Back in the hills

It's no good, the workaholic in me has been winning for too long.  I am tired!

We need to deliver a beer to the Old, so sod it, I am off to the lakes for a couple of days.  The weather forecast was iffy, but as usual, I don't care.  By the time I get to the campsite, it is dark, and i cursed the useless outwell tent as I pitched it for only the fourth time, and some of the seams are separating.  I will get soaked if it rains.
I dropped the beer off at the Old, and stopped for a few pints.  It was a quiet Tuesday evening, but to sit quietly and have a couple of beers and a chat to some people was all I needed.
Wednesday morning and the sun was out, with lots of white fluffy clouds that had not yet turned black and ugly.  I lit the stove for coffee, then realised I had no cutlery with me.  I had two cups of coffee hand poured and stirred with a mostly clean tent peg while I waited for the shop to open so I could get a spoon, and book the campsite for the up coming folk festival, and it was great to bump into Jilly, who is now working in the shop.

The weather was a bit uncertain, and it has been a few months since I have been climbing, so I decided to stick to the well known Stickles.

Part way up Mill Gyll, where the bridge used to be, there is a construction site where they are building a hydro plant.  There is a huge scar across the landscape from the road they have built to get the diggers up here, and the place is a mess.

  It will take a long time for the landscape to recover (if it does) and I can't see that the scheme will be worth it in the long run.  Like so many of their recent barmy schemes, I think the National trust have well and truly lost the plot.

As I continued up the ghyll, the empty threats of occasionally dark clouds made the view even more stunning.

I reached Stickle Tarn without collapsing in a heap, so decided, as I hadn't done it for a few years, that I might as well do Jakes Rake.

The views got better and better as I completed the climb to the top of Harrison Stickle.

The problem with having a camera with a battery that seems to last ages between charges, is that you never leave it on charge.  Either that or my camera was overwhelmed by the views, as it shut down completely just after my first photo from Pike o stickle.

You can see Scotland from here - I wonder if that will be another country soon...

Food at last!

Once the new lights were fitted then the ceiling was primed...

   ..and a coat of antique white satin, and the kitchen is looking so much brighter.

It may seem like sacrilege to many out there that I am painting over nice wood, but I have looked at many boats that have varnished wood, and I find them dull and gloomy.  Wood is ok, but too much is too much.

I finally got all the gas connections finished, and to test the cooker I made cheese and toast and fish finger butties for everyone in the boatyard.

If nobody dies over the next few days, then I can be pretty sure the freezer is working as well!

Calder Valley

 I brought a token bunch of southerners up to Leeds, then across to Hebden Bridge to see what real pubs were like.  Hebden bridge is probably one of the best looking stations, as railway stations go, and this is one of my favourite valleys, beutiful countryside intermingled with industrial heritage, as the road, river, railway and canal continually cross each other as they wind through the valley.

The first stop was the Stubbins Wharf.  Slightly hidden off the main road, the pub is a great place for beer and food.  I had a wonderful hot beef baguette, and managed to eat it without getting covered in gravy, which is a first!

The pub is situated below canal level, so out the back of the pub you have to go up some stairs to reach the beutiful and vastly underrated Rochdale canal.  I would love to moor my boat here, but the moorings are few and far between - aka expensive.

Next was the Fox & Goose, which is a very old building in need of a bit of TLC.  This pub has recently been bought by the community and will be done up as funds permit as a great community pub.

Just a couple of minutes by train, and we were in Todmorden, where the Queens is right across from the station.  This is a grandious old station hotel, with huge rooms and high ceilings.  Good beer and an interesting menu.

Just down from the Queens is the White Hart or the Todmorden "spoons".  The beer was ok, but the layout of the pub is very confusing.

Back on the train we got to Mytholmroyd, and the Shoulder of Mutton.  I think this pub has recently changed hands.  The food looked good, but the beer was stale.  I will probably give this place a miss in the future.

Last stop towards Leeds was Sowerby Bridge. This too is a very industrial looking town and we went to the "works" which is an old mill that has had the ground floor turned into quite a contemporary bar.

Last stop was the Jubilee Refreshment rooms, the bar on Sowerby Bridge station platform.  A great pint, and locally made pork pies finished off the day nicely.

Back to Leeds, to see the foreigners off back "Dahn Sahth", and a quick reminder just how good Granary wharf is these days.

Back at the boat (remember the boat...)  I have decided to ditch the chaep and nasty ebat downlights...

  ..for some of a much better quality that I found in an electrical suppliers in Bury.

Jump!

It was time for the annual trip down to Tonbridge for the South East judging session.  The Humphrey Bean had changed completely from last year, with good beer and good food.  There was a great selection of beers at the festival, and I found the new beers from Trumans brewery, interesting as I used to drink Trumans when I lived in Suffolk many years ago.

There is a sign under the toilet seat on the train that I found amusing

Hot-footing it back from Tonbradge on the Saturday morning to the brewery, and a quick diversion from brewing to climb up Holcombe Hill and abseil from the top of Peel tower. I wore my brewing overalls as I thought the logo on the back would make a good publicity shot, however this was covered by the harness!

I think sixty people did the jump in total and helped raise £2600 for the mountain rescue.

Now I have the seat frame in place, I could mount the PC.  This is an in-car PC which runs off 10-20V DC.  It seems wrong because it is so small and light, but running off DC it doesn't need the huge transformer or power supply that other PC's have.

Windows 7 is not so good though, and Office 2010 is even worse, so although I will persevere with Windows 7, I shall stick to using Office 2003, as all the useful bits have been removed or over-complicated in office 2010.

You call that a seat ?

The tour de France is passing through Yorkshire.  At first I thought that they must be using a Satnav, but it seems they always do the TDF in the wrong country.  Don't ask me!

Anyway, apparently loads of people will travel to Yorkshire, walk up a mountain, early to get a "good spot", then stand waiting for 3 or 4 hours to see WHOOSH, all the bikes go past in about thirty seconds, then they all wander back off the mountain.

I really don't see the point in all of this, however, as they must be thirsty when they come off the mountain, we set up a beer tent at Littlebrough.

Lots of fun selling real ale to lager drinkers, but ~I still don't see the point...

After the beer tent was packed up I hot-footed it over to Oswaldtwistle to see Richard Digence, well, the last half of RD as I was late!

Back on the boat, I have a new 36" 12V telly, which will also do as a PC Monitor so this is bolted behind the bookcase.

Between the kitchen and the bookcase, there will be a dining area!  Two small filing cabinets fit under the seat niceley, and I built the seat frame around these.

I will have the floor betwene the seats raised by about 7" so when you are sat at the table, you can see out of the window reasonably.

This is the basic structure, needing trim around the edges of the cushoin panels, but now I am in the quandry of having to think about material, colours patterns and all sorts of technical bits!

Everything including the Kitchen Sink

I have now advanced as far as the kitchen, and a kitchen is not a kitchen without a kitchen sink.  I decided to go for a dark coloured sink, to match the dark hob and cooker.  Having spent ages looking at the different styles and shapes available, I have gone for a square grey sink.  I think the square sinks hold more, and I even have some square plates to match.

I have had to cut quite a lot out of the cabinet top rail in order to get the sink to fit, but it should be strong enough when Chippy Paul comes over and fits the solid oak worktops.  The solid oak is coming nowhere near the boat until the majority of the painting is done, just in case, you understand.

The hardboard panel on the rear of the cabinet was cut away, and the tap, and filtered water tap connected.  All working fine, and amazing progress being made.

Then we come to the drain.

Waste pipes come in 40mm and 32mm, and I have a 32mm skin fitting, so all should be fine.  A bottle trap for the sink, and a 40-32 reducer connected to the 32mm skin fitting. Simples.

Not Quite

32mm pipe comes as compression, or pushfit, or solvent weld.  these vary from 33 to 36mm in diameter, and non of them are 32mm.  As a result, I have more water on the kitchen floor than overboard.

Plan B

I took the skin fitting down to B&Q and found that the thread on the skin fitting was the same as the thread on the 32mm compression fitting "nut".  I found a 32mm "extender" which had a male on one end and a female on the other, with one of those wedge shaped grommets.
Back to the boat and, having cut off the male end, the female fits to the skin fitting, but when I tighten it up, the pipe comes through the end of the nut, as there is nothing for the grommet to compress against.

Bugger!

Plan C (I still have another 23 letters to go after this one)

At Screwfix I found a pedestal trap, which is a curious S shaped pipe thing, but the female end has a ridge on the pipe to prevent the nut from coming off.

 Having cut off the majority of the trap, leaving a short length of 32mm pipe with a nut AND A FLANGE, the pipe fastens to the skin fitting, tighens up solid and DOESN'T LEAK!!!

Yipee!!

I hate plumbing!

Monday morning, and a last minute change of plan, as we go off to the House of Commons as we finally have found a beer to put on there which isn't offensive to anyone!

A nice little bar with a terrace on the Thames.

It must be tough working in a place like this!