3rd Week (w/e 25/4/2016)

Three weeks ago we said farewell for a time to our brick home and started our long-term cruise on Captain Hastings our ‘Dutch barge style’ narrow boat. The three weeks have slipped by really fast and just to remind ourselves of where we have been, here is a re-cap of our trip so far (ignore the next few lines if you have been following us): Kings Bromley to Fradley, Fradley to Alrewas, Alrewas to Barton Under-Needwood, Barton Under-Needwood to Branston, Branston to Burton on Trent, Burton onto Willington. Then we returned back to Fradley, Fradley to Streethay, Streethay to Whittington. Then we returned back to Fradley, Fradley to Rugely, Rugely to Great Haywood, Great Haywood to Stone, Stone to Barlaston, Barlaston to Stoke on Trent, Stoke on Trent to Kidsgrove, Kidsgrove to Wheelock, Wheelock to Middlewich, and finally Middlewich to Barbridge, – so far!

This week we have had some really good weather on our journey and this helped us keep a smile on our faces as we have had to go through the Harecastle Tunnel (almost 2 miles long) and the ‘Hearbreak Hill’ set of locks (some 26 locks spread over a few miles). Fortunately Sandra’s confidence returned regarding driving the boat into the locks, so we were able to take it in turns throughout most of the locks. Unfortunately, this meant we ‘both’ had aches and pains afterwards as muscles we haven’t used in a long while were rejuvenated.

We left Stoke on Trent after spending a few days in Festival Marina, which was lovely. We were able to charge our boat batteries which the previous week had been a worry to us and also re-set the Mastervolt readout. In the mornings we took advantage of a traditional English breakfast in the close by Toby Carvery which was excellent value for money and during the day we took advantage of the glorious weather and I found time to do some more creative writing. On one evening we enjoyed a trip into Stoke City to attend a concert at the Victoria Hall. Overall we were pleasantly surprised with Stoke and the canals going through were in quite a good state of repair – and deep!

Once the batteries had been sorted we headed off towards our end of week destination of Barbridge. We had plenty of time so we were able to do this at a leisurely pace – the only real pace for a boater! Our first challenge was the Harecastle Tunnel. It had been quite a few years since we had gone through the tunnel and it was a first for us to do it on our own. We had to meet up with the Canals and River Trust guy first, so he could go through the health and safety aspects of the tunnel, he checked our horn and ensured our light was working effectively. He also told us what to be prepared for. This heightened our anxieties further, so when we actually entered the tunnel we were both really apprehensive, we certainly didn’t want to scrape the sides of the tunnel, break down or lose power to the light, as it was extremely long, cold and very dark. The first thing we noticed was how close to the ceiling of the tunnel we were. On many occasions throughout this 1.75 mile tunnel we both had to crouch down so we didn’t bump our heads. We were really pleased when after 45 minutes or so, we could see ‘light to the end of the tunnel!’
After exiting the tunnel we realised that the next challenge would be surviving ‘Heartbreak Hill’ some 26 locks over a number of miles – deep locks! Amazingly we found it not too bad! and soon we were mooring up at Wheelock, with only a few locks to complete the following morning. It was mid-afternoon when just as we were mooring, something almost stopped the engine; we had something trapped around the propeller (again!). This was all we needed. Fortunately the weed hatch lid was easier to take off this time - unlike last week when a ‘parka’ coat had been wrapped around it, this object wasn’t being budged. I felt around the propeller and finally I realised what it was – a rubber fender. The rope from it had twisted around the shaft and no matter how many turns of the propeller, it wasn’t moving. In the end after many attempts, it did come free after using a really sharp serrated kitchen knife. Afterwards we both decided we would have a hot shower and then treat ourselves to a few beers at the Cheshire Pub in Wheelock village along with a Chinese take-away. We ended up having a good night after a hard day.
The following day after a late start we headed for Middlewich, the landscapes along the way were mainly industrial, although we did find the Salt plant interesting, especially the salt mountain kept under a giant metal structure. Soon we were at Kings Lock which turning left took us onto the Shropshire Union Canal. As we passed Kings Lock pub we saw a group of lads drinking from cans and one of the mature men decided to blow his nose – without a hanky – and from both nostrils, just as we drove passed them. A nice welcome to Middlewich we thought!

Immediately after the lock we found a nice mooring spot, we thought it prudent to moor close to many boats, especially as it wasn’t far from the pub and being in quite a built up housing area. We settled down and Sandra cooked yet again a beautiful meal. She really is getting used to cooking on the AGA, although she won’t admit to this! At 9.00pm we heard the most terrible language and high engine revving of a narrow boat. I immediately went out to look and to my horror, there was an Anglo Welsh hire boat coming past the boats at such speed – heading towards us! Three men were hanging on the side at the rear and a few were at front of the boat. All of the crew were very drunk indeed. Thank heavens there were no available mooring spots near to us – or we would have had a sleepless night.

What super weather we were afforded and what amazing views there were , absolutely spectacular, a few miles along once we set off the following day. We were also amazed by the condition of this canal and the well maintained tow paths. Along the way there were specific mooring spots with rings, lots of benches and seats and many even had specific BBQ’s for use by boaters. This stretch of canal is an exemplar of how all of our canals should be kept!

We took our time getting to Barbridge and stayed overnight in the open countryside, which was beautiful. We used our Kipor generator to top up the batteries and to allow use of some of the on board ‘heavy juice’ electric wise goods – such as the washing machine, microwave and the like. On the following day as we neared our destination we stopped for water (free) at the Venetian Marina and met the friendliest manager there, who was eager to pass on more than the time of day – he chatted forever, but it was great banter!

We managed to find mooring outside of one of our favourite pubs ‘The Olde Barbridge Inn’. This was our ‘local’ pub which we used to use frequently many years ago we moored our boat close by. In the evening we participated in a few of the excellent cask beers to celebrate the fact we were still on schedule. We also and enjoyed a traditional Sunday roast meal – finished off with a super cheeseboard. Not the cheapest of places, but quality and worth it.
Next week we will be moving onwards towards the famous ‘Aqueduct!!’ in Wales. We will also be joined by two of our dearest friends for a few days – Colin and Heather. Can’t wait!

A boaters life for me! (another short story)

A Boaters Life for me!

Jill had known Bob for nearly three years, not in an intimate way, but as a friend, he was one of life’s nice guys and both of them would do anything to help each other out. Jill liked Bob quite a lot and always looked forward to meeting him. Both of them got on well because they had a common passion, they each owned narrow boats, and although not intentionally, they seemed to bump into each other every couple of weeks whilst they each explored the many inland waterways around the country. On every occasion this happened, they would enjoy a night together playing cards, having a glass of wine and just chatting. Both were lone boaters and both liked the boating lifestyle and the independence it gave them to do as they please. It allowed them to move their home every few days if they desired and to watch at close hand the changing landscapes, whether it was open countryside or along the industrial back waters in towns and cities. They also enjoyed watching the seasons change and to see the different wildlife habitations close up.

Jill had developed her passion for the inland waterways whilst her husband was still alive. They both used to walk the tow paths together as a form of exercise and a way to de-stress from their hectic jobs. After his sudden passing she had continued to do this on her own and whenever possible always sat on the lock bench seat, their favourite place. This was an ideal spot to watch the various boaters pass through the lock. She found it enthralling, the mechanics of the lock and the skill the boaters had in manoeuvring such large boats into such narrow chambers. All of the boaters always seemed so happy and really friendly, most waived and many struck up conversations with her. It was one glorious sunny afternoon whilst she was sitting on the bench that she met a boater called Dorothy, a woman who was taking her boat through the lock and who suddenly suggested that Jill join her on the boat to help her and then they could enjoy a cuppa!. Within a matter of minutes Jill was hooked, she wanted to own such a boat. They chatted for hours together over copious cups of tea, and it was soon after this that Jill had emptied her house of belongings, rented it out on a long-term let, handed her notice at work and had purchased a 50ft narrow boat called ‘Nightingales Call’. Everything was so fast but she knew from her heart that this was going to be the next chapter in her life. Even though everyone thought she was losing her mind, she had learned firsthand that life was for living and not for wasting.

Ten years on, she was now a very proficient boater with not a single regret. In fact she was very contented and enjoyed every moment of her time, even during the winter months which can be very arduous at times, with water on the boat freezing and a need to keep the log burner alight throughout the day and night. She was now a fully fledged boater and this was proven by the fact that whenever she had to leave the boat, within hours she was longing to return. Fortunately this did not happen a great deal usually only when a new tenant was taking over the renting of her house and she had to meet up with them and sign contracts. She had definitely made the right decision, in fact she couldn’t remember a time where she had felt so contented with life.

Jill still kept in touch with friends and family by mobile and she had even kept herself up to date with the new technology around and was proud owner of a ’tablet’ which she used a great deal to chat to fellow boaters in various chat forums that were available. Last week she had taken a call from her sister and it had become clear that she needed to travel to see her as her sister’s daughter was moving to Australia and they were having a family farewell party for her. Jill’s sister had managed to persuade her to stay with her for a couple of days. As the call ended Jill knew she had made a mistake by agreeing to this and was already regretting her decision, even though she loved her sister and adored her lovely niece. She could cope with one day, but two days away from her beloved boat, she thought was just too long. She told Bob about it the following evening whilst playing cards. Bob knew Jill well enough to tell she was very apprehensive about it and knew two days would be difficult for her, but he also realised that she would regret it if she didn’t say her goodbyes to her niece. Over the evening he managed to put her mind at ease, emphasising how good it would be for her to catch up with family and friends. He agreed, as usual, to keep an eye on her boat for the duration of her trip. They finished their last hand of cards along with a large whiskey and Jill handed over her spare keys to the boat and thanked him so much for being there for her. She wanted to give him a big hug, but thought that this was a little inappropriate and anyway she had done the same for Bob a month or so ago, in fact it was common practice amongst fellow boaters to look after one another and their boats. She would bring him back a gift, a nice bottle of whiskey as a thank you.

As Jill’s trip got nearer they both agreed to moor up together in a quiet spot they knew, just outside of the town which allowed Jill easy access to the train to take her to her sisters. Jill had found a lovely mooring spot for Nightingale Call’ which was shaded by overhanging trees which Jill thought was ideal for keeping the sun off the boat during the day which would help keep the boat cool inside. She could see Bob and his boat a little way down the tow path and within no time she was soon waiving him goodbye as she made her way towards the train station. She looked back and she could see her boat and already she longed to be back on board, but she knew she had to make this visit.

The whole family greeted Jill with hugs and kisses. They all commented on her long powder grey hair and her colourful clothing. It had been years since she had been to a hairdressers and so her hair had become long and a little wild – but always clean and brushed, she liked it this way and often reflected on the wasted hours and cost of keeping up with fashions just to comply and to meet everyone else’s expectations. She was now free of all that and had even adopted her own way of dressing which was comfortable and ideal for someone living on a boat with limited storage space and the inability to use an iron due to the boat running off batteries as opposed to ‘main electric’. Her ‘look’ was sort of Hippy but with an African bias with bright swathes of colour and of course numerous coloured threads braided into her hair. Her niece commented that she looked really ‘cool’ and told her mother she should do similar. This made Jill laugh as her sister was definitely a full on member of society, perfectly dressed with not a hair out of place, she was also a school governor and had recently volunteered to become a magistrate, hardly the hippy type!

As the afternoon approached and discussion topics moved onto, as they always do with families, about reminiscing of past times, Jill suddenly felt a need to get back to her boat, her comfort blanket. She didn’t know why, maybe it was the memories of a past life she no longer wanted to be reminded of. Maybe it was the fondness everyone was sharing with her about her late husband, she didn’t know, but she knew she wasn’t staying she was leaving. She took her niece out into the garden and explained how she was feeling and how she didn’t want her to be offended. Her niece told her not to be ridiculous, she fully understood why she wanted to leave and gave Jill a big hug and promised that on her return she would make the effort to join up with her on the boat for a few days. Jill slipped away from the party of family and friends and was soon on the last train on her way back home. She would apologise to everyone over the phone next week once she had settled back into her comfortable lifestyle.

It was nearly midnight, there was a breeze in the air and Jill found herself urging her night vision to kick in as she walked along the tow path trying to find ‘Nightingales Call’. She had just managed to get the last train home and she was finding it difficult to see. She felt stupid that she hadn’t taken her torch with her, definitely not something a ‘real’ boater would have forgotten she thought. She was feeling quite low and emotional since meeting her family, but she knew she would be back to her old self once she got on her boat and after a good night’s sleep. Suddenly quite abruptly she came face to face with a man, dressed in a dark overcoat and wearing gloves and a scarf, which she thought was weird considering that although there was a breeze, it was a summer night and still quite warm. He didn’t say a word and was certainly not a gentleman as Jill was forced to move to the side to let him buy. She could smell his alcoholic breath and his coat wreaked of stale cigarettes. She shivered and decided to get a move on. Soon she was at the boat. She realised as soon as she tried to switch the lights on in the cabin that the batteries must have run flat. On occasions like this she would usually start the engine up to charge the batteries, which would give her instant lighting, but on this occasion she didn’t want to wake Bob in his boat moored a little further down the cut. It was too late for engine noise she thought. Fortunately on a boat everything has its place, so she soon located her torch and decided to go straight bed, it had been a long and tiring day and she had no intention of participating in her usual activity, no, there would be no reading tonight, not even by torch light! She knew she would fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Just as her eyes started to close she heard the noise. First it was just a tapping, she thought it might be a bird walking along the roof of the boat, but now it was more intense. She could hear a sweeping sound and then a real rattle. She immediately got out of bed, she realised that it must be someone outside, maybe trying to pinch something off the roof, or possibly someone untying the ropes, which some people found it amusing to do. She opened the bedroom curtains and shined her torch through the window onto the tow path; there was nothing she went into the living area of the boat and did the same from the windows in there, but she couldn’t see anything in the darkness outside of her boat. She heard the sound again, if anything it was more intense in this part of the boat. She could hear her heart beating, she wasn’t the type of person to feel frightened, but she knew she was starting to feel this way. She told herself to pull it together and not to be so foolish, often on boats there are sounds, gulps from the water passing by and always birds and animal sounds from outside. She turned off her torch and bravely and quietly moved back to her bedroom and closed the door and wrapped herself under the duvet; she would make herself go to sleep!

The boat rocked suddenly. Jill sat up in bed and moved to the corner of the bed and pulled the duvet around her, someone or something was definitely on her boat, she wasn’t dreaming this, it wasn’t in her imagination, something was wrong. She then heard the door rattle. This confirmed her worse nightmare someone was on her boat and was attempting to get in. She was really scared, but knew that she had locked it and had even put the key on the hook as she always did, she hadn’t left it open, she was sure, but this gave her little comfort. Surely no one would be able to get through the steel doors of the boat? She decided to remain totally silent in the hope the intruder would move on, this was her strategy, especially as she had left her phone in the saloon and could call no one, and no way was she going to move from her bed, for some unknown reason she felt safe!

A couple minutes went by which seemed hours for Jill, when suddenly she heard the boat doors creek open. Someone was definitely on board! She had an uninvited stranger on her boat. She was now in serious danger and she knew it. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it would explode from her rib cage. She felt along the side of the bed where she always kept a lump hammer – she had been told years ago by an old seasoned boater to always have something under or beside your bed – just I case! She managed to locate this in the darkness, just as her bedroom door started to open. She could see the torch light shining through the gap. She screamed out that she had a weapon and one step further she would be forced to use it. To her surprise Bob, her dear friend, replied. Jill jumped from the bed and ran to the doorway, fell into Bob’s arms and cried uncontrollably, all of her emotions just poured out and Bob just held her tightly and said nothing. It was the perfect thing to do at this moment in time.

After a short while had passed Bob insisted on starting boats engine he was the only neighbour nearby and he certainly wasn’t going to complain about the noise. As soon as all the lights of the boat flickered on, Bob got the kettle on and sat opposite Jill at the table. It was then that he told her that he had been letting his dog out just before he went to bed when he saw lights coming from ‘Nightingales Call’ windows; he had been convinced that it was an intruder as it had been torch light coming from the windows. He had therefore decided to investigate. When he arrived everything was quiet, so he had decided to check if there had been a break in.

Jill couldn’t believe how she had reacted and thanked him, but still expressed that she had heard a number of sounds outside, which was why she had shined her torch through the windows in the first place. She insisted that someone had been outside, and confirmed to Bob that she had seen someone on the towpath earlier, late at night. Bob laughed out loud; the stranger had been old timer Frank from a boat further down the towpath. Bob and Frank were old friends and he had joined Bob for a few drinks earlier, and as for the noise, the tapping on the roof was just the overhanging branches being blown by the breeze in air! Bob reminded Jill that she had purposely moored at this spot because of this and the protection of the sun it gave to her boat! Jill felt stupid; she looked down at the table cloth in embarrassment. Bob picked up her hand and held it. He looked deep into her eyes and said “Your safe Jill, I’ll always be here for you, I’m not leaving you again”. It was at this moment Jill realised that Bob was indeed a special friend, someone who cared for her, someone who was there for her. Someone she wanted to be with forever also. She picked up her coffee cup, one hand still in Bob’s and just felt the stress of the whole day disappear, and she could feel the old Jill returning and knew life would never be the same again. She also knew she wasn’t going off her boat ever again!

David Biddle

2nd Week (w/e Monday 18/4/2016)

Well, we have just ended our second week on board Captain Hastings and are still going strong. This week has had its ups and downs. The best thing about this week was our daughter Emily and our son in law Elliott joining us on Saturday for an evening meal in a local pub next to the first lock in Stone, Staffordshire. It was great to catch up with each other, all of us sharing stories of the past weeks. Emily looks great considering she is pregnant with her first baby, stressing as usual about her job as a teacher and how the young people are not getting on with their work. This is definitely something Sandra and I are not missing! As we waived them goodbye and headed back to the boat we were both quite sad that we wouldn’t be seeing them again for a month or so. We miss Emily our only child a great deal.

Before this however, we have had quite an eventful week in one way or another.

Leaving the boatyard in Streethay, who fitted our new battery bank last week, we headed for Willington, this was out of our way, but we did this to ensure the batteries charged OK. If there had been any problems, in theory we could pop back to the boatyard on our return. We were going back to the boatyard anyway as I had negotiated a free pump out! We went through Willington and turned the boat just outside of the village, very close to hundreds and hundreds of poly tunnels growing strawberries. We had a lovely night in the middle of the open countryside. The next day we had our pump out and fed back to the guy that the new battery bank was fine (little did we know how wrong we could be!). We then moved onto Fradley and moored up late afternoon. The weather was gorgeously sunny and not too cold. We chatted to some friendly boaters sitting on the cut having a glass or two and then went to the ‘Mucky Duck’ where to our surprise we had quite a nice meal (haddock and chips). We also met a strange couple from the music industry (father and son) who promptly capitalised a good quantity of our time. The younger guy so keen to tell us he was a budding rock star and that his band was currently number 4 in the rock album charts. They both moved on when they realised that neither of us were particular impressed or indeed interested – but it was nice to chat and listen to other peoples life aspirations.

The next day we continued our journey north and headed to Rugeley in Staffordshire. Here we could stock up on essentials as very close to the canal is a Tesco and also a great fruit and veg shop a short distance away. Mooring up was a disaster! As we reversed into a spot we got something major wrapped around the propeller (prop). It almost stopped the engine. I immediately went into neutral and we floated across the canal. I used our bow thrusters to bring us to the tow bath and a really friendly boater jumped off his narrow boat to assist. When we had moored up we tried the engine again slowly and to our amazement the propeller seemed clear of any obstruction. We did our shopping and on the return decided that we couldn’t be bothered to go to the Indian restaurant as planned, but instead we would have a takeway, which we did, and fully enjoyed.

Moving on towards Shugborough the family estate of the Earl of Lichfield I realised that the boat was struggling to go forward and that it seemed to be veering to the right. We stopped so I could open the weed and inspect the propeller to see if anything was trapped in there. Not a very nice job, and made more difficult by an overly active imagination. I had read somewhere that a guy did the same and found a decapitated human head in there. I needed to be prepared!! Unfortunately, as I tried to lever the lid off I realised that it was completely stuck. I would need assistance. During this, I also looked at the Mastervolt readout – which is a remote unit managing the charging of batteries and the inverter (changing DC into AC) to my shock the batteries were only at 55%. Something was wrong here also. It was getting quite late in the afternoon, so both of these problems would have to wait until the next day. During the evening I frantically posted our issue regarding the Masstervolt readout onto our boating forums (via Facebook) and found that possibly the main issue was that it wasn’t calibrated properly to the charger/inverter unit, but this couldn’t be done until the batteries were 100% charged. We would therefore have to moor soon at a marina to charge our batteries and to re-set the system. The propeller was more of a concern at present; we did not want to put extra strain on the drive shaft. I decided to call Anglo Welsh who run the boatyard at Great Haywood. They agreed to look at the boat so long as it was the following day and before 10.30am as they had to deal with the hire fleet. We both had a sleepless, stressing somewhat about the prop and indeed the electrical system on the boat. I was also angry with myself for not ever checking the weed hatch in the past, had I have done this the lid would have been easily removed – you learn!

Next day we had an early start, batteries down to 51%, low for new batteries; there was definitely a problem here. At Great Haywood, Anglo Welsh were amazing, removed the weed hatch lid and unbelievably pulled out a whole ‘parka’ coat with fur collar still intact! Whilst there we filled up with water, which had been made difficult as some idiot the night before had decided to moor up on part of the jetty, he shouldn’t have done that. When another boat came alongside, he told him this with the result being an outburst of abusive language. Unbelievable, sometime you witness the worse in people. As we were rolling up the water hose in readiness for us to move on we promptly dropped the whole thing into the canal. We both looked at each other, could anything else happen to us in such a short period? We spent the next ten minutes trying to fish it out of the canal, just as I had given up and was walking back to the boat; Sandra gave out a shout that she had got it. We smiled at each other – good things do happen!
The next day we met our daughter and arranged to Moor at Festival Park Marina in Stoke on Trent, this would take us a couple of days to get there, so after staying at Stone, we headed for Barlaston where Neil Morrissey of ‘Men Behaving Badly’ fame has a pub called the Plume of Feathers. Our intention was to moor close and have a meal there; in fact when we had moored up in the glorious sun, we just couldn’t be bothered. A glass of wine and a home cooked meal took preference. We also put the generator on – just in case the batteries were at fault.

Onto Stoke the next day and some quite deep locks to go through. Unfortunately Sandra had a mishap going under a bridge just before a lock earlier in the week. She bumped the boat and was stressed by being rushed by a boater behind. She was not going to drive the boat through the locks, until she could find her confidence again. We went through all the locks with help from some volunteers and we were also badgered in a friendly way by ‘Bob the Lock’ a young guy obsessed by canals and boats. He gave me a business card saying he would do our washing if we needed, go shopping for us and indeed help us through the next ‘26’ locks!! We took his card out of kindness and just in case – you never know.

We ended our second week moored at the Marina, plugged into the electrics and the headache a head of us trying to re-set the damn Mastervolt unit – which should have been done properly by Streethay in the first place! Roll on week 3!

Short tory published in the Canal Boating Times - April 2016

An ordinary day on the cut takes a mysterious turn for the protagonist of this month’s short story submission by continuous cruiser David Biddle.

If you’d like to see your waterways-inspired tale in print, email a.hamson@wwonline.co.uk or send it to First ‘Draught’, Canal Boating Times, 151 Station Street, Burton-on-Trent DE14 1BG. Unfortunately, we cannot return submissions so please make sure you retain the original copy of your manuscript.


A STRANGE ENCOUNTER


Mick could tell Jill was excited just by the way she was chatting more than usual; commenting on the weather, how she liked her tea and that she preferred wholemeal rather than white bread toast. Normally she would get up and be deep in thought, planning the cruising day ahead and what she was going to do – she rarely spoke until her second coffee. Today was different though, she was chirpy and chatty and quite looking forward to reverting back to a past life – albeit for only a few hours.

The couple owned a narrowboat called Matilda and had been continuous cruisers for almost three years. They had spent most of the last few weeks heading south along the Trent & Mersey Canal. It was winter time, when canals can be very quiet with few boats passing and not much communication with anyone unless you’re moored up at one of the many friendly pubs. But they still loved the freedom, the changing scenery and being close to nature.

Jill came out of the cabin and did a twirl in front of Mick; it had been ages since she had worn a skirt, most of the time she was dressed in jeans and thick jumpers or unflattering waterproofs and wellies, so she appreciated wearing something a little more feminine. Mick lifted his head up from his book, smiled and gave a nod which informed Jill that he liked what he saw. Her two friends would be at the bridge in ten minutes – they were going shopping. The plan was for Jill to spend a day in retail therapy with her old friends while Mick would take the boat a few miles down the canal to the Mucky Duck pub where he would join them for a drink or two. He waved from the tiller as Jill made her way towards the bridge to meet her friends, trying to avoid the numerous muddy puddles. Mick loved Jill, she was his best friend, his soul mate. Living in a confined space can often become quite claustrophobic and trying for even the most solid of relationships but, if anything, they had grown closer since taking early retirement – having no more work to stress over allowed more time for each other. Even so, a few hours apart was going to do them both good!

It was about 11.30am when Matilda finally started to move smoothly off the mooring, with Mick steadying her as she started the journey to the Mucky Duck. Boating the inland waterways was Mick and Jill’s passion and they felt very lucky they could now live
aboard their boat permanently. They loved the lifestyle and enjoyed both the countryside and industrial landscapes they encountered along the way.

Mick started to slow down the boat in readiness for the first lock. He had been through this one before and did not like it very much; it was dark with an old lock-keeper’s cottage close by. He tied the boat up along the towpath and was soon winding the paddles of the gate to fill the chamber with water. It seemed much colder near to the lock, yet there was no breeze. Mick supposed it was to due to the overhanging trees effectively blocking out the sunlight. He tightened his scarf and rubbed his gloved hands together
both actions making little difference. There was a total lack of noise other than the gushing of water as the lock filled; no birds singing, no rustling of the trees or bushes and no distant road noise – it was quite unusual and unnerving. For some reason he also found he couldn’t stop looking towards the lock-keeper’s house, which was run down and apparently empty. The windows were filthy but through them he could just make out the dirty, ripped curtains the other side, some of which had partly fallen off their rails. Of the dark rooms beyond he could make out nothing at all. He had never paid much attention to the house before, but then Jill usually prepared the locks.

Soon he was gliding Matilda slowly past the gate, concentrating on steering a straight course and avoiding looking at the cottage. Once in the lock he put the boat on tick-over and got off to close the single gate. It was only then that he heard the faint whispering. “Where’s it coming from?” he thought, looking round to confirm he was definitely alone. He tried to listen more closely but couldn’t make out what was being said; he rubbed his ears, but it was still there. Mick tried to think logically – there were always weird sounds around water, especially the strange gurgles and hiccups it sometimes made around locks. Doing his best to ignore it, he concentrated on closing the gate as fast as he could. He moved to the other end of the lock, lifted the paddles on both gates and waited, uneasily, for the chamber to empty. He couldn’t wait to get away from there.

Once the level had dropped sufficiently, he heaved open the gates and started down the lock ladder to his boat below. It was a deep chamber, and halfway down his blood chilled to hear the whispering start back up. With each rung it seemed to grow louder, and this time he could decipher some of the menacing words: “You’re staying here, you’re going nowhere.” His heart was beating so fast that he could hear it pumping. Surely his mind was playing games? He tried to make sense of it, but where was this sound coming from? He concluded someone must be playing a joke on him, maybe some local youths. Once he was safely back on the boat he looked upwards and shouted: “Is someone there? What do you want? Stop mucking around.” There was no reply, no one was around. He was on his own.

Suddenly Mick found his right arm being pulled upwards, as if a whirlwind had taken hold of it. He was being dragged back up the ladder and the whispering became louder and louder, spinning him into a vortex of terror. He tried to shake off the invisible hands hauling him up, but their grip was too strong. His scarf whipped around his face as he was being lifted. For a split second he managed to pull himself backwards before the fingers clutched hold of him again with much more violence. Luckily his knee knocked into the boat accelerator and, as he was dragged upwards, Matilda lunged forward at full throttle, smoke billowing from the exhaust. The boat moved fast through the lock gates. Mick could still feel himself being pulled, but as he and the vessel fully exited the lock the mysterious hold abated.

A few seconds passed before Mick could compose himself, steady the boat and slow it down. He turned to see both lock gates slam violently shut of their own accord. “What on earth just happened?” Mick thought, delving into his pocket for a much-needed cigarette. As he lit up, his hands were shaking and he felt nauseous. The following two locks were fortunately manned by volunteers, not that Mick took any notice of this – he was still in a daze from the strange encounter. He avoided being drawn into any conversation, kept his head down and focussed on getting to the pub to see Jill.

Stopping outside the Mucky Duck, Mick quickly secured the boat from the centre line. He urgently needed a drink so decided to return to the boat when he had calmed down. He entered the bar and requested a large whisky, which he gulped down in one go. Ordering his second, he jumped to feel a hand on his shoulder and spun round, only to see Jill standing there. Her smile disappeared immediately when she saw the look on Mick’s face. Unable to talk he gestured to her to give him a moment and drained his glass again.

It was only then that he could launch into his lock chamber horror story. In the telling his voice grew louder, his expression more animated, and soon the whole pub was listening in. After he had finished, a man who had been following the tale from the other end of the bar put down his pint and made his way over. Apologising for eavesdropping, he drew the couple to one side and quietly explained this wasn’t the first supernatural encounter he’d heard originate from that lock. Similar experiences had been reported on many occasions, he stressed, usually by lone boaters and usually men. As his conversation continued, Mick and Jill were appalled to learn the lock had been the site of a brutal murder more than a century ago – the victim was the lock-keeper’s daughter, whose body had been found floating face down in the chamber. Her assailant was never captured. Her parents, grief-stricken, moved away soon after. Subsequent occupants never inhabited the house for longer than a year. It garnered a reputation for being haunted and had been empty since the ‘70s.

Jill clenched Mick’s hand in support as they both ordered another beverage. He turned round to thank the local for explaining the day’s events and offer him a drink but he was nowhere to be seen.


David Biddle

1st Week - On Captain Hastings

Well, we have survived our first week as proper continuous cruisers on the inland waterways - just!. It is quite difficult to comprehend that you do not have some of the expected luxuries of 'normal living'. For example, we have to monitor our water consumption, we have a flushing toilet, but this has a holding tank which we have to keep an eye on, we don't always have a TV signal, our WiFi doesn't always have a strong signal and of course we no longer have use of a car, so organising food shops have to coincide with whether we are near to a town or not!! Having Sandra by my side, as you all know she is freakily organised, has ensured we have lists for everything which helps no end in this regard. She has also insisted that I keep a 'Ships Log' which monitors engine use, water fill ups and much more. Our biggest issue this week has been our energy consumption - electricity. Captain Hastings has normal 240V AC electricity, this allows us all the usual comforts of a normal living. However, we have to produce this electricity by running the boats engine and charging batteries, this energy is then inverted which changes DC electricity onto AC. We therefore have a massive bank of 'Leisure Deep Cycle Batteries'. If you look at your car battery, double this in size and then multiply this by five, you get some idea! What should happen is as we go along these batteries are charged via an alternator on the engine (a bit like the old dynamo's you used to have on bikes - the faster you peddled the more energy produced - the brighter the light). We have a computerised battery management system on board and one read out was showing full batteries - yet on another reading it was showing 35% - 55% full charge, which was a concern. Did we have full batteries? or did we have half empty batteries? Our concern was always and is, if we run out of battery power we're in trouble - for example our freezer would defrost! After chatting on social media with many of my boating contacts and going through various processes to 'self test' the systems, it came clear that we would have to call into a marina and discuss the situation with a professional. We carried on cruising for a few days, using the generator for back up energy and indeed a 'travel pack' a clever system where the engine produces AC directly for on board heavy duty requirements, for example washing machine, which by passes the need for inversion of energy via the batteries. Finally, after a sleepless night on the Sunday, and the fact that after 6 hours of cruising our batteries had not improved - we visited a marina we have used previously. Our friendly engineer reviewed the situation and promptly told us one of the batteries was about to explode! They needed to cool down, he needed to get some protective gear on and for us both to keep away from the engine bay. It seems we had just arrived at the marina in time, if we had we had left it longer - a massive battery would have exploded sending acid all over the engine bay and doing a great deal of damage. Later the diagnosis was that all of our batteries were pretty much knackered. We agreed to have a new battery bank fitted, five new leisure batteries. Over the next few hours the batteries were slowly removed and as they were the boat took on a real list as the ballast of the boat was out of sync. Without batteries we had no engine, so we were 'poled' by two staff into a mooring, fortunately with an electric land-line to hook up on. Unfortunately, due to how the system on the boat is set up and some items only using DC (no batteries - no DC), some of our on board facilities were no longer available, toilet (not flushing) taps (no pump - no water), but we did have AC electricity for lighting - reading, watching TV and of course the AGA still worked, so as a treat Sandra did her magic and cooked a great curry! Other than the above, the week has gone really well. We have stayed reasonably local to our old marina (thank heavens!) and have travelled to Willington, Burton on Trent, Alrewas and Fradley. We have had some great laughs and met some amazing people - one was a musician who had a piano on board and also played the piano accordion (which I used to and still own one) he played beautifully, including some classical stuff that Sandra and I loved. We had a great night out, where we got a taxi into Burton Town, drank amazing real ales in a traditional ale house and had a lovely meal in our favourite restaurant 'Balti Towers'. We also managed to have a week where we didn't argue (much) and realised we are still best mates and sill well in love! sad or what? and the most important thing of all - we finished our jigsaw and laughed a great deal

!!

Our few day aboard Captain Hastings

Well we said our goodbyes to our daughter Emily and son in law Elliott and started our next chapter of life on the 5th April 2016.  We intend to enjoy our retirement by travelling the inland waterways of the UK - Emily has taken it as though we are emigrating to Australia! but once she gets the idea that we are only a couple of hours away at most - I'm sure she will get used to it.

Captain Hastings is ready for our continuous cruising - we have had it serviced and we have spent ages cleaning and polishing the shell.  Already people shout out to say how lovely she looks and we are really proud of the boat.

A few days have past, we have had problems getting used to the AGA range cooker on board - but we will sort it.  The new generator we purchased was great - but only put 3% of energy back in the batteries!  We have researched this on the internet and it seems we need to turn it up a bit more.  Our engine puts in 10 -15% per hour, so there is no problems in this regard.

We have a concert to go to in Stoke on Trent organised ages ago and also a visit from Emily and Elliott and Friends a week on Saturday, so our cruising has consisted of travelling around Burton on Trent so far - so nothing new to see or report on.

The weather has been great, although we have had some showers which has made the tow paths lethal to walk on - Sandra has already tripped over whilst taking the dog for a walk.

Believe it or not we seem to be quite busy, especially when cruising.  We have started get on with our hobbies during the late afternoons - I want to write creatively, in the past it has always been academic stuff - so this will be a break for me.  Sandra is picking up on her sewing and knitting - which she is superb at.  All in all, we are in a process of getting used to a much more relaxed way of life.

The Story So Far!

Captain Hastings The Beginning of Our Adventure

Captain Hastings is a 58ft Dutch Barge style Narrow Boat.  We have owned the boat for a number of years and from April 2016 we will be taking it on a real adventure where we will be boating all the way to Llangollen in north Wales and right down past Oxford.  This trip will take us around seven months and this blog is all about the trials and tribulations of our trip.

Hopefully you will enjoy reading our blog and check up on a daily/weekly basis to see how we are progressing.

 

THE STORY SO FAR

 

We have had a boat on and off for nearly 20 years.  Our first boat was a river cruiser which was called Aquilla, this was great fun but lacked some of the basic things you need on a modern boat, not least a shower!  We then purchased a newish small 26ft steel narrow boat which was a real step up from Aquilla.  We named this boat Miss Marple as we liked some of the characters from Agatha Christie novels.  On this boat we spent quite a few years exploring the canals and on these occasions Emily our daughter also joined us, often accompanied by a friend.  We travelled mostly along the Grand Union canal and even ventured down to Stratford upon Avon and so on. As time moved on we continued to sell and buy other narrow boats which we held onto for two or three years - Chandler Bing (a traditional style NB), Mehitabel (Cruiser Style NB) and finally our current and last ever boat - Captain Hastings which when commissioned to be built cost over £127,000 and was styled with a Dutch barge in mind.  This results in the boat having more living space and the sides straighter giving more width and height room - but still no more than 6ft 7 inches!

 

Captain Hastings is a stunning boat with all of the mod cons you would expect of a modern boat; It has a high spec electrical control system, which means we run AC electric at all times, just like home.  This means we have a household Bosch Fridge, Bosch Freezer, Miele Washing Machine, power shower and a new Range/AGA cooker which also runs all of the central heating in the boat.  All of the power needed is generated from the engine or the Solar Panels or the 2.6KW generator, which to date has never been required.  At the moment the boat has only done 643 engine hours (April 2016) - this is like a new car having around 2000 miles on the clock!

 

On board she is a little quirky, as you would expect from a 'Biddle' boat, there are lime green granite kitchen work surfaces and grey shiny cupboards and drawers.  On the boat the side panelling throughout changes for each living space.  Light wood in the saloon area, which consists of a table for 4 (converts into a double bed) and two comfy arm chairs. Silver light blue panelling in the Galley (kitchen) and bathroom – which has a double sized power shower and flushing toilet (no messing around in the ‘sh*t department for us!).  The bedroom is in darker wood and is styled around what you would expect staying on an old fashioned cruise liner!  Like I said – quirky!!  We have all the usual luxuries also, flat screen Smart TV’s, Broadband, digital radio and Bose music system.