Moving up the Month

MON 8th JAN
Canal life 'not as it should or might be' but as it is and I'm lapping it up. 

In the last entry posted New Year's Day I said "Next charcoal bag open and sorted.  Fire stoked.  Cabin warm. Sky clouded over so no frost overnight ... "  I do not overmuch feel a need to explain the photos in the New Year entry ...  Up early preparing the boat for leaving.  Walked away at 10.37 for the 10.45 to Northampton which got me the 1032 X4 to Peterborough which landed me in Lynch Park (close to the East of England Showground) at 14.15 for a quick shop in Orton Tesco, then fetched up at the flat 14.37 lugging my dolly trolley full of grub and laundry and Bartholomew's Gazetteer ,,, 

Watling street has been a recurring part of my life for twelve years on canals and Watling Street is the A5.  Take it from London by Dunstable and Towcester to the next village: Weedon.  I am presently almost under High Street Bridge sandwiched between A5 and the rail line to Edinburgh, two minutes from bus stops, antique shops, Tesco, a barbers shop and an hotel. 

I have been seriously off grid for months, sometimes 25minutes walk from a bus stop or miles from a pint of milk. so Weedon is a dream mooring.  I am living the off grid life sifting my charcoal nuggets for diamonds, tending my fire, staying warm and dry, bailing out my boats and updating my blog from a warm bed ...

what's not to like? 

TUES 9th
Life at the flat is totally different from life on canals but puts perspective into boat life.  On land I have hot water, a fine bed, nice clothes, shops round the corner, a bus outside the door, a medical centre close  by and a pharmacy, none of which are available on the boat.   Early to bed, early to rise to get the shipping forecast at 5.20am, make coffee, have a shave and a footbath, dress slowly and at ease while listening to Farming Today and be at my desk by 6.30am writing this blog and other stuff til 9.30am when ... after cereal and a large omelette ... eggs mushroom tomato diced onion ... drop into the 'surgery' to book a review of  my cholesterol and statins.  On land cooking is a done by a combination of hot rings, air fryer pressure cooker using electricity. This is so unlike off grid it is unreal ...

WED 10th
Ever since I got the keys of the flat end of March 2023, I tried to visit at least once a month.  More recently it has been once a week.  Pattern is now developing into three days here and four days there translating to a five hour bus trip to or from twice a week.  Wed. has become my day off more often than not in Peterborough. Thurs. has become laundry day by definition at the flat.

This Wednesday I took an express bus from Queensgate via Wisbech to King's Lynn and then a local bus through tiny villages back to Wisbech to catch the express to Peterborough.  I wanted to map out where the Nene goes after Peterborough and discovered it goes East to March and then turns North and goes tidal before Wisbech and flows through Kings Lynn eventually joining the sea at the Wash. 

Amazed to find one reason the Nene floods so much is its inability to empty because of the restriction of built-up river banks from Thorney to Lynn ... When the tide falls the river tries to follow it but is throttled.  It speeds up through Wisbech but does not clear much water. The next tide coming in halts the outflow for hours.

Meanwhile the countryside relentlessly supplies the Nene.  At Peterborough the flow is very low but the aperture is huge compared with Wisbech.  They destroyed the natural flood plain when they sent the Nene on the New Line ...

THURS 11TH JAN 2024
Today is laundry day at the flat. I used to spend £10 a week on service washes in London and £20 in the provinces.  Thursday is also kitchen day where I experiment with recipes, develop new ways of cooking and new foods by microwave, air-fryer, hotplate, pressure cooker, induction hob even.  Iceland frozen food. Co-op bargains. Waitrose on demand. LIDL and Morrisons and Aldi are all on the route of the No.1 bus. Results of itchen experiments eventually end up in the website's  galley page expanding a growing list of recipes and methodology. 

FRI 12TH JAN 2024
Bus to boat arrived on board at 3.30pm to find it as dry as a bone (T 5.5C). Fire set and lit at once.  Once the fire has settled and there being no reason to stay on board I took a warm D2 to Northampton, back to Daventry where it magically became the D3 via Lower Weedon and so back to boat where I arrived at 6.30pm to top up the fire and gather stuff for tomorrow's long haul.  At 6.45 I went for a 'gourmet' burger at the Micro Brewery and see old cars on view in another building there.  The cars were nice the burger was shite.  Back on board 8pm to update blog, settle the fire and lights out  at 9.30...

SAT 13TH JAN 2024  returning to flat

SUN14TH JAN 2024 Boats are moored at Weedon in very dry conditions and will not be visited until at least next weekend

MON 15TH JAN 2024   preparing for Farnborough

Pentargon at rest at Norton junction at the turn of the year. The paint job is slowly advancing and the detail is described here