NarrowBoat Quidditch

Ahoy!

2011-01-14T09:17:00.007Z

Happy New Year...

Yes I know I never quite got around to publishing the second part of our Canada trip but to be quite honest, having said I'd keep this blog updated I'm really struggling to do so!

I find that all my blogging energies are now going into our sister blog 'Birding Afloat' and all our exploits in Canada can be found there anyway. Also the Brandon Marsh Report 2010, a place where I find myself spending endless hours, is also due out and I'm also privileged to be part of the compilation of this with responsibility for Amphibians and Reptile reports. So in a nutshell, at least for the time being, 'Narrowboat Quidditch' will be on hold.

Don't forget you can still follow us on 'Birding Afloat' and we look forward to seeing you there.

In addition you can also find us on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/boatbirder

.

Canadream Week 1

2010-10-07T19:44:00.002+01:00

Our RV Unit

Travelling around Canada in a Recreational Vehicle is something that we can highly recommend to anyone of any age and is something that we are already planning to do again next year. With an RV, you don't just get a vehicle - you get access to an entire lifestyle, which Dee and I can fully appreciate living aboard a traditional narrowboat as we do.

During our trip Dave, my long standing best mate, Dee and I completed just short of 1900Kms in 14 days and in 2 RV's, staying in some amazingly stunning places. Like the U.S, Canada is fully geared up for the RV way of life. There are campgrounds across Canada to suit everyone's taste. From large RV parks with every kind of luxury and amenity, to beautiful and remote wilderness camp sites, you can guess which ones we chose?

Colours of Fall

We began our trip at Calgary on September 17th with a planned route that would take us to Vancouver some 14 days later. Having picked up our RV on the Saturday afternoon our first stop was the local supermarket, where we fully stocked up our on board fridge and freezer, not forgetting the nearby Liquor Store!

After taking on provisions we made the relatively short journey, 50Kms to Ghost Lake, where we spent our first night in the wilderness. I say the wilderness as the campground had obviously closed for the winter and although the surrounding sights were wonderful there was no facilities on hand, having said that we enjoyed an excellent evening and were already getting into the swing of things.

Lake Louise

Our first full day on the road took us from Calgary to Banff where we were married last year, and having spent a few hours sightseeing and reminiscing we moved on in the early afternoon. A short while later we crossed from Alberta into British Columbia at the Atlantic/Pacific divide to our next overnight stop of Radium Springs. Here we stayed at Canyon RV Resort a really delightful place with very friendly staff and a cracking spot too, the local Creek running directly behind us where we had the pleasure of watching two American Dippers as they foraged for food.

Moraine Lake

The following day we had a dip in the famous hot springs at Radium before moving off to our next stop of Golden. Golden, bracketed by Glacier National Park to the west and Yoho National Park to the east, is right in the heart of some of the most pristine wilderness to be found in the Canadian Rockies and during our drive down we came across our first Bald Eagle perched high in one of the many Pine's. Upon arrival we stayed at the fantastic Eco-Adventure Ranch, one of our favourite stops.

A walk around the ranch and down towards the Kicking Horse River produced some interesting birds including another Bald Eagle and Osprey. However, the most intriguing part of the walk was the discovery of Black Bear and Coyote pooh found near the river, the Bear Pooh a big black mound full of berries!

Moving on from Golden we passed once again back into Alberta and stopped at Canada Parks Lake Louise RV site for the following two days. Here we spent our time visiting the famous Lake where we spent our honeymoon last year, plus the nearby Emerald Lake and Moraine Lake, which we were unable to visit last year because of snow blocking the route. We also took Dave to see the amazing Spiral Tunnels which takes the Canadian Pacific trains up a steep gradient and a place both Dee and I passed through last year on the Rocky Mountaineer.

Bow Summit

The longest day of our tour was from Lake Louise to Jasper (aprox. 236Km) where we passed over the Columbian Ice Fields and out of Banff National Park and through into Jasper National Park at the Saskatchewan Crossing. During the journey we stopped at Bow Summit and took the short walk to the top, ending up around 7,000ft.

Bow Summit is the height of land between the Bow River system, flowing southeast to Banff, and the Mistaya River flowing northwest. The view was simply awesome and is of a glacial-fed and brilliantly turquoise Peyto Lake. We were also delighted to make contact with a large flock of around 100 Cedar Waxwing swirling from tree to tree and showing beautifully in the brilliant sunshine. A few snow flurries at the higher levels of the Ice Fields to hinder us but we arrived safely in Jasper just before sunset, stopping over at another Canada Parks RV site on the outskirts of Town.

A visit to the town of Jasper before setting off once more, this time turning southwest towards Valemount and re-entering British Columbia.

To be continued.....................

France - August

2010-09-06T08:16:00.001+01:00

Chateau Glen, Ste Radegonde

We arrived at Poitiers (August 22nd) in the pouring rain for 3-days with Dee's parents, this time arriving from Stansted, Ryanair having now inconveniently stopped flying from the nearby Birmingham Airport.

The flight across was an interesting one having at one time skirted the outer edge of what looked to be a pretty large thunderstorm. Only lasting a short time but the turbulence was probably the worst I've experienced on a short haul flight.

The good thing about visiting Chateau Glen is not just the outstanding cuisine that we have the pleasure of sampling but the conversation and wine that always seems to flow and last until the early hours. I won't mention the constant beating I seem to suffer every time I meet Graham on the pool table.

This year the early summer rain torrents experienced in the area wiped out the cherry crop, so bang went my pre dinner walk munching cherries through the orchard. Mind you I still had an excellent choice of other crops such as plum, sweetcorn, pumpkin, courgettes and not to mention several varieties of tomato. Susan and Graham have also left a good part of the garden wild and so I spent some considerable time investigating what Butterflies I could find and came up with some gems, like this Silver-washed Fritillary.

Dee's parents are always good enough to lend us their second car and so getting around the locality is made an awful lot easier. On the Monday we decided to take the drive out to La Pinail, a nearby nature reserve we'd discovered on our last visit. The weather forecast for the day wasn't looking too good with prolonged periods of rain and quite a strong wind but we had a lovely visit with lots of Butterflies, the odd Lizard and some good bird species, we even managed to stay dry. After Pinail we took a drive around the locality and stopped at La Roche-Posay for a coffee and lunch. On the return journey to the house we managed to spot a Stone-Curlew, quite a bird rarity and only a few miles from the house, plus an almost white Common Buzzard, something I've never seen before!

Tuesday we set off mid-morning to Parc naturel regional de la Brenne. The Brenne is a patchwork of fishponds, heaths and red sandstone outcrops. Looking very natural, it's landscape has however been transformed by man, as early as the Middle Ages. Today with more than 2000 man made lakes, traditionally used for farm-fishing, the Brenne is of international importance for it's rich wildlife. The area has many hides and natural trails all waiting to be explored and we spent the remainder of the day visiting the hides and lakes.

We also enjoyed a glass of wine and lunch overlooking Etang (man-made lake) de la Gabriere in lovely sunshine before returning in the early evening.

Our flight back to the UK was uneventful but before leaving France we stopped off at Intermarche, a large supermarket at Poitiers to purchase a bottle of Pineau, one of Dee's favourites, which will go nicely with the various preserves her mum and dad had kindly provided us with. In fact were enjoying some marmalade (lemon & Lime) right now with our morning toast as I write this entry, delicious.

Were Back!

2010-08-13T22:05:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone and welcome to the re-designed 'Narrowboat Quidditch'. Yes were back blogging after quite an absence and after completing new templates for this and our sister blog 'Birding Afloat' were once again raring to go.

The canal at present is at it's busiest but we've managed to get out on numerous occasions and spent last night watching the Perseid Meteor Shower at our favourite mooring spot near Flecknoe, about a 90-minute cruise. You can check out the results by visiting 'Birding Afloat'. Dee has now settled into her new job at E-Global Drilling Corporation and has the title of Procurement and Travel Administrator, very sophisticated indeed. Of course with the new job comes the inevitable new car and so tomorrow we become a family of two Peugeot's when Dee takes delivery of her new 207.

As for myself, as well as being a boat husband, I'm still into my conservation work at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve and still spend several days a week on site. In fact the other members of the team are getting a little worried as I'll soon be taking over chain saw duties at the reserve, In order to qualify Ill be attending a five day course in October so hopefully that will abate thier fears.

Soon we will set off for a four day visit to France to visit Dee's mum and dad, and I'm personally looking forward to the fantastic cuisine over the period, shame the Cherry crop was ruined this year by the rains, I'll miss my pre dinner wander down the orchard. I also look forward to the birding and hopefully a bit of warmth as this month in the UK has been dreadful.

Looming fast is our trip to Canada at the back end of September, leaving from Heathrow for 2-weeks touring in a RV. The plan is to set off from Calgary, heading into the Rockies and from Banff, where we got married last year, the plan is to end up in Vancouver a fortnight later, taking in several National and Provincial Parks.

1st Anniversary

2010-05-31T21:19:00.016+01:00

Well it's been a considerable time since our last post and I did say that if there was anything worth posting about we would. Our trip to Spain and Portugal recently went exceptionally well, considering that the day before we were due to fly to Faro the airport was closed due to the ash cloud, and even during our weeks stay in Spain UK airports were also disrupted, including a closure at Birmingham.

Having arrived at Faro on May 13th we picked up our hire car for the week and headed across the border into Spain, then on to our destination at Isla Canela, about an hour later. We were booked into the Riu Atlantico Hotel a nice 4* hotel located next to the beach in this very idyllic part of Spain. On arrival the weather was decidedly chilly and as we explored the locality on our first evening fleece's were worn, by the time we left a week later temperatures were in the high 20s.

The holiday itself was mainly to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, yes it's been a year, but Dee and I managed to establish a happy medium with lots of birding and various sightseeing. For our birding exploits you can visit my birding blog linked here. On our first day we visited Donana National Park, a huge expanse of natural lagoons and forests, ideal for birding. On the Saturday we stayed local with a walk around the marina and then took a short drive to nearby Isla Christina, apparently Spain's busiest fishing port. The weather had begun to improve with the fair weather cloud dissipating to produce a cloudless sky, fortunately it stayed that way for the rest of the holiday.

Sunday 16th was our anniversary and we took a lovely, if not long and tiring walk near the town of Castro Marim, having driven back across the border into Portugal. The evening was spent back at the hotel and a lovely dinner to celebrate in the restaurant, followed by more drinks in the bar later.

Monday we made our own pilgrimage to what has be to one of the most amazing towns in Spain called El Rocio. The El Rocío pilgrimage is the most famous in the region, attracting nearly a million people from across Andalucia and the entire country, and beyond. Every Andalucian city, town and village has its own pilgrimages, for its patron saint, virgin or other much-loved local figure. But the El Rocio has cult status, and is the most important and most colourful.
The town of El Rocío is a sprawling, pretty Wild-West-style place (you tie your horse to a wooden rail with a sign saying "Reservado Caballos" - reserved for horses - while you have a drink or a meal), with sandy, unpaved roads (easier on the hooves). For a few days in late May or early June, Catholic hermandades (brotherhoods) and countless others flock from all over Andalucia, Spain, and beyond, to the town, to pay tribute to the Virgin del Roció, housed in her own church in the town (pictured above).

A 2-hour drive to Seville (pictured top right) for sightseeing on the Tuesday with temperatures in the low 30s. A provincial capital, seat of the government and parliament of the Comunidad Autónoma de Andalucía (Regional Government). It has more than 700,000 inhabitants, nearly half the population of the whole province. The city is located on the plain of the Guadalquivir river which crosses the city from North to South and there are a large number of churches, cathedrals and religious buildings to be found in this historic city, well worth a visit.
So a fantastic weeks holiday with some excellent birding and cultural visits, plus no problems whatsoever with our flights, sometimes I think were just blessed.

Blog on hold?

2010-03-29T09:39:00.004+01:00

Over dinner yesterday evening Dee and I had a quick conversation regarding our blog and the reasons why I hadn't updated it for a good while. Well to be honest I said, one of the main reasons was that the blog had originally been designed to keep our relatives and friends up to speed with our travels while moving around the waterways.

Although 'Quidditch' is our home we haven't had the opportunity to take her out for the past 2 summers, except for holidays and weekends, and so therefore there hasn't been much to report in that area. Trying to find material to blog about on everyday life issues such as work etc can be challenging, and boring too for our reader.

Currently I'm very heavily into my conservation work at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve and Dee, who I'm proud to say has recently been head-hunted, is just about to start her new venture in the oil and diamond drilling industry, phew, that sounds impressive! Those who know me can see that all of my blogging time is now dedicated to my birding and conservation work, a blog which I call Birding Afloat and thoroughly enjoy producing and which surprisingly enough has many subscribers, including the RSPB and Wildfowl Trust.

So to the reader of this blog I can only apologise that the updates have been thin on the ground of late, but I can promise you that if anything of interest is worth blogging about, such as our next trip to Portugal and Spain and our tour of Canada in the autumn, I'll certainly let you know. This blog is not completely dead yet!

Another Year

2009-12-22T08:48:00.008Z

So here we are, almost at the end of another year and due to other commitments, not the very least getting married, I suddenly realise we've had very little time out on the cut this year.

Our travels have taken us to France several times to visit Dee's parents, which also included a visit aboard Narrowboat-Hoddydod with our dear friends Pat & John, where we cruised the Canal De Bourgogne and the River Soane. We also visited Dee's dad in Spain where we had an excellent time and Dee had a fantastic trip to Lapland earlier this month. Our close friend Dave has now returned from Dubai and positioned back to the Hague in Holland and while Dee was visiting her gran in Aberdeen on a couple of occasions I took the opportunity to visit him twice, dragging him around all the good birding sites of Holland!!
However, the highlight of the year was getting married in Banff, Canada, a wonderful experience, especially our trip aboard The Rocky Mountaineer and a real thanks must go to everyone for their gifts and best wishes, especially my best man Dave who flew out for a week to join us.

As far as Quidditch is concerned she had her regular bi-yearly hull blacking in April at Welford but now over 5 years old I'm sad to say that her beautiful paintwork is now beginning to bloom and lose that well polished shine. Having said that she's still immaculate inside and this spring it's my intention to bring her back to life externally with a good pampering and try and restore some of her original beauty. She still remains our home and we wouldn't change that for the world, living on the water was the dream and still remains so!

We're now settled into our Christmas cottage, mum @ 90 this year can't really manage hoping on and off the boat, and with more plans to visit France, Portugal and Canada once more in 2010 it only remains to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

From Spain to France

2009-09-27T14:09:00.018+01:00

Over the past couple of weeks Dee and I have had an excellent time visiting relatives in Spain and friends in France!
Firstly we spent a week in Spain with Dee's dad Gordon (pictured with Dee) and his wife Jane in Torrevieja, a 45 minute drive from Alicante. We flew out to Alicante with Monarch from Birmingham on September 13th, returning the following week.

It was a good job we didn't visit Spain for the weather as we were treated to some spectacular thunderstorms on most evenings but the temperature remained comfortable throughout our stay and at least one of us (me!) took the option of a swim in the pool during our stay!

Early in the week we visited Gordon and Jane's new flat, which is on the 17th floor of an apartment block right in the centre of Alicante. A beautiful outlook (Pictured top-left with a good view of the bull-ring) but not something that really appealed to me as I'm terrified of heights!!

Having hired a car for the week we were able to spend some time at La Mata Natural Park Nature Reserve on a couple of occasions, a full report available on my Birding Blog. Midweek we went bowling with Gordon, Jane, Miranda, Dee's sister and her boyfriend Carlos. Both Dee and I played appallingly, however we did get our own back on the pool table later in the evening.
On our final night we were treated to an outstanding meal at The Budepest, a fantastic Hungarian restaurant on the outskirts of Torreveija. Disappointingly for me, due to horrible man-flu which I'd picked up earlier in the week I couldn't taste a damn thing!!
Thank you to Gordon, Jane and Miranda for a fantastic week and for looking after us so well.

After a few days back aboard Quidditch in the UK we took the Eurostar from the new International Terminal at Ebbsfleet on the 20th and picked up with our dear friends Pat & John in Dijon, after a further 2 hour rail journey. (pictured below) J & P have been our boating friends for over 4 years and in 2006 transported their narrowboat across the channel to Calais and have cruised the French system each summer ever since.

..

After joining we cruised from Dijon aboard Hoddydod (pictured left) along the Canal De Bourgogne through to St Jean De Losne where we joined the River Saone and headed north. Unlike Spain the weather was absolutely outstanding with cloudless skies and temperatures in the mid 20's, which meant we could BBQ on two occasions. It's amazing how different the French system is in relation to our own with the French canals and rivers still being used commercially, there also a lot wider and therefore so are the boats! Having said that we encountered more narrowboats on the system since our last visit 2 years ago but as ever the narrowboats always get the attention! Our journey ended when we put in at St Jean De Losne on Friday afternoon, which is also HoddyDods home port. Yet another excellent week on the French system!

Autumn Looms

2009-08-26T18:55:00.005+01:00

Well as we head towards the autumn the best way to sum up the British summer so far is that it was a marked improvement on last year! Although writing this post you wouldn't think so as the remnants of Hurricane Bill passes over the UK.

Typical really as Dee and I prepare for an extended Bank Holiday Weekend on the cut, not that were going that far from Wigram's due to other commitments!

We've been married now for just over 3 months and I still can't get used to seeing Mrs Yates on various documents that drop in. I keep thinking why on earth is my mother having her post sent here. Only kidding Dee!! Seriously though Dee and I would like to thank everyone for their cards and gifts, some of which were incredibly generous.

Anyway as an update for the family, this September is a busy month with a trip to Spain, Torrevieja to be precise, for a short visit to see Dee's dad. Then a few days after returning we're off to France to visit our adopted parents Johnny and Pat on their narrowboat Hoddydod, currently moored in Paris, something we always look forward to. We'll probably stay until they get fed up with us!

Plans are currently underway for our return trip to Canada next September, having fallen in love with the country when staying in Banff for our wedding. This time the plan is to hire a couple of RV Motor homes and to travel from Calgary to Vancouver across The Rockies, taking in the National and Provincial Parks. Amazingly we'll be accompanied by the third member of this marriage, my best man Dave! We've already chosen our motor home, pictured above, and await his choice, so get your skates on Holloway!!

From a boating perspective the area remains extremely busy and for probably the first time since opening, Wigram's Marina will be almost to capacity by the time everyone puts in for the winter.

Great Escape

2009-07-03T08:07:00.013+01:00

During the recent heatwave Dee and I decided to escape the full sunshine we normally encounter at the marina for the relative coolness that comes from mooring under a large willow tree! With temperatures on board reaching a staggering 37C we decided to take action on Tuesday evening, living aboard a steel narrowboat does have the occasional downfall!

We moored at our favourite bridge 101, about an hours cruise from the marina towards Braunston and only a 7-minute walk to the nearest road bridge. This allowed us to have transport at our disposal, having strategically positioned our cars prior to departing. With Dee not rostered off work until this weekend this is an ideal location and also enables me to attend my voluntary duties at Brandon Marsh.

As coincidence would have it, friends of ours who we met when moored at the Thames & Kennet marina several years ago, and who live aboard their narrowboat NB-Nesta, were also in the vicinity and so for the duration we've enjoyed their company alongside. It was great to see them once more and we literally spent the few days together just chilling out on the towpath in the shade of the willow and barbecuing on the Wednesday evening. As Dee pointed out, last year we only managed to barbecue the once due to the poor summer but this year year we're already up to three!

The plan was to return to the marina today, Friday 3rd, due to other commitments and as luck would have it the weather finally broke, producing cooler conditions after heavy rain in the early morning. Having said our goodbyes to Graham & Hazel I took the cruise back to the marina single handed as Dee had left for work in pouring rain around 8am. Leaving at around 1.15pm the weather cleared nicely and the cruise back was a pleasant one arriving back at Wigram's at about 3pm in lovely sunshine.

French Weekend

2009-06-19T10:26:00.010+01:00

We arrived back aboard Quidditch at around midnight on Tuesday after our Ryanair flight from Poitiers, unusually without complaint!

We've just spent an excellent long weekend with Dee's mum and dad who live near Chavigny, France. This was obviously our first visit since getting married in May and so for me a first visit to the in-laws, they'll thank me for that one! Having retired to France several years ago Susan and Graham have been converting their house, which is now in the final stages of completion and looks really stunning. The house is set in beautiful grounds with a good number of fruit trees and I'm missing already my stroll around eating those delicious cherries prior to dinner.

Having arrived on Saturday evening we were treated to Champagne in celebration of our nuptials and as per usual an excellent dinner. On the Sunday Dee and I drove the two hours to La Rochelle (pictured) and spent the day sightseeing. La Rochelle is situated in south-western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, looking out on to the Atlantic Ocean. We enjoyed excellent weather with a temperature around 25C and after a long walk along the quay we took the little ferry across the bay and enjoyed some good food and beer in a bistro overlooking the harbour. In the evening we barbecued.

After breakfast on Monday we had a drive out towards Archigny but because of my usual birdwatching exploits, a drive which should have taken 10 minutes took well over an hour! You can read my thoughts on this by clicking on my birding blog in the side-bar. We took a diversion from our initial destination when we noticed a sign to Pinail Nature Reserve and were delighted with our discovery. The reserve, a result of millstone quarrying, has given way to a mosaic of over 3,000 ponds which are surrounded by moor and heathland rich in rare flora and fauna. Although the birding was fantastic the highlight were the Common Green Frogs, which have an incredible mating call, indescribable in writing. We had a brilliant couple of hours in showery conditions touring the reserve before moving on to our original destination of Saint Cyr Lake, a magnificent natural environment over 300 hectares, which includes a 85 hectare lake you can walk around. In the evening we barbecued once more and after an excellent dinner retired inside to inaugurate the new pool table which had just been installed, well done Graham on your win!!

Tuesday, our final day, started with a walk around the local area where we heard Nightingale singing and came across great numbers of butterfly, including one of my favourites, the Marbled White. The remainder of the day (28C) was spent out and about once more and this time we took a drive out into the Brenne National Park and after stopping on many occasions to take in the wildlife came across Reserve Naruralle Cherine. The main entrance to the reserve incredibly appeared to be closed but we did discover 2 hides we managed to visit. The first was notable for the many European Pond Tortoise which Dee really enjoyed and the second hide appeared to be the main one, with great views of a number of excellent species such as Great White Egret and a colony of noisy Black Headed Gulls. After returning to the house and packing for the flight home we enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner with some excellent home-made ginger beer.

Thank you to Susan and Graham for looking after us so well (as usual) the great food, wine and conversation and as ever the use of the car.

Rocky Mountaineer

2009-05-26T04:54:00.009+01:00

Our return to the UK on Sunday as a married couple begins a new era in our lives but we leave Canada behind with some vivid memories and an immediate passion to return. As yet I've not posted anything on one of the highlights of our trip The Rocky Mountaineer. The problem lies in the amount of information needed to describe such an incredible journey, the sights we encountered were altogether breathtaking. Below is the most briefest of descriptions.

Having spent our first couple of days sightseeing in Vancouver we arrived at the Rocky Mountaineer Station at around 6.30am on the 10th to board the train for our dream journey. Having received the traditional call of “all aboard” we took our seats as Gold passengers in the observation deck and enjoying bucks-fizz left for our first stop of Kamloops, which was approximately 10 hours away. We could not have asked for better weather, 20C and cloudless skies.

The Kicking Horse Route named for the pass over which it crosses the Canadian Rockies takes you between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Banff, Alberta. This route traces the historic transcontinental rail line that united Canada's East and West and includes, amongst other highlights, the legendary Spiral Tunnels.

Leaving the outskirts of Vancouver it wasn’t long before the snow-capped Coast Mountains came into view, soaring majestically to heights of over 9,000ft. After a breakfast of salmon, scrambled eggs and caviar, served in the lower deck, we continued our journey alongside the fast running Fraser River with breathtaking views, passing the famous Fort Langley en route. Continuing on we had great views of Mount Baker (10,778ft) which lies across the border in the USA and by this time we had already had sightings of several Bald Eagle and Osprey.

After lunch we left the Fraser River and began to follow the Thomson River that would accompany us through to Kamloops. Indeed the name Kamloops is an old First Nation word meaning joining of the rivers. Here the landscape took a distinct change, being slightly more baron and filled with Ponderosa Pine. It was shortly after this we first sighted a Black Bear, who was foraging alongside the river, an astonishing site! We arrived in Kamloops at 5.14 pm with vivid memories of some breathtaking scenery, incredible wildlife and were taken by coach to the Thomson Hotel after what can only be described as a most incredible day.

We were picked up at 6.15am the following morning and returned to the Mountaineer for day 2 of this inspiring journey. A short while after leaving we bid farewell to the Thomson River and joined the Eagle River which would accompany us for a short while. Later we passed the stone cairn of Craigellachie where the last railroad spike was driven linking Canada’s railway from coast to coast. The landmark is named after a large rock in Banffshire County, Scotland where Donald Smith, who drove in the last spike, had grown up.

Still enjoying stunning scenery we crossed the Columbian River, the 3rd largest in Canada climbing a further 2500ft where we encountered two more Black Bear. Shortly after, we crossed into Rocky Mountain country and incredibly the scenery became even more stunning. We eventually arrived in Banff, our chosen wedding venue, at around 5.30pm having had one of the most amazing experiences of our lives and one which will live forever.

Our route is perhaps the most scenic & certainly the most historically-significant route to choose, as it travels over the famous Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's first trans-continental line opened in 1885. It's the original 'Rocky Mountaineer' route on which the company first started in 1990, when the last regular passenger trains on the line were discontinued. You'll pass Castle Mountain, the pretty station at Lake Louise, the continental divide, the much-photographed Stoney Creek bridge, the site of the 1885 'Last Spike' and the wonderfully-scenic Thompson & Fraser river canyons.

First Photos

2009-05-20T05:45:00.007+01:00

Hi everyone, managed to get a few photos uploaded! More to follow on our return.

Back @ the Hotel and the Ceremony on Bow River.

Mr & Mrs Yates

2009-05-19T15:33:00.003+01:00

Just a quick update on things in Canada as posting from my IPhone is a real chore!

Well I'm delighted to report that the wedding day went off without any drama and we are now a happily married couple. The weather leading up to the day was certainly a worry with a major snow storm only two days prior and the locals telling us that it's the worst May for many a year.

However, someone up there must have been watching and as by magic the temperature on Saturday went up by an astonishing 18c from Friday to 20C for the day, with a beautiful sunny sky.

We were married at a secluded spot we had chosen some days earlier next to the Bow River with the amazing Mount Rundle as a backdrop. The ceremony was informal, just as we'd wanted, and was performed by the local marriage commissioner, Patricia Compton, who was an absolute star! During the ceremony we were joined by two White Tailed Deer who had come to the river for a drink, an incredible sight and one that will live on forever.

We'll post lots of pictures upon our return but would like to thank everyone for their cards, emails, flowers and even phone calls wishing us well on the day and for the future.
As I write this post from the Fairmont Hotel, Lake Louise, looking down from our bedroom window I can tell you that the lake is frozen, the snow is once again falling and the temperature is 0C, which makes Saturday even more astonishing!

Best Mans Blog

2009-05-15T17:49:00.003+01:00

Our Best-Man Dave has produced his own personal blog for our trip to canada which can be viewed Here

Banff T-Minus 3 days!

2009-05-13T15:51:00.007+01:00

Greetings from Banff, Alberta (pictured), T-minus 3 more days to the wedding!
Well where do I start, our 2 day trip on the Rocky Mountaineer exceeded all expectations. Leaving Vancouver on day 1 of the rail trip the weather could not have been better. Clear blue skies and a temperature of around 15C left us with panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, but more on this later.

On arrival in Vancouver we were upgraded to a Premium Room which meant the 27th floor overlooking the Harbour, the nearby Seaplane jetty and the Cruise Line Terminal. Once we'd dealt with the jetlag we spent our 2 clear days sightseeing using the city tour bus, which your able to hop on and off. We toured the excellent Granville Island which is a large harbour area hosting the cities market.
During our 2 days in Vancouver we also spent a good deal of time within Stanley Park, a huge area of woodland and sea views which boasts over 22 miles of nature walks. We were lucky enough to see Black Squirrel, Belted Kingfisher and our first Bald Eagle.

To sum up Vancouver it is a quite unremarkable city boasting the usual highrise office blocks and hotels but the harbour and surrounding mountains make it a wonderful place to spend a couple of days and the people are friendly too.
I'll post our experiences of the Rocky Mountaineer later as were now about to leave in our hired SUV for a tour of Banff, this will be to select the actual spot of our marriage on Saturday! Lets hope we dont get a similar days weather as yesterday when we had 3 inches of snow!!!

Our Big May Day

2009-05-01T10:12:00.015+01:00

May has finally arrived and what a month it's going to be for the Quidditch household! After almost 9 years this month will see Dee and I officially tie the knot in Banff Canada.

We fly out to Vancouver for 3 days before catching the Rocky Mountaineer for a 2 day rail trip to Banff, here we'll be married in the open air overlooking the Rocky Mountains. From Banff we set off to Lake Louise for our 4 day honeymoon, before driving up to Calgary for our return flight home!

April has been a more hectic month as you can imagine with both of us celebrating our final days of being single and completing the many tasks required to plan the trip. Dee spent an excellent weekend at a Hotel with friends enjoying food, wine and more wine, plus the usual facilities on offer at a spa hotel.

I on the other hand spent the weekend visiting my life long friend and best man in Holland (not Amsterdam!) enjoying some good food, conversation and plenty of cycling. Dee has made an amazing effort in planning the whole trip and wedding and I watched and listened in admiration as she went through a step by step itinerary yesterday evening.

April has also seen a continuation of my conservation work at Brandon Marsh. The fact that Dee has made things so painlessly easy over the month in the planning of the trip has meant that I was able to spend a considerable amount of time down there, as you may be aware if your a regular reader of my birding blog.

Finally thanks to P & D who'll be boat sitting for us while were away, watch my paintwork and keep an eye on the blog for updates while were in Canada, were very grateful to you both.

Done and Dusted

2009-04-07T22:33:00.012+01:00

Well we arrived back from our hull blacking this evening (April 7th) at around 5.30pm, having moored overnight at Bridge 100, in windy and tricky conditions. Fortunately we managed to back Quidditch on to our pontoon unscathed!

The return journey from Welford was uneventful, and we actually managed to complete both the Braunston and Crick tunnels without any oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, at the Watford Gap Flight we were held up, for what seemed an eternity, by a painstakingly slow hire boat coming up the locks! The hull blacking was completed according to schedule and as expected we also had to replace the tiller bearing, as it was absolutely shot.
As ever Les did an excellent all round job and when we arrived back from our hotel, having enjoyed excellent food, jacuzzi, sauna and swimming, Quidditch had already been re floated and was ready to go.

I also have to make comment on the cruising conditions of the Leicester Section of the Grand Union, which was literally a pig to navigate. With the water levels a good foot below what I believe to be the normal level, I found myself making constant tiller adjustments to stay in a straight line, on several occasions we were almost grounded. No one's fault, simply due I would imagine to the recent lack of rain.

Also a big hello to Del and Al, NB-Derwent6, who we passed coming through Braunston. Having had a brief hello in passing it appears they are both readers of our blog. Both Dee and I thought your boat was absolutely beautiful and good luck on your travels.

**Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday emails, cards and text messages, there very much appreciated.

Welford in a Day?

2009-04-01T19:21:00.007+01:00

With the dry dock booked for hull blacking this Thursday at the Welford Arm, we set off from Wigram’s yesterday evening and moored at our favoured bridge 100, this would give us a good start this morning.

Setting off at 9am under a cloudless blue sky we managed to complete the Braunston Flight of six locks in less than 90 minutes. Although the flight are double locks we went through alone as the canal was remarkably quiet. The next step of the journey was the Braunston Tunnel. Opened in 1796, to bore through the Northampton heights, the tunnel is 2042 yards long. Its construction was hindered by quicksands, and a mistake in direction whilst building has given it a slight S bend, so navigation is intersting. We almost managed to make it through without any oncoming traffic until literally 100 yards from the end, when two boats headed in.

We made a steady pace and took the turn at Norton Junction onto the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal around 11.30am, and headed for Watford Gap Locks. Here we have to contact the lock keeper before proceeding as the six locks consist of a staircase of four, and the traffic either way is alternated.

We passed through without delay and then took the Crick Tunnel around 1.30pm, note to self: put a brolly up! 1528 yards long, this tunnel was opened in 1814. All tunnels built in this area suffered great problems in construction. As with the Braunston Tunnel, quicksand’s caused the route to be changed and greatly affected work. Stephenson also found similar difficulties when building the nearby Kilsby Tunnel for the London to Birmingham railway.

After emerging from Crick we made steady progress and finally moored for the day at Bridge 27, Mountain Barn Bridge, at 3.30pm. We may even have continued on, were it not for a lack of power, this due to the propeller having a substantial weed build up, probably due to this stretch being quite shallow at present. After mooring I took a nice walk through a local wood, and Dee had a nap, having worked most of the locks alone she deserved it too!
Anyway, only six miles to complete in the morning, and a great effort to get this far in such a short time!

Another Month!

2009-02-28T11:00:00.012Z

As another month passes by and the daffodils and crocus are starting to appear are we in for another cold spell to the beginning of March? The much milder second half of February that we are experiencing continues through to the end of the month before the new month brings a pattern change. Even some significant accumulations of snow are on the cards once more in a very unsettled start! In like a lion and hopefully out like a lamb so the saying goes.

Anyway for the first time this year we've been out onto the system having been unable to travel due to the icy conditions of previous weeks. I took the cruise out alone on Sunday as Dee was working but now she has her own set of wheels things are much simpler. Mooring up around bridge 101 enabled Dee to drive over afterwards, parking at a spot which is a 10 minute towpath walk to our 3 day mooring. We had an excellent 3 days with only about a dozen boats passing us during our stay. A pleasant change to the hoards of weekend traffic that now appear on this particular stretch. What was striking is the amount of work now being carried out by British Waterways (pictured) in relation to tow path repair. The banks looked in far better condition than on previous cruises and a lot of armco metal protection was being installed. However, no room for complacency as a lot more work is still required.

For me my conservation work is still continuing in earnest at Brandon Marsh and I find myself spending more and more time on the reserve. I'm now looking forward to the coming months as the other team members tell me that as Spring arrives, naturally so do our Summer resident birds. I look forward with great anticipation.
We made our annual jaunt to the National Boat and Caravan Outdoor Show at the Birmingham NEC on the 18th and were not really surprised to find a somewhat smaller show. Having said that the displays of narrowboats on offer seems to have increased, a sign of hard selling in difficult times maybe!

For those of you subscribers to our blog who are interested in how the heating is going (Johnny for one) I can report that a breakdown of 2 hours is the only hitch this winter. A choked up glow plug and wick being the downfall on this occasion. The Kabola however is another matter with regular cleaning required, even though I fully serviced it in October. A real fire installation draws ever closer.
A far as Red Diesel is concerned and the loss of our rebated price last November we are not suffering as yet. Currently we are using all purchased supplies for heating, with the exception of last weeks cruise and in fairness to our marina are getting a further 10p a litre discount as a moorer, 57P the current price for heating. To avoid any confusion and not having a second fuel tank I've safely rigged up a double jerry can system into the engine bay compartment and am using this solely to feed the Mikuni central heating system. It works perfectly with a weekly top up.

Well not much more to report for February, the wedding plans for Canada in May are on track and Dee is flying off to Scotland for the week so It will be birding all the way for me next week. That's the feathered kind of course!!! Talking of which I'm delighted to have completed my new birding blog which can be accessed here or from the side bar.

Time Well Spent

2009-01-29T19:16:00.014Z

Just prior to Christmas I was lucky enough to discover a group of individuals who give up there time every Thursday and spend the daylight hours maintaining the excellent Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve(pictured).

Located on the banks of the River Avon near Coventry the group are known as The Brandon Marsh Voluntary Conservation Team. I decided to give it a go and join up and I have not been disappointed! Every Thursday since mid December I've reported for duty and given up my time along with the other members to tend the woods & marshes of the reserve. I've met some wonderful people over the weeks and have been literally inspired by the commitment & enthusiasm of the members. I was shocked by one member today who informed me that he was just about to turn 70. Another of the long term members & founders of the team is an amazing 82 years young. Looking at the before and after photographs of the reserve and seeing it first hand its plain to see what an astonishing difference the team have made over the years. Quite literally extra land leased to the reserve by Warwickshire council known as Newlands has been turned from woodland into a thriving marshland. This has allowed species such as Bittern, Cetti's Warbler and Barn own, the latter of which bred last year in the newly placed Owl boxes, to flourish.
I joined with an open mind and with the intention of learning at least 3 new things every visit. I've already lost count. Being an enthusiastic birdwatcher I also join a number of the members every Tuesday for a trek around the reserve and have so far been lucky enough to see Bittern and Water Rail, two species not on my Life List. Over the weeks I've re-established my love of birdwatching and thanks to other members can now identify more species by call. This post is a thank you to the team for allowing me to be a part and being able to make a difference.
I'm now joined by another member of the boating fraternity who decided to accompany me last week and has also got the bug.

Big Freeze Continues

2009-01-06T17:28:00.004Z

Well we're now almost 7 days into the new year and still waiting for the temperature to struggle above freezing at night.

The ultimate was last night we're the on-board weather station recorded a temperature of -9.8C. As you can see from the picture the marina currently resembles a scene from the Arctic. The ice in the foreground was churned up by one of our 'Ice-Breaker' boats and I measured it at almost 2 inches thick!
Always one for a challenge I took the opportunity to break out myself and plough through the 250 yards to the marina office for water & diesel, the jetty water points are naturally frozen and currently switched off so we were getting desperately low on water. Probably just as well that Quidditch is due for hull blacking in the Spring as the hull took a total battering during the short voyage! I have to say that being literally frozen in is quite an experience and one we've encountered before but not for such a sustained period. Things literally do go bump in the night.
Around 4am this morning we we're woken by a loud bang that seemed to vibrate through the whole boat, almost as though someone had ploughed into us. I can only surmise that the ice has somehow compacted around us and then crushed under the pressure. It happened again around an hour later.
Anyway I'm delighted to report that our central heating is performing beyond expectations, last year the system literally failed once a week but since I completely rebuilt the thing in November it's not failed us once. Our Kabola Diesel fire literally runs 24/7 and sustains an on-board temperature of around 23C, dropping to about 18C in the early hours before the heating cuts in.

Wigram's Xmas Dinner 08

2008-12-12T10:40:00.007Z

A good time was had by all at the first Wigram's Turn Marina Xmas Dinner.

Is that 2 bottles of wine or 4 Michael?

Having now been part of marina communities for a little over 4 years Dee and I thought it was about time we sprang into action to arrange our first Wigram's Xmas dinner. Having had a successful BBQ at the marina this summer hosted by the management and the hope of possibly more events arranged by the moorers, things seemed to come to a grinding halt.
Wigram's is home to nearly 200 narrowboats and is split into 2 main sections, the 'East Side' and the 'West Side'. Located on the West Side it's normal for us to meet other's who are located nearby however, the East Side remains a mystery!! We often see mysterious figures silhouetted against the full moon shuffling down the East pontoons wondering "Who the hell is that" or "What are that lot up to over there". Of course we do class the West Side as the upper crust of the Marina!
But seriously though such is the build of the marina that you can literally go a whole year without meeting other moorers. What better way to get to know them than to arrange a little get together. So on Thursday December 11th the very first Wigram's Xmas Dinner was held at the Boat Inn, Stockton. A big thanks to Tina & Paul the landlords of the Boat and their hard-working staff and & big thanks to Brian our excellent marina manager for laying on the transport. Notable absentee's were James & Claire off NB-Radish who unfortunately were unable to join us. Get well soon chaps. I've put a montage of photographs, at least the one's that weren't blurred, into our album. You can get a bigger version of the photo's by clicking HERE. and then just click on the image you want to resize.

Quidditch First?

2008-11-15T08:56:00.007Z

Is Quidditch the first Narrowboat in the UK to be equipped with Radar?

Being a real flight enthusiast and if the truth be known a bit of a 'geek' I couldn't resist the purchase of the latest in new technology.
AirNav RadarBox is the closest you can be to real world aviation without leaving your chair thanks to next generation Radar decoding. By decoding *ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast) radar signals I'm able to see on my computer screen what real Air Traffic Controllers see on their screens and in Real-Time. Flight number, aircraft type, altitude, heading, speed are all updated each second. Included is the award winning software interface developed by the world's leader in flight tracking and monitoring solutions, Airnav Systems. If you click on the screen shot above you can see the information as it's displayed on my computer.
You'll notice in the centre of the screen a + sign denoting the exact position of Quidditch which I'm able to obtain from my on-board GPS. By coincidence our mooring appears to be almost in the exact centre of England! I's amazing how busy the skies are above us. The right hand screen shows all aircraft in 'real-time' who are equipped with *ADS-B that are within the range of my aerial, which quite frankly is astonishing considering where actually in a dip. Then again these aircraft are anything between 1,000 & 40,00ft.
The left hand screen has the information for each aircraft in more detail, this also includes all aircraft that are not equipped with *ADS-B but are within range. Uniquely too the program actually downloads a photograph of the specific aircraft and adds it to my database. In the example the highlighted aircraft is Continental Airlines which as you can see is travelling from Houston to Paris. I was actually able to locate and see this aircraft through my binoculars.
On to other matters and just a quick thanks to Johnny & Pat who joined us at Dee's holiday cottage last week to celebrate Dee's **th birthday. Great to see you guys as ever and were already looking forward to New Year Eve. By the way the pictures are on the way.

Red Diesel

2008-10-19T11:27:00.007+01:00

Well as November 1st looms ever closer and the world as we know it for us narrow boaters changes forever I thought it would be worth putting the official word on Red Diesel pricing!

The final announcement on red diesel has been greeted with confusion from some boaters but the authorities are hoping owners will act responsibly to ensure the new system runs without hitches.

The system requires private boat owners to declare, every time they fill up, what percentage of fuel they will be using for propulsion and what for domestic purposes, such as heating. The retailer will calculate the duty according to each declaration. The system is clearly open to abuse but confirming the new rules at the PSP Southampton Boat Show the British Marine Federation (BMF), RYA (Royal Yachting Association) and Inland Waterways Association (IWA) warned HM Customs & Excise do have powers of investigation if they hear of dubious claims. The authorities also said the system might be tweaked after the first few months if necessary.

The new system comes into being on 1 November 2008, after the European Commission decided last year that private leisure boaters in the UK could no longer use low-duty diesel. Ironically, since that decision was made, the price of waterside diesel has rocketed at many marinas to a point where the new full-duty prices will be barely noticeable for some. However the change in price could force some owners to seriously restrict or change their boating habits, as a litre of red diesel for propulsion purposes will now cost at least the same as a a litre of roadside diesel. Red diesel for non-propulsion purposes will be sold at the current lower-duty rate.

The statement released by the BMF, RYA and IWA reads as follows.

"Following extensive cooperation with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), private pleasure craft owners will be able to continue to use red diesel for propulsion use, but at a modified duty rate. Red diesel at a rebated rate will still be available for domestic purposes, such as heating and lighting. Recreational boaters will declare the percentage of fuel to be used for propulsion and domestic use respectively. HMRC have provided advice on calculating this percentage spilt which includes the following: 'It is for the purchaser to declare the percentage of fuel used for propulsion. However, analysis by both the industry and HMRC suggests that a split of 60% for propulsion and 40% for domestic use (heating, cooking etc) probably reflects most people's use and it is therefore likely that many users will declare such an apportionment. 'Registered Dealers in Controlled Oils (RCDO) will need to account to HMRC for any additional duty they receive from recreational boaters. RCDOs already owe a general duty of care to ensure that they only make supplies of controlled oil for legitimate uses. Howard Pridding, Executive Director of the BMF said: "While no-one is going to pretend that the duty increase on red diesel is a good thing, we are pleased that HMRC has provided a simple and user friendly framework for suppliers and boaters. Availability was a key concern so we are particularly pleased that recreational craft users and fuel suppliers can continue to use red diesel. "HMRC has listened to the concerns of industry and boaters and has produced a manageable solution to an unwelcome but unavoidable change in the law." Gus Lewis, Legal and Government Affairs Manager at the RYA added: "The UK Government and HMRC have consistently supported us on the red diesel issue, including seeking (albeit unsuccessfully) an extension of the UK's derogation for the use of red diesel that expired on 31 December 2006. "We hope the framework will reduce disruption for boaters and suppliers and help mitigate the impact of the change in duty."

Well there is is! We shall see as the months progress how the new system pans out.

Autumn Arrives!

2008-10-01T22:23:00.007+01:00

Well after our mini India Summer the Autumn finally arrives with it's usually wet and windy blast!

I'm a great believer in 'sods' law so it was no surprise to us when one week into the need for warmth our Mikuni central heating unit did it's usually dieing act. I'm close to giving up on the useless piece of **** and it now sits stripped out on the engine room floor. Having only purchased the thing slightly over 2 years ago for just over £1,000 and fitting it myself it's been nothing short of a complete waste of money. Especially since we've now spent over another £400 in the last 6 months on a burnt out control box and numerous glow plugs! I really don't know what to do with it next. The plan now is to take it down to Justin at Braunston, who although a Mikuni specialist, will tell you quite openly that their a load of crap anyway! Once fully serviced, again, I intend running the damn thing directly from a jerry can on white diesel. This will at least dispel or prove the theory that their just as crap on red or white!! Mikuni will always argue that they should only run on white diesel despite selling hundreds to us poor unsuspecting narrowboat owners. I use the usual ongoing argument that I have 2 friends who both run their units on red and have no problems whatsoever, one of those also uses the same diesel supplier as me. Good job I fully serviced our Kabola fire during the summer or we really would be up the creek without a paddle this coming winter.
On a more astonishing note Dee surprised us all by declaring that she now wanted to get herself back behind the wheel! Having passed her driving test some 10 years ago she has never driven since or even expressed an interest in owning her own car. I can feel a Quidditch banking crisis of it's own looming. Not withstanding, off we went in search of a car, the plan being for something small & economical! As luck would have it we found just the thing in the shape of a Deawoo Matiz (pictured above) a cute little car with a 3 cylinder 1 litre engine, air conditioning and one of those things that bleep just before you reverse into the car behind! Very handy. The only thing I can't believe is even though it's a tiny engine the road tax still sets you back £135!
Well for me the season is almost over for my 'Saturday Job'. Since July I've been working for the marina and Black Prince Holidays looking after the customers on show around and tutoring those who've never been at the helm of a narrowboat before. It gives me the opportunity to have some input regarding the behaviour of a minority of holidaymakers we've witnessed using our waterways. Speeding, environment, courtesy and so forth. I've enjoyed it, not the very least for some of the antics of the workforce either! enough said.
Well in general the marina is starting to fill slowly with winter moorers however, it's still only around 2/3rd's full, mainly I think due to the price hike last year by the new owners, a decision which in my opinion has damaged the marina's reputation. It'll be interesting to see what happens to Ventnor Marina now the same consortium has purchased it.
For Dee and I it still is the best marina around for the outlook, wildlife and accessibility to the local area, not to mention the 3 options being on a canal junction provides, Braunston, Oxford or Warwick. In fairness things have settled quite nicely down here now with our new manager Brian settled in. We even had a barbeque this year paid for entirely by the management. Quess who was chef?

New Feature

2008-09-16T15:13:00.007+01:00

Ahoy shipmates, it's been a while since our last confession! Well I think August 4th was our last post so I thought it was about time I gave the blog a little boost.

As I was wondering about the marina earlier today I noticed a couple of Ravens overhead hawking a poor old Buzzard who was simply trying to enjoy his well caught breakfast nestled on his usual roosting spot. Having not yielded his prey the two Ravens finally got fed up and departed noisily to the East.

Having considered recently my disappointing lack of blog entries this year due to us not travelling out this Summer I was looking at ways to revamp slightly and starting a new regime of regular posts. Being a keen twitcher (Bird Watcher to you non UK viewers) and having spotted my first Red Kite to this area recently plus a brief visit from a passing Wheatear the other day I had a brainwave. Quite often I'm asked by other moorers who are aware of my keen interest in wildlife if anything interesting has been seen or heard on or around the marina. So, as the title suggests I decided to add one of my hobbies to our blog. Wigram's Twitcher is a simple record of the various species I spot on or around the marina grounds. It will also ensure that I don't neglect our blog as I intend to update the list quite regularly. You can hopefully view the scrolling records and pictures in the right hand sidebar.

Also I would be very grateful if any of you guys could email me anything you see of interest if your in the vicinity.

Update

2008-08-04T12:32:00.008+01:00

Hi everyone, I'll have to stop leaving our blog updates for so long but because we're not out and about this summer there really isn't that much to report.

Our little mini tour ended up at Somerton deep lock on the Oxford Canal before we turned and headed back. The weather wasn't friendly to us at all! We took a couple of disposable BBQ's with us and there still in the locker. In fact we got wet every day of our trip and came extremely close to turning the heating on on a couple of occasions. I'm not going to complain about the weather at all though because the sheer fact that we were back out on the 'cut' was in itself fantastic. I think the most difficult part of the trip was getting Dee to go back into the marina :) As she always says to me "Better a bad day on the river than a good day in the office"

Did any of you remember to take a quick peek at the eclipse on Friday? unfortunately only a slight chunk out of the corner for us in the UK but nevertheless always fascinating to see. A quick rumble through our cupboards and I was able to retrieve my total eclipse glasses from the 1999 event here in UK.

In the evening we took one of Dee's colleagues Laura and her sister Zoe and mum Mandy out for a quick jaunt to Braunston and back. It always fascinates me to see the reaction on peoples faces when they climb aboard Quidditch for the first time. To discover we actually have hot and cold running water aboard always comes as a bit of shock!! When we do the tour and they also see SkyTV, broadband and central heating, they get a better picture of what todays narrow boating is all about.

We must also say congratulations to our friends Julian, my old boss and Katherine who's wedding we attended in Burnham on Saturday, a great time was had by all and it was good to see a lot of my old colleagues again and for Dee to meet up with them for the first time.

Pictured .... Laura, Zoe, Mandy & Me!

Summer my Arse!

2008-07-09T13:34:00.004+01:00

Ahoy everyone! Well we’re now 5 days into our mini voyage and amazingly have reached Somerton.

32 miles from Napton and 27 locks later, not bad considering the appalling weather, summed up well I thing by our post title!
I’m a great advocate of global warming but I’m beginning to believe the so-called experts have got it the wrong way around. I seem to remember the treat of bone dry summers, crop failures and people falling like flies from heat exhaustion. All we can say is we’re glad we live on a boat.
Having got all that out of the way it’s just fantastic to be out once again on the system. The South Oxford Canal still remains one of our favourites, it’s just unfortunate that this year we haven’t got time to go any further South. Today we’re moored up for the day in heavy rain just short of Somerton Deep Lock and will make the turn for home tomorrow. Mind you with all the rain forecast over the coming days it’s probably just as well we’re not proceeding any further. When we were here last year in August the River Cherwell, which forms part of the canal further down, was close to flood and the Thames was on the red.
The canal is surprisingly busy for this time of year we think, considering the school holidays are not yet upon us. Another surprise considering the recent rainfall is that the canal appears to be at least 6 to 8 inches below it’s normal level which can quite clearly be seen by the water mark along the Armco. I also notice that when moored waiting for the locks our gunwalls seem to be below the metal which has resulted in some nasty scratches.
We’ve noticed on our journey a marked increase in the Moorhen population with birds and there young suddenly appearing out of the undergrowth, Dee feeding them furiously as we go. I can't think of any reason for the increase in numbers but we still think they make the best mothers around. Unlike last year, due to a poor Vole population, Barn Owls seem to be doing better. Whilst moored up at Cropready on Monday we were treated to some excellent views of one hunting in the field opposite.
We've also noticed with interest that British Waterways still seem to be cutting back on tow path maintenance as we have passed some seriously overgrown moorings on our short trip. One mooring just after Aynho Weir Lock where we moored for a couple of days last year had a least 6ft of growth! Another bone of contention for us and indeed all legitimate boaters is the several unlicensed boats we’ve also passed on our route, one of which we clearly remember from last year. We're glad Kevin's not with us from NBEnigma as he would be furiously noting all the offenders and phoning in to BW!! :)
Anyway guys that’s our news for now and so tomorrow we begin our return trip. Oh! and thanks to the guys who have posted on our notice board and emailed, it’s good to here from you all. K&D

Were Back!!!

2008-07-01T14:22:00.006+01:00

Ahoy family & friends, thanks for all the emails asking how we are and where we are?

The fact is we haven't been anywhere! Well, not on the canals and rivers anyway. As you will probably know this year is our year off the system, due to certain commitments and my writing of Johhny Monarch's memoirs, he knows who he is!! We're not even spending our annual month in Dubai with Davey boy to add to our utter frustration!
For Dee, International Jet setter that she is, work is a terrible bind, (he says tongue in cheek) Portugal and a Cruise Liner to name but two distractions for her. We did to be honest get to spend an excellent weekend in France recently enjoying some superb weather, home cooked food and excellent French wines.
Having said that the summer so far hasn't been much to write about, although today is probably the hottest day so far with the current temperature a balmy 24C.

I must say Hi also to Carl and Carla who we met on the Llangollen Canal last year and according to your email guys you had an excellent holiday this year too, completing the Four Counties, anti-clockwise. Sounds like you've also mastered a few difficult locks as well.
Now to our good news....
We've managed to scrape together 10 days on the system from this coming Saturday. WooHoo. The plan is to venture as far south down the Oxford Canal as a leisurely cruise will allow. So naturally I'm spending the best part of this week preparing Quidditch for her departure.

So that's our quick update guys, keep tuned in for our updates whilst were out cruising. Oh and P.S. we look forward to seeing Johhny & Pat tomorrow for Pat's big 70. Pictures to follow :)

Heartbeat & Steam

2008-04-08T19:37:00.017+01:00

I thought this would be a good opportunity to post, not having done so for some time!

As a birthday treat for this year Dee took me up to the North Yorkshire Moors for a nostalgic look back at the sixties.
For those who know the popular TV series Heartbeat, Goathland is the real name of the village where the series is filmed. We stayed in an excellent B&B which was actually used as the doctors surgery in the early series.
What was a bonus for me also was the LNER Festival 2008 taking place on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway over the same weekend. This was also the first ever line-up of all 3 working LNER -built, Gresley designed A4 Pacific's in preservation, Bittern, Sir Nigel Gresley and Union of South Africa. Among the other highlights was the unique Green Arrow in what is expected to be it's last working gala for the foreseeable future, as the loco's boiler certificate will expire at the end of April.
A further bonus, being Harry Potter fans, is the fact that Goathland Station was also used as Hogwarts Station in the Harry Potter movies. Pictured above is me standing outside Berny Scripps garage. Below are some of the scenes over the weekend.
We spent all of Sunday with the other anoraks travelling on the various services terminating at Pickering, Whitby and Battersby. On our final journey of the day back from Pickering the snow had really hit hard and coming up the final embankment as we neared Goathland the old loco was really struggling. I have to say that snow falling heavily over the moors and the sounds and sites of a steam engine as we approached our destination was an incredible experience. The village was actually snowed in for a short while later in the evening.
Despite the appalling weather over the entire weekend, around 3 to 4 inches of snow we had a great time and once again I find myself congratulating Dee on another one of her brilliant ideas!

News on Electra...

2008-02-12T19:44:00.004Z

Hi again... For those of you who remember the post from our Isle of Mull camping expedition you'll remember that during our stay we discovered and rescued an injured Golden Eagle.

While out in the early evening on a search for Golden and Sea Eagles up at Glengorm Castle we watched in horror as a Golden Eagle, being stalked by a group of Crows and Raven, was unceremoniously blown by strong winds into high voltage power cables! Having rescued her around an hour later along with Dave Sexton the Islands RSPB warden she was delivered by Dave and the local police to the 'Wings over Mull' sanctuary where it was discovered that she had some serious eye injuries. Not good as you can imagine for a hunting Eagle! The sanctuary which is run by Sue & Richard Dewar looks after numerous raptors and Dee and I visited the following day and met up with Richard to check on her progress. Unfortunately we were unable to see Electra as Sue had taken her immediately to the mainland for assessment.
The Island takes her Eagle population very seriously and a few days after our return to Napton I was contacted and asked to provide my personal details to DEFRA. Any person handling an Eagle is required by law to have a licence which I naturally didn’t possess.
Having kept in close touch with Dave as to the welfare of our Eagle now called Electra we were given some excellent news yesterday as was reported on the BBC news last night. Although Electra will never be released back into the wild her quality of life at the sanctuary has been greatly improved by some ground breaking eye surgery. When we visited the sanctuary at the time we were introduced to another male resident Golden Eagle called Laggan who we are now informed has taken a strong liking to Electra and so what the future brings for her, who knows?
We also received an email from Dave last night informing us that by a coincidence today he watched what he believes to be her old mate with a new love! They were nest building at their old site - just in time for Valentines Day. Life goes on and both seem content with their new arrangements.
We look forward to visiting Electra ourselves in the near future.

Oh and by the way with reference to my previous post (Technically Stressed) my attempts to have my permanent weather station linked to this blog have been abandoned. Until microsoft sort out thier rubbish operating system Vista from all the bugs I've given up trying :)

Technically Stressed

2008-01-09T23:17:00.001Z

Well it's been one of 'THOSE' weeks technically speaking!

Finally we've got the Mikuni Central Heating back on line after purchasing a new Electronics Box for a staggering £300. I could probably have made one for £10.
My advice to anyone thinking of buying diesel central heating is to steer well clear of Mikuni. The unit was only purchased in 2006 and although it worked perfectly well after I fitted it for the first year, it's been nothing but trouble ever since! Good job we have the Kabola to fall back on plus shoreline hook-up!
On another technical note my attempts to have our on-board weather station linked to this blog showing up to date weather information, similar to the picture above, have been somewhat thwarted by difficulties with Windows Vista. If you've read the previous post you will know that the station will only link to a computer by Serial Port. Our on-board system is brand new and only supports USB connection. So firstly I purchased a Serial Port/USB adaptor which when connected only crashed the computer. Secondly I installed a Serial Port PCI Card and have literally spent the first half of the week trying to configure it. Plug and Play my arse!! Still not to be defeated I continue my attemps to get the damn thing working.
Wish me luck....

Weather Aboard!

2008-01-04T15:13:00.001Z

Ahoy everyone and a Happy New Year to you all! It's a good while since our last post, in fact we haven't done much on the blog since our return from France.

Hope your Christmas and New Year were as pleasant as ours. We spent our Christmas in a lovely wooden chalet in Wales as has become our routine now for the past few years, picking my lovely mum up from Liverpool enroute who spent the week with us.
Our New Year was spent for the 3rd year in a row with our dear friends Johnny and Pat, NB-Hoddydod, (now on the French canals). We took Quidditch along the Oxford Canal for the night mooring at bridge 100 a short distance from Braunston. Fireworks at midnight, champagne on the tow path and an excellent meal cooked by Dee, so a good night was had by all. I myself cooked a Full English Breakfast on New Years Day morning which is a tradition of ours, sending Johnny and Pat home deleriously happy!
It's always been a plan of mine to extend my hobbies of meteorology and astronomy and to have an external weather station aboard Quidditch and this Christmas I was granted my wish, thanks to Dee x
Having now set my new La Crosse WS3600 station up with Wind Meter etc via the excellent base station I then proceeded to install the software to my new vista desktop computer. One of the reasons I'd like a weather station aboard is to be able to show live data through this blog, thus having Wigram's Marina's very own weather station. That unfortunaley is when my problems began.
The station comes with a serial port lead for connection to your PC, the problem is that new computers now only use USB leads and not serial ports. No worries I thought so off I trot to Maplins in Banbury and pick up a Serial/USB adaptor. Upon my return I install the driver and reload the software for the station. Success!! But only for a matter of seconds as immediately the computer communicates with the base station I get the dreaded Blue Screen and my PC completely crashes!! Well having trolled the forums and the La Crosse website, which offered no advice whatsoever I eventually got answers to my quest from the excellent MidlandsWeather.Org. Turns out it's known issue as data is currupted when it passes through the USB adaptor. So the next option left now, as Dee bought the unit off eBay and as ever I've thrown the box etc away, is to install a serial port to my computer. So in conclusion I'm awaiting delivery of said item and hopefully we'll have weather aboard Quidditch come midweek!

Happy New Year.

Pictured above:- Tornado over West Midlands taken last year!

French Odyssey

2007-09-22T08:55:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, we’re now back
aboard Quidditch after our mini French Odyssey and we had a fantastic time.

Arriving by speed ferry, only 1 hour from Dover to Boulogne, we drove to our overnight destination at Reims.
The following morning we set off to pick up with John & Pat and their narrowboat Hoddydod, which was moored awaiting our arrival at Paray Le Monial on the Canal du Centre. We arrived mid afternoon (Sept 13th) in beautiful sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20C.
Hoddydod has been completely repainted and refurbished since we last saw her on the UK waterways in 2005 and she looked an absolute dream in her new blue and cream livery!
On the Friday morning (Sept 14th), with Monsieur Keithy at the helm we set off for our first destination of Palinges. Arriving at our first French lock immediately after the start was an interesting experience. Communication with the VNF (Voies Navigable de France), the French equivalent of BW, was one of the interesting aspects of the holiday. As Johhny will tell you 'Your never alone with the VNF'.
All locks (Ecluse) on the French system are either manned, and by manned I mean someone will drive out to meet you and complete the lock for you, or automatic, so you never get that feeling of being entirely alone and fending for yourself on the French system. Furthermore, your not permitted to work any lock unauthorised but they don't mind you lending a hand. You'll find that the VNF know exactly where you are at any time and indeed you are asked as to what day and time your likely to depart. The latter I suspect is for your convenience as much as theirs because if you approach an automatic lock which is against you, certainly on the Canal du Centre, you have to communicate with VNF via a telephone link at each lock for them to come and reset it to your favour. When this happens they appear to materialise out of thin air in their
unmistakable white Peugeot's within minutes. Once secured and inside the automatic locks are activated by a rope pulley within the chamber and you just sit back and take in the scenery. Another thing to bare in mind is that in France most things still stop for lunch between 12noon and 1pm. I have to say though that during our visit we found the VNF to be very efficient and flexible, albeit with the odd miserable Eclussier (lock-keeper).
On our second day we moved through to the town of Montceau-les-Mines. Unlike our canal system most canal and river towns in France supply mains hook up electricity and water on floating pontoons in what is known as Port-de-Plaisance and is under the local mayor's control. Prices vary from 6euro upwards, however, many are actually free.
We spent the evening at Montceau and had dinner in an excellent French Brassiere just next to our moorings.
On the Sunday morning we continued our navigation north east arriving at Montchanin, where we moored outside of the local VNF office in the early afternoon just in time for Johhny to tune in and catch his beloved F1 Grand Prix.
Monday afternoon (Sept 17th) we moved to Saint-Leger-sur-Dheune, a lovely little town which has excellent Port-de-Plaisance and is located in an area famous for its fine wines. Amazingly I spotted a Black Redstart singing from atop someones TV aerial, quite a rarity in the UK.
In the evening we were treated to an excellent thunderstorm which seemed to depict the arrival of Autumn as the weather, although still sunny, became decidedly chilly from here on.
Tuesday was our final navigation and by far our longest day continuing on past many vineyards to our destination of Chalon-sur-Saone on the beautiful river Saone. As we arrived at the junction of the canal and river we were greeted by a huge 10 meter plus lock, certainly the deepest we've ever been in! Turning onto the Saone you have to have your wits about you and be aware of the gigantic commercial barges which suddenly appear in your rear view mirror, fortunately our transition was un-eventful!
Upon our arrival in the early evening the Port moorings were totally full so we moored for the night precariously on the river edge just off the pontoons, we secured a port mooring the following day.
On the Wednesday we drove out to John and Pat's winter mooring at Saint-Jean-de-Losne located on the River Soane and later had a farewell dinner back in Chalon, where we sampled the escargot and some fine wine. We left Pattie, Johhny and NB-Hoddydod at Chalon on the Thursday afternoon after lunch and having stocked up fully on wines and cheeses made our way to Saint Quentin for an overnight stay before departing back on the speed ferry from Boulogne on the Friday morning.
During our fantastic week on the French system we probably only passed around 3 dozen boats on the move. The scenery was stunning and the people friendly. The majority of boats we encountered where in fact holiday boats but we passed many beautiful Dutch Barge's and the inevitable Monaco style Gin Palaces. During our stay we were never far from the Italian and Swiss borders and saw many different national flags flying from craft but the majority I have to say are British who seem to have taken the French Waterways to heart! We saw no other narrowboats during our stay and despite all the superb Barge's and leisure craft Hoddydod got ALL the attention and she certainly deserved it.
John and Pattie as ever were excellent hosts and we arrive back to the UK bowled over by there summer lifestyle, thoroughly enjoying our stay. The food, wine, weather and perfect company made it a visit to remember.

Summer 07 Tour Begins

2007-05-28T08:24:00.000+01:00

It’s almost a feeling of Déjà vu but I seem to remember that last year when we set off it was also in wet and windy conditions!
However, this time we delayed our departure by 24Hrs until today Tuesday May 29th giving the low pressure system currently dominating the UK time to move on.
This year to begin our tour we’re heading straight for the Llangollen Canal. Over previous years we’ve planned to complete the Montgomery and Llangollen but have always left it too late in the season, (late July/August, too many hire boats on that stretch).
So that’s it! Our Summer 07 Tour is underway.
Our family, friends and anyone else for that matter can keep up to date with our travels by clicking the main link or HERE to access our Travel-Diary. We will be posting regularly on our Travel-Diary from aboard Quidditch using our new T-Mobile 3G so stay tuned!

Anyway, that's it for now, remember keep an eye on our 'Travel-Diary' and we'll see you all when we return in October........

Isle of Mull

2007-05-21T20:13:00.000+01:00

Well having pitched on the Wednesday in pouring rain we awoke on Thursday morning to more downpours, the remainder of the holiday was certainly an adventure.

Securing the tent we set off for our first destination of Tobermory stopping en route to walk a local nature trail where we saw Otter and nesting Terns. Tobermory is the islands largest town and where the children's television series Balamory is filmed. It's true to life too! All the houses and shops in the town are painted in different colours of the rainbow. In the late evening we took a stroll along the coastline where the campsite is situated and looks across to the mainland and Oban. During our walk we encountered a huge Stag Deer which we estimated was at least a 10 pointer. We also spotted Shag, Red Breasted Merganser and had a great opportunity to see a Sea Otter at close range.
The one thing that was becoming noticeable was the increase of the wind speed. Having checked the web before bed it was apparent that we were in for some stormy weather and when we were woken at 7.30am by our tent wanting to become a kite and torrential rain, our fears were recognised! We immediately broke camp, fortunately during a break in the rain and set off for breakfast and in search of a decent B&B, our camping was over for the remaining 2 days.
We took the scenic route which took us through the centre of the Island and up towards the North-Western tip at Calgary where we had tea. We then arrived at Dervaig a small village next to Loch Cuin and were fortunate enough to find a an excellent B&B called Tigh-Na-Mara, our room had spectacular views over the Loch. After settling in we decided to drive the 8 miles to Tobermory where we planned to search for Golden & Sea Eagle at Glengorm Castle and then on into the town to enjoy some local fish & chips. Our search was to have an unexpected outcome! When we were a few miles from the castle we came across our Golden Eagle. Unfortunately while being stalked by a couple of Ravens she was blown by the extremely strong winds into a nearby power cable and hit the ground with a powerful crash. Stunned she sat on the roadside and although she flew around 20 yards it was quite clear she was injured. We managed to obtain the phone number for the Islands RSPB officer Dave Sexton who amazingly arrived within 30 minutes of our call. Fifteen minutes later we had managed to capture her and she was en route to the Islands Eagle hospital at Wings Over Mull. A fantastic yet sad experience. The following day Dave telephoned and we discovered that she had been taken over to Oban by ferry and operated on. As I post she is now back at the hospital and fortunately having no broken bones is making steady progress in her recovery although it is very early days. Having had our fish & chips later than expected we spent out penultimate night on the Island in our B&B haven listening to what turned out to be storm force winds.
On our last day on the Island we visited Wings Over Mull, had an afternoon walk around Loch Cuin and ended with a fantastic dinner in the The Bellachroy Inn, the oldest inn on Mull.
Almost 2000 miles later we arrived back at the marina having had a wonderful fortnight in Scotland and having seen some spectacular scenery, weather and most of all wildlife, this was certainly a holiday to remember.
I have posted a small selection of pictures taken during our visit into the side-bar....To see more go to our main Photo-Album..

Ben Nevis to Mull

2007-05-16T18:00:00.000+01:00

We raised camp in dry conditions and left Glen Nevis camp site at Fort William at around 10.30am this morning bound for our 50 minute ferry trip over to the Isle of Mull via Oban.

Our four days in Fort William were fantastic. We awoke each morning to Cuckoo's calling, Woodpeckers drumming and the sounds of a Capercaillie from Glen Nevis beyond. The weather has been a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers with very cold nights, making our decision to book a pitch with electric hook up even more worthwhile. On the Monday evening the peaks of some of the range caught a dusting of snow. Yesterday (Tuesday) we were bathed in spring sunshine for the whole day and took full advantage by taking a five mile hike around Ben Nevis where we were lucky enough to see Red Squirrel. In the afternoon we watched a real life mountain rescue by a navy helicopter and watched in ore as RAF Tornado jets cut through the valley.
Being Harry Potter fans we took the opportunity to visit Glenfinnan where some of the movies where filmed. This included great views of the famous viaduct that the Hogwart's Express is seen steaming over and great views of Loch Sheil where other scenes were filmed.
On the Monday we drove through the highlands across to Glen Borrowdale RSPB reserve and took a 3 mile walk through the RSPB's most westerly site on the UK mainland. During the walk we spotted Ravens and Buzzards nesting plus Wood Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher to name a few.
As I write this entry at our new campsite on Mull which overlooks the sea to the East and across to where we can still see Ben Nevis in the distance the rain is literally teeming down and were both drying out. We pitched in heavy rain, one of the less enjoyable moments of the visit so far.

Week Ends

2007-05-11T17:49:00.000+01:00

Friday evening and week 1 of our trip comes to an end. Tomorrow it's off back to Aberdeen to drop Dee's Gran and then we make our way Westward across to Fort William and our week camping.

Just in time for the weather to turn that little bit colder!

The last week we've spent our time taking days out with Dee's Gran visiting Stonehaven, Montrose, Banchory and Balmoral. Enjoyable but due to Gran's age we haven't been able to take time walking the wonderful countryside. Next week though that all changes.
Our first stop is 4 days at Glen Nevis camp site, 3 miles from Fort William near the base of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. From there we move south down the coast and then take the ferry on Wednesday afternoon from Oban across to the Isle of Mull, around a 40 minute trip. We plan lots of walking and birding and have come well prepared.
I know that I keep posting pictures of the bird life around here but the picture on display above just had to be shown. While travelling on the lower coast road yesterday enroute to Montrose Dee suddenly spotted this Tawny Owl sitting proudly on a post right next to the road. Having made a u-turn, amazingly I snapped this picture from the drivers seat just before he took flight into the woods opposite. It turned out really well. Here's to more birdie pictures next week.

Scotland Week 1

2007-05-08T19:56:00.000+01:00

Well we are now 5 days into our annual Scotland visit and so far the weather has held out nicely, although a bit chilly & showery.

After a stopover at mums in Liverpool on the Thursday night and a further stopover in Dunfermline on Friday to visit Dee's brother we arrived at our 1st weeks accommodation at 4.30pm Saturday. The first week we can relax here but next week we camp on the west coast which includes Fort William & the Isle of Mull, that should be interesting!
Our accommodation this year is situated on the east coast about 15 miles inland and approx. 30 miles south-west of Aberdeen in a village called Auchenblae. The house itself is the whole east wing of a large estate which is surrounded by a small forest. We're also in easy reach of Cairngorm National Park.
As has become custom, Dee's Gran stays for our first week and this is taken up by visits from Dee's other relations. Yesterday we visited Banchory and today was a treat for me as we visited the RSPB reserve at Fowlsheugh.
The spectacular cliffs of Fowlsheugh reserve are packed with 130,000 breeding seabirds in the spring and summer. Guillemots (pictured above), Razorbills and Kittiwakes breed in large numbers, with smaller numbers of Fulmars, Herring Gulls, Puffins and Shags. Although we spotted all of the above with the exception of Puffins we did see several Artic Skuas which made up for it.
Grey and Common Seals, bottlenose and common Dolphins can also be regularly seen offshore. Harbour Porpoises, white-beaked Dolphins and Minke whales are seen occasionally too. Unfortunately perhaps we are a little too early in the season to view a lot of these woderful creatures as we didn't spot any. On the subject of birds we are also in the company of a small group of Tree Sparrows which reside where we are staying. It's not commonly known that these birds have been on the decrease over recent years are not often seen in England (mostly mistaken for the common House Sparrow).
Tomorrow we visit Balmoral. Maybe we'll be invited in for tea!

Early Arrival

2007-04-26T08:10:00.000+01:00

Like most things occurring in this age of Global Warming we were not surprised yesterday evening when we heard the familiar sound of a Cuckoo.
Another Dee top birding spot.

Photographing him proved more difficult but we got there in the end!

Having already recorded early arrivals like Swallows & Martins but no Swift as yet, our Cuckoo, not really due until early May, had obviously took it upon himself to return early to our warmer climbs.
April is shaping up to be one of the warmest on record. At the time of publication of this post, the current CET (Central England Temperature) for April is running at +10.3C, that's an incredible +2.4C above what should be expected at this time of year. In essence the mean temperatures for April at the moment would be more applicable to May or June.
The past winter was very mild and sea temperatures in and around the UK are between 1.5C and 2.5C above average. The near continent is warming quickly in association with plenty of high pressure dominated weather and a lack of rain. Could these and other variables lead to the potential for a hot summer? The answer to that is yes, it is a possibility. This weekend would seem to prove a point as high pressure is set to return to the UK. Which for us is good news as we're taking friends out on their 1st trip aboard Quidditch.

(Weather Stats taken from Metcheck.com.)

1st Half Century

2007-04-11T23:12:00.000+01:00

Hi.. Well as you regulars can see I've reverted back to my old blog template. Since blogger changed their styles I've struggled to find a decent 3-column template that actually adds value to my blog, not to mention works. So I've adjusted my old original design and will stick with that.

Well events in our lives have taken on a different meaning. We spent last week visiting Belgium and took in Gent and Brugge, travelling by the channel-tunnel on Eurostar which I have to say was a very pleasant experience. Our reason for the break was to celebrate my 50th birthday. Dee got more than she expected when we arrived back engaged! Yes I can't believe that I've reached 50 and finally done it! Dee and I have been together for 7 wonderful years now and as I've remained officially single for the 1st half century then way not try something different for the second.
On Easter Sunday my birthday celebrations continued when Dee booked Sunday lunch at the Severn Valley Railway. The whole experience was superb. Travelling by steam train from Kidderminster to Brignorth while being served a three-course lunch in an original 1st class Great Western Railways carriage was nostalgic to say the least. I'd recommend it if you ever get the opportunity. We we're looked after brilliantly by the staff who are ALL volunteers. A great day out

Well as the month of May approaches I've already started to prepare Quidditch for her Summer 07 tour. If recent weather is anything to go by then we're in for a treat this year. Before we set sail this time we'll be travelling up to Scotland for 3 weeks camping and visits to some of Dee's relatives. Because of work commitments, (my 3 year break comes to an end), this year will be our last full summer out for a while so we intend to make the most of it!

Still Here!!!

2007-02-19T12:34:00.000Z

Hi Everyone. Yes were still alive!! Once again thanks to everyone who's emailed us asking if everything is ok.

The fact is that when we're moored for the winter months nothing much worth posting occurs. Still a few things to report. Firstly, the marina is once again looking for a new manager. Things here seem a little uncertain and a good few moorer's are in the process of moving to either Calcutt or Ventnor Marina's, both having been extended and it turns out cheaper too. Dee and I love it down here and as we're out for the summer anyway don't get much involved with the politics. Still if the new owners do read our blog can I request a simple newsletter to let us know what's happening here?
Anyway, the winter for most part has been exceptionally mild, with a tiny cold snap recently when we had snow. However, the one item of note has been the wind strength. I can't remember a winter when we've had as many storms with exceptionally high winds. We registered a gust aboard Quidditch of 77 MPH during one of them. A few plant pots & chimneys went overboard that night!

John and Pat our boaty friends joined us once again for New Years Eve and in fact we've just spent the weekend in Wixoe visting them.
This coming week we'll be visiting the Birmingham Outdoor & Boat Show at the NEC. Dee is keen to stock up on the camping equipment for what now seems to be our annual visit to Scotland in May.

The birding has'nt produced much of a surprise this winter but we do have a resident Kingfisher on the marina which we see quite often and we're often treated to a show from Don's, (Marina Harbour Master), Barn Owl.

The visitor numbers to our blog always amaze me and as you can see from our visitor check-list we've been seen in over 70 countries!!!

Well that's about it really but I will report back from the NEC.

The above picture is of an amazing recent sunset over the Marina

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T10:30:00.000Z

Hi everyone. Well it's over a month since our last post so I thought I'd get 1 more in before the year ends just a few hours from now!

We had a nice quiet Christmas as planned in lovely wood built chalet in Shropshire. Like home from home really as we were surrounded by a large lake. The weather was'nt that spectacular with low cloud and fog the main feature. The town of Ludlow is well worth a visit and is one of the most beautiful in England. It's got it all. Nice shops, a river and a castle to explore.
For New Years Eve we plan another quiet one, well until midnight when we have a megga firework to explode! Our plans have changed from the orginal. As a predicted storm approaches with high winds forecast we've abandoned our trip to moor at bridge 103 on the Oxford Canal for the more comfortable surroundings of the marina. Our friends Pat & Johhny, (NBHoddy-Dod, now on the French canals), are arriving later and we'll be enjoying some great company, food & wine. Thank you to all those who have emailed and posted in our guest-book over the past year and here's to a fantastic 2007.

Ahoy!!

2006-11-19T10:34:00.000Z

Hi everyone.... Thanks for the emails asking where we'd got to but the truth is we havent been anywhere! We just gave the blogging a well earned rest.

Also not that much has been happening in our lives the last few weeks! What's that you say... a quiet time aboard 'Quidditch', unheard of..
Well winter has arrived and as usual we've entered into our winter routines. Dee has started her usual 6 month contract as a travel agent and I've been doing some on-board maintenance.
We've also been purchasing camping equipment for our trip to the Scottish Islands in May. A lot of eyebrows were raised at the marina when Dee and I put our new tent up on the field to test it out. As I explained we'd had a row and I'd booted her out to live a nomadic life :)
Dee has also celebrated her **th birthday and as usual was showered with riches beyond her dreams. The marina seems as busy as ever with boats coming and going as though it was the summer.
Amazingly Christmas is just around the corner! This year were taking mum to a cottage in Shropshire and for new years eve were taking Quidditch along to bridge 103 our favourite local spot, hopefully joined once again by our dear friends Patty & John who now boat in France. Lucky devils!
Well thats the news folks, not much to report I know but it's nice to have some down time in our lives.

Pontoon News

2006-11-04T10:19:00.000Z

Well we've been back aboard Quidditch for over a week now and finally caught up on the 'Pontoon News'! Always a treat to here the boaty gossip.

Our home marina it appears is now under new ownership, we also have new management imminent and the place seems as busy as ever. Parking is fun!!
The canal system itself will be teeming with even more boats as the new extensions to Calcutt and Ventnor marina's are completed. Calcutt was in fact completed yesterday! Being on the junction of the Grand Union and Oxford canals I can't imagine what this already busy area will be like come the summer. I think I'm correct in saying that we now have 6 large marina's in the locality. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The one positive for us of course is that we won't be around to see it. For most of the summer we're off sailing the system anyway.
This week Dee's been off to visit her mum and dad in France and upon her return we celebrated her **th birthday. I popped up to Liverpool as well this week to see my mummy too. She was in excellent form.
We've tasted the first signs of the coming winter with a couple of night frosts but this is well compensated by the beautiful sunny autumnal days. Lots of walking and cycling. Tonight is Bonfire Night and after last years aborted attempt to visit Kenilworth Castle fireworks display, (the traffic was horrendous), we'll be staying local and taking in the Southam display which in fact wasn't too bad last year!

Back in Blighty!

2006-10-28T07:57:00.000+01:00

Well we arrived back at Heathrow from our annual visit to Dubai safe and sound on Thursday 26th, landing at around 8.45pm.

Slightly delayed by having to circle over the metropolis several times due to traffic. Looking out of the window I could see why. There were planes below us, above us and behind us!

The flight home with Emirates was made even more comfortable by an upgrade. Arriving at the airport check-in we were led by Dave to the business class section. "We're in the wrong place old boy says me! No your not says Dave I've upgraded you with some of the billion air-miles I've got saved". What can I say to that! Another example of this guys extraordinary capacity to surprise.

Our visit this year will be remembered for many things, not the very least our aborted trip to Oman, (see earlier post, Friday 13th).
Every time we visit the Emirates we're always taken aback by how much the landscape changes, new high-rise offices, houses, malls and even new mosques.
However, the one thing that hasn't changed is there multi-cultural society and there abilty to co-exist. People from all religions, nationalities and races working and living together as one and respecting each others culture and beliefs. I can't help but feel on our return to our small world aboard 'Quidditch' here in the U.K. there's a lesson to be learnt somewhere!!

Dubai Week 3

2006-10-21T13:35:00.000+01:00

Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sancuary. Dee is pictured at the entrance to the sanctuary and to the right are 3 Cattle Egrets taken with my digiscope from one of the hides. A combination of Leica spotting scope and Contax U4R digital camera.

This morning (Sunday) we visted Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary. Ras Al Khor is a wetland reserve renowned for attracting migratory birds in large numbers. Covering 6.2 sq km and surrounded by a buffer zone, the Sanctuary has about 266 species of fauna, and 47 of flora. Its varied ecosystems support diverse plants, insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals. However, the majestic flamingos against a backdrop of dark mangroves are Ras Al Khor's most visible and attractive feature, about 1,000 of them drawing quite an interest from residents and tourists alike through the year. Migrants join resident flamingos during the winter season when 2,300 have been counted.
Our bird-count today of note included Crested Lark, Caspian Tern, Marsh Harrier, Red-Wattled Lapwing and Great White Egret.

Over the past 7 days our routine hasn't changed that much at all. By day we normally spend our time around the pool, then after a stroll along the beach at sunset, we either prepare a meal in or eat out in one of the numerous restaurants. Last night we barbequed.
The temperatures have stayed quite high and well into the mid 30's. However, over the past day or 2 the temperatures are dropping below 30C in the evenings.
Friday being the muslim holy day (thier weekend being Fri/Sat) we had 'Friday Brunch' at the Dubai Creek Yacht and Golf Club, a sort of tradition for us when we visit Dave.
Tonight or tomorrow, depending on whether the new moon is spotted, begins the Eid festival, the end of Ramadan.

Dubai Week 2

2006-10-18T09:04:00.000+01:00

It's hard to believe it but were about to complete our second week in Dubai.

This years visit has been different for a number of reasons, not to mention our Oman excursion that never was! Dave, (pictured on the left of this photo) has now, you'l be pleased to know, renewed his Emirates residential permit. This is also the first time we've visited during Ramadan which finishes this coming Sunday. As I write this post the local mosque can be heard calling people to prayer.
Ramadan is the most important of the four months which are regarded as sacred in Islam. Although Muslims fast during other times of the year, Ramadan is the only time when fasting, or sawm, is obligatory during the entire month for every able Muslim.
Ramadan is intended to increase self-control in all areas, including food, sleeping, sex and the use of time. This obviously has an effect for restaurants, bars etc, most of which only open after sundown. Some nightclubs remain closed the whole time.
From Sunday comes the festival of Eid which were really looking forward to. There is no available accomodation to be found in the whole of Dubai during this time
The first Eid was celebrated in 624 CE by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) with his friends and relatives after the victory of the battle of Jang-e-Badar.
Muslims are not only celebrating the end of fasting, but thanking Allah for the help and strength that he gave them throughout the previous month to help them practice self-control.
The festival begins when the first sight of the new moon is seen in the sky.
Muslims in most countries rely on news of an official sighting, rather than looking at the sky themselves.
The celebratory atmosphere is increased by everyone wearing best or new clothes, and decorating their homes.
There are special services out of doors and in Mosques, processions through the streets, and of course, a special celebratory meal - eaten during daytime, the first daytime meal Muslims will have had this month.
Eid is also a time of forgiveness, and making amends.
The temperature here has also been hotter than usual with 40C yesterday and the humidity is extraordinary. 15 minutes improving your tan results in a quick dash for the pool, an oasis where both Dee and I have spent a lot of time this visit.

Friday 13th Strikes!

2006-10-14T09:48:00.000+01:00

Not being a very suspicious person I can only put yesterdays day of mishaps down to coincidence.

The plan was to cross the Oman/Emirates border about 100 kilometers south and then continue on to Muscat another 350K. We'd abandoned the camping in favour of an air conditioned hotel due to the 36C temperature. Having left Dave's at around 7.30am we duly set off for the Omani border and our 2 day trip.
After about 20 minutes Dave realised that he'd left his mobile phone back at the villa so we turned around to retrieve it. Not a problem as we had'nt travelled that far. Re-starting and continuing on we progressed south with impunity passing the many sand dunes and the Hajaar mountains. However, about 10 kilometers from the check point another bigger problem presented itself! We'd left the car insurance behind, a document which is required by the Oman border checks. Our plans were scuppered. Feeling slightly deflated we continued on in thought. A petrol station appeared shortly after this dicovery, not unusual you'd think but amazingly an insurance office was right next door where we were able to purchase a 3 day cover. Fantastic! but probably the only good thing that happened all day.
Happily we continued to the border check point. On the Emirate side of the border we were cleared without problem and continued on in a sort of no-mans land until we reached the Omani check point some 5 minutes later. Here you leave your vehicle and present yourself at the passport office.
This is where the real problems began! On inspection of his passport by a cheerful Omani guard it appeared that Dave's Dubai residency was running out at midnight. Obviously a Shell oversight with which Dave was none too pleased. Being UK residents both Dee and I would have been cleared to pass into Oman and return to the Emirates no problem. However, due to Dave's Emirate residency, which comes with different regulations the fear was (from the Omani point of view) that because his residency would be expired by the time we returned he would not be allowed back in. After dicussions with the Omani guard our only option was to return to the Emirate check point and try to sort the issue. If the Emirates would contact the Omani guards and assure them there would not be an issue our problem was solved. After more discussions from very helpful border guards we were unable to resolve the problem. Thus we abandoned our trip. Leaving the check point behind we did get the opinion that relations between Oman and the U.A.E. were not as good as they could be, but thats only our opinion!!!
With a bit of luck we'll try again next week.

Dubai Overview

2006-10-12T09:20:00.000+01:00

A train of camels ambles lazily beneath the sun, fiery red and ready to set behind the great dunes for the coming night.

Following the traveling queue of beasts is a young bearded man wearing a dishdash, the traditional white ankle-length gown with accompanying head covering. I wait for Lawrence of Arabia to appear on the horizon, the scene so perfect. This is the land of Arabs, Islam and desert.
Okay, so we didn't see that really, but we thought we'd give you an image of Dubai. Try this for size:
Mini-skirted Russian girls shopping in chic shopping centers that make Harrod's seem like its flirting with bankruptcy. Leather-clad Harley guys and gals of all nationalities roaring down super highways in gas guzzeling 4x4s, Porshe and Ferrari surrounded by forty-story glass and chrome skyscrapers. Young gorgeous Iranian women at supercharged nightclubs hanging on the arms of their American, British or Syrian boyfriends.
Set against the backdrop of sand and sea is a remarkable city. Dubai, once little more than a sleepy backwater town, has sprung magically out of this desert wilderness in the last thirty or so years to become a modern, cosmopolitan city whose inhabitants have arrived from the four corners of the globe to embrace a liberalism not enjoyed anywhere else in the Middle East. This odd hybrid of Baghdad, Bombay and Paris is the new Mecca for a host of nationalities: Arabs, Indians, Filipinos, Iranians, Russians, European and Americans.
Up until 1958, Dubai was a collection of buildings built alongside the 'creek', a natural sea inlet winding through the heart of the city. The settlement, visited by British trade ships on the way to India, earned money primarily through fishing and pearl diving. Throughout the Twentieth Century, because of the liberal attitudes of Dubai's rulers, Dubai prospered as a leading center of trade.
In 1958, black gold was discovered and the leaders here decided wisely to pump billions into infrastructure instead of lining their own pockets. The United Arab Emirates came into being in 1971 when the British pulled out of the region and several small 'states' joined into a federation under the able leadership of one man, His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Well it's hard to believe we've already been here a week but they say time flys when your having fun. This coming weekend we're driving down to Oman and planning to camp! However, the camping part is a little in doubt, the temperature hasn't dropped below 30C all week. We shall see.

Greetings From Dubai

2006-10-06T16:21:00.000+01:00

Well we arrived safe and sound at around 3am this morning (Oct6th) after our 6 hour 30 minute flight from Heathrow. The temperature a sultry 29C.

We'd decided to fly Emirates on this occasion, normally BA and have to say that the whole experience was superb. We were even treated to some Dom Perignon that some Sheik had obviously left over from 1st class. Our compliments to him!
Arriving back at Dave's at around 4am (just before sunrise) jet lagged and ready to crash the call to morning prayer began! It appears that the local Mosque have upgraded their PA system. I certainly don't remember it being that loud on our last visit. I always genuinely feel that I'm closer to god when I'm here in Dubai. The guy who does the calling has an excellent voice. It's also the only mosque in Dubai that preaches in English so you get the feel for the religion. It's a really facinating place to be, particularly during Ramadan.
We eventually dragged ourselves out of bed around 1pm and popped to Spinney's, the local supermarket for food. The temperature a lovely 35C. The supermarkets here put the UK to shame. The choice is extensive and the non EEC products endless. Meat and fish choice is second to none.
After a fry up at around 4pm and a swim around 6pm while listening to the evening call to prayer it'll soon be time for dinner!

Boat Museum

2006-10-04T09:29:00.000+01:00

Those of you who read our blog regularly will remember that during our Summer Tour this year we had intended to visit the Ellesmere Boat Museum

Unfortunately, we had to abandon our visit when our weed hatch kept jamming due to the excess of weed encountered on this stretch of the Shropshire Union leading from Chester to Ellesmere Port.
Well, having visited mum in Liverpool yesterday (October 3rd) prior to our departure to Dubai on Thursday, what better opportunity to visit the boat museum. Simple enough to take a different route back to Napton from Liverpool via the Mersey Tunnel, Ellesmere Port and the M56.
I have to say that although I thought the initial entrance fee of 7.10 each was a little pricey (free if we'd have arrived by boat!) we were pleasantly surprised at the size of the museum itself.
There was certainly plenty to see and lots of information and interactive activity available. The cafe wasn't too bad either. The all-day-breakfast at 3.95 was not as hot as I would have preferred but very tasty nonetheless!
Living and travelling around on our narrowboat we're always fascinated when able to get an insight into the way our canals were developed and used in the 18 and 1900's. It always amazes us to think that whole families lived and breathed these waterways, living aboard their boats in something only the size of our dinette. While on tour this summer we were fortunate enough to be passed by 'Gifford' a traditional working boat being drawn by horse along the Shroppie as part of the museums centenary. A great sight to behold.
Our visit yesterday did not disappoint! The only downfall was the fact that we would have liked to have been able to visit aboard 'Quidditch' this summer. Having said that the visitor moorings looked disappointing and during our visit only 2 boats were moored, both holidays boats!
The state of the canal on this stretch needs immediate attention from British Waterways who I'm certain would increase numbers at this excellent attraction with a little investment.
(pictured above is Dee alongside Gifford)

Vital Maintenance

2006-09-29T09:13:00.000+01:00

Quidditch returned yesterday September 28th to our home base at Wigram's with our Summer Tour 06 all but complete. She's spent the last 5 days in dry dock having the hull blacked.

This process is undertaken every 3 years to prevent corrosion. However, with new boats like Quiiditch I would suggest every 2 years at first to build up a nice coat of bitumen. We also added 4 extra anodes to prevent even further oxidation. We discovered that one of the original anodes was also missing, probably dislodged over the previous 2 years sailing. While in dock I also took the opportunity to repair the many scrapes and scratches to the bodywork which she has endured this summer. Well they do say that narrowboating is a contact sport!

Autumn Tour Scuppered!

2006-09-20T10:01:00.000+01:00

Well we had hoped to depart yesterday (Tues 20th) on our short Autumn Tour but when we drove to Leamington to drop Dave off at the rail station after his visit we ended up buying a new car!

We needed a new car as our current motor was nearing 100 thou. Dee and I had already decided last year to buy another 4x4 this winter for our regular jaunts up to Scotland camping in the spring but didn't think we'd find one this quick! Anyway while driving home from the station there it was and we just had to buy it!!! Anyway to cut a long story short were delayed leaving because of the paperwork and pick up etc. This of course means that our short Autumn Tour is even shorter. We now have to depart on Friday and make the Welford Arm (Grand Union Canal) by Sunday evening as we've booked a dry dock for 3 days for hull blacking from Monday. Then, after departing, it's straight back to Wigram's to prepare for our departure to Dubai and our Wadi camping expedition in Oman. It's all go isn't it!!!

Back at Base

2006-09-04T08:42:00.000+01:00

Yes were back at base, but only for 7 days!
We arrived back at Wigram's Turn yesterday (Sunday 3rd) in extremely blustery conditions which made navigation fun!

So that's our main Summer 06 Tour complete, 107 days out, completing 10 canals and 3 rivers. You can view our Travel Log by clicking HERE and also stay tuned for more Tour Updates.
Well what about Summer 06? Chatting with Dee last night over dinner and champagne, (as a tradition we always have champagne before setting off on tour and on our return), we were undecided as to what the main highlight was. It was all great fun but I suppose our visit down to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal in June was just as enjoyable this year as was the last. The only exception being that we met our dear friends Johhny and Pat on this stretch last year (NB-Hoddydod) but this year there off gallivanting on the French waterways so we were on our own. Once again we've met some nice people. Graham and Jennifer on NB-Best-O-Mates (River Avon) and Mel and Trish on NB-Chardonnay (Shropshire Union) to name 2. The Caldon Canal was a pleasant surprise with some spectacular unspoilt scenery and having steam trains run right next to the canal gives you a taste of what life was like in the late 1800's. The River Weaver, accessed via the Anderston Boatlift, was memorable by it's extremes. Massive chemical plants and estuaries to the the north and quiet unspoil countryside to the south. The wildlife was exceptional once again but unfortunately we saw less Barn Owl and Kingfishers this year. Song Thrushes and Skylarks are definately on the comeback.
So once more our main tour was a success and the summer weather for the most part was superb, July being the highlight.
Since leaving in May our site has been accessed by 2,618 people from 59 country's, so not just by family and friends! A big thank you to everyone who emailed us on our tour saying the'd spotted us around, particularly several holiday boats. Also a big 'HI' to everyone we met at locks and moorings over the summer who are amazingly regular visitors to our site....
Roll on next week when we can get back out onto the system and start exploring the autumnal countryside and meet more nice people....

2006 Tour In Progress

2006-05-18T16:46:00.000+01:00

Despite the wet and windy conditions we made the decision to set off on our Summer 2006 tour on May 18th as scheduled!

Having had such fantastic weather on our Scotland break I suppose it was only a matter of time before the 'Traditional British Summer' arrived, but who cares were off and running!
Our family, friends and anyone else for that matter can keep up to date with our travels by clicking the main link opposite or HERE to access our Travel-Log.
We will be posting bi-weekly from aboard Quidditch using our GPRS link so stay stuned!
Anyway, that's it for now, keep an eye on our 'Travel-Log' and we'll see you all when we return in October........

HAPPY SAILING.......

Highland Break

2006-05-15T11:14:00.000+01:00

We're now back from our Highland Break and completing the final touches to 'Quidditch' before setting sail on Thursday.
Our break in Scotland was fantastic! Good weather, great wildlife and some interesting people. Having already seen and posted some excellent wildlife sightings I thought things couldn't get any better. But they did!!
Around an hours drive from our cottage we arrived at Loch Ruthvin RSPB reserve on Thursday afternoon. We knew that the site was renown for having Slavonian Grebes. This is bird that has so far managed to evade my birding 'Life List'. We were not disappointed! Immediately on entering the reserve we spotted two. On arrival at the hide we caught up with Trisha Roberts the assistant warden who also pointed out a pair of Red Throated Divers, another for my list! Both grebe and Diver are pictured above.
Now completed, our journey was a 1,500 mile round trip. I'm certainly looking forward to laying up the old truck for the Summer and getting some canal hours in.
In summary we had a fantastic time and saw some wonderful sights. Except NESSIE!!
As always the Highlands of Scotland didn't let us down.....

Greetings From Scotland

2006-05-09T18:27:00.000+01:00

Greetings From Scotlands....

Our week in a Scottish Highlands Cottage prior to setting sail for the Summer is halfway through and the weather has been extraordinary. We appear to be having some of the best weather in the UK thus far with the temperatures around 20c.
Our cottage looks out over an old graveyard with 'buried pirates' and out across the Cromarty Firth to view the mountains, some of which still have lying snow on them.
Yesterday from our cottage we drove out and visited Loch Ness. No sign of Nessie though! It was like home from home as we also visited The Caladonian Canal which joins Loch Ness with Loch Oich and then out onto the Cromarty Firth. No sign of any narrowboats though!
Although we haven't come to Scotland specifically for the 'birding' we always bring our binoculars, scope and camera. In truth we have actually spent a lot of the holiday though 'keeping our eye in' so to speak. You can imagine my astonishment yesterday evening when walking across to the waters edge after dinner when an aerial commotion revealed an Osprey being buzzed by several rooks! At tree top level this is by far the nearest I've ever been to an Osprey. It was astonishing. I watched in disbelief as the birds, still squabbling, flew out across the Firth. We've probably seen the same bird this morning which appears to hunt over our stretch of the Firth.
So far my birding list comprises of the usual suspects with a special mention for Black Throated Diver seen at Glen Doe Loch and Wheatear in the church yard.
Things got even better later today though when we visited the Moray Firth and RSPB Fairy Glen. We stopped enroute to see if we could spot any dolphins which frequent the Firth and was gifted with our first ever view of a wild Otter fishing just off the waters edge. An incredible sight. Later having walked the RSPB reserve we came across a pair of breeding Dipper's, another first! I managed to get some good images of a Dipper, one of which is above. Amazingly too our Orange Office Card is providing a good internet access where we are located which is another bonus and enables me to complete this post.
Can the holiday get any better?

A Night Out!

2006-05-01T18:06:00.000+01:00

A 'Grand' night out on the Union.

As we move ever closer to our leaving date for our Summer Tour a visit from Dee's sister from Australia gave us an excuss to have a night out on the canal. Not that we need an excuse really!
Setting off yesterday (Sunday) at around 1pm from Wigram's we moored at our favourite spot on our local stretch at bridge 103. It seems that since we last came out in January the canal population has exploded! I don't think I can remember seeing so many new boats on the system. It's going to be interesting to see how busier the whole system has become in one year when we leave in a few weeks time!
We returned today around 3pm in a gusting westerly, (which made backing into our mooring more of a challenge). It's always fun to sit on the front cratch, which faces out onto the junction, binoculars and coffee in hand and watch the drama unfold. As boats return from thier weekend break and transverse the turn from the Oxford Canal onto the Grand Union you can guarantee some intersting moments, especially for a sadist like me!!!! MMM... Am I being a bit cruel do you think!!

Leave your Email!

2006-04-27T23:05:00.000+01:00

Several people have contacted me recently seeking advice regarding 'Life Aboard'. Unfortunately some of the questions are left by people anonymously!! This obviously leaves me no way of contacting the individuals. I do enjoy responding to anyone who has a question or needs advice so please don't forget to leave a contact email!! My apologies to anyone who's not heard back thus far...

More Action!

2006-04-23T14:35:00.000+01:00

I'm delighted to see that 'British Waterways' commitment to a crack-down on licence evasion is continuing.

More than 230 enforcement letters were sent during March to the owners of unlicensed craft. Some 175 boats became licensed as a result of action and more than 61,000 pounds of overdue licence fee income was recovered. A total of 13 unlicensed boats were seized or destroyed by British Waterway's and Section 8 proceedings are under way on a further 102 craft.

For the first three months of 2006:

614 enforcement letters sent
373 boats licensed as a result of patrol letters
34 boats removed by BW under Section 8 powers
More than 143,000 pounds of licence fee income recovered

Sally Ash, British Waterways head of boating development comments: "Licence evasion is unacceptable on our waterways. Each year British Waterway's spends more than 100 million maintaining the waterways and the money recovered from unlicensed boats is a very important contribution. Further income represents extra miles of dredging, improvements to customer facilities or works to important waterway heritage structures."

Targeted initiatives around the network are ensuring that evasion remains high on the agenda and a priority for British Waterway's patrol teams.

Licences that are not all they seem

In addition to targeting unlicensed craft in Yorkshire, patrol officers have been taking a 'closer' look at 'legal' boats. Following the national boat count BW's computer system is able to produce automated case lists of boats requiring enforcement action. The lists have been used to identify three cases of fraudulent activity, one where a forged mooring permit was in use as well as two fraudulent licences that had been displayed. All boats are now correctly licensed and have correct mooring permits. All have made back dated payments to avoid formal prosecution.

Keep it up BW if this keeps going I might be paying less for my licence!!!

More on 'Life Aboard'

2006-04-07T09:11:00.000+01:00

After my recent post regarding 'Life Aboard' I've had several more emails to elaborate further on the costs involved in running your boat. So here's a little more on the subject.

Quidditch is a 58ft narrowboat so I'll base any costings on a boat of her size. Firstly there's insurance. We use Collidge and Partners for our marine insurance. The annual cost is around 250 pounds but thats to replace the boat. If you require contents insurance as well, that will cost you a further 250 and you need to list your more expensive possesions like computer, TV, they don't cover jewelry etc!
This year we went for a standard Canal Licence as we don't plan to travel on the Thames this time out. A standard licence covers all British Waterways owned canals and rivers. If you buy your licence around a month early you get a good discount. Last year we navigated the Thames so we bought a 'Gold Licence' which covers both BW and the Environment Agency waters. As we discovered last year it does not cover the River Avon. We paid an extra 44 pounds for 2 weeks on this beautiful river. Licencing prices can be found here.
Depending on your type of heating the costs can vary. We use a diesel fired stove plus Mikuni diesel fired central ceating. Diesel costs are obviously rising and at present we pay 52p a litre. When the weather is really cold and both are running daily we can be paying something in the region of 25 pounds a week.
Your boat hull will require blacking at regular intervals. The general concensus for this is every 4 years but personal preferences play a part. If you can find a dry dock or lift out and do it yourself then obviously the costs are less. This year we're having ours done while on holiday and the cost is around 400 pounds. For piece of mind a lot of people prefer to do thier own blacking, so they know the job is done properly.
Apart from your annual mooring costs the above are generally your biggest outlays. For cooking we use calor. We have a cooker like any other household and even boil our kettle on it. We usually have to replace a cylinder every 4 months at a cost of 16 pounds. Considering the media on rising gas prices this we think is a fantastic saving. We generally budget for around 6 pounds a week for our electric shoreline supply. Water is free and part of your licence costs. Thats basically it but if you do have any further questions then feel free to email.

Preperations Under Way!

2006-04-01T17:40:00.000+01:00

As I write this post it's only 45 days to go until the'Quidditch' 2006 Tour. Both Dee and I are starting to get very excited!

As you can see from our Travel Diary our route is now finalised.
Preperations are well under way now with my Winter work schedule almost complete. All of my large tasks like fitting the Central Heating are now done. She'll get a full service just before we set sail.
Recently I've been concentrating on the externals. When we're out on the canals it's inevitable your going to pick up scrapes and scratches, afterall it is a 'contact sport'. When we're out I just repair them temporarily and then make a better and more permanent repair before going back out again in the Summer.
We also make a trip to Macro. We found in our first year on the canals that it's best to stock up on the long lasting items of shopping such as charcoal for the barbie, washing powder and toiletries. You just never know how far the shops are going to be onced you've moored. Although 'Quidditch' is having her hull blacked in October I'll also put a coat of bitumen above the waterline just to make her look the part.
We usually have several plant boxes on the roof and these will be planted at the back end of April.
This year we are also planning to keep a video diary as an extra to our current weekly post in our Travel Diary. Although we took plenty of video last Summer we think we missed an awful lot too.
So here's to sailing. It will soon be all systems go!

Another Conspiracy!

2006-04-01T16:49:00.000+01:00

In december I posted 'Scary or What'a conspiracy theory in relation to the bombing of the Twin Towers. Below is another one for consideration!

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860 - JFK was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights - Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday - Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it starts to get really weird.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy - Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners - Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808 - Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839 - Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names - Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.' - Kennedy was shot in a car called 'Lincoln' made by 'Ford.'

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse - Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in, I mean with, Marilyn Monroe.

You work it out!!!!

Eclipse Day

2006-03-29T15:33:00.000+01:00

Well did anyone manage to spot the partial eclipse today?

The event took place this morning between 10.45 and 11.45 am. Although the signs didn't look to good when I took Quidditch over for a diesel fill up. We were hit with some hefty downpours en route.
However, once I'd arrived back at the pontoon I did manage to catch a 5 minute glimpse around 11.25am due to some nice breaks in the cloud.
Being well prepared for the event I had my 'Eclipse Shades' and camera at the ready. I'd fortunately kept my shades from the 1999 UK total eclipse.
What surprises me about the whole event is the amount of people who are completely oblivious to the whole thing! "What the hell are you doing" came one remark. "Are you nuts mate" came another! Once I'd explained what was going on everyone wanted a go with the shades. Oh well maybe I'm just a sucker for the delights of our natural world but I love it!

Solar Eclipse

2006-03-23T18:53:00.000Z

This coming Wednesday March 29th see's a total eclipse of the sun in Turkey.

A partial eclipse will be visible over most of Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Most of central UK will see the Sun 20% covered, 30% in the far south-east. I think everyone should see at least at 1 total eclipse in thier lifetime. Mine occured in 1999 when we were lucky enough to have one in the UK. Although the weather was appalling for most parts of the country, in Cornwall, where I chose to view it the weather brightened just at the right time! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
So on Wednesday I'll be there ready and waiting. Although only a partial eclipse it's still well worth the effort. Here's hoping the weather holds out! To view details of where the eclipse can be seen best, plus times etc visit My Blog-Link which has been specially set up for the event.

Early Easter Eggs!

2006-03-15T22:46:00.000Z

A little bird left me something this
morning!

About a week ago while taking the opportunity to wash the roof I noticed that one of my plant troughs had been dug out, soil stroon all over the pontoon. In summer my troughs would be sitting proud on the roof fully planted. During the Winter months thier removed and placed on the pontoon next to 'Quidditch'. One lonely plant had survived all thru' the Winter and my thoughts were that it offered too much of a quick meal for one of our resident duck community and I didn't give it any further thought.

Imagine my surprise this afternoon when while checking my ropes I suddenly discovered why the trough had been dug out. There within lies 3 duck eggs! So far I've not spotted the mother but I'm keeping a keen vigil over the proceedings.

Life Aboard

2006-02-24T23:14:00.000Z

Living on a canal boat can seem to be a very pleasant existence!

Judging by the emails we get it's a lot of peoples dream!

When you conjure up images of brightly painted cosy craft tied up alongside sunny country fields or in handy, friendly, economic city centre basins, and then being able to move on whenever the mood takes you.
Many people do live on boats on the UK canal system, and most people do it because it's the life they choose. Take me for example. I gave up the rat-race 18 months ago. A 50K a year job, plus car, plus expenses!
However the reality of being a 'liveaboard' is not quite so straightforward. Make sure you buy the right boat! If you have the money then a new build can cost anything from 60K to 100k. Dependent of coarse on the specification. A decent used boat can cost 35k upwards but you need to know your stuff!
There are a multitude of rules and regulations that you have to be aware of and a range of things to consider that you would not have to bother about if you were 'ashore'. I've learnt a lot in our first couple of years on the water, becoming a dab hand in mechanics and electrics. There are certainly a range of new skills to be learnt. Weve also met some great people in our time afloat.
Deciding where to moor your boat is the most crucial decision. Although we sail during the Summer months we decided to take a permanent mooring. First at the TK Marina in Reading and now at the new Wigram's Turn Marina in Napton, Warwickshire. It's good to have a base for the Winter. Were not complete river gypsies yet and enjoy the comfort of on tap electricity and water, the latter when it's above freezing! Plus at Wigram's we have the added benefit of a broadband hotspot! Living aboard a narrowboat is cheaper than living in a house. Some people describe it as an expensive hobby or a cheap way of life but don't assume you'l be happy because it's cheaper! It has to be right for you.
My advice is to take a narrowboat holiday first. You may well get a shock! We actually just went for it! Mind you we did a good 12 months research.
I could write a whole chapter about 'Living aboard', licence, insurance, running costs etc but thats for another day. Surfice to say myself and Dee wouldn't change our lifestyle for anything and look forward to May 17th. Our 2006 tour begins.....

Weekend at Wixoe, Suffolk

2006-02-20T13:49:00.000Z

Weekend at Wixoe...

We spent the weekend visiting our friends John & Pat (NB-Hoddydod) in the little known village of Wixoe in Suffolk. Well we didnt know about it until we met them! Yes a whole weekend in a house! Quite a novelty for us. For nostalgia's sake I thought I'd take one last picture of NB-Hoddydod moored on the River Nene middle level. She disappears, after a major overhaul, from the UK Inland Waterways for pastures new on the French Canals later this later.
Saturday was an amazingly springlike day in Suffolk with temperatures in double figures and prompting these two ladybirds pictured above at 'Clare Castle' into early action! A lovely walk around the Suffolk town of Clare and it's country park without a coat was a bonus for the middle of February.
However, on Sunday it was back to the harsh reality of winter as temperatures plumeted with a nasty Easterly 'wind chill'. Our visit to the Raptor Foundation at St. Ives in Cambridgeshire was a pleasure and well worth a visit but I do hope they retrieve 'Ischia' the Kestrel who decided to fly off during one of the displays. Obviously not feeling too hungry!

Photo's taken at The Raptor Foundation Falcon, Harris Hawks and Long Eared Owl.

Our PSP

2006-02-14T09:52:00.000Z

Another addition to our techno world!

Those who know me know that I can't resist technological gadgets. So when I discovered that Dee had bought me a new Playstation Portable for my birthday there was no way it was staying in the box until April.
Mind you guess who's been getting the most use? I should never have bought Dee Sims 2.....

Having the PSP now enables us to download our digital photo's, video film and music, enabling us to show our travel images to friends and familar whenever we visit. Another excellent feature is wireless access. Rather than rely on our Orange Office Card when were out touring we can now find wi-fi access points when visiting towns during the summer months and simply recieve and send our emails through the PSP.
One other point to bare in mind if you do buy one of these excellent gadgies is that it's very difficult to download your personal dvd's to PSP, as advertised by many software companies and internet sites. One piece of kit I bought from PCWorld was rendered totally useless when I tried my first download. A message appeared stating that it was illegal to copy DVD in the UK. However, they recommended a small file which I obtained from the internet and tried. The download time to convert was over 8 hours but after an hour it shut my PC down. Why go through the bother I thought and returned the software to PCWorld, who in my opinion shouldn't have been selling it in the first place!
Thanks Dee for a great 'early' birthday present xx

Satellite Broadband

2006-02-03T16:31:00.000Z

What's the story with Satellite Broadband suppliers?

Over the past 3 weeks I've been researching the possibility of Satellite Broadband for our NarrowBoat. We currently have SkyTV, which I can access by using my sat-finder from anywhere on the canal system, provided I can see the southern sky. So why can't a similar system be found for internet access? Before you email me I'm aware that Sky provide email etc, but this is in fact through a phone line, which we don't have the luxury of aboard.

Being moored for the Winter at our base at Wigram's Turn we have the luxury of a Broadband 'Hotspot' which the site manager Ray has had the wisdom to install. This works great. When were out on the 'cut' in the summer months we currently use an Orange Office Card. This I have to say is very slow and in my opinion too expensive. That is to say when you can get a connection and when you do it's only useful for checking and sending email. I want to be able to upload pictures to my blog etc so I'm looking for 2-way Satellite connection.

There are plenty of suppliers listed on various search engines but I have now emailed over 10 suppliers who advertise 'Satellite Broadband' and to my horror have not yet recieved one single reply!

AVC Broadband I've now mailed twice, although some of the reviews have been poor on this particular supplier. Broadband@ccelerator which is the company that came up top on my research have also been contacted twice but with no reply. So what is going on? Are they simply not interested in the business, god only knows why, is it that they have no confidence in their equipment, or simply is it that we boaters are too smaller fry to be bothered with! Who knows? Bare in mind suppliers that there are hundreds of us out here!

If anyone out there can help and point me in the right direction then please drop me a line I'm getting deperate....

Room to Moor

2006-01-19T18:51:00.000Z

MAKE MORE ROOM TO MORE

This is the message to boaters in a new campaign to increase public mooring space on the freshwater River Thames.
The scheme, supported by the River Thames Alliance, encourages boaters to 'moor alongside' each other (also known as 'rafting out' and 'breasting up').
To kick start the campaign boat owners are being sent new 'welcome' stickers to display, which invite other boaters to moor alongside them, even if they are not aboard. The stickers come with a leaflet that explains how to moor alongside and gives handy tips on mooring etiquette.
Eileen McKeever, Thames waterway manager of the Environment Agency, said: "With the start of a busy boating season just around the corner, we want to make sure everyone enjoys their time on the Thames". Public 24-hour moorings often fill up very quickly in the high season and this can be very frustrating. Encouraging boaters to 'moor alongside' each other is a quick and easy way to tackle the problem, plus it's a great way to make new friends! We will continue working with landowners and local authorities to create new visitor moorings, but in the meantime we hope boaters will help by displaying the 'welcome' sticker and sharing their enjoyment of the river."
The campaign comes just months before the start of 'Summer on the Thames' - a season of events and festivals, including the Beale Park Thames Boat Show (June 9 - 11) and the National Festival and Boat Show (August 25 - 28), which will see hundreds of extra boats making their way onto the river.
'Make more room to moor' is supported by the River Thames Alliance - a public/private sector partnership dedicated to improving planning, facilities and access to the non-tidal River Thames.

Personally I have to say that having spent a lot of time on the Thames, (we were previously moored at the Thames And Kennet Marina, Reading), I can't wait to see the first NarrowBoat moored alongside 250.000 pounds worth of Gin Palace! Quite simply the culture of Narrow boaters and cruiser boaters are too diverse for this to work and have any great effect on the current mooring situation. Drop me an email with your thoughts or put your comments in our Guest Book.

Red Diesel

2006-01-14T15:10:00.000Z

'Quite a few people have emailed me regarding the latest on Red Diesel. This I believe is the latest news. If you know any different then please let me know!'

'Diesel destined for marine use is currently given a chemical colour mark of red and the price per litre is kept at a lower level than the white diesel used on the roads, due to a reduced rate of duty. Marine diesel presently costs between about 45p and 50p per litre. The Council of the European Union specifies minimum levels of duty for mineral fuels by issuing directives to member countries. Diesel fuel used for commercial purposes currently enjoys reduced rates, and the UK is among countries that have a derogation to extend this saving to pleasure craft.

This exemption is due to cease on 31st December
2006. '

Marine industry welcomes Government's statement on red diesel.

Marine industry leaders and boat users warmly welcomed the Government's statement on 5th December that it is minded to apply to renew the derogation for private pleasure craft to use red diesel.
The four key bodies involved in the campaign to retain red diesel for boaters are the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), the British Marine Federation (BMF), the Inland Waterways Association and the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers.
Howard Pridding, Executive Director of the BMF said: "It is great news for users and for the marine industry that the Government has decided that it is minded to apply to keep the derogation that allows private pleasure craft to use red diesel. The Government has listened carefully to all who have campaigned to keep the derogation over the last eighteen months and has realised the potential damage to participation and to the marine industry if the derogation were to lapse."
Neil Northmore, Government Relations Adviser at the RYA added: "The RYA and BMF warmly welcome the Government's statement but we are conscious that this battle is not over yet. The next step is to persuade the EU Commission to accept the UK's application to renew the derogation and that is a significant challenge. We will continue to work together with the UK Government to put forward the strongest possible case to win the argument in Europe."

Heavens Above!

2006-01-12T10:38:00.000Z

Take A Look Up!

Although Astronomy has interested me since I was about 7 years old I still can't help but be amazed by some of the wonderful sights I've seen over the years. Iridium Flares, Fireballs and Meteors for example, simply by taking the time to look up at a beautiful starry sky!
Take last night for instance....
After a lovely sunset with near cloudless skies I wrapped up, coffee & binoculars at the ready and sat at the back of 'Quidditch' to watch the scene unfold.
The moon, around 85% full, was already shinning brightly to the East. Also rising to the East just below Gemini the Twins, was the magnificent planet of Saturn, by 10pm it's posing high in the East! A good pair of binoculars can make out the rings. Mars was also showing well, high up and to the right of the moon.
The Winter constellation of Orion, easily defined by his 3 star belt, was also rising majestically to the South-East.
To top it all however and the main reason for being here tonight, was to watch the transit from West to East of the Internatinal Space Station. At around 5pm there she was, a bright star like object moving gloriously across the sky. You have to use your imagination to a degree! Even a good pair of binoculars will still only show a bright star like object, but what the hey, there are people in that there thing and their circling the Earth every 90 minutes! To top it all off was a bright meteor which streaked across the Plough around 7pm. (Thats the constellation, not the pub!)
So the next time your out and about and the stars are shining...
TAKE A LOOK UP! You never know what you'll see..
To find out when the ISS is passing over your area visit my Astro-Met site..

'Quidditch' New Year Cruise

2006-01-03T19:38:00.000Z

Above.... John takes a last lingering look at the Oxford Canal from bridge 104, a stretch he knows very well. John & Pat's 57' Narrowboat Hoddydod is having a complete overhaul this year & then being taken over to France where they will tour the French waterways.
Above Right... I take the helm of 'Quidditch' on our way back to the Marina on New Years Day.

As planned John & Pat arrived around noon on New Years Eve and we duly set off for Bridge 103 on the Oxford /Grand Union Canal.
Pictured above right... Pat, John & Daria pose with 'Quidditch'
Left... Daria sits with her back to the cold northerly!
I have to say that the Wigram's to Braunston stretch resembled something like the M25 on New Years Day. What was even more of a surprise was the amount of boats who moored at bridge 103.
At midnight we watched the distant fireworks of Rugby, Leamington and Daventry, having enjoyed a great meal form Daria and lots of bubbly! Good food, good wine, good friends...

Scary or What!!!!

2005-12-29T10:06:00.000Z

1) New York City has 11 letters.
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters. This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11.
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers, 6+5 = 11
The Twin Towers make an number 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 + 1 + 1=11
Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Now this is where things get totally eerie:

The most recognised symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.>>The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran. Still uncovinced about all of this..?!
Try this and see how you feel, afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:
Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1). Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers.
2). Highlight the Q33 NY.
3). Change the font size to 48.
4). Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS>>>>What do you think now?!!

Seasons Greetings

2005-12-21T16:21:00.000Z

Well it's that time again! The shopping is done, the diesel tanks are full....
This year is our second Christmas aboard and I have to say I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be!
Well it's not entirely true, Christmas Day & Boxing Day will be spent with family in the luxury of a HOUSE.... Yes and a bath!! Well we don't have a bath aboard, only a shower, so when we have the luxury of being able to take one, we do. Boy do we!!

Anyhoo..... MERRY CHRISTMAS to our our friends and family from K&D xxxxx

P.S. To our boaty mates we'll be @ bridge 103 on the Oxford Canal for a New Years Eve 'get together' so we'll see you there... P.P.S Bring beer!!!!

Great Sunsets

2005-12-06T22:22:00.000Z

Sunsets are always a great photo opportunity. Above.. This was taken one blustery evening at the Thames & Kennet Marina where 'Quidditch was moored last winter.
Below.. A particularly nice sunset taken at bridge 130 on The Oxford Canal during our tour of 2005.

More Visitors

2005-12-06T22:13:00.000Z

The recent mild weather has meant that I have been able to get around the Marina and check out the wildlife.
Above ... A Great Spotted Woodpecker looks for his breakfast.
Below... A Bullfinch perches on an ajoining fence.

Digiscoping from 'Quidditch'

2005-12-02T16:56:00.000Z

Stunning Digital Images

More recent visitors to the Marina have been Kingfisher, Blackbird, Redpoll & Song Thrush. Pictured above a Song Thrush & female Blackbird feed. These were taken using my Contax U4R Digital Camera & Leica Spotting Scope combination. For more information on 'Digiscoping' check out the following link. http://www.md.ucl.ac.be/peca/test/a.html

WHITEOUT!

2005-12-02T15:44:00.000Z

Whiteout @ Wigrams

This was the seen that greeted us recently when we experienced the first snow of the winter.
With temperatures droping as low as -7 at night & staying below zero in the daytime, it was no surprise when the Marina froze over.

This is the time when you really need to ensure that you are well stocked on diesel & water. Especially with the central heating & Kabola fire running full pelt! Thank goodness for shore line!!

Canals & Rivers 2005

2005-11-30T16:36:00.000Z

Summer Sailing 2005.

Rivers & canals covered during Summer 2005.

Rivers: -
Thames http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/thames.htm
Severn & Avon http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/severn_avon.htm

Canals:-
Oxford Canal http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/oxford.htm
Grand Union http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/grand_union.htm
Stratford-upon-Avon http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/stratford.htm
Gloucester & Sharpness
Staff & Worcester http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/staffs_worcs.htm
Shropshire Union http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/shropshire_union.htm
Middlewich Branch
Trent & Mersey http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/trent_mersey.htm
Macclesfield Canal http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/macclesfield.htm
Coventry Canal http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/coventry_ashby.htm