A blast from my past.

Good morning friends old and new.

Here we are on another Sunday morning and this one has bought rain with it. Overnight we had a deluge of rain, it was so loud on the roof of the back cabin that it woke me up as it came in through the pigeon box.

I then dozed on and off until it was time to get up at 8.30am. Yes I had another lie in this morning, after all I am going to have three very busy days this coming week, so I need all the lie ins I can get before the work begins tomorrow.

Having come online, I checked my e-mails and received an e-mail from Anne and Nigel on NB Enseebee. We have known Nigel and Anne for some years now, as Nigel has a mooring at the boat yard where Hadar was built. Nigel and Anne are on the Bridgewater Canal and spotted the first narrowboat I had ever owned.

Misty Lady was my first boat. Keith has been involved with boats of all sorts for over 40 years, but Misty Lady was my very first boat, I am not including the hire boat Holly, which Keith hired from Middlewich hire boats for a week to give me my first introduction to the waterways. We bought Misty Lady from A.B.N.B to live on whilst Hadar was being built by Roger Fuller in Stone. (CLICK ME). Misty Lady was our home for 3 years and she did us proud. We had many happy hours cruising with her, which included doing the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Bridgewater Canal, Trent and Mersey, etc, etc. We sold her in 2007, when we moved on to Hadar and she went to a single gentleman. We then heard she was up for sale again and that she went to a couple, that was the last I heard of her, so it is wonderful to see a photograph of her. She has not changed at all on the outside. I hope they love her as much as I did. For Keith she was just an ends to a means, but for me she was much more because I had never owned a boat before.

Hopefully one day we will see her out on the water, so I can say hello to her new owners.

A few years ago when we had Mosty Lady, we went to the Shackerstone Canal Festival and met up with a couple who used to own her, before they had a new boat built. It is always lovely to meet past owners.

Not doing much today, after all it is a Sunday.

I would like to wish my Sister-in-Law Beryl a very Happy Birthday. I hope it is a lovely day for you xxx.

Chat soon xx.

Mountain Barn Bridge to Crick.

Hello Fellow Blogger's and Visitor's.

After settling in yesterday on our mooring, we sat down for our evening meal of Liver and Onions, with Veg and Potatoes and that was followed by a nice hot shower. The evening's TV was pretty average until it came to 9pm on BBC1 when we sat and watched 'Lost Land of the Tiger'. It was a three part documentary following a team searching for tigers in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. It is extremely sad to think that within two decades the Tiger could be gone in the wild, if a solution is not found into keeping them alive in the wild. This program followed nature experts as they searched for Tiger's and tried to discover if they could survive in the Bhutan Mountains. I have to say I was glued to the last episode, as it was confirmed that Tiger's were infact already using the Bhutan Mountains as habitat. So there is hope for this magnificent creature. We ended the evening with 'Mock the Week' and then headed off to bed.

This morning we were awake at 7am and it was time for a cup of tea. I have no idea why we were both awake at this hour, but needs must so the kettle was put on the stove. When I stand in the galley early in the morning waiting for the kettle to boil, I start thinking about the day ahead, and what I need to get done, or what it has in store for us. Marmite followed me into the galley from her bed in the engine room, she was peckish so tucked into her dry food. Paddy on the other hand was still snoozing in his bed. Age is beginning to catch up with him it seems. The kettle began to whistle to announce that it had boiled, this breaks my train of thought, which at 7am is never that deep in the first place. We had a night of heavy rain, so the portholes were covered in rain drops, so I could not see much, but I could tell it was very dull and overcast. Whilst the tea was stewing, Marmite decided it was a good time to play throw the feather, which she has pulled out from under the fridge, freezer. Marmite hides all her feathers under the fridge, freezer. I have no idea why, but that is where she tends to put them, until she wants them. 7am is not in my opinion a good time for playing, but she cannot tell the time ;0). Outside a Chaffinch was singing a merry little tune. Tea stirred it was off back to bed. Sitting in bed, I could hear the traffic from the Motorway and a Blackbird, which seemed to be in a temper over something. After settling down for half an hour, we then were up and about. I took Paddy for a run across the field in the rain, whilst Keith made us a Bacon Sandwich for breakfast. Just after 9am we left our mooring. The rain had now stopped, but the wind was blowing a gale, which would make for some interesting cruising to Crick. The scenery along this stretch is very pretty even in the overcast conditions. With only a couple of other boats on the move, we had a very quiet cruise. We skirted past the new Yelvertoft Marina, where we noticed a man running towards us. I thought me may want coal, but he only wanted to take our photo and to enquire where we were going. Onward past Cracks Hill a curious mound with picturesque views, we arrived at the Crick Moorings and moored up after a couple of attempts to get in, as the moorings are a little shallow. A gentleman asked if we could deliver some coal to his boat, which was not a problem and no sooner we were walking down the towpath to his boat, another boater asked if he could also have some. It was a busy old morning delivering coal. But as the weather has taken a change for the worse, people are looking to keep warm. David and Margaret on nb Adrastea are moored up on the Crick moorings, so we caught up with there news. We will see them over the weekend.
After lunch we put out some coal fliers, because the Crick moorings are used for Winter moorings, so we may get very busy when they are in use. We went over to A.B.N.B to say hello. We bought our first boat 'Misty Lady from them. Keith wanted to enquire if we could load coal on the wharf. We also went to Edwards of Crick to make sure they would be ok with us loading coal if need be. No one had an issue with our request. So it is yet another place we can use, should the need arise. It is always polite to ask. I never take anything for granted.
The TV ariel is up and we have a very good digital signal, so if the weather stays naff, we at least have the TV to watch.