Back In Blighty

Well, we’re back, and apologies to our pals who regularly read our blog and thought we had fallen off the edge of the globe (though I suppose on most maps NZ is shown as being on the edge of the world.)

The main reason for all the inactivity is that my eyes have been playing me up of late and it has been very uncomfortable using a computer, watching TV or driving.

Livi does a spot of gardening around her herb garden

Two visits, first to an optician and then an optical specialist in Wellington revealed that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with my eyesight and they both thought I had “Dry Eye”, though the principle symptoms with that condition are watering eyes, which I don’t have. But on doctors orders I’ve been popping eye drops since, and I must say things are gradually improving, but as you get on in years, ailments take longer and longer to right themselves.

It didn't really spoil our time in New Zealand with the family, but it handicapped me as I couldn’t drive and we cancelled a couple of weekends away because of it.

Pops reads an early morning story to Livi

Ben has just worked out how to roll over on to his tummy

I must admit I really didn’t want to come back to the UK this time. Wellington and the whole of New Zealand has had a warm, sunny summer, with little rain, and we have been able to get out and about with the family, and especially the children, on most days.

Karori Park from way up on the Skyline ridge. Erica and James place is on the right behind the trees

The First Mate and myself relax at one of the free evening concerts in Wellington Botanical Gardens

I’ve lot a bit of weight too, due to lots of walking and laying off the beer, mainly due to the fact it is around £8 a pint! It’s all right, but nothing to get excited about. However, the NZ wines are not to be sneezed at.

I suppose the highlight of the trip was our weekend in Napier at their annual “Art Deco Festival”. We were entertained by two Kiwis who we met while cruising into Liverpool last summer, John and Dianne. We stayed at a backpackers and they picked us up and chauffeured us around in John’s 1938 Austin.

Napier was struck by a major earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in the Art Deco style, making it unique and the world’s most complete example of this architectural genre.

John & Dianne beside their 1938 Austin

Vintage cars are everywhere during Art Deco weekend in Napier

Art Deco in central Napier

Every February the city steps back 80 years, and everybody, and I mean just about everybody, dresses up in clothes from the period. We knew about this but thought it would just be the die-hards who donned blazers and braces. We felt quite underdressed. There is music on street corners, a huge parade of vintage cars that cruise around the city and impromptu displays of dancing. A wonderful weekend.

Balmy evening music in Napier.

Pat, Vic and Val on Rabbit Island. Nelson is in the background

We also flew down to Nelson on the South Island. Both Pat and I rate Nelson as a very special place and it is an opportunity to see our old pals Vic and Val (Vic and I went to Junior school together, and is about to become a UK narrowboater.)

Our new grandson, Ben, is now six-months old and is a delight. I am not really a baby person but I was quite taken with the little fellow. He seems a very happy, contented child, and has just started rolling around the carpet so he’ll be crawling soon, and our granddaughter Livi, who celebrated her third birthday while we were there continues to delight us talking non-stop.

The family in the back garden. The park is immediately behind us.

Erica and James house backs on to Karori Park and every day there are one or two cricket matches going on. Our visit, this year, coincided with the Cricket World Cup, being held jointly in NZ and Australia, where England lost every match they played. We had heard that an international side were coming to the park to practice, but when I looked out over the park and saw the Waitrose logo on the shirts and realised it was the England Cricket team practicing I thought I’d better shuffle across and see what was going on, which was not much.

Playing on the beach at the "Great Gatsby" picnic in Napier

Livi emulates her "Pops" at Te Papa museum in Wellington

Oriental Bay, just a stone's throw from the centre of Wellington, on a sunny afternoon

Ukulele wise, it was a successful trip. I got to play with “The Ukes Of Wellington” a few times at their “Sunday Strums” 8/10: The Nelson Plinkers, a very sad 3/10: and at the Art Deco weekend in Napier I joined the local group playing old standards on the beach at the “Great Gatsby Picnic”. Another 8/10.

The journey back was very uncomfortable even though I had booked myself an exit row seat on both flights; from Auckland to Hong Kong and then with Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Heathrow. 26 hours in limbo is no fun.

We should have gone straight back to the boat but decided to see some friends and family on the south coast while we were down south, which on reflection was a bit foolish.

I rarely suffer from severe jetlag, but this time it’s been awful. Here we are seven days in and I am still only getting one or two hours a night and I am stressing about it.

We are staying put in the marina now for a few weeks. There is a lot to do on the boat and I would rather wait until the weather becomes more settled.

Toodaloo chums

Roger

Haeri Mai, everything is Ka Pai

Wake up Pops. Let's read a story.

Kia Ora my friends. Well, it seems like we’ve come home, which is a bit strange, considering we are over 3,000 miles from Hertfordshire and the UK, but that is the definite feeling we both have after a few days here in sunny Karori, Wellington, NZ. In fact everything is definitely Kai Pai (look it up in a Maori dictionary).

After a very pleasant and peaceful two weeks on Vancouver Island with Pat’s family we decamped across the water to see some other pals Sue and Norman, who live above the city in North Vancouver, in a lovely spot overlooking the city. We were only there two days but they gave us a great tour of the city (including a look and a taste at two of the city’s many craft breweries). They certainly looked after us and we hope to see them in the UK later this year, as they are intrepid travellers as well and regularly come to Europe.

Susan and Norm. Our hosts in Vanouver

Pat and I beside BC Place. It's a balmy six degrees.

It’s a 12-hour flight from Vancouver to Auckland and on the way you gain a full day, though I must say, I still haven’t completely got my head around how that works. On previous expeditions I have managed to buy myself an exit row seat, which makes these long flights bearable, but we missed the boat on this one and, although we had an aisle seat each, it’s still a real squeeze when, at  six foot three inches tall, you try and prise yourself into your seat, especially if the person in front has their seat reclined. My eyes have been really sore over the last two weeks, so watching a movie, just inches away from my face was no fun. So it seemed to me a very, very, long journey, and no matter how I try, I just can’t sleep on planes. Just about anywhere else is fine, in fact I can normally drop off on cue, but not on a flight. It’s not fair.

We had several hours at Auckland airport waiting for our connection and the original plan was to dump the cases and catch at bus into the city, but in the end we hung around the airport and grabbed some zzzzs. We have been to Auckland a couple of times, and it was very expensive to catch the bus in and back for just a couple of hours.

So now we are in Wellington:  it’s mid-summer, the sun is shining and beyond the back garden we can hear the clink of leather on willow as the cricket season is in full swing. Amazingly, for Wellington, we have a wind-free day and we have just returned from the city after buying some new ukulele strings, a pay as you go card for my phone and a “Snapper” card for their bus system, which we use a lot. It’s only a 15-minute journey into the centre of the city by bus and they are very frequent.

Livi, our almost three-year old granddaughter, is keeping us entertained and exercised at the same time with a never-ending programme of hide and seek, jigsaw puzzling, singing songs on my uke as we march around the room, playing in the sand pit, watering her plants and flowers, cooking on her over in the garden, etc. She is a real cutie, and quite the little “bossy boots” at times. Her baby brother Ben, is now four months old and smiles a lot. This was our first encounter and amazingly, he didn’t cry when we met.

Baby Ben. Definitely a "Big Time Cutie"

Livi does a bit of tidying up around her garden

So we have now settled down and are evolving a routine that will no doubt include lots of shopping, going to the zoo, and travelling on the bus into the city with its many distractions, including the Botanical Gardens, which is our favourite day out.

A belated birthday Brownie cake. (Half way through it a cap on my tooth dropped out into the bowl)

We also are planning two away expeditions. One, back to Nelson on the South island (I can’t come to NZ and not go to Nelson) to see our old pals Vic and Val and family and we are also heading north on a big sweep of the Cape after visiting Napier and the Bay of Plenty. Not much on the Cape but Maori villages, so it should be an interesting journey. We’ll finish close to Hamilton to see our Kiwi pals Helen and Kevin. Hear huge storm is coming across the Atlantic. Keep safe everybody.

Toodaloo everybody.

An unusual Chrstmas present

Well, what presents did Santa bring you last week?  Something festive I hope. He certainly didn’t forget the Calder household here in sleepy Parksville on Vancouver Island.

He gave me a delightfully debilitating chesty virus, which sent me to bed during Christmas afternoon. Boxing Day was just a blip on the calendar.  I did manage to creep downstairs to say hello to some of Garry & Monica’s pals who popped round during the afternoon, but all I wanted to do was sleep, sleep sleep.

I managed to hang on for everybody to arrive and it was great to catch up with the Calder clan. It’s been around 10 years since we had seen Stephen, Brian and Terry Lynn, and despite asking them not to, we both had a number of gifts thrust upon us. I particularly like my “Canucks” ice hockey  hoodie. That will get some good use when we get back on the boat. Especially when we encounter the Canadian crews who inhabit the waterways during the summer flying their maple leaves from their tiller bars. I was really looking forward to the Christmas spread, but only managed a bit of turkey and a spoonful of Terry Lynne’s Brussel Sprout, hazelnut and bacon dish, which I was really looking forward to. And the glass I am holding in the picture is the only drink I had over Christmas. A tragedy!

The Calder family clan gather on the porch on Christmas morning

Everybody gets stuck into the present opening

I don’t know if I have passed my germs on, or where I got them from, for so many folks are suffering from coughs and colds over here at present. I just can’t get rid of my cough and just hope it disappears before we get on our next flight next Wednesday. Pat has so far resisted the germs. She was a little poorly on the drive up the Pacific North Coast and considering the fall out around us she remains remarkably perky.

So it’s been a low-key holiday season for us. The lull before the storm, so to speak, for when we get to Wellington I am sure there will not be a lot of lazing around with a three-year old to entertain. And despite coughs and sneezes, we have had a very restful time here and it is still a novelty to have so much room to operate in, after the confines of the boat for so many months. Though there are four of us in the house, I can normally sit at the far end and practice on my new uke without offending anybody when I play the same song over and over in an attempt to get the changes fast and slick.

 We had booked a New Year’s Night of entertainment at a local community hall here in Parksville and on arrival, it was fairly obvious it was not quite what any of us had in mind. After an hour or so, an elderly couple sat down with us and we ended up going back to their apartment to see the New Year in. They had just moved south from Fort St George, way north, so the minus-one conditions were positively Mediterranean to them.

Princess Pat wears her New Year crown

We saw 2015 in at this delightful couples condo, Jaye and Cecelia, who we had met two hours earlier.

A feature of New Year’s Day in coastal British Columbia, is the annual charity Polar Bar swim, which many seaside towns run each year. They had 160 participants at this year’s Parksville event and we joined a big crowd at mid-day to watch the spectacle. The girls were threatening to go in for a paddle, but despite a balmy three degrees, they somehow  forgot to bring a towel with them. Funny that!

It’s hard to get our heads around just how busy this town is in summer. There are numerous motels, campgrounds and RV sites along the highway north and come July and August the sleepy population quadruples with the roads jammed  for miles around.

Ready, Steady....

And the annual Parksville Polar Bear Swim begins

Next Blog from down under.

Toodaloo chums

Trains, planes, automobiles and a ferry too

California has been suffering drought conditions all year… and then we showed up. In the last ten days a third of its annual rainfall fell from the skies and each evening we have been tuned into the Weather Channel on TV  in our motel room in an attempt to dodge the downpours. And by and large we have been successful.

Locals we have encountered, as we have have made our way north from Los Angeles to Vancouver have inevitably commented “You guys must right at home with this weather”. It’s certainly been colder than home, that’s for sure.

Our first day driving north from LA up the Pacific Coast Highway to Morro Bay was amazingly dry though, but pretty overcast, but by day two, after a night at Morro Bay, a rock slip closed Highway One, a few miles short of Big Sur, and we had to make a 50 mile detour to get round it.

We check out Muscle Beach, below the pier at Santa Monica

In Morro Bay with Morro Rock in background

Morro Bay with our Chevvy Equinoz SUV

We rolled along in a big Chevvy Equinox SUV; a bit of a gas guzzler compared to what we are used to at home, but very comfortable and it stuck to the wet road like glue, which was just as well, with the dozens and dozens of hairpin bends we had to negotiate, often with a big drop down a sheer cliff and not much of a barrier between you and the roaring Pacific.

We got to Santa Cruz on my birthday. I know Santa Cruz as the Ukulele capital of the US, though we saw no evidence of that as we roamed around, just an awful lot of elderly men and women looking for hand-outs in around its famous boardwalk.

The following day we arrived in the Bay area of Oakland for the weekend. We have been to its more famous neighbour San Francisco, across the water, so were delighted when a family friend in the city of Oakland invited us to stay. Carolyn turned out to be a great tour guide and pulled out all the stops to show us the area, despite student riots upsetting her schedule.

Her pal Kate popped over bearing a variety of acoustic instruments, which included a uke. Being a Beatles fan we found a number of tune to play together and it was great to get my hand around a guitar again – it’s been a while – especially her very rare 1938 Martin which sounds fabulous and is in great condition. She thinks it is worth several thousand dollars! We had a great weekend with Carolyn, went to a concert in somebodies house, which was unique and very intimate, visited Berkeley and the old state capital Benicia and even found time for Sunday lunch in a traditional American diner.

Lunch in diner in Oakland. Not too sure about having fruit on the plate, but this is California

Kate on her 1938 Martin and me go through some old Beatles tunes.

We swapped the very “hairy” Highway One for Highway 101 on leaving Oakland, after a quick stop in Sonoma in the driving rain. 101 swoops between hugging the coast and cutting though the forests of giant redwoods which line the road and are a feature of the coastline. It certainly is a spectacular route, rain or sun. We drove some of this road back in 2003 but I couldn’t remember much of the detail. However, we did stay one night in the same motel that we did 11 years ago, for it was difficult to forget it. The Curly Redwood Lodge in Crescent City is constructed from a single giant redwood, so was a refreshing change from the Motel 6’s and Days Inns we were inhabiting most evenings.

Cruising through the forests of Giant Redwoods

By the time we crossed into Oregon and got to Florence, the weather was really starting to be a concern, so we ditched our coastal road and heading inland to pick up Interstate 5.

Now we were really moving and soon got to Portland and into Wahington State. We overnighted in its neighbouring city of Vancover, Washington. The city father’s there crow in their tourist literature that their Vancouver was founded 30 years prior to its Canandian upstart 150 miles to the north over the border. It was a pleasant stay and we could escape the rain in the giant Mall, beside the hotel.

An early morning journey on the Amtrak Cascades service from Seattle to Vancouver

And to finish our US leg we spent much of last Friday in Seattle, a city we have visited several times. Amazingly (for Seattle) it didn’t rain until we left the following morning. I like Seattle, though not driving around it. Pat is not quite as much a fan as I am. It’s the home of Boeing, Microsoft, Kurt Cabain and Starbucks though it’s main tourist claim to fame is Pike Street Market where they have turned selling fish into a comedy routine that involves a lot of throwing salmon, crabs, and other creatures of the sea huge distances between the traders to great cheers from the assembled crowd. Our overnight accommodation was in Chinatown and we had a crazy meal, ordering stuff we were not at all sure about, though we gave the “Bulls Balls” and “Pork Bladders” a miss. We worked those out. Everything we had ordered arrived in one huge bowl. Very tasty is was.

Part of the entertainment at Pike Street Market in Seattle

A three-hour train journey on the Amtrak Cascades line, brought us very comfortably, but very slowly into Vancouver Saturday lunchtime. Our internet research into how to get from the station to the ferry terminal north of the city, helped us considerably and despite driving rain, it was a smooth crossing across to Vancouver Island.

So now we are in Parksville, which is a few miles north of Nanaimo, on the islands west coast, where we are staying for Christmas and New Year with Pat’s sister Monica, Garry and all their family, who we will see over the next few days. Parksville is a coastal resort and I am looking forward to seeing it, if it ever stops raining.

Finally, I spent much of last night playing with my new uke, which I had built in the US and shipped here. I have been hoping that I would not be disappointed with it. I had high expectations… I was not disappointed.

Toodaloo chums 

Winter drawers on!

 

Blimey! It’s getting a bit cold now. December has arrived and with it has been some pretty cold night. But we have been nicely tucked up, snug as a bug, in our little steel tube, though our solid-fuel fire has been on permanently of late.

A cold morning at Mercia Marina. Spot TCW. We are right in the centre of the picture. Our more affluent neighbours, in their wide beams are to our right

Many of the residential boats in the marina have festooned their roofs with Christmas lights and our next door neighbour has a full-size reindeer and sleigh on his roof, along with a Christmas tree and presents. He finally switched them on today. The marina has a competition each year for the best decorated boat, and I think John, next door, is definitely in with a shout.

 

Our next door neighbours Christmas lights

On reflection, we haven’t been on the boat much over the last week or so. We hired a car from our friends at Enterprise last Friday and whizzed down to see our pals Dave and Caroline in Gloucester (great meal Caroline) and all their dogs. Pat really likes Gloucester and we were able to stroll around the quay again.  We spent almost a week there last summer, waiting for the Severn to subside . Then on Sunday morning we drove to Leicester to see some boating pals, Dave and Angie, who we met and cruised with on the Leeds and Liverpool this summer. They are in the process of building new houses for themselves and their daughter on a plot of land in their village. It’s an exciting project, that has not been easy to pull off. And while I recall our time in Liverpool, our mate Fred on “Chyandour” found this professional photo, taken while we were in Salthouse Docks in July. I think I am going to get a copy made by the photographer, who seems to specialise in Liverpool city scenes.  Here it is. Thanks Fred.

 

Anna-Jane Nielsson's shot of TCW at rest in the centre of Liverpool

Pat and Toby (star of next year's national Jack Russell calendar) get better acquainted, down in Gloucester

It’s a real novelty for us going anywhere by car, let alone having one at our beck and call, but last night I resisted the temptation of driving into Derby to the great ukulele club there, and caught the bus, despite lots of hanging around. The chap I sat next to was very useful and nimble up and down the fretboard and sang well. It transpired he used to play guitar in “Wishbone Ash”, a respected Seventies rock band, who, if my memory serves me well, had two lead guitarists. His daughter is also a member.

We both remain fairly healthy, though I always seem to have some sort of niggle. My gout came back late last week, though not nearly as bad as the last time. Pat is convinced it is self-inflicted, due to too many pints of beer, and she may be right, though the medical jury is still out on what it is caused by. Dave, in Gloucester, gets it regularly, and had some “super-douper” anti-inflamitory’s handy, which seemed to do the trick and it seems OK now.

Our pontoon pals from Jay and Ibis at The Green Man, Willington

And for a last hurrah, our pals on the pontoon went out on Tuesday evening into Willington for “Pie Night” at The Green Man. This was a bit of a mis-nomer, for the pub had just one pie on the menu, but it was very good, I must say. We aim to return to Mercia next year, which, at the moment, might be early September so we can immerse ourselves in the social scene more. And after a visit to our builders at Kingfisher Narrowboats on Tuesday, we have decided, all being well, to take the boat out of the water and into their dry dock next autumn to have it “two-packed” again. This will protect the boat, below the water line, for another three years, or possibly more. It also gives us the chance to touch up the paintwork and possibly replace our batteries, but that’s a long way off.

The boat is currently full of bags, boxes and cases. We have one case of winter clothes, for whatever, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia can throw at us and one of summer clothes, for Southern California, and New Zealand.

We leave the marina tomorrow and travel back down to Welwyn Garden City for dentists (fear a filling is due) and the doctors to get a bumper load of prescriptions, then it’s out for a major Chinese feast with our my male mates, most of whom I have known for 40 years, while Pat is joining a smaller ladies group at an Italian restaurant, both in Potters Bar.

We then have the weekend and next Monday and Tuesday to visit lots of family and friends before flying out to LA on Wednesday. I suspect the next blog will be before Christmas from Vancouver Island. We’ll wish you a Merry Christmas then.

 Toodaloo

 

Buses, Basketball and Bakewell Tarts

 

It’s taken a bit of getting used to, but after two weeks tucked up in our marina in Derbyshire, we have stopped waking in the morning wondering where we are, and whether we need to move or stay put, and roll over. Slowly, a daily routine has emerged which involves a fair bit of hanging around bus stops, chatting to our neighbours (there’s a lot of that), a regulation longish walk along the towpath, marina or neighbouring countryside, and the occasional excursion with our “pontoon pals” to The Boardwalk, the new pub/restaurant on the other side of the marina. It’s all quite pleasant.

An autumnal towpath walk close to the Marina on the Trent & Mersey

One of the reasons we like it here at Mercia Marina so much are the transport links. Most marinas are in very rural locations. Not having a car any more means we have a certain reliance on buses and trains, and we have a lot of choice here. The bus outside the marina goes to Derby one way, and Burton-On-Trent the other and runs every hour. We are about half way between the two.

We went into Derby on Tuesday with my old work colleague Hubert, who had joined us onboard for a couple of days. The plan was to do a bit of a road trip up into the Derbyshire Dales. The forecast was for a brightish day, and we had pencilled in Matlock and Bakewell as destinations. It was a long old journey, about 90 minutes each way, and we did make it to Bakewell, had two hours there and then caught the bus back to Derby. Stunning scenery from the bus and Pat and Hubert had to have a Bakewell Tart while there, taken with afternoon tea in a very ostentatious tea room, down a little alleyway in the centre of the town.

Hubert & Pat in Bakewell

 

Pat enjoys her Bakewell Tart in Lavender Cafe

 

Last Saturday we switched to the train and visited Sheffield to see Pat’s Great Nephew Cameron in action. He is playing professional basketball for a local team just outside the city and also working as a teacher in the city.

 

Cam & Pat

Six foot six Cam hails from just outside Melbourne in Australia, and has played extensively in college basketball across the US, but though our international wanderings are extensive, we had never seen him play. So we were so glad when his team “The Arrows” won their match, beating a talented team from Loughborough by the narrowest of margins – just one point in it. We both thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Cam, though, was a little disappointed with his performance. He is playing down in London early December and we are hoping to be able to get along and see him then as we will be staying in Hendon the same weekend.

 

Cam in action with "The Arrows"

Back in the summer, when we were in Yorkshire, I travelled a fair distance to Huddersfield to check out a particular brand of ukulele, that I really fancied. Eagle Music in Huddersfield is the only importer of this particular American brand called “Mainland”, but they were quite expensive and I put it to one side.

I did contact the company though about buying direct from them in Illinois, after realising that we are going to be in the US and Canada this December. The price was right and they agreed to make one for me to my specifications and it was delivered to Pat’s sister Monica last week. I think it looks magnificent and can’t wait to play it. I also ordered a brown hard crocodile case for it, so it should be safe on our onward journey to New Zealand and back to the UK. So I have a Kala Tenor Ukulele for sale if anybody is interested out there. Just restrung, with a very nice tone.

 

My new Mahogany Mainland Ukulele, waiting for me on Vancouver Island

 

I must say, even if we did want to go out on the boat now, our options are limited. Our nearest lock at Stenson, whose gate paddles have a fearsome reputation, is undergoing a huge facelift and it looks like they are replacing the gates. It’s just one of dozens of locks closed during the winter months for maintenance across the country.

A lot of activity at Stenson Lock, just down the cut from the marina

So that’s about that. We have around two weeks left here, before shutting up shop and heading south for a few days before we fly out. Hope to blog before that though.

Toodaloo

All cruised out

After 800-plus miles this season, we finally chugged back into Mercia Marina yesterday morning. And it felt good to be back. Lots of familiar faces said hello and we didn’t waste any time before we were in the new bar/bistro at the “Boardwalk”, the new retail complex that sticks out like a finger from the main car park. There is a rolling selection of beers and the quality was good.



Our view of the new "Boardwalk" development at Mercia Marina from TCW

We are back on the same pontoon as last year, though we have moved down one spot. I was not looking forward to turning into the mooring as the marina is very open and it was quite gusty yesterday, but it was OK, and our neighbour Ian was there to lend a hand. Ian and Sarah have taken possession of a rather-snazzy 10ft wide-beam since we saw them last and we were both very impressed with the finish, both inside and out. Ummmmmm.........

The last week or so has seen us marking time as we could not come in to the marina until 1 November. That was our agreement. All this hanging about would be fine for most of our boating pals who make a point of only moving every few days, stopping to commune with nature and immersing themselves in local cultural activities. Pat and I, (well me anyway) like to keep moving, unless, of course, we are in a place or town that screams out for investigation.

We must have been mad asking for a cream roof. Always scrubbing it clean and then rinsing it off.
At Branston Water Park

Most villages you pass through or by usually have the regulation church, a Co-op or a Spar, and at least one hairdresser, and within an hour or so you can easily walk the length of the High Street, take a look at the church and have a quick pint if the pub happens to be open. Occasionally these visits throw up something interesting but it’s rare. Call me cynical (and I am sure you will) but that’s the way we cruise, though I note that we have done 100 miles less this year than last, so we are slowing down a bit.

Pat places her order at Coates the butchers in Alrewas

So we had a long weekend in the village of Alrewas, and there are a lot worse places to bide your time with 3 pubs, 2 churches, a butchers, a fish & chip shop and a Co-op. I’m sure there is also a hairdresser somewhere, but we never come across it. We both like the village, especially Coates, the butchers. It’s a popular stop for visiting boaters and Coates has a very good reputation. Not cheap, but the quality is excellent. We were there for five days this time around. And Alrewas punches well above its weight in other departments too.  Great value Sunday carvery lunch at “The George & Dragon”, plus a visit to the local ukulele club on Monday night and a return trip to the National Arboretum just outside the village.

The new Women's Land Army statue at the National Arboretum just outside Alrewas

Then it was nearly three days at Branston Water Park, just outside Burton Upon Trent: a very good mooring with a half-decent pub and a very convenient park bench close to the boat that I was able to use to as a work horse, to split a load of wood up on and cut some longer lengths down. We now have a good stash of year-old cured wood ready for when it finally gets cold. We have had the fire on most nights, but as we all know it has been very mild of late. In the mornings when I get up to put the kettle on, I have rarely had to slip a jumper on and on Thursday visitors to the water park were walking around in shirt sleeves.

 

Part of our wood "cache", ready for a cold snap

Late this afternoon there are fireworks at the marina. Not sure whether to watch from the back of the boat listening to “Handel’s Firework music” or venture over to where the barbecue is. Ah decisions, decisions.

Toodaloo chums