Nice Break.

Just had a lovely few days away with the Mr, in Wales. We stayed at friends of his who live in the gorgeous Clocaenog forest. I love it there, so peaceful and green. We were there to see one of the stages of the Welsh GB rally. It was great to watch, and after watching the first half from a safe vantage point, we decided to be a bit braver and stand nearer the track. I quickly decided maybe it wasn’t a good idea, when the first car hurtled out of the darkness of the forest, headlights blazing, straight for us! Luckily for me we were stood by a huge tree, that tree got my arms flung round it and I held on for grim death till the car roared past us! I did get braver with each car though, so the tree wasn’t hugged too many times. Just as I stepped away from the tree, a car flew past and splattered us both from head to toe in a mixture of grey mud and stones, we were covered! Mr even managed to catch one of the stones in his wellie boot!  We were in wet gear so it didn’t matter, just added to the fun of it all!

The Forest was magical, and I managed a few nice photos…

                    Click on images to enlarge.

  

The middle photo of the forest, looks like a film set, the colours were stunning, I only wish I had taken a lot more photos…I will next time!  

Liverpool.

 

We had a trip out to Liverpool in September, I am ashamed to say I have only now decided to blog about it! We moored our boats in the Salt House Dock for ten days and it was lovely! The River Festival was on and there was something to see every day. Wake boarding on the Dock, a demonstration by the emergency services, power boat racing on the Mersey, plus the Tall Ships which I have to say were my favourite.                            The Jet Ski’s on the Dock before going out onto the Mersey to race.

The Power Boats also waiting to go out on the Mersey.

One of the magnificent Tall Ships. Mark and I were lucky enough to see this one go out on to the Mersey at midnight. It was a great sight to see her plunging through the Lock gate on to the choppy waters of the Mersey, the only thing missing was the music from the Poseidon adventure. There was only Mark and I and the Waterways guys who watched her leave the Dock, I don’t understand why there were not more people there to watch her, it was amazing to watch, we got a wave off the crew too! 

The winners of the Power Boat Race.Night Scene at the Salt House Dock. 

We had a great time there, but only one thing spoilt it for us, well actually two things. The first being the rubbish in the Canal, I lost count of the amount of times we had to stop to clear the prop, it was disgusting. There were bed quilts, pillows, clothes, rope, and numerous sacks and bags that we had to remove from the prop, to say it became tedious would be a total under statement. The low lives that dump all this crap don’t stop to think do they? When their kids grow up, they won’t have the pleasure of a nice clean canal, they will just be left with a ditch full of rubbish, created by their careless behaviour. It wouldn’t put me off going through to Liverpool again, but it is a real pain! The second thing that spoilt things for me was this… This big black hideous blot on the landscape, who ever passed this needs their head testing! It does nothing at all to enhance any part of the Dock whatsoever, and as you can see from the angle of this photo, it totally blocks out the lovely Liver Building. I would quite happily enjoy watching this building being knocked down, it’s awful, but that will never happen will it? Sad really….

Lovely Day!

You know when you have one of those days when you are happy with your lot, well I am having one of those. I have a list of jobs to do, as always, but I am once again sitting all cosy by the fire, drinking coffee and wallowing in this, "feel good" mood. I have done washing, so I do't feel too guilty as I have at least done something to warrant this reward for sitting tapping away on my laptop!

Today is the first day of a week off work, ( probably the reason for my good mood ). The weather was glorious first thing, bright and crisp, and I swear I could smell snow in the air? or was that wishful thinking? It now has dulled, and could possibly rain, but my day isn't dampened by this sudden change in the weather.

So here we are into winter again. I don't mind the winter to be honest, it's only once a year after all! It can be tough on a boat, but not as tough as some people think. If I am warm have coal for the fire and food in the fridge I am happy, ok water can become a problem if the standpipe freezes but it isn't really a hardship. When I tell people I like the winter, they look at me as if I am crazy, ( they are not far from the truth ) It isn't my favourite season, but some people hate winter with a vengeance, I embrace whatever each particular season chooses to throw at me, to a certain extent anyway. I think becoming a boater does make you appreciate more in life, it has in my case anyway, it opened up a whole new world to me. Seasons used to come and go in my life and I didn't take an awful lot of notice, now I do, and it's lovely!

So.....I wonder what will pop my bubble,and the answer to that is hopefully nothing, as I choose not to allow my bubble to be popped. Minor irritations will arise, as they do, but nothing will ever change my mind about my decision to become a boater, and that it has been one of my better decisions in life!

For all you guys out there who are contemplating doing what I have done, DON'T, it's a terrible life really, there is obviously something in the coffee I am drinking that's making me ramble on about this idyllic way of life, it is hell on earth really, go buy a flat or a caravan, and leave us boaters in peace to wallow in our misery...