He is back.I can see him All hail the messiah!
oh gawd !!
Yes. Indeed!
No particular reason for my absence but there was the Poll and the 5-4 results fitted in well with our trip idea which was to have a slightly different holiday and concentrate more on the holiday rather than riffling through t'Internet on our phones. We did look up 'the River Kennet at Knghton Main' twice a day on a netsite (automatic continuous recording shown as a chart) to see how the water level was going, but it was in vain anyway as even two weeks ago on our last day it was clear the water was rushing through Newbury's town bridge like an express train - no change since we had arrived. The marina had warned us not to go out onto the river, and even if we did get up to the town there would be no way we'd get through the bridge and I have to say that's true. We could imagine our boat being turned, nose against the buildings and tail against the bank, and the force of the water turning us over and over and over like a spinning rolling pin. My videos don't give it justice - it was not just the surface rippling but the whole lot attempting to bash its way down to the Thames and London and out at Southend. Even much higher up at Hungerford it was somewhat astounding to see how much water was bouncing around - hard to imagine exactly where all that water was coming from. Why the UK doesn't sell fresh water to the Arabs I don't know.
Anyway, a trip was academic as the swing bridge in Newbury was padlocked and, I heard, some of the locks.
Two days before we arrived a wide-beam boat had passed our marina and got swept onto the weir by the next lock down (just around the corner) and had to be rescued and the crew were quite shaken by the experience (we met them). The marina owner happened to be there and helped to rescue them. After this their boat was parked outside the marina and stayed put.
Well... we had plenty to do and had a nice holiday, with a train trip to Bath 3 weeks ago on the Saturday (9 hours there) and on the following Monday a train trip to Droitwich Spa via Oxford and the Cotswold Line which criss-crosses the River Evenlode on its journey to Charlbury and Moreton-in-Marsh. I got to ring the bells at Newbury 6 times (Monday practice, Tuesday 24th Midnight Service, Wednesday 25th 0730 & 0930, Sunday Morning Service and New Year's Eve when I rung the tenor 12 times starting on the stroke of Midnight) and Hungerford twice (Tuesday 24th Crib Service, Sunday 29th Carols by Candlelight 6pm).
We had PHEASANT for Christmas Lunch - £3.50 for one from the butcher's by the town bridge (no shotgun pellets in it!). It was pretty good!
The boat's engine room was bone dry when we arrived and I started the engine and had it running for 20 minutes, and the next time we ran the boat was Thursday 2nd Jan and we drove... to the end of the marina and back... about 200 metres! That was our Christmas Cruising!
We went through the boat with the vacuum cleaner, and I filled in my A-Z Where Things Are list (if we don't know where something is - eg. water pump impellers - we can consult the List to locate the item).
Luckily we had bought coal and logs in October from the chandlery, just before pulling in to the marina after our trip to Devizes and back, so we had the stove going all the time... but the coal almost ran out so we bought three small bags of hexagonal-shaped smokeless (hah!) coal from next-door B&Q... and that coal I thought was actually better than the Excel coal from the chandlery as it burned for longer and seemed to be hotter. The chandlery was closed for Christmas so we couldn't re-stock this time.
The logs all went up the chimney too, including the willow logs I had cut in July from a tree that had fallen over onto the towpath at Lower Heyford. Someone told me willow was a rubbish wood at burning, but it seemed fine to us and I would certainly use willow again.
On the second week we walked on Wed 1st Jan along the towpath to Kintbury and had a look inside the church, and the next day continued along the towpath to Hungerford where there is a rather spectacular antique shop called Hungerford Arcade and Collectables:
www.hungerfordarcade.com/ ...where you could easily spend a whole day, it's like a museum! We ate in its own Rafters Café which is is up in the loft of this 17th Century building.
www.hungerfordarcade.com/hungerford-arcade-twelve-things-might-not-known-hungerford-antiques-arcade/ And as the last day (Friday) was sunny/half-sunny I set off on my bike in search of scenery and photo-opportunities whilst Pirkko set off to go shopping in Newbury's town centre:
www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=22757&v=2G We flew from Heathrow on Saturday 4th, had all day Sunday in Helsinki, Monday back up to the North by train. Our car was parked inside the bus garage to keep it from snow and frost but temperatures have been mostly above zero (!! should be minus 25 to 30 this time of year) and luckily I could just get it out from the bus parked behind it, as that bus's batteries were dead (not driven for over 2 weeks). So I connected the charger... and it started the next morning. The other two buses roared into life which was good as they also needed to be out of the way so we could get our car out. My bus had an air leak, and buses have had to be swapped around a lot in our area so I have been busy shunting vehicles up and down to Alavieska and Kokkola - and yesterday my bus's front fan packed up (motor end of its life? cable broken? switch broken? not the fuse - I checked) so another trip to Kokkola on Monday to get that seen to.
Driving conditions nothing too-exciting, ice and slush and rain and black ice and snow. But where is Winter? The rivers which froze before Christmas are now unfrozen.
And now planning for our next trip, BSS man then, and we need to sort out the welder and dry dock for June to get our shoe plates stuck on, to make a new sacrificial edge on both sides towards the rear of the boat, and perhaps some other minor welding here & there, and to look at the stern tube which could be replaced as there is 'play' in it, although we have been told not to bother as it could be more trouble than it's worth, especially as our is not leaking water anyway.
That will just be a little trip to Hungerford and back, providing the Kennet isn't being angry again.
And then we bought our plane tickets to Japan, 670 Euros/person, for April. Been invited to a wedding in Tokyo, but first we'll have 5 days in the Osaka/Wakayama/Kansai area, and after the wedding we get 5 days to explore northern Honshu by train
Gono Line
Akita Shinkansen E6-series 'Komachi'
