Life on the wild side.

Good afternoon friends.

Having spent yesterday moving from Crick to Welford Junction in driving rain and gale force winds, it was so nice to be moored up and cosy inside the boat. The only downfall to a wonderful evening was the smoke blowing back down the chimney on both stoves. I could have smoked Herrings in our back cabin last night, it was so smokey. Even though I made the stove up for the night and covered it in sticks and ash, the smoke still came into the cabin, because the wind was blowing it back down the chimney. Just as we were about to settle down in bed, Keith began coughing, so he got up again. I was so tired I decided to grin and bear it and I was soon fast asleep.
This morning we woke up to a dry but once again the wind was blowing. Just as well the rain had stopped, because our Donkey jackets were still a little damp, so I would have to wear another jacket, keith braved his Donkey jacket, but he does stand close to the stove, so would be nice and warm when we set off. Neither Marmite or Paddy seemed that keen to get out of bed. Normally Marmite would be on the bed meowing at us to get up, but this morning she was in her bed curled up. As we rolled the bed up and shut the cupboard door, they both came and greeted us. Paddy rolled on to his back across the cabin, hoping that he could get a tummy rub before he had to have his walk.
Paddy's walk and breakfast done, we set off from the Welford junction mooring and up the Welford Arm to deliver coal to a customer. We then winded and returned back to the main line. I made us a coffee and put some sausage rolls in the cabin stove to warm. There is nothing nicer than a warm pastie or sausage roll when on the move on a cold, windy day. We were now heading towards Foxton and this ment cruising through Husbands Bosworth Tunnel, as we approached the tunnel a Kingfisher flew in front of us and entered the tunnel, I am not sure if it flew all the way through, or turned around when it realised it was heading into a dark place. We saw three Kingfishers on our jaunt, none of them would have been catching many fish because the water was a muddy brown colour, meaning they would not be able to see the fish. With all the rain we had yesterday, it has washed the mud off of the fields. Joy of joys it was not raining yet and we even enjoyed the occasional sunny spell, but the skies were turning into black clouds as we cruised on, so we decided to moor up near Bridge 51. We have a lovely view from the galley window, a reasonable TV and Internet signal, so we will enjoy a comfortable evening. The winds have got up again and we have just had some rain, so I am glad we stopped for the day. I now have to decide what to do for dinner tonight. Oh decisions, decisions.
Marmite has is trying to get a feather out from underneath the fridge. For some strange reason, she loves to push her feathers under there, and then she spends ages trying to get them out. Usually once a month I have to fish them out for her, as they do tend to breed under there. Paddy is curled up in his bed close to the fire, he certainly knows when he is well off. Keith is playing on his Nintendo DS and I am about to turn the computer off and get on with some boat chores. A woman's work is never done.

Badgers and a chilly start.

Hi Friends.

Last night I decided to cook some stewing Beef and Kidney in Old Speckled Hen Ale. I wanted to cook it overnight in the back cabin stove and make a pie with it. What I did not reckon on was the smell coming from the stove when we went to bed. No sonner I lay down in bed, I began to feel very hungry. The smell was sublime.

Brrrrrrrr what a chilly morning we woke up to this morning. It was the coldest of the Autumn so far at 1.1C. I woke up after a very good nights sleep. I even had a lovely dream about seeing a Badger. I probably had such a nice dream because I ate some cheese before going to bed. I have always wanted to see a Badger in the wild, it is on my wish list of things to see. We had moored up on a stone wharf and there was a honey coloured stone wall edging a field which had a small hillock near it. I was just making us a coffee and looked out of the galley window to see a Badger feeding in front of me on this hillock. It seemed oblivious to me being there. I went and grabbed the camera praying it would still be there when I got back, which thankfully it was. I set the tripod up and began snapping away at this beautiful Badger. Whilst I was happily revelling in the fact that I had seen my first wild Badger, a lady stopped by the boat and told me that she regularly feeds the Badgers and would I like to go and watch them feeding at night. I absolutely jumped at the chance. In what seemed no time at all, I was sitting in her conservatory watching her feed Peanut Butter sandwiches to half a dozen Badgers, it was so mind blowing. The next thing was what seemed like several Owl's were hooting and I woke up. I thought that the Owl's must have been part of my dream, but Keith heard them as well, and I know he was not in my dream lol.

There was ice on the roof of the boat when I stepped off with Paddy for his walk. But on the plus side the sun was shining and it was beautiful. I love this sort of weather. Even though we were going to be heading up the Foxton flight, we did not hurry ourselves. Once back from a run across the field with Paddy, I made us some Porridge, which would keep us warm on the inside for the morning. We set off from the mooring at 9am and were behind another boat to go up the flight. Mark the Lock Keeper said we should follow them up. With windlass in hand off up the flight we went, smoke rings blowing from the engines exhaust stack on this chilly old morning, even the lock gate beams had ice on them, which was slow to thaw in the sunshine. Foxton Locks are easy locks to operate and you get a stunning view whilst you work you way up the flight. Having made it to the top, we set off through some lovely countryside, with the sun pouring through the trees.
Not all of the trees have their Autumn clothes on yet, but when these trees do change it will be spectacular, so I am hoping I do not miss it. The beautiful morning had bought out a few private boats and some of the hire fleet heading back to Market Harborough. Thankfully there were no collisions and no grumpy old boaters (gobs), even if some of them did look like they had frozen to the spot. We pulled in and unloaded some coal to a boater, who was heading slowly to Coventry. He said he was in no hurry and was just enjoying the quiet life. Now I know some women like to be colour co-ordinated with every aspect of there life, but I never thought I would see a fisherman being colour co-ordinated for fishing, but this gentleman certainly was. He also look very cold. We kept nice and warm with coffee and hot sausage rolls straight from the back cabin stove. I did us some lunch on the move, Keith ate his whilst thumping through Husbands Bosworth Tunnel, I stood and ate mine in the engine room whith my earphones on. Now that conjours up a vision and a half. Just as we arrived at Welford Junction, I managed to photograph this Kingfisher who had been flying in front of the boat. The one great thing about the Autumn and Winter, is you can see Kingfishers really easy and it is nice when they like to have their photograph taken.
We are now moored up at Welford Junction have cruised for 8.05 miles, I worked 10 locks, 1 swingbridge, in 4hrs 25mins, on what has been a stunning day.

For dinner tonight we are having a Beef and Kidney pie. The meat cooked very well overnight in the oven and is now cooking in the oven again as a very yummy pie. We will have that with some mash and veg. Looking forward to a quiet evening all being well.