you have to don't you. The Marsworth flight was particularly good. We breasted the boats up and Pete took them both up while Jim and Irene worked the locks and I set ahead. There's nothing like taking a pair of Grand Union boats through Grand Union locks. And a hello to the blog reading CRT employee and boat fan who we met at the Riser!

Good long day

Day 5, Cosgrove to Slapton, nearly 11 hours.

As I sit writing this with my feet in a basin of warm and increasingly filthy water, I apologise for the lack of scintillating wit, and possibly even interest, in these posts - a log in the truest sense, a simple record of events, but it's all that I and the phone are up to at the end of the day.

Today we are back on our rather pointless Canalplan schedule - pointless because it will get us to the bottom of the Basingstoke by Wednesday and we're not booked through the lock until Friday, but it makes us feel better.

As we set off this morning we were joined in Cosgrove lock by Renfrew, who are also en route to Woking. They stopped for shopping but are fully expected to overtake us tomorrow.

We met a variety of other nice people today, and no unpleasant ones, which contributed to it being a good day. Also there was a lot of good boating. I'd been expecting wall to wall moored boats and widebeam a but apparently that's tomorrow :-) There were enough to be going on with but lots of lovely stretched too without another boat in sight.

Day 4, Buckby Bottom to Cosgrove, 8 1/2 hours.

We had planned to continue on to Wolverton tonight but as we approached Cosgrove lock we saw Adam on Briar Rose, closely followed by some nice looking moorings, so we decided to stop here after all. Should have no problem getting back on schedule tomorrow... if that's not famous last words. Only day four and it already feels like I've been doing this forever.

Stand out incident of the day... I stopped and waited for a boat to come through a bridgehole and narrows. And waited. And waited, desperately trying to stay in place out of the way and away from the shallow water. As he *finally* came by I said, nicely, 'it would have been really helpful if you'd gone a bit faster there' to which his reply was a somewhat perplexing 'no, sorry, I'm not going to do that.' Not going to be helpful?

I am making a point of saying 'boooo!' every time we see a widebeam. I believe I will have my work cut out in that department from here on. I will probably stop at Berkhamsted, as it is only north of there that they are not, historically speaking, meant to be because the canal simply is not suitable for them.

Light not so fantastic

Day 3, Braunston to Buckby bottom, 4 hours.

You will notice that we have not moved far today. The lovely new old headlight which was working three days ago at Alvecote clearly took exception to the journey, because when we tested it on returning from our skittles lesson last night, it wasn't. So this morning was spent firstly on a fruitless search for a replacement bulb, and then on fitting another new cheap temporary replacement headlamp, all the previous cheap temporary replacement headlamps having somehow been taken home. Finally thus armed, we set off at half past three. Came down Buckby with a very nice - and, more importantly, very efficient - couple on a 1978 Denis Cooper boat which I didn't get the name of, that they'd had for 23 years, and decided to call it a day at the bottom, still in time to have some tea. Despite the setback we are still almost on course of our Canalplan itinerary which put us at Stowe Hill tonight.

Skittles

Day 2 Hopsford Aqueduct to Braunston, about 7 hours.
A fairly uneventful day's cruising, interesting evening in the Nelson... First we met two other groups from Sussex... Then spent the rest of the evening watching the ladies' skittles team practising. They told us all about Northamptonshire skittles and we told them about toad in the hole. It appears that Chertsey's headlight may not be working, despite a canoeist assuring Jim to the contrary last week, so that will require attention before we depart tomorrow.

Maintenance boat

Day 1
Alvecote to an embankment between Ansty and Brinklow
9 1/2 hours

Just going to try to blog the basics each day then catch up with photos etc on my return.
Last night celebrated my forthcoming birthday in the Samuel Barlow with the crew of Princess Lucy, including Rocky's best friend Mr Jones. Got some lovely presents including some super crochet lace which apparently won't suit Princess Lucy mark II but will be fabulous in Chertsey's redecorated cabin.
We left Alvecote just before nine, slightly delayed by my going for a run in the woods and losing my BW key, meaning I couldn't get back to the boat.
Atherstone locks were a pleasure, for which I volunteered, so that my locking quota will be met before we hit the GU :-) Three volunteer lockies were if the helpful variety and made the task easier. We were able to help them out too by providing a platform from which to repair a walkway on one of the gates.
I steered round Hawkesbury Junction with two reverses and NO TOUCHING!! Not even in the bridgehole where I often manage to get myself in a mess.
Aiming for Braunston tomorrow, hopefully in time to replace the key, and maybe another birthday dinner at the Nelson.

Location:M6,Coventry,United Kingdom

All set

Here we are at Alvevote, all stocked up with a month's provisions, ready to leave in the morning...

Bed and Board

Just back from a quick but very productive visit to Chertsey at Alvecote. Jim had driven up on Friday with his car laden with wood; I zoomed down early Saturday morning, and we got cracking with building the bed/platform in the fore end.

The dual purpose of this is to give Jim (and Rocky) somewhere more comfortable to sleep than a folding bed frame, intercepted between another boat and the skip, and the coal, and to provide a platform from which to get out of the boat at the front if necassary, or to stand on and reach out with ropes when we need front ropes in river locls - thinking particularly of our forthcoming trip to the Thames. We piloted this method on the Trent a couple of years back standing on stacks of coal, and it proved both comfortable and convenient, as well as feeling a lot safer. An aside - I reckon that last year was very likely the only year we didn't go on any rivers.

Jim started by bolting a length of pre-drilled angle to the bulkhead, then attached a wooden beam to this. At the 'foot' end of the bed, he cut a length of fence post to the right length to sit at the right height, in the curvature of the hull, then picked it up with a leg on each side. A beam was then fixed down each side, and one down the middle, and then the platform was built on top of this using 6x1 inch gravelboard. The platform sits at waist height, so there are steps running parallel to it at one end, mainly for Rocky's benefit.

Not only does the platform serve those two main purposes, it also frees up a massive amount of space underneath for storage. You could even, Warrior-style, fit another bed under but I suppose you'd have to be quite friendly with the occupants.

I remembered to take some photos for the blog, but it was hard to get decent ones, as the crossplank got in the way.

Woking or bust!

A couple of weeks ago I finally sent off the paperwork to attend the Basingstoke Canal Festival, at which HNBC will be holding their fiftieth anniversary gathering. In keeping with the organisation's campaigning roots - and ongoing campaigning role - and wanting to come south this year, it was decided that the Basingstoke canal would be a good, and sufficiently challenging, destination for the Club's intrepid boaters. The challenges basically fall into two categories.
1. Too little water
2. Too much water
I suspect it may be Challenge 2 we are more likely to face. We've navigated the Thames in lively conditions before, albeit in Warrior, and admittedly not entirely unscathed, and we did the Wey in November in Helyn with about a week's experience under our belt, so that side of things is hopefully surmountable; what may not be (or whatever the opposite of surmountable is) is a low bridge at the start of the Basingstoke. We at least can take down the deckboard if we have to, even the mast, in extremis, and if the cabin won't go under then we won't be the only ones and we'll have to have our rally the other side of it. Of course I have no idea where this bridge is or what it looks like, never having been there before, and I'm not one hundred percent sure we even have to go under it, but I'm pretty sure we do.

Before we moved the boat to Alvecote, this was going to be The Year we did the whole of the Grand Union, Birmingham to Brentford. However, starting where we are now, that would be silly, so we'll be going Coventry, North Oxford, then Grand Union from Braunston to Brentford, up the Thames, up the Wey, and onto the Basingstoke. The reason we're not taking the perhaps more obvious South Oxford route is because we have not yet tried to get Chertsey through Napton, and if it won't go, I don't want to find out when we're pushed for time. I'm hoping to make a special test trip in the Autumn, especially as I think we've only been on the South Oxford once before (in 2008).

Being at Alvecote now seems to make shorter trips more of a possibility. It's not really logical - Stretton was apparently the second best place in the country to be based in terms of the number of different waterways you could hit within forty eight hours. But Alvecote is nearer Braunston, and is pastures new, and perhaps also better placed for the places we're more likely to want to go. I was never in love with the Shroppie; the BCN can wait, and in terms of going further north, the extra three days is marginal. More, shorter, trips may be the order of the day now too in light of the way things are going at work. I seem to be responsible for so many things now that I dare not turn my back on for too long.

I'll be off to Alvecote for the weekend, where we are planning to build a platform in the fore end to double as a bed, and somewhere to stand when doing tricky things with ropes, thinking particularly of the Thames locks.

Frivolity

I bought four pairs of shorts and six vests today for the forthcoming trip. So that's the weather for August buggered.

Back among the boaters

We couldn't find the time to get the boat to Braunston, but I had a lovely weekend nonetheless, staying with Mike on Banstead. It was Mike's - and as far as anyone knows, Banstead's - first time there.

I don't know whether it was seeing it from the angle of a non-boater (although I spent so much time hanging around Banstead that two people shouted 'change boat!' to me) but it felt quite quiet and flat. There were 66 boats there - not many joshers, perhaps observing the 'Grand Union/Blue Line' theme more strictly than usual - which is still a decent number, although many had gone to Lymm instead. The weather wasn't great for bringing the public out. I think we were all relieved at the last minute decision not to participate in the Saturday morning parade, nor indeed the afternoon one, but we did go on Sunday, with sunshine all the way. Mike had somehow arrived in the prime spot along the very end of the arm - exceedingly handy for the toilets and hippy clothes, but last out for the parade. Nonetheless we were back within two hours. Compared to the five hour epics of previous years, I felt quite short changed. I sense that this swifter execution was more to do with the small number of boats than the increased organisation - I have a hypothesis that the more people with hi-viz waistcoats and walkie-talkies there are directing operations (and they multiply year on year) the more chaotic it gets. Co-ordinating the boats around the turn and into the marina, they tend to make boats stop to allow others to move, when at least a few times I saw, the steerers, knowing themselves, their boats, and each other, would have done better to work things out for themselves and manoeuvre around one another. Trying to keep boats stationary is a recipe for obstruction and collision.

For the last few years boaters in the show have voted for a 'best boat in show'. This year voting was clearly a bit sluggish as they kept coming round twisting people's arms to get their votes in.  But as someone said, 'I already voted once this week, and that turned out badly.'

I managed to take no photos. I meant to take my big camera, but forgot to pick it up at the last minute. I made some purchases, at least one of which I will photograph later and show you. That's not the two bottles of blue I got after asking Jim if there was anything he wanted me to get from Midland Chandlers.

I also found myself stopping people with lurchers/greygounds/whippets/other long thin dogs and saying how lovely they were (the dogs, not the people) and telling them about Rocky, just like people do to us when we're out and about with him.

Anyway, it was really lovely being back among the boaters.

Big wheel

Long before the Industrial Revolution, the various hamlets that surrounded Sheffield were harnessing the renewable power of its five rivers in all kinds of manufacturing processes. One of the most important, the one for which the city was to become famous, was the manufacture of blades and 'edge tools'. All along the river Rivelin and the Porter Brook, from the sixteenth century (and possibly earlier) dams were built, forming pools whose water was directed over massive wheels, driving the spinning grindstones hewn from local gritstone, honing the edges of blades forged nearby prior to their final finishing and polishing in the city's innumerable small workshops.

One of these was the Shepherd Wheel, so named after the man who was its tenant in the late eighteenth century; a wheel and workshop existed on the site as far back as 1584, when it was mentioned in the will of one William Beighton, a cutler of Stumperlowe. It was referred to there as 'Potar Whele', presumably referring to its situation on the Porter Brook. In 1794, Mr Shepherd employed ten men, in ten 'troughs', in each of which a grindstone ran while a man straddled a wooden bench and bent over it.

The workshops were damp and dusty and frequently cold. Injuries from flying swarf and - if you can imagine it - exploding grindstones, were common, and if that didn't get you, the pneumosilicosis from the constant dust probably would. Nonetheless, as in most industries in most parts of the world, in most eras of history, children were commonly employed. While Mr Shepherd apparently directly employed the men who worked at Shepherd Wheel, it was common for the main tenant to sublet troughs to self-employed individuals. (As an aside, this tradition of small scale manufacture and independent craftsmen is quite distinctive to Sheffield, among big industrial cities, and has had knock on effects in all sorts of areas, including housing tenure.) At times of water shortages, fights would often break out between the tenants of the different wheels on the same stream, accusing each other of 'stealing' the vital water.

Shepherd Wheel remained in commercial use into the 1930s, which seems to me to be pretty remarkable.The land on which it sits was purchased by Sheffield City Council in 1900 to create a public park in Whiteley Woods (one of the city's many, a few of which I tramped through today). By 1957 the Shepherd Wheel was derelict and the Council voted £500 for its demolition. However, a local campaign led by the Council for the Conservation of Sheffield Antiquities succeeded in getting the funds put towards restoring it as a museum instead, and it opened as such in 1962. In 1997 is was closed again by the City Council, but transferred to the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust the following year and re-opened. Further restoration took place in 2012 and the wheel is now operational, and staffed by volunteers at weekends. It's not a massive attraction - two rooms (known as hulls) and the wheel itself but it's great for a passing visit whilst out on a walk, especially as it's free. They were just starting up the wheel while we were there this morning and I actually got some video, but need to work out the best way to upload it somewhere straight from the phone, as I don't seem to be able to transfer it to the computer. It was pretty impressive to think that it was working in a way not so different from over four hundred years ago.

I have actually used some sources for this!
Wikipedia (of course; don't tell the students)
Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust - Shepherd Wheel leaflet
J. Edward Vickers, A Popular History of Sheffield, Sheffield, Applebaum, 1978 (3rd edn 1992) p. 90

The apex of convenience

Since we've been keeping Chertsey fully clothed up, and camping beneath in ever increasing comfort, we have had to deal with the top plank extending across the large boarded back end deck area to be supported on the beam on the cabin top - as can be seen in this picture taken at Bugsworth last summer.

This makes it a bit awkward climbing the steps onto the deck, crossing from side to side and generally using and making the most of this very useful space. So, a long term plan has been to make a frame which will support a shortened top plank, finishing cleat of the steps and the edge of the boarding. It also needs to be able to pick up the remaining section of the top plank for when we cloth the whole boat up for the winter. We decided to make a frame on the same sort of basis as a false cratch. It's not attached in any way, other than gravity and string, but is sufficiently stable and robust in itself to distribute the weight and strain safely. It's important that we can still be confident in walking along the top plank when we need to.

The top section of the frame is made from a bit of historic Chertsey - a section of top plank that came with the boat, and so is almost certainly at least forty years old, and very likely older. It's the foremost plank, from the deckboard to the mast. We've been using it as a gangplank, but it's a bit short, and increasingly rotten at one end, so repurposing part of it in this way seemed a good idea. Sawing off the rotten end revealed really old, solid wood. Within the piece that was removed there was an iron spike, which I persuaded Jim to hack out to keep as another souvenir of the boat's history. This hand made spike, hammered through the width of the plank and bent over at the end, is further evidence of the age of the plank.

To make the frame to fit perfectly under the top plank, we lashed it in position with the top plank still in place. Jim then cut to length and fitted four 'uprights'; the slightly misleading name of the 45 degree supports that pick up the top plank from the gunnels. The whole assembly was screwed together, with boards across the sides to give it rigidity and stability. Having done that, Jim them sawed the top plank in situ, leaving a shorter piece resting on the new frame, and releasing the longer length the be used as a boarding plank (a heavy one, admittedly, but nice and wide and stable, and long, for Rocky), and when not in use, it fits neatly between the last board of the deck and the first cross plank - out of the way and a handy shelf to boot.

This year we haven't taken the black top cloths off yet. We put them on last autumn over the translucent sheeting the we put on last year, and the boat stayed completely dry inside over the winter, which was very satisfying. With it clothed tightly up to the cabin, very little rain even got in the back end, meaning that there wasn't any damp under the floor. We know, however, that there are a few leaks in the translucent sheet, mostly where it has rubbed on the top plank under the strings but also in a couple of places where it's been attacked by vicious trees, so if we do take the heavy duty black cloths off, we'll have to replace them with the tippet - the narrow strip that reinforces the cloths over the top planks. But we might leave the top cloths on - we've folded them back where they join to make windows, and that seems to let enough light into the boat, at least for summer use. And as we'll be disporting ourselves at Woking (if all goes to plan) in the guise of a historic boat, then we can just flap them back again and look properly old again.

It's that time of year again...

Friday was polishing day...

And no matter how unseasonal June (or July or August) is, that's not being lit again until the autumn!

Private beach

Here we see Rocky enjoying his private beach adjacent to Chertsey's new mooring. Well, ok, it's the Alvecote slipway. But he did enjoy taking a paddle on those hot days last week (and licking an ice cream, but sadly I didm't have my camera to hand for that). The downside is that it's quite a tricky plank walk on and off the boat for him (unless you're not looking, in which case he'll jump) but he's getting the hang of that too now.

After my trio of turns, I was ready for the challenge of coming into the marina entrance (right in the distance in the photo...), swinging round to the right, then reversing all the way through the marina into a boat-sized mooring between Whitby and the slipway - the extra challenge being to avoid getting stuck on the slipway. And guess what - I actually did it, once again, without hitting touching anything. What a boat!

High on the hog

The first retrospectively illustrated post is inspired by the Herbies' perturbation at a £22 pub sirloin steak. No matter how good it is, £22 is a lot to pay in a pub. Even the unsurpassable (these last few years) Nelson only charges around £13, from memory.

We are now moored, permanently, round the back of the Samuel Barlow pub, just yards from the entrance. Fatal.

A fellow moorer commented on the blog (hello!) that it's not really a pub pub, and I see his point in that it's a big square room with tables set out for eating, with no fire, booths or inglenooks - and no jukebox or fruit machines either. But in every other respect it fits the bill. It has its regulars; it has three (if unadventurous) cask ales (with occasional festival laying on of many more straight from the barrel) and the full range of everything else you'd expect behind the bar; it has quiet background music, friendly and efficient but relatively unobtrusive service, and a fabulous menu at very reasonable prices (which sadly you can't see on the photo).

The sirloin steak comes in two sizes - the 'regular', which I reckoned must have been around 10oz minimum, was £10.95, and was a beautiful big thick chunk of meat, very nicely cooked too, with excellent onion rings and chips and the other bits you'd expect. The oprional peppercorn sauce came in such a copious quantity that both Jim and I were able to avail ourselves of a pound's worth, with some to spare. The 'man size' steah at £16.95 was noticeably bigger, but perhaps not such good value. We also, over the week, checked out the pork shank (fantastic crackling), the Tex-Mex chicken, and the steak pie (maybe the least impressive but still a cut above most pub offerings and at £8.95 good value). Nicely cooked veg with it. Thursday night is curry night, for which the Halfies joined us, and while it was definitely an anglo-curry, you couldn't fault it for under six quid. You'll see that there are three decent, not boring, veggie options, and two fishy ones on the menu too - and there's a different menu at lunchtimes, and I think they do Sunday roasts. I really have put on six pounds since I left Sheffield last week, and I'll bet most of that was between Tuesday and Friday.

Like I say, fatal.

Slightly waspish

Goodness, this holiday business is tiring. It's been showery today (and is now pouring) but we managed to get a few more jobs done between the showers, and all the better for being unplanned. First, we finished rigging the A-frame over the back end, and cut a section of unused tippet to waterproof the top, through which quite a bit of last night's spectacular rain had found its way. It's being tested again as I write. Then we went to measure up in the fore end for a planned bed/platform. Aargh! I went, look up there (into dark corner above the deck board) What? says Jim. That, says I, shining torch at two inch diameter spherical object suspended from the string. What is it? says he. A wasps' nest, I shriek. Fortunately not currently occupied, tho Jim says now he thinks of it there were a lot of wasps hanging around last year. Anyway, that was swiftly disposed of, pausing only to marvel at the entomological skill that went into building it. Jim then fitted the new (old) headlight, bought at Braunston last year to replace one broken in an encounter with stoned hippies in a bridge hole on the Coventry last year. To his delight, it fitted the existing stalk so was one job that turned out to be easier than anticipated.

There's a nice stretch of straight towpath here, bounded by a hedge, where if I go on ahead to meet him, Rocky can have a good gallop. This morning I attached my GPS watch to his harness and Jim set it before releasing him. He ran 0.14 miles in 29 seconds which is equivalent to 3.07 minutes per mile or nearly 20 MPH - so his top speed would have been faster than that. I don't know how that compares to a racing dog but he certainly looks fast! It's a very impressive sight.

Done some work at last

I started this morning by scraping out the chimney, then polishing the stove. Then we went off to investigate the shops... The biggest, most terrifying Asda I have ever seen, followed by a massive B&Q, all on an enormous retail park, or possibly two, on the outskirts of Tamworth. Back at Alvecote I got on with some more polishing and cleaning in the back cabin, while Jim got stuck into some carpentry. Photos to follow but basically the idea was to make a structure like a false cratch, but for the back end, to pick up the top plank so that it doesn't have to extend over the back end decking. It was completed just as the threatening thunder finally delivered a heavy shower. When that was over we took Rocky for a gallop down the towpath, getting back just before another downpour. We are now eating in the Samuel Barlow for the fourth night in a row. It really is just like being on holiday.

Today in brief

Car shuffling up and down the A5, charity shops of Tamworth, lazy afternoon, Alvecote curry night joined by the Halfies, coffee and chat on Jubilee. Turning into a proper holiday, with the sun and all.

Location:Alvecote Lane,Tamworth,United Kingdom

So here we are

On our new mooring. We left Fradley at twenty past eight, and arrived here at half past two. It looks good here... Dog friendly, rubbish and elsan on site (rather than a seven mile drive away)... Lots of other historic boats (albeit mostly joshers) and a pub on site too, where we are about to tuck into a rather nice meal. So not too hard to guess where we've moved to...

Three out of three

Well, good old Blogpress seems to think we're in Burton but actually we're at Fradley Junction, just on the Coventry.
Where this evening I completed a hat trick of perfect turns - perfect meaning not hitting , no, not even touching, anything. I don't set my sights too high. I had to reverse - just the once - for the acute left out of Cut End - can you get 72' out of there without? But I got the stern end within four inches of the concrete and didn't touch it. Out of Great Haywood without even reversing... And a touch of reverse at Fradley only because there was a josher coming out.
It's been another good day's boating, with fabulous weather once more, contrary to the doom and gloom of the forecast. Less than a day to go now, if all goes smoothly tomorrow.
On our many journeys this way, I have amused myself by memorising the licks on the S&W to the tune of Cwm Rhondda:
Gailey, Brick Kiln, Boggs, Rodbaston
Otherton, Filance, Penkridge
Longford, Park Gate, Shutt Hill, Deptmore
Tixall Lock and Tixall Wide
Great Haywood, Great Haywood
We shall pass this way no more
(No more)
We shall pass this way no more.

Unless we want to go to Stourport, that is.

Location:Burton upon Trent,United Kingdom

A final farewell

Just over ten years ago, we arrived for the first time at Industry Narrowboats yard at Stretton Wharf on the Shropshire Union. The story of that trip is one of the earliest posts on my Warrior blog.
At ten to eight this morning we left there for the last time.
I didn't look back.

Location:M6,Stafford,United Kingdom

Ready to go

We've been to Asda for provisions, to Turners for diesel (will we ever again pay 49p a litre?) and paid a valedictory visit to Penkridge market. The engine's running well and some of the brass has even been polished. So we're all ready to set off in the morning.

Location:Watling Street,Stafford,United Kingdom

Going boating? Can it be true?

Well, in a few minutes I'll be setting off to the station to go to Stretton, via Stockport, Crewe and Penkridge. Although we've been to check up a couple of times, I haven't actually been on board Chertsey since last October. That is both incredible and shameful, I know. So who knows what Jim and I will discover when we arrive. Hopefully nothing that can't be sorted, and after cleaning up, victualling, and overhauling we should be able to set off on a short trip. I'll be trying to blog on the phone so expect posts to be short, and, the way Blogpress is behaving, unillustrated. But let's give it a go!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A well kept secret

I started my much-heralded new blog well over a month ago. And it has had NO VIEWS. No one has stumbled across it by accident. So why not have a look now and discover some things you never knew about me...

On the spot

After thirty five plus years of watching on the TV, and over three years living in this great city, on Monday before last I finally went and watched a snooker match at the Crucible.  If I could have told my teenage self this, she would have been so excited. As it was, I was more curious; interested to witness the Crucible atmosphere that the commentators rave about. (I've noticed a marked increase in both commentators' comments and TV features on players singing the praises of the venue as its contract to host the tournament nears renewal with a real possibility of its being relocated to China). I've been to the Crucible before, so I knew how small it was, and did wonder how they fitted two snooker tables in. I was still surprised though to see just how little room for manoeuvre the players have, with possibly no more than three feet between the table and the dividing screen. Add two pairs of TV cameras and a referee, and it really is a very intimate setting. The audience were very much as you might expect, closely resembling if not the players, then, in many respects, the balls.

A first round session on a Monday morning might not be the time to experience the most electric atmosphere but it was still great to be there. And I found when I got to my seat that I had an added bonus. My ticket was for Table 1 - John Higgins v. Ryan Day (I booked a year ago, taking complete pot luck as to who would be playing). On Table 2, Ronnie O'Sullivan was playing Dave Gilbert. How frustrating, I thought, so near and yet so far. But as I took my seat I realized that not only was I looking straight down at Table 1, but that I could see all but the top left hand corner of Table 2! And here is a photo of Ronnie to prove it.

He won that match, but not the next. Had he decided to retire at that point, I could have claimed to see him win his last ever match. But hopefully he will be back. As I write four players are left in the tournament and the semi-finals are about to begin. As the second round began, I organised a sweepstake at work for the final sixteen - and I am delighted to report that the player I drew is one of the 25% to have made it to this stage. So go, Alan 'Angles' McManus, surprise success of the tournament!

The end of an era

We got our first colour TV in 1973, for the Royal Wedding. In 1975 I watched my first FA Cup final, and became a West Ham fan, following in the tradition of my mother and my grandparents, who lived just up the road from the Boleyn Ground (people have now suddenly started to call it by its official name for the first time I can remember) at Upton Park. And the era of Upton Park is of course coming to an end, as West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium. But that's not the era I was thinking of when I started to write this.

It was a few years later - I would have been in my early teens - when the Black and White Rag heralded a half hour which would have my father glued to the screen, and I quickly joined him in becoming an addict of Pot Black, as he explained the rules of snooker and I immediately realised that at last I had found a sport that could really interest me. It must have been on Pot Black that I was first introduced to Steve Davis, who joined the ranks of professional players in 1978, the year he turned 21. Nowadays, when any player over 40 is considered to be a walking miracle, it's hard to recall what a breath of fresh air it was to see a player who was not only young, but fresh, and personable. I became a fan straight away, and as with West Ham, have remained loyal, with varying degrees of passion, ever since.

Photo stolen from someone on the internet who stole it from the BBC

This afternoon, as I sat on my new sofa watching the World Championship, Steve Davis announced his retirement after thirty eight years as a professional snooker player. So now - other than on the television - I shall never see him play competitive snooker.

I left this all a bit too late...

But better late than never... Next year could be the tournament's last in Sheffield.

A second experiment

As the new iPad is actually wireless only (not my choice!) I'll need to be able to post from my phone when we're out and about. I wonder whether a photo will work this time (it didn't on the iPad, and not in the old one either)
[space for you to imagine a photo of a swan]
No, it won't. I get the message 'some problems when uploading photos, please check your connection'. Well I have checked my connection and it's just fine thank you very much. Bigger and more photos than this upload and download without a murmur in every other app. Now I remember this is why I stopped using Blogpress before. It's clearly a very longstanding problem. Anyone got any ideas how to solve this, or a recommendation for a better app for posting to Blogger from an iPhone. With pictures.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Testing my new toy

I've got a new iPad (well, new to me) and I'm just testing out Blogpress again.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

That's two interesting things in Woking then

And that's if you don't include Britain's first mosque, which I did already know about.
Not only is it the destination for the Historic Narrow Boat Club's 50th Anniversary Rally in August (of which more, much more, anon), but thanks again to Diamond Geezer I now know that it is both the setting for H G Wells's* The War of the Worlds and where it was written.
Makes me want to visit for more than a day!


*Had you ever wondered how to form possessives for people whose name ends in 's', I offer you what I am reliably informed is the guidance of the Oxford University Press, which I like. If the name has one syllable, add an apostrophe and an 's' (Wells's, Jones's) but if the name has two or more syllables, just add the apostrophe, as you would for a plural (Roberts', Humphrys', Papadopolous'). If you think of saying it out loud, it works.

Spring stroll

I haven't been out for a walk with my local Ramblers group for ages, but yesterday I did manage to get out with a work friend for a lovely walk along Derwent Edge - somewhere I'd not actually been before.
The weather was perfect - dry and bright and a bit cold - and the views were fantastic. It's hard to believe that just over two years ago, I'd never been out into the Peak.

We walked four miles then retraced our steps, making eight miles in all. I didn't stop for many photos so these are just a little taste.

And this one, where my phone clearly decided to do something odd without asking me - although I rather like the effect.

A real mystery photo

Inasmuch as I don't know where this one was taken, when, why, or by whom. I found it randomly among some books at my mother's house - it's quite conceivable I took it myself.

I'm thinking possibly Northampton Arm, but can anyone identify any distinguishing features at all?

Slight detour

I've been slightly off the beaten track these last couple of weeks and managed to find half an hour for a quick walk, so here is a small mystery for you - where and on what waterway is this lock?

It's not currently in use, although the gates were replaced in 2001...

And it has this very nifty hinged balance beam, which I haven't seen anywhere else.

I don't actually know as much as I feel I should about this waterway, so any information about its ongoing/aborted restoration would be very welcome.

Ten years a blogger

Exactly ten years ago, I became a blogger, with this, in itself rather unremarkable, but undoubtedly historically significant, post.


Since then, another 1,758 posts have followed. Peak posting was in 2010 - the first full year of having Chertsey - with 298 posts in total. My posting rate has dropped steadily since then despite many resolutions to do better, falling to a pathetic all time low of 44 in 2015. I said last year that I would wind the blog up after ten years... I don't want to do that though - but neither do I want it to drag on in its recent moribund state.


I have an idea for a new blog, covering my boating experiences, but with a broader remit than boating alone. My blogging hero of course is Diamond Geezer, with his daily posts on an idiosyncratic but always interesting mix of London life and everyday life itself (with a current focus on Bow Road's Bus Stop M). There is no reason, I tell myself, why I couldn't do this. DG and I are the same age, both work full time and live alone in a city... and I could certainly do with getting out more.


I am rather busy and away from my computer for the next week or so, but I've decided that I'm not going away, so watch this space for further developments.

Keith

Keith Hedley Ball

23.12.1947 - 13.02.2016

Artist, boatbuilder, and thoroughly good person.

He will be greatly missed.

Sugar!

It was all over the news yesterday that weird sounding drinks from leading coffee shop chains contain staggering amounts of sugar. This is a completely closed world to me, and I understand that the portions containing up to 99 grammes of sugar (that's as much as a whole victoria sandwich cake!) are more akin to buckets than cups... But all the same. Ninety nine grammes is apparently the equivalent of 25 teaspoons. When I make my bedtime cocoa, it contains one teaspoon of sugar. Even if the notorious 'Starbucks’s Hot Mulled Fruit - grape with chai, orange and cinnamon venti' is three times the size, what poisonously bitter substances must it contain to offset that much sweetness?

Breezy Christmas Eve by the sea

It was most invigorating. Christmas Day or Boxing Day, I forget which, I was walking along the seafront in a t-shirt.

Getting in training

Rocky is getting in training for his next boating trip

 

 

Bit of politics....

Jeremy Corbyn. Politics just got a bit interesting again.  It never occurred to me to attempt a bit of £3 entryism and actually vote for him, but I find myself hoping that Corbyn will win the Labour leadership election on Saturday, and heartened by the thought that he could.  Here’s why – and why I don’t buy the Labour Party arguments against him.

Is Corbyn’s proposed economic policy cloud-cuckoo impracticable? Quite possibly. But it doesn’t matter, because despite the best efforts of Blair, the Labour leader still does not unilaterally make Labour Party policy. And should he ever become Prime Minister, the Prime Minister does not rule by diktat (despite the best efforts etc…) but is constrained first by the Cabinet, and then by Parliament.  Corbyn’s loudly stated commitment to democracy both within the party and beyond will make it harder for him to push through pet policies than any previous leader. So it’s good that he’s flagging up a few policies that have been out of fashion for decades – but they won’t become reality unless he can build a consensus for them. It’s interesting, incidentally, to note that the same opponents who say that a Corbyn government would be a disaster for the country are the same people who say that he’s unelectable. You can have one problem or the other, but not both.

Has Corbyn expressed verbal support for some frankly dodgy organisations? Possibly, depending on your political stance on the Middle East and your views on how people who perceive themselves as oppressed can legitimately fight for their cause. But if so, he’s in the very good company of all the UK governments who have and still happily support oppressive regimes and dictators. At least, as far as I’m aware, Corbyn hasn’t actually sold anyone any weapons.

Is a Labour Party led by Corbyn completely unelectable? I have no idea; no one knows what the mood of the country will be in May 2020. It is interesting though that those who claim so vociferously that Corbyn is unelectable are the same people who had no inkling that Labour would be wiped out in Scotland in 2015, and were so confident that he couldn’t win the party leadership that they nominated him despite supporting other candidates (and did so on the grounds that it would be good for the party to have a debate – well, doesn’t the country deserve the opportunity to have that debate as well?). So I don’t have much faith in their crystal balls.

Most senior Labour figures are still traumatised by what happened in 1983. This is what they constantly refer back to as evidence that a lefty Labour Party is unelectable. But it isn’t 1983 any more. By the time of the next election, thirty seven years will have passed since 1983. That’s two whole generations of voters who weren’t even born when a resurgent Thatcher defeated Michael Foot (and it could well be argued that, post-Falklands, she would have won even against a Blairite Labour Party).  However, it’s not just a question of whether a Corbyn-led Labour Party would or would not be electable.

The guiding purpose of the Conservative Party is to rule; it exists to win elections and exercise power to stop it falling into the hands of anyone else.  But wasn’t the Labour Party supposed to be about more than that? Wasn’t it meant to be a campaigning organisation? Surely this shouldn’t just be about winning the 2020 election. That’s nearly five years away, and during that time there’s a massively important job of work to be done.

It’s called opposition; holding the government to account; asking the awkward questions, shining a light into the corners of its decision-making. I’ve noted before that, in my view, the role of the Opposition in British politics is greatly underrated. Governments will always be governments; the delights of power and the constraints of office combine to make governments tend towards the conservative and the authoritarian whatever colour rosette they were elected under. But a good, strong and – dare I say it, principled – Opposition can act as a check on this tendency. This country has not had a decent Opposition since 1997.

A Labour Party led by Corbyn – principled, distinctive and fearless –  could be a revitalised Opposition, and that, in itself, is a noble aim and a thoroughly worthwhile achievement.

See how they run

Terrier vs. Greyhound


Courtesy of the Captain of Princess Lucy

What was in the van?

Halfie has shamed me into posting by mysteriously alluding to something his son Andy moved for me in his van last week...


Last year at Foxton, I think it was, Halfie mentioned that Andrew had a 'man with a van' business in Sheffield, and I filed that away in my memory in the knowledge that I was bound to need such a service one day. My Volvo 240 is brilliant, but being the saloon rather than the estate version its furniture moving potential is a bit limited. (For a couple of years when it was our only family car, it had the front passenger seat removed in order to fit Sebastian's double bass in.)


You may recall that the glamping boat interior of Chertsey's hold has a sort of fifties feel. We've been developing this further over the course of this year and have a number of plans (of which more, hopefully, later) - none of which involve anything permanently attached to the structure of the boat - to make it even more commodious for summer holiday cruising. We decided that we needed another kitchen cupboard/dresser - one with plenty of space for storing the tins and jars and packets that make up our provisions (the Origo has paid for itself many times over this year in the money we haven't spent eating in pubs) and hopefully provide a bit more preparation space.

One afternoon the week before last, I'd just popped out to the shops on a whim when outside the Oxfam shop I saw this:

I crossed straight over to enquire - it had only that minute been dropped off; ten minutes later it had been spirited away inside and upstairs and I might well never have seen it. It still took another day and a half to get a price for it, which I willingly paid even if it was a bit on the high side (Oxfam's like that). I then had a week to take it away. Jim had just left Sheffield, having only the previous week picked up a washstand for me from the same shop - so I Googled Andy, and the unit is now in my hall waiting for Jim to come up this weekend, whereupon we'll put it in his Volvo and take it to the boat.


I've been looking back over the blog and it is such a wonderful record of the work we've done on the boat, it really does seem a crime not to keep it up - even if I do spare you the details of widith ((c) Granny Buttons)

Good intentions...

I really did mean to blog this trip. I even told everyone at work that they could read it if they wanted to know what I was doing on my holidays.


Then, when I tried to post, using Blogpress on the iPad, I constantly got a message along the lines of 'oh dear, you don't seem to have an internet connection.' No amount of swearing at it and shouting 'Yes I bloody well have, look, four bars and what do you think I've been reading for the past half your, not to mention sending emails', surprisingly, was able to convince it.

Then, as if that weren't enough, the iPad decided that it would not charge from any 12v source.  Tried a new connector, tried the car charger, nope.  Took it home and plugged it into its 240v charger, no problem.  It this a portent of worse problems to come - i.e. is it now on the verge of not charging at all? It has always previously charged happily, if slowly, from 12v.

So even when I rejoin the boat and go off again, it seems likely I won't be able to blog, unless I start doing it on the phone, which I suppose I might.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my Bugsworth Basin birthday mooring, in a rare sunny moment.