Coldest night of this winter so far.

Hi Folks.

The temperature got down to -4.9c overnight, so we woke up to a very heavy frost and a layer of ice covering the canal. It was very picturesque at 7.30am, when I opened the back cabin door to look out.

Keith and I were in fact awake at 5.50am arghhhhhhh, which was annoying because I purposely stayed up late last night to see if I would sleep in. I went to bed after "Windtalkers" a film with Nicholas Cage, which was on Channel 5. So staying up still meant I woke up early, so won't be doing that again. There was only one thing for it, but to get up and put the kettle up. I also stoked up both of the fires, because there was a chill in the air. The back cabin stove had to have the ash riddled out of it, to get it to roar into life, but in no time at all it was sending out heat, so whilst we watched one of the early "Deal or no deals" on Challenge TV, I made us both some Porridge, which we devoured whilst in bed, how indulgent is that?

8.30am I was up and dressed, because Paddy was stirring in his bed, which meant he wanted to go out and Marmite was on the prowl looking for some breakfast. As Paddy and I stepped off of the boat, the ground was white and crisp under foot, it was stunning.

The ice on the canal was thick enough to leave the ducks standing out in the cold. This is the cold start to the day this winter so far, but according to the weather forecasters it is not going to last, the wind and rain is coming back. So I made the most of my morning walk in the frost. The view across the valley was breath taking in the sunshine. It is a lovely view for those moored on the farm moorings.

One of the farms ponies was tucking into some hay for breakfast, which will help to keep out the cold.

Paddy enjoyed his run up and down the towpath, when it is cold and frosty he has a spring in his step. When we got back to the boat, the generator was on charging the batteries, so I put a load of washing on, which turned out to be a problem, for some reason the inverter took offense and switched itself off. Keith turned off the immersion heater and I switched the washing machine off, so he could reset everything. Inverter back on we left the immersion off and I put the machine back on, but it did not spin the washing, so I had to repeat the process all over again. Finally after an hour it was all done and is now hanging in the back cabin to dry. Just have to hope my washing machine is not going wrong. It is now 10.30am and still frosty outside, but the temperature is climbing. Not got much planned for the day after all it is the weekend.

Chat later maybe xx