We’ve now two thirds of the way to Newbury. We try to pick the drier days for cruising, but the weather does like to have a laugh and has given us all the seasons in one day, several times. Ian’s attempt to stop the use of the multifuel stove for the year (following his efforts…
I can’t remember the exact logic behind this next repositioning cruise of our floating home, but we are heading back to familiar territory, it’s a one-way trip to the Kennet & Avon Canal, back to this boat’s home port of Newbury. It’s a bit of an epic undertaking of about 394 lock/miles, that’s 197 locks…
We’ve been getting to grips with the new van and exploring south Wales … again! Wales has more castles per square mile than any other country in Europe. There used to be over 600 and Caldicot is one of the 100 castles that are left (in one form or another!). So this trip has been…
We’ve been over-wintering on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal. It’s our last week and we’re having one final cruise along its length before putting the boat into the marina while we go off on one of our van trips. When we come back in a few weeks, river levels permitting, we will be heading north…
The tow paths are muddy puddles and upstream the rain has swollen the River Severn to the point it has surrounded the Abbey at Tewkesbury! I’m relieved that we are on the canal and not at the mercy of the flood waters. Some of the images on social media have been quite scary. When there…
What could possibly go wrong this time? We’d been cruising for a few hours and moored up for a late lunch, I’m in the galley and I realise I can smell paint stripper-but I’m chopping garlic, so I’m wondering if my sense of smell is playing up so, I ask Ian. He wanders around, yep…
After celebrating Christmas and New Year with family in Cheshire we’ve moved the boat out of the marina and hunkered down to recover from catching the winter lurgies. The peaceful waters are being rocked by either Storm Goretti or the dredger operating in the quays at Gloucester! Our first shock has been to recognise…
As I type this our thoughts are with those poor boaters on the Llangollen Canal who experienced the terror of losing their boats when the canal breached close to Whitchurch in the early hours of the morning. It is only by sheer luck that, when we were hunting for a marina mooring for December, we…
We’ve finally made it south of Tixall Wide on the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal (S&W) and it is simply stunning. The canal meanders through wooded valleys beside a curtain of red sandstone and we’ve already planned to come back this way to spend time in the picturesque mooring spots that we’ve now pencilled into our…
After our last motorhome trip to the Outer Hebrides we made the decision to change our motorhome to a campervan. It’s shorter and narrower and more suited to the type of adventures we wanted to go on. August then became a rather stressful month as we got Hollie ready for sale and then finally sold…
