- The best thing about flying late in the day is that you have most of the day to get things tidied up, turned off, and squared away. Thanks to David, we arrived at the airport and we're off to Birmingham, via Iceland. Due to the extra security screen when we arrived in Iceland, we had time to walk to our next gate and get on the second leg to Birmingham. Now Birmingham is not my favourite city, however, they are really organized at the airport. You take a short shuttle to the train station, which is also really close to their big convention centre. Someone was thinking. We took a train to Bletchley, and then on to Bedford. If Bletchley sounds familiar, it was the base where Alan Tourin cracked the German Enigma code during WWII. "The Imitation Game" does a marvelous job of explaining that part of Allied history.
Just to show how we are all connected in some way, we end up on the same train as 2 young men who recognized the Canadian flag on our bags. "Oh, you are from Canada. So are we." We reply, "Where?" "Edmonton area." We reply, "So are we." "Well we are really from St Albert." We reply, "So are we." We are not close neighbours, but close.
We connected with our buddy, Ed, and our canal boat adventure began with a walk through Bedford to the boat, a pub visit, supper, and then back to the boat to bed. There could have been a marching band practice beside us, and we would not have heard it that night.
After a visit to Tesco, we were off down the canal, heading towards Cambridge. This canal has "guillotine gates on the upper end of each lock because this canal is really the Great Ouse River.
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| Guillotine lock gate with Wandering Canuck entering the pond. |
It is wide, lined with weeping willow trees, blue and grey herons are everywhere, and kingfishers have also been spotted.
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| Herron doing a little stalking ..... look out fish. |
Kingfishers are so fast we can never get a picture of them. We also saw several black cormorants airing out their "pits" in the breeze as they watched for fish on the low branches sweeping the water. Wild yellow water irises and phlox are in abundance. Red poppies are also in some spots to brighten the banks. Each village has its church with its spire reaching above the flat of the land. There are lots of swans with their fuzzy gray signets in line, and we saw the cutest family of ducks in St Neots.
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| Boats outside of Hemingford Grey. |
They were so young they were touching each other as they swam across the river, with 2 and 4 man sculls dodging them. (Who said teenagers are not aware). We spent the night beside the park at St Neots and enjoyed the rowing and sculls practice. During our second full day on the river, we had to follow 3 races of 4 man rowers in the St Ives Regatta. We caused a big stir because we won our heat uncontested. This regatta has been run on this weekend for the last 150 years.
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| 150 year old St. Ives regatta. |
We stopped for the night in a quiet spot in downtown St Ives. This is not the St Ives of the old riddle about 7 wives, cats, rats and fleas. This is the St Ives where Oliver Cromwell, the head of the Roundhead army, and subsequent Lord Protector of the Realm after he beheaded Charles I in 1649, lived and farmed.
There is a charming little museum that features bone and steel skate blades from earlier times when it was really cold in the Fens (this area, that used to be a big swamp). People used to skate on the multitude of ponds and streams. They also have a piece of handmade lace that Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon owned and probably made. It is beautiful bobbin lace. While Pat closely examined the lace, Kerry and Ed conversed with the local ham radio club members in the back of the museum. As usual, the boys missed the skates and lace, and Pat missed the ham radios.
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| St. Ives bridge with a chapel in the center. |
We spent a wonderful Sunday with our friend Sue. It started with a Fathers' Day lunch at a local restaurant, and then a band concert in the park. The boys enjoyed another new beer while Pat had a cider and Sue had a tea. What a great way to celebrate all of the local bands, community and high school! The next morning, we were off to Cambridge.
At the first lock, a family of swans decided to roam, so shared the lock with us. The captain of the second boat in got a big start as all the women nearby started to yell. The family was against the wall and he was parking his boat there. The boat moved outward, and the swans sailed out the side and headed for the middle of the lock. They had obviously done this before because they swam up and down the middle a couple of times, and then headed for the lock lock gate. Shortly after, it started to lift and they headed out.
June 22 to June 27 - We arrived in Cambridge early today. There is a big fete starting tomorrow, so the carnies are setting up in the Common down the Cam River from our mooring spot. Beside us, the Common is used for grazing cattle, so one must dodge the brown puddles on the sidewalk. Rowing and sculling are very popular so we are entertained when on the boat. There are 20 or so Rowing Clubs along the bank, one beside the other. It seems very organized, so we have spent two meals discussing how this could be.
Our first foray into the historic downtown netted us a good deal on a punting trip tomorrow, and a beverage at the local Wetherspoon's. We purchased the necessaries for "skip and go naked" drinks on the way home to celebrate the life of Danette Mortimer. Six years ago the 23rd she left us. There is definitely a young crowd as this is a big university town. Most of them are on bicycles and in a hurry, so one cannot zone out or admire the architecture unless there is a spotter for bikes. And you thought that we were lazing about!
We started out the next day of touring with our 2 mile walk back into town. Once there, we took our punting trip up the river from The bridge on Magdalene Street, down The Backs of St John's College, Trinity College, King's College (complete with garden party and jazz music) and under the Bridge of Sighs that links the two sides of St John's College, turned around after the mathematical bridge at Queens' College. (Yes, the punctuation is correct. It took 3 queens to secure enough financing over the years for this college). Now, for those of you who are not familiar with punting, it is a wide, flat boat with reclining seats on the bottom.
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| Punting on the River Cam. |
(The poor girl who sat in front of us had a difficult time in her short dress). There is a very fit, athletic college man on the stern platform pushing the boat with a pole. Looks easy, but is not. Especially when you go under the bridges that are too low, so he has to crouch. He also has to push heavily on the pole with a fluid movement and keep hold of the pole so it doesn't remain firmly planted in the bottom of the river. In Victorian times, the punter would wear a straw boater hat with his college uniform. Today, we make due with designer sunglasses. There are also several amateurs trying out punting with their parents or friends to add to the mix. Keeping your fingers and elbows inside the boat is a necessity because the boats are always jostling for space or crashing into each other.
The next stop was King's College Chapel. The Chapel has gorgeous fan vaulting on the roof,
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| King's College Chapel ceiling! |
intricate, vivid stained glass on all of the upper tall windows, and a beautiful rood screen with organ above. The organ is guarded by 2 Angels playing trumpets. Everywhere are carvings of the Tudor rose, a lot of references to Henry VI and Henry VIII who started the college.
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| King's College Chapel .... WOW! |
At the altar is the Rubens painting "The Adoration of the Magi". We non members of the college had to take the back lanes to get to the Chapel. Once back out on the Main Street, we were treated to a parade of graduates walking down the middle of the street, on their way to their garden party in the back square of their college with their families.
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| Academic Parade |
Everyone clapped in congratulations as the graduates and faculty walked by in their ceremonial garb. What a delightful tradition. We then toured many of the little lanes, searching for college wear to bring home. After all, our grandchildren want to attend Cambridge when it is time.
The next day we pulled out, turned around, and headed for Ely, a city on an island in the middle of the Fens or marshes. The area is not marshy anymore, because the land has been drained over the years. Ely is still a prosperous city with a large agricultural basis. A religious centre since the 600s when it was a Saxon stronghold. The cathedral was built, started in 1083 and took 100 years to build. The front is Norman, and the back is Tudor. The central Norman tower collapsed in 1322, and was replaced by the wooden Octogan that lets in light. Called the Lantern, it is painted with Angels and has lots of Windows. There is a Lady Chapel to the side that suffered during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, and so all the carvings have their heads lopped off. Most of the Cathedral, however, managed to remain undamaged.
We were up early on Friday morning because we have just got word that the lock at Denver is open at 1:30 after being closed for several days. Why should we care? The Canals/rivers we have been on are secluded from the main canal system, and the entrance is at Denver lock. This lock is tidal, to boot, so there is a short window of time to go through. Once through, we moseyed down the Wellscreek River and stopped for the night at the Upwell pub 'The Globe', they were good enough to let us use their mooring.
June 28 to July 4 - Now that we have gone through the Denver tidal lock, we are traveling on the River Nene. It is a pretty river that meanders through the countryside on the edge of the midlands.
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| Interesting view of a guillotine lock with the V-doors over flowing. |
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We arrived in Peterborough at noon, and spent the afternoon with our friends' daughter, Nikki Vranas. She is just about to complete her first year of teaching at a school here. She regaled us with stories of her hard work, confusions based on differences in language, and teenagers in general. After a Sunday roast lunch, (a popular Sunday tradition here), Nikki toured us around the historic town centre, as we searched for important things we needed, and ended up at the Peterborough Cathedral. The Cathedral was built in the 12th century, and has a wonderful painted ceiling from the 1300s. The area must have been considered to be the end of the world during Tudor times, because both Katharine of Aragon, Henry VII's first wife and Mary, Queen of Scots were buried in this Cathedral after many years of exile. Katharine died of natural causes, while Mary was executed. Mary's body was later moved to London for reburial after her son, James I came to the throne. Both have plaques in the church. Evensong was about to start, so the four of us headed for the choir area and found seats. The music was the most intricate we have heard so far, but the sound moved quickly out into the church because the choir area is not closed off from the rest of th church, as it does in other churches.
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| From one lock to the next no problem for Pat! |
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| Pat is improving by leaps and bounds with her handling of the boat! |
The next morning, we continued down the river, and moored for the night on a small arm just off the Ashton Lock. There, we met Bertie, a young golden lab, who felt it was his duty to speak to everyone he saw. We quickly then met his "parents", Peter and Liz, and travelled up the river with them the next day to the pub at Wadenhoe. The pub has a large expanse of riverside property that has been made into a park area. Boaters are encouraged to moor there in return for their business. It was the hottest day on record, ever, so it was very pleasant under the weeping willows. We lunched on onion bargies, a favourite with Peter who grew up in India, and chicken tikka, some meat we had in our fridge. After resting for the afternoon, we all headed up to the pub for dinner. We left Peter and Liz the next morning and continued on towards Northampton.
Last November, we visited Northampton on a cool, blustery day, and were not impressed. Today, the sun was shining and the flowers were in bloom everywhere. The city centre also has arranged for several statues of medieval knights to be carved from tree trunks. They have been dispersed along the main shopping street. We had lunch at one of the local pubs that had air conditioning (the first we have seen of that luxury) before Kerry and I wandered into the Northhampton museum to see the shoe exhibit. Northampton was the traditional centre for shoe-making. One could come here and commission a new pair of custom shoes be made - machine or hand sewn. Shoe factories were everywhere. The museum was fun, with examples of shoes and shoe fads over the centuries. Those of us who had platform shoes in the 70s thought we were so innovative. In this museum, we saw the examples of platform shoes form the 1920s, 1880s, and earlier. Just shows how fashion comes and goes. It is never innovative, just repeated.
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| Several locks and a lift bridge .... so scenic! |
July 5 to 12 - On the move again, we left the river, and entered the Grand Union Canal. We are now back to small had operated locks, no current, and lots of traffic. This canal area is the main route from London to the north, and is a popular hireboat area, so there are lots of inexperienced boaters mixed in with very experienced boaters. We are somewhere in between. We have managed to moor for the night in quiet areas.
On Sunday, we were just about to start the last lock in the Buckby flight with another boat from Worchestershire, when the heavens opened up and rain poured down on us. I have not seen it rain that hard since our trip to Scotland several years ago. We were very wet by the time we finished the lock, but moored up and dried off in time to see the sun come out and become very warm. You just never know what weather will come. Most days we thought we would be in the middle of a storm, and nothing came of it. Today, we lost the toss of the dice.
Monday morning found us going straight into the Braunston tunnel - a 2 km long tunnel under the hills and dales leading to the village of Braunston.
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| Early morning and the entrance to the 2 km Braunston tunnel. |
The Braunston flight was a delight, and we met several kind, interesting people before mooring at the bottom of the last lock. We all feel like this is home. Ed, because he moors here in the winter, Kerry and I, because we have been here three times. It is a busy part of the canal, with an important junction right there. There is also the best canal shop in the UK right at the lower lock that Pat has done business at many times. It was heaven getting groceries because Ed has his car here, so we were able to drive into Daventry. I suggested that we could also stop at Althorpe, the final resting place and estate of Princess Diana and her family, but met with huge resistance. Oh well.
Our next stop was Rugby. Yes, this is the place, where, in the 1823, a young, William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it, thus creating the game of rugby. The Rugby World Cup is coming to England in August and September. We dropped Ed off at the railway station, and he headed for Manchester and Canada. We are on our own for a week!
We spent our first solo day walking in the Rugby city centre. There is a beautiful park with formal gardens, a band shell, and a children's' play area. We also found a small market where we purchased Devonshire cherry scones. We keep trying, but they always seem to be dry. The town centre has been here and a busy market area for centuries. We found the oldest building in town, a small shop that has been around for 500 years. Rugby is also home to the famous Rugby School where such famous students as Lewis Carroll, Rupert Brooke and Matthew Arnold did their high school years.
Ed would be impressed, but we were up at 7 am, watered up, and heading down the Oxford Canal towards Coventry by 8:30 am. The canal here is very picturesque, with some rolling hills and plains. We saw lots of livestock beside the canal, but few birds. At Hawkesbury, we turned off onto the Coventry Canal, and then turned left to go to the city of Coventry.
The Coventry Basin is an excellent mooring place. Here, in the canal's busy times, coal was brought in for the city and unloaded at the Basin. Today, shops line the Basin. It is a short walk to the town centre from here.
Now Coventry has an interesting history. It was here in 1235 that Lady Godiva made her famous ride through town wearing only her birthday suit.
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| Lady Godiva in the Coventry city centre square. |
It was famous in the 1800s for its pocket watch factories, and then morphed into a center for car factories. During WWII, it was an armaments centre for Britain, so was targeted by the Germans, and bombed on November 17, 1940. Most of the town was destroyed, including the cathedral. All that remains are the stone walls, tower and spire. You can go to the top of the tower.
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| The stone walls of Coventry Cathedral survived as it was hit with an incendiary bomb. |
We chose to sit inside the cathedral part and chat with a lovely family from Leicester. After, we wandered to Spon Street where the city has moved all of the remaining medieval buildings and rebuilt them as they were. Here, we found a tiny Watch Museum, housed in a small cottage. An old lady lived in this cottage until the 1980s, and still used the old Victorian outhouse that served the 111 people who lived there in its heyday. The three cubicles each have a bench with a seat hole and a pail underneath that was emptied every night by the night soilers. There is also a bomb shelter there that was designed to protect fuses for grenandes, not people. The lady and gentleman who were the curators of the museum were well informed and only to ready to explain the watch trade to us. After that, we headed to the Coventry Transport Museum to learn about the local bicycle and car factories, and see examples of each throughout history.
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| A Jaguar F1 car, now how do I take it for a spin? |
Jaguar, Daimler, Singer, Norton, Hillman , and Triumph were some of the big companies who had factories here until the 1980s when they couldn't compete with inexpensive foreign cars any more, and so closed. After WWII the people of Coventry rebuilt, and the city is now quite modern and well planned. A new Cathedral has been built beside the old, but is very modern.
Beside the canal is a large housing complex that is called Cash's 100 houses. These were built to house the workers on the bottom 2 floors who ran the ribbon looms on the top floor. The ribbons were magnificent. They also did intricate woven pictures.
July 14 to 21 - We continued down the Coventry Canal to Fazely. We then entered the Birmingham/Fazely Canal for a short distance before making the big right turn at Fradley, onto the Trent and Mersey Canal. During that time, we, of course, had to work the locks and drive, with housework done in between.
I wanted to take a few minutes to describe the every day life on a narrowboat. First, the boat is 6.5 feet wide by 60 feet long. Our bedroom is in the bow (front), with the bathroom next, Ed's bedroom next, then the salon and the kitchen, leaving the boat by 3 steps at the stern (back). All of this is joined together by a slender shoulder-width hallway. On the first day, we all do the dance, not used to the single-file traffic. After, it is easy to navigate. So, the day starts with breakfast, checking the engine, untieing the boat, and heading out. We travel at about 3 mph. People walking on the toll-path can move faster than we can. When we pass moored boats, we slow down even more. We like to have a snack, or second breakfast (as the Scottish say) about 11 am. That is usually some biscuits (cookies), fruit and a drink.
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| Snack time. |
Sometimes we have a fruit scone as a treat. We have lunch about 2 pm. That is usually a sandwich, because we like to keep going. Lunch always includes a scotch egg (hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage and crumbs, and then cooked) because we love them. We also like the onions pickled in balsamic vinegar. We try to stop by 3 pm at a small village, so we have time to walk in, maybe find a pub to try their real ales (Pat usually has a G and 2 slim Ts with no ice and no slice. Bombay Safire gin is my fave, but I am not picky). We nibble on cheese and crackers or crisps (potato chips) while supper cooks. Bedtime is about 9:30 pm. Wash day is always a little more interesting. Pat puts the machine on as soon as we start moving. When it is done. we hang up the wet clothes in spots around the boat. Sheets and towels usually have to go in the salon. The boys love to read among the towels.
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| Laundry day. |
Regular clothes can go on our peg hangers in the bow. We smell wet laundry for most of the day. In the summer, it goes away as the clothes finish drying. In the fall and winter, we are not so lucky. Then, moister is more difficult to get rid of. If any of you have experienced Vancouver in the fall or winter know what I am talking about.
Enough about daily life.
Ed rejoined us on the 18th in Shardlow. We had the priviledge of watching a traditional English step dancing demonstration in the parking lot of the New Inn. Six men, wearing tassled hats, white shirts and pants with green straps and bells on their legs stepped in patterns to the music of a fiddle and drums. It was like being transported back in time to the early canal days.
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| English step dancers. |
On the 20th, we headed up the Trent River to Nottingham. Famous for their lace making, we tried to go to the museum, but it has closed. Instead, we toured one of the hundreds of tunnels under the city. These tunnels have been here for a thousand years as houses, tanneries, bomb shelters and storage areas. It was really interesting. Did you know that it took 18 months to tan a hide in medieval times? Three months in a pit with quick-lime and water to remove the blood, hair, and fat. Then three month in dog poo and male urine to soften the leather. Female urine was not as good. Don't ask how the urine was collected!! Then final stage was a year in a hole with oak chips layered between the hides to tan them. The oak chips leeched out tannic acid that cured the hides.
July 20 to 27 -This has been a busy week for us. We moved onto the Trent River and arrived in Newark. There, we parked the boat for a day and took the train into London for the day. During the afternoon, we attended the play "The 39 Steps". Alfred Hitchcock made this into a spy film. In our case, the play was a rollicking story about spies, WWII, a trip to Scotland, 104 different characters, and all played by only 4 actors. There were puns, slapstick and vaudeville all wrapped into one. The play is housed at the Criterion Theatre on Piccadilly Circus, so we were able to soak in to ambiance from there, as well. After, we walked through Regency Park, just down from Buckingham Palace to Victoria Station to meet Deb Hemming, one of our Australian friends.
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| It was a real treat to catch up with Debbie at 'The Shakespeare' over a pint or two! |
She and her daughter Tess, plus Ben the boyfriend, were visiting for 3 weeks while Tess took a course. It was great to catch up on all the news over a pint at the Shakespeare Pub.
Back on the boat, we headed up the Trent to Lincoln. This was different for us because the river is tidal in this area, which means that one can only go through the locks when the tide was high enough. To do that, you phone the lock keeper, and he tells you when you can go through. Unfortunately, the tide times are a little harder to predict because the water is heading up the river, so you hurry up and get to the lock for the specified time, and then wait until the water level is ready. At one lock, this was 2 hours before the scheduled time. At another lock, it was an hour later. Going to Lincoln, the tide was high and flooding up, so the water was to the top of the banks. On the way back, the water was lower and receding, so the banks were clear of water, but you could see where the water usually is. The water weeds were totally exposed, and the ducks were hiding under the branches of the bushes.
Lincoln is a delightful town on the north end of the Fens. This means that the land of the area is very flat, but Lincoln Castle and Cathedral were built on the only hill in the area. As you travel closer to the city, you can see the three towers of the Cathedral in the distance. The fortress area was first developed by the Romans in 50 AD, but most of the buildings in the historical core are medieval.
From the canal (we were moored in the Glory Hole, a narrow part of the canal after the bridge that has a pub/restaurant on top of it)
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| Very picturesque! |
we turned right at the bridge and headed up High Street to The Strait. This is a narrow old cobblestone road that was filled with shops. Now it is pedestrians only. Once through The Strait, you reach Steep Hill.
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| Hmmm ... doesn't look so steep in the picture? |
This correctly named street leads up to the Cathedral and Castle.
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| This picture of the cathedral is taken from the ramparts of the castle. |
We wandered up to the Cathedral on Friday for evensong at 5:30. Half of the building is currently being used as a theatre venue for "Jesus Christ Superstar". Unfortunately, the play was totally sold out. Evensong was sung by a choir from Indianapolis, Indiana, who were here on tour. They had come to sing for a couple of services in Norwich, and then they sang for the week at Lincoln Cathedral.
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| The organ, the choir in their red robes and the choir stalls all very beautiful, the sound was even better! |
On the Saturday, we headed back up to visit the Castle. We were in luck because King Henry VIII and his wife, Queen Catherine Howard, were there to take our apologies for fighting against them in the latest battle. There was a tinker, minstrels, a jester, and yeomen on horses. A falconer was flying an eagle and some hawks. Kerry was asked to assist Peterkin, the jester, so Ed and I, and the crowd, enjoyed watching the antics as Kerry and Neal tried to "stabilize" Peterkin while he walked on medieval stilts. Great fun!!
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| Peterkin and Kerry playing .... |
The Castle was home to a Victorian prison from 1787 to 1878. We were able to wander the cells on the both the mens' and the womens' barracks. In one of the cells, I found a quilted wallhanging made by a current British prisoner. Hand-stitched from fabric found or donated to him, it was beautiful. This quilt is part of a program to teach prisoners some skills to produce products for sale in shops. An interesting feature of this prison is the chapel. Unique to this chapel are coffin-like pews where the prisoners stood twice a day on Sunday and were preached to. The view from the individual pews was the pulpit, while the preacher had a view of all of their faces.
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| 18th century prison chapel. Looks like fun to me .... not! |
The idea didn't catch on at other prison chapels because the guards could not see what the prisoners were doing from the neck down, so would miss the note-passing or name carving, etc.
The great thing about Steep Hill Road is that there are several places to stop on the way up to rest. There are tea houses and galleries, but there is also the Jews House and Court.
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| Named 'Jews House' as this was the Jewish quarter back in the day. |
During medieval times, there was a significant Jewish population in the city, and this house was owned by a wealthy Jewish merchant. The Court next door was where the synagogue was.
We went back to the Cathedral late on Saturday to explore. When it was built, the stone masons had some humour, so they carved little figures around the arches. Their famous carving is the Cathedral Imp. The story is that the devil was playing tricks, and was told to behave or he would be turned to stone. Kerry and I had trouble finding the little guy, so we asked a kind gentleman, who showed us the Imp, told us the stories, and then showed us a little dragon carved in another corner.
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| See the 'Imp' at the bottom. |
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| Kind of cool how the dragon in part of the rose. |
There are also new Grotesques added as the Cathedral has been renovated that he pointed out. The Grotesques are heads that are purely decoration.
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| An example of a grotesque. |
Gargoyles are heads that are used as drains from the roof. We were talking to a guide in the Cathedral who took us out to show us the Grotesques and the golden crown, placed at the front of the Cathedral to honour the Queen's 65th Jubilee. The crown is covered in real gold, so I imagine the roof repair fund has a big dent in it.
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| It is rather high up, safe from theives? |
The Cathedral also has the 12 Stations of the Cross done in beautiful wood carvings by a local artist, and several hand-stitched pictures of Christ that look 3D because she layers the stitching as needed, to give the effect. They are gorgeous. Both artists are parishioners of the Cathedral.
July 27 to Aug 4 - We are now heading west across the north of England through Yorkshire. We had no locks to operate yesterday as we entered the South Yorks Navigation, but did have to operate several swing bridges and one lift bridge. We saw this family of ducks in Thorne on Tuesday morning. They are pretty tiny - still at the peeping stage as they hurry to keep up with mom.
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| They look like they have just hatched! |
We had the most wonderful day on Wednesday meeting up with our old friend Rob Ogglesby and his daughter Deia. We lived in the same foreign garden with Rob and several others in the fall of 1997 at the Nanjing Foreign Language School. He was on his GAP year and we were on our year of leave/world trip. It was great fun to catch up on his news and see him as a dad and grown man.
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| It was GREAT to see Rob again after 18 years and so marvelous to meet Deia! |
We are now on the Aire and Calder Canal, so it is a little different. The canal is much wider and the locks are really long to accommodate the commercial traffic. Last night, just before sunset, we watched a big fuel tanker move slowly up the canal and under the lift bridge. He gets to have the CART people come and lift the bridge for him. We don't rate that service, although we have experienced some wonderful volunteers who have manned several locks for us. Right now, there is a BIG boat moored across from us in Castleford. Can you see the car parked under the cover on the deck?
Tomorrow we are going to York via train. We hope to visit the National Coal Mining Museum, but Pat also just found out from our dear friend Chris that the National Quilt Museum is also there. Yahoo! Hmmm!!
We boarded the train around 9:30 and arrived in York an hour later. We made the short walk to the old city wall, which still surrounds most of the city centre.
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| We walked the battlements of the city of York. |
We walked on the battlements until we were close to our destination - the National Quilt Museum. I went in and admired the 15 twin quilts - traditional and modern. Kaffe Fassett had gone through the British Quilt Guild collection and selected quilts he wanted to recreate. The results were on display. All of the traditional quilts were made by hand, and the oldest was a small quilt made in the late 1700s. One was a quilt that had been made in Canada during WWII and sent through the Red Cross to help the war effort. It was made of rectangular pieces of wool and ties with red yarn. It is a serviceable and practical quilt that looks just as good today. Another was a beautiful quilt made from silk. Several had applique that was hand-stitched using a minute, delicate herringbone stitch. The workmanship was amazing in all of them.
Meanwhile, Kerry and Ed headed across the street to the Black Swan, a pub that had been in service since the 1400s.
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| Inside the Black Swan! The pint of 'Old Peculiar' was GREAT! |
They both enjoyed a pint of Old Peculiar and the ambiance as much as I enjoyed the quilts. They did not see any of the several resident ghosts. Interestingly General Wolfe of the Plains of Abraham mother was has a family connection to the Black Swan.
After, we wandered down several of the many narrow streets, we stopped in The Shambles for a bit. This street is a well-preserved medieval street, lined with timber-framed buildings dating from the 1350s. It once housed the city butcher shops, and was named for the shelves or shammels used to display the merchandise.
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| Looking up 'The Shambles". |
Today, the buildings house fudge shops, souvenir shops, dress and jewellery boutiques and other small shops. The street was full of tourists. It always seems out of place to hear American accents near us. It only happens in high tourist areas. We are not usually in those areas. Anyway, we then wandered over to the York Castle Museum. Housed in 2 converted prisons, it features several rooms on the second floor that depict life in a Victorian parlour, a cottage, a dining room, etc. It also has an interesting exhibition on the rituals of birth, marriage and death over the past three centuries. The best part of the museum - that rates this museum as the best we have ever seen anywhere - was the reconstructed Victorian street of Kirkgate, complete with cobbles, shops, lighting, sounds and smells. In the second prison, (the Debtors' Prison), was an interesting display of different prisoners who would have been in the cells we were in. Audio Visuals would introduce us to their crimes and punishments. The final displays were of York during WWI and the 1960's, complete with Beatlemania in nearby Liverpool and the groovy '60s.
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| York minster picture taken from the city battlements. |
After a supper at O'Neil's pub, we boarded the train and headed back to the boat.
Aug 2 to 9 - We are bow heading up the Calder and Hebble Canal, one of the oldest in the British canal system. Built in 1702, the locks have a gear system that uses a wooden hand-spike to raise and lower the paddles in the gates that control the water levels.
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| Well instead of the wooden hand-spike we used a longer aluminum pipe. |
This is very different from the turning windlasses or hydraulics that we have encountered in the younger locks.
The last two locks were the most interesting we have ever had. Picture this - a beautiful area with trees, a pond and birds everywhere. The wind is blowing. There is no traffic except for one boat in the upper lock. We drive into the lock, and we are 1 inch too long. We knew it would be tight. We had been in this situation before, but not quite this much. Anyway, to get the lock gates shut, Ed and Kerry had to loosen the stern bumper button. That done, we are finally in. Of course, the button is chained on to the stern and not easy to get off. By now, the boat in the upper lock is waiting just outside our lock. It is a hire boat filled with young men out for the day. They are in a short boat. We finally get in and are able to shut the gates. YEH! Up we go, and get out of the lock. The other boat is in the way and the wind is pushing the bow over, so Kerry can't make the turn into the next lock. This area is a small pond with a weir just before the lock entrance that is pushing us in the wrong direction, aided by the wind. Kerry ends up backing up, and then we pulled the boat into position using the ropes. The only way. He gets the right angle, and is able to maneuver into the last lock. However, the information we got was a little incorrect. Our intel said the lock we had just been in was the shortest lock in the country. Wrong. It was the last lock. So down the boys go again and have to remove the stern bumper button. I then push the boat over, using the gate as a lever. We finally get into the lock and close the gate. By this time, both boys are stuck on the boat at the bottom of the lock, and I have to open it with the pipe. Luckily several of the CART employees are here inspecting the lock, so they gave me some pointers (like push the other way to open). We get the lock filled and are out. We have survived the Salterhebble locks! Onto Sowerby Bridge we go. We are ready for the next flight in the morning.
Our appointed time to start the Rochdale Canal is 9 am. We are ready early, and the lockmaster is ready, and our partner boat is ready to up we go. The second lock is the deepest in Britain at 19 ft 8 in deep. Once that was completed, we are on our own and so off we go, sharing each lock with Gary and Julie from Brighouse. They have a brand new boat, 2 weeks old. It is both Kerry's and Gary's birthday today, so we celebrate by going through several locks to get to Hebden Bridge. Once there, we moor up at the top of the hill, but it is really shallow, so we have to use the plank to get from the shore to the boat. No problem. Once moored, we all headed to the nearest pub for a birthday drink. 4 pints later, we stayed for a great dinner before heading back to the boats to relax. A great day.
The Rochdale is in a beautiful area. We are in a deep valley in the Yorkshire Dales, so the hills rise up above us.
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| A beautiful scene near the top of the Rochdale Canal. |
The towns and villages are built on the hillsides. There is a great big brick wall that supports the canal at Todmorton. Called the Great Wall, it is a landmark.
We call it a night, 20 locks later at Walsden, home of Grandma Pollard's World Famous Chippy. You know it is popular when there are 3 carparks for this place. So in we go. The fish and chips were great. The dap (a giant thin slice of potato fried like a french fry) was interesting. The best part were the cakes that Grandma loved to bake. Kerry had a half vanilla custard slice while I had a Manchester Tart. The vanilla custard was a 3x3 inch square of puff pastry, layered with custard and topped with vanilla icing. Delish! The Manchester Tart is a tart pastry that is lined on the bottom with banana slices and raspberry jam. Then the tart shell is heaped with custard and decorated with a little whip cream and a cherry. Heaven!
The next day was the most interesting. This is Friday. We start the day off well. The sun is shining for a change. Then we go through a swing bridge, and get stuck because the canal is so low. The bridge is still closed to traffic because Pat and the boat are stuck partway through the hole. Pat ended up having to use a pole to push the boat into deeper water and out of the way. YEH! Then, we get into a lock that someone has left a paddle open. We are ok, but the canal is flooded.
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| The water level is VERY high! |
We are going down now, so the water is coming with us. The boys get very wet feet, but are able to drain out some of the water. We continue down to Littleborough. There, while we waited for the lock to fill, the canal drained again because a paddle had been left open by the previous boaters. Ed gets grounded this time. So Kerry runs back up the hill to send down more water. With Kerry's water and some muscle from a couple of passing boaters, we were able to free up the boat and keep going.
At this point, we are ready to stop for the day, but there is absolutely no place to moor for miles. We ended up in the city of Rochdale, having sailed through garbage, cranky locks, more garbage (grocery store trollies, mattresses, bikes, etc in the water). We found a nice spot beside a pub and moored. We were so tired, we didn't hear a thing all night.
Saturday, we continued down the canal. Now we are out of the city and the water is clean and the countryside is rural. Beautiful. One more night before we are in Manchester. The last leg was garbage-filled canals and cranky locks. At one point, we could not open the gates at the bottom of one lock. After a phone call to the CART people, Kerry figured it out and we were freed. We found a spot in New Isslington basin to moor. We made it!
After mooring, we had lunch and headed to the city centre (downtown) to see the sights. We were on a shopping mission - to find Manchester United Football team jerseys for the grandchildren and a bottle of Abelour Ah'bunah scotch for us. Can you believe that we were successful? We got the last bottle of Ah'bunah in England, I think, but we got it.
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| Pub city in the Manchester city center. |
Aug 10 to 17 - We started the week by going to the Museum of Science and Industry. What a great place. The first hall dealt with the Textile industry. We saw machine cotton carders, and thread making machines, as well as looms. The whole process from bales of cotton to fabric took 8 machines in the 1800s. Children were important workers as the cleaners of the cotton fibers from the floors and the machines while the machines were operating. People worked 12 hour days for 6 days a week. The mills are big buildings of several stories with lots of windows. Today, they have all been converted into apartment buildings because fabric is mostly made in other countries. During the 1700s, 70% of the worlds fabric was made in Manchester. Amazing!
The other halls dealt with power (all kinds of engines), electricity, rail history, underground Manchester (the development of the water system, sewer system, etc), and air and space travel (Kerry's favourite). There, we saw a kamakazi plane where the pilot was welded into a flying bomb that was dropped from an airplane to explode on impact.
If you are ever in Manchester, do not miss this museum.
Aug 18 to 25 - Since leaving Manchester, we have been pushing south to reach Birmingham or further. The Ashton Canal, the Peak Forest Canal,
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| A lift bridge in a beautiful location on the Peak Forest Canal. |
the Macclesfield Canal, and the Trent and Mersey Canal have all flowed through beautiful farming communities. Lush vegetation line the edges of each canal. We have completed several lock flights. The Marple Flight was very picturesque as it headed up the hill. It was also very busy with lots of gongoozeleurs (people watching the boats from the towpath) following us up the hill.
The traffic has become much heavier. We are in a more central area, and two of the other canals have issues that make them impassable, so boats have been funneled onto this canal. At one point, we were boat number 7, waiting to go down the Stone flight. There was an equal number of boats trying to go up the flight, as well. A gate paddle had broken several days earlier, and the CART guys were out doing the fix. Of course, the congestion continued to the next set of locks, and so on, so we got to know our fellow boaters well.
The lush vegetation has included lots of blackberry bushes on the towpath and beside the canal. Unfortunately, they do not quite seem to ripen as we move forward. We have eaten lots of "just about ready" berries, hoping to hit the right day.
About two weeks ago, in the middle of the night, I came up with the brilliant idea to write about our canal trips and our England trips in a number book and an alphabet book for the grandchildren. It is a surprise for them. Luckily they can't read yet. (LOL). Anyway, the focus of our picture taking and conversations has been groups of things and brainstorming what "Z" could stand for. I am also a little slow on the draw, so have passed the appropriate bridge numbers for 1 to 10 many times, but not while we are gathering photos for the book. So we have started taking pictures of boat numbers. You see, some people have a number with their boat name. I saw three boats in a marina we went passed. While the boys refueled, I headed for the boats. The angle wasn't quite right to get the shots I needed, but a lovely lady came to my rescue. Once I told her what I was doing, she invited me to climb on her boat to get the shots of her neighbours on the other side of the basin. People are so friendly here!!
While moored at the source of the Shropshire Union Canal, Kerry and I walked to bridge 1 and 2 to get the number pictures. Suddenly, a little gray heron flew in front of us and landed 10 feet from us. If I had a nickel for every heron picture we have taken over the years, we would be rich. However, since I love herons, we continue to try and catch their grace and patience in a photo.
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| Fishing .... |
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| Got lucky with this shot! |
We are stopping at the Black Country Museum tomorrow in Dudley. It celebrates the Industrial Revolution ingenuity and progress. We have heard it is one of the best museums anywhere. We will let you know.
Aug 24 to
Sep 29 – We were up early on August 24 and
off to pick up a car from Enterprise. We
got the car and headed to Braunston. We
dropped Ed there to attend a function he needed to go to and then we headed
towards Reading to meet up with friends Nick and Chris. We had a great time at a pub with them and
finally left around 6 pm. We were then
off to find out hotel somewhere south of Heathrow. It was interesting finding the hotel in the
dark, but we persevered and were rewarded.
We were up
at 5 am to pick up Kerry’s cousin Merrill and her husband Ron. They flew in from Cape Town after a
motorcycle safari in Africa. We got them
back to the boat and headed out about noon on the canal towards Warwick. The first day was easy – no locks. Unfortunately, just as we were feeling
comfortable, we picked up a bit of wire fencing in our prop. It took Kerry and Ron an hour to get the
stuff cut off and pulled out of the canal.
The next
day, we were getting worried about groceries, so stopped at a small
village. We walked up from the canal,
only to see a McLaren dealership in front of us. We all headed over and drooled over the cars.
Off again,
we did a flight of eight narrow locks before calling it a day. The next day was brutal because we had to
complete the Hatton Locks – 21 wide, stiff locks. There was no traffic except another boat, so
we at least traveled together. We were
very tired when we arrived at the bottom.
The only good thing about the flight was that it had held off raining,
but the heavens opened up just as we finished and had moored up for lunch. After lunch, we found a spot in the
Saltisford arm, and moored up, with electricity. We were in heaven!!! We hit the grocery store and finished off the
day at the Dun Cow pub and The Antelope pub.
Ron and
Merrill’s final day was spent at Warwick Castle. The Falconry demo was great – eagles.
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| Bald Eagle flying at Warwick Castle. |
The jousting ended as it should with the
Barons winning. They were then able to
go get the Magna Carta signed at Runnymeade.
They have a display Kerry and I had never seen before in the
Castle. It was a display of life on a
weekend in 1898 when the Marleborough set partied at the Castle. The Prince of Wales was there, as was his
mistress, the lady of the house. A young
Winston Churchill was there, as well. It
was very well done.
We were off
again down the motorway on Saturday to drop Ron and Merrill off for their
flight home, and pick up our friends Reid and Joanne, who had flown in a couple
of days earlier. Back we headed on the
motorway, and returned to Warwick.
Aug 29 to Sept 11 - We spent Sunday at Warwick Castle again. This time there was more rain, but we didn’t
care. The birds flew, the Barons won the
joust again, and the Marleborough set were still partying. This is a great castle. The only sad thing was that the trebuchet
didn’t get to shoot because it is down.
Monday
found us heading out on the canal again.
This time, we headed to Oxford.
It took us four days, but we did get there without any fuss and a lot of
locks. Oh well. We found an excellent mooring spot near
Jericho, a suburb near the city centre.
We walked into town and were able to see a few of the sights – the
Oxford Bridge of Sighs, St Mary’s Church,
the Radcliffe Camera (the original library, now a reading room), and the Bodleian Library. We finished the day at The Bear, the oldest
pub in town, and The Crown, a lovely old pub we had been in before.
Saturday
morning, the boys picked up the rental car, and we headed to IWM Duxford. Our time on the boat is over. Duxford is an old air force base in
Norwich. It is now an Imperial War
Museum, that has lots of aircraft from WWII.
Kerry was in heaven – like a kid in a candy shop as he saw stationary Spitfires, flying Spitfires and taxing Spitfires.
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| This one had just landed!! |
His only regret is that he is a poor retired
teacher. He could have gone for a 30
minute ride in a Spitfire for a mere $6000.
Oh well. We all enjoyed wandering
among the planes and learning about the Battle of Britain.
Sunday, we
headed north to the Norwich coast. We
started in King’s Lynn and pulled into
Norfolk Lavender . This farm is
England’s largest producer of lavender.
The fields are acres and acres of purple in the summer. We then drove on to Hunstanton to see the
white and red chalk cliffs that overlook The Wash, a bay on the North Sea. Then we drove on to Wells-Next-the-Sea for
lunch and a walk out to the beach. This
little seaport is now a mile form the coast, due to silt and erosion. They were in the midst of a pirate weekend,
so there were lots of people around.
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| This fellow was amazing and maneuvering that small boat. |
We
slowly walked out to the beach and enjoyed the fine sand and sun while we
admired the small, colourful beach houses.
The final stop on the coast was at Cromer, where we walked the narrow
streets to the edge of the Cley Marsh to admire the Cley Windmill.
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| This windmill is now a restaurant. |
This marsh is a great example of what The
Fens looked like centuries ago. Our
final stop was Norwich city centre to walk up Elm Hill, a small medieval
street, and to wander through Norwich cathedral. A great day!!
Monday, we
started in Ely at the Cathedral. This is
a beautiful church that was built, starting in 1049. It has an octagon tower. We had been there in June with Ed, but really
enjoyed returning for another visit. We
got to see many of the things we missed before, like the angel stone bosses and
the miseriechords in the quitre. The
next stop was city centre in Cambridge.
We did a punting trip at The Backs of the oldest colleges and under
several bridges. Most of the bridges join
two halves of a college together across the river. Our two favourites were the Bridge of Sighs
(St. John’s College) and the Mathematical Bridge (Queen’s College). The latter is a wooden bridge that shows all
the properties of weight distribution.
After a lunch at the Punter Pub, we toured the King’s College Chapel and
grounds. The carvings in the chapel are
amazing, and whole. Cromwell was not
able to get inside and destroy them during his reign.
Tues morning was sunny and cool. A good day to drive. We got a good start, and arrived at Stonehenge about 1 pm. Stonehenge is a magical place. The sounds of everyday life seem to disappear into the air.
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| What a perfect day to visit .... |
We then continued on south to Barton-by-the-Sea, our next home. The apartment is across the street from the sea - a beautiful view. Wednesday was yet another great day. We headed off to Portsmouth Historical Dockyard first thing. We walked through the 'Victory', Nelson's flagship and visited many other attractions.
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| HMS Victory .... this ship is over 200 years old! |
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| 'tween decks! |
Once again we had Kerry in a candy shop! For the afternoon we headed over to Salisbury. We visited the cathedral and stayed for Evensong.
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| Salisbury Cathedral ... is the highest in England |
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| An interior shot taken reflecting in their new fountain. |
Thursday we visited Windsor and Windsor Castle.
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| Windsor Castle, the Chapel of St. George on the left. |
What a GREAT place to visit. We all loved the Chapel of St. George and the Rooms of State. Amazing is all I can say! Too bad they don't let you take pictures inside. We then headed back to Barton bye the Sea and went for a walk on the beach.
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| Barton by the Sea, on the beach. |
We left Barton bright and early thinking we could do the trip to Devizes to see Nick and Chris is an hour. Well we are NOT on Canadian roads so it took almost two hours. We had a great catch up with them and then we were off to Bath.
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| A view of the Roman bath with the cathedral in the background. |
Unfortunately, our time there was limited as we had to get to our Welsh accommodation before the sun went down. We visited the Roman baths wandered the city center a bit and then on the road.
Wales
