Good Game, Good Game!

Back at the boatyard, Seamer looks smaller now it is on the floor and off the stands

 A bit of welding, to shut off the old exhaust outlet,

and then the new smaller silencer get a trial fit

Luke is a brilliant cook, but he has always been a bit squeamish about chopping up animals.  So I took him down to the Talbot at Knightwick for a Game preparation and cooking course.
Steve, the head chef at theTalbot was superb.  Their kitchens work on fresh food,  and the dishes change daily.  He evcen showed us how to make Black Pudding!

This is the game - Before

 and After






The bunny was still eating his dinner!








When we got back to the brewery, we had received our "Hop Clock" from Farams, so we needed a hoppy picture to go with it!

New year and Apple Pie

New year at the old had some people climbing up the wall

   ..and some people were hairier than usual.

 In the clear skies venus (I think) was in plain sight.

 Back at Botany Bay, as I was stuck between locks until March, and it was too cold to move too far.

 

It was time to do some essential work on the boat.  As I have been sailing for six months now, I have found some things that don't work as well as I thought, and some things that just need changing.  Firstly the exhaust from the engine is only just above water level.  I have been close on occasion to flooding the engine when the waves have reached the exhaust.

The current hospital silencer is huge, and there is simply not room to move it...

So out it goes.

 The control panel is too close to the door, and I am forever catching things when I go in and out.  The cheap and nasty GS controls fuse banks don't work, and GS controls ignore all attempts to get them working, so I have some new Blue Sea ones as a replacement

The fuel pipe for the eberspacher needs  fitting properly

 And the wooden engine room floor doesn't work

 Having stripped out the engine room, it was time to go over to Luke's for one of his meals.  Proper Apple pie for pudding!

Superb!









Even Timo was getting stuck in to the pie!

From the Carribean to Botany Bay

I left the Calypso Carribean bar and headed off to the Blackburn Locks.  I waited at the first for Blue Moon to arrive, we then tied the boats together, and I did the locks, while Rob sailed both boats.

The problem with December is that soon it was getting dark, so we moored up at the Navigation.   At least we were down the Blackburn locks before they closed them for winter.

 I had four tickets to go and see I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, so I went with Kier, Tisha and Yorks Rob to the Grand Theatre in Blackpool

 The Grand is a superb Theatre, with the most ornate ceilings

 A superb show followed by a couple of beers, a great night out.

 I had to go up to Cockermouth to collect the last of the bottle beers for Christmas, the Lakes were very wild.
I then got to Botany bay with the boat, just before the Johnson Hiollock locks were shut for winter.  The rain kept falling and the canal was already overflowing.

 I even had to use my plank for the first time!




The wigan locks were shut for winter, so I was effectively trapped between wigan and Blackburn.  I decided to use this time to re-build my engine room to make it more practical.

On Boxing day the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Seamer was now looking good, as it was in two halves when I last saw it.


News was just coming through about the floods hitting Hebden bridge - the worst floods in history.  I like Hebden Bridge and thoughts go out to the people who have suffered devastation in this weather.

Late trains and floods

Having left Burnley, a decided to spend a week in Clayton-le-moors.  I had front row tickets for steeleye span in Oswaldtwiste on the Thursday night.  Heading off from work, everything was going fine until the train broke down.

 I phoned Rob but he couldn't go to see them by himself, because I had the tickets!  I finally got into Leeds just in time to miss the last train to Accrington.  The staff at Virgin East Coast put me in a taxi, and half an hour later, we discovered that the M62 was closed for overnight roadworks.  six o'clock I was supposed to get back, a quarter to one in the morning I got back.  Why did some idiot give Virgin trains the East Coast mainline, a really well run service, now another Virgin Rail fiasco.

Friday I sailed on to Blackburn to the Calypso for goat curry and Red stripe!

On the Saturday I went up to Langdale, which was quite flooded.  Still, a superb night of food, beer and company.

Turn around !

Foulridge is only a 48 hour mooring, so I moved on to Salterford, and moored next to the Anchor, another nice peaceful spot, no traffic noise and a handy pub serving good food and beer.  What more could you want.

It was time to go back to Nottingham judging beer of the midlands, with Dancing Duck winning several awards again.  I keep saying that  I must get down here on the boat, maybe next year!




The winter canal closures were announced, and many of the locks on the Leeds Liverpool were having work done, so I decided to turn around and head back.  Back through the Foulridge tunnel

Just after the tunnel I passed the Coco-Nutters boat.

Quite how you manage morris dancing on a narrowboat beats me.  Soon I was moored up back at Burnley.

The Siba awards were in Bolton, and I was glad to pick up two Bronze awards.

 The SIBA meeting was in Stockport.  I was there early so I took a wander around the town.  This looks like it used to be a thriving market town, before the supermarkets came and destroyed the small shop economy.

It is a shame to see such buildings empty and wasted.

That evening I took Yorks Rob to see Lau at the Met.  They were in great form as usual, and unusually  they were selling Lau branded chilli sauce!

Tunnel at the top

I went to London and met up with Tony Sturgess who I hadn't seen for ages.  We went on to Cecil Sharpe house and saw Rachel Sermanni and Jennifer Austin - a perfect combination.

Then it was up to Elgoods Brewery for the East of England judging.  Great beers here, and judging the speciality beers was difficult.  I am not normally keen on fruit beers, but there was an apple beer and a raspberry beer that were truly superb.

This is a great beer festival, it is just a shame that it is always so quiet.  There are still some duboius barstaff though





But Siobhan was doing a cracking job keeping the pints flowing

And finding time to entertain one of the brewery cats.











When I got back to the boat, there was a stunning heron on the river.

A beautiful sunny afternoon, and I moved on from the top of the locks, and headed for Foulridge.

 

 

Soon I reached Foulridge tunnel.

I had to wait ten minutes for the light to go green...

  ..then it was off through the tunnel at the top of the L&L

..and out the other side, to moor up at Foulridge.