I took so many pictures last summer that not all of them fit into the blog posts. Here are some of the ones that didn’t make the cut at the time.

As both of my readers probably know, I’m back in Canada having come back a bit early. The weather over there was pretty bad throughout July and I heard August and September weren’t much better. Meanwhile we have had a glorious late summer and autumn here on the west coast. We’ve been working on Rianne’s place, having lots of great family visits and hikes, and just enjoying the time together.

I’m now getting ready for the ski season, which basically involves thinking about, planning, and preparing to work out. I might even actually do a workout since Jessi is holding my feet to the fire.

I suspect my next post will be from the mountain, unless something interesting happens before then. I hope everyone is doing well and, as always, please take good care of each other. Always feel free to send me a comment or just a hello, it’s great to know that someone is still reading this.

One of the main reasons I cruised to Liverpool was to visit with my friend Wendy and her family. She is from the Wirral originally, across the Mersey River from Liverpool itself. It’s sort of considered “Liverpool” by everyone except the locals (on either side!). Presently she’s living in Port Sunlight, a community built by the Lever brothers, of Sunlight soap fame. It’s a Model Village they began building in 1888 and envisaged as a decent place for their workers to live and work. They moved their soap works to the land, hired many architects (each to design a block of homes), built a school, a hospital, a train station, an outdoor pool, and many other recreational and social facilities.

The Lady Lever Art Gallery was my first stop, and is one of the best private galleries I’ve ever been to. Paintings, sculpture, furniture, anything artistic can be found in the huge collection. Even the building itself is beautiful.

The museum details the history of the village, showing how the lives of the workers were changed by having decent housing and a safe community. Many went from living in one or two rooms housing as many as 10 people and having a single toilet down the alley that served several homes, to living in a two level attached house with indoor plumbing, several bedrooms, a sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. The toilet remained out in the back garden but was for just their own home at least! They are often still there, converted to garden sheds but identified by the vented door.

Each block of homes was designed by one of nearly 30 different architects. In the back of the blocks were allotments where residents could grow their own vegetables. Many of the buildings built for the community are still there, often repurposed. The hospital, built in 1907 was reopened in 2008 as the Leverhulme Hotel. Hesketh Hall (formerly home to the Royal Legion) is now 13 flats and a pub. The former children’s school is now a working men’s club. The open air swimming pool is now a garden centre and cafe.

William Lever himself rose through the aristocratic ranks, eventually to be known as the 1st. Viscount Leverhulme in 1922. He saw the community as an early form of profit sharing, but where he invested the profits back into the community rather than giving them directly to the workers. It’s fair to note that all of these amenities are for the workers, those living in the community. It’s only in recent years that outside visitors have moved in. Port Sunlight has been suggested as a World Heritage Site, and contains 900 Grade II Listed buildings (meaning there can be little or no alterations). It was his very profitable soap business that originally funded the village, and in fact the company is now bigger than ever, presently known as Unilever. They produce many things besides soap and have over 148,000 employees worldwide. Obviously something worked. It’s a lesson that many present-day companies could learn… (can you hear me Walmart?)

Some of the many styles of homes in Port Sunlight:

There are many more interesting and beautiful buildings and locations in Port Sunlight than what I’ve shown here. If you are ever in Liverpool, it’s an easy train ride over the river (well, under it actually) and is well worth the trip. I may sound like a promotional advertisement, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hey, did you know that there was a really famous band from Liverpool? If you ever go there, you can’t miss them. It’s impossible to go far without a reminder of Echo and the Bunnymen. Oh, wait. I mean that other band. Here’s my adventure getting to (and from) Beatleland.

My first choice to get to Liverpool from Swanley Bridge Marina was to go north on the Shroppie through Chester and Ellesmere Port (where I went last year) and then across the Mersey River. I knew it would be a bit daunting, not just because it’s a large, tidal waterway with ocean-going ships plying it. I had no idea, however, that it would be quite so much trouble. It requires permissions from at least three bureaucracies, hiring a pilot, having the boat surveyed and the fuel polished, and probably other organizational items. That’s far too much paperwork for an ex-government employee. Plan B was needed…

The other choice was to go north past the Anderton Boat lift and skirt Manchester on the Bridgewater Canal. This is a very historical waterway, the first purpose-built canal in England. The Duke of Bridgewater built it to carry coal from his mines to the docks of Manchester. It made him fabulously wealthy, the richest man in England at the time. He is credited with starting the canal-building craze throughout the late 18th and 19th century which ultimately resulted in over 6000 miles of canals during the height of the Industrial Revolution, of which over 2000 miles continue to survive.

I can’t say I enjoyed the trip. I had made a reservation in Liverpool for my boat, in Salthouse dock. This is a CRT boat basin in the very core of Liverpool, next to the world-famous Albert Docks but my mistake was making the reservation without enough time to easily get there, given uncertainties and weather along the way. I found I had to push the boat, and my endurance, with long days in sometimes pretty awful weather. Wind and rain every day made it, um, annoying. In addition I was unfamiliar with the area and found it difficult to find adequate mooring locations. The route went through some pretty industrial and sketchy areas, not very inviting.

In the end it was fine, I found good moorings, met some great people, and arrived in Liverpool pretty much uneventfully. Entry into the South Docks is dramatic and amazing.

You realize you’re entering history before even arriving at the main South Docks. The route passes right by the ‘Tobacco Warehouse’, which is still the largest brick-built building in the world, containing more than 27 million bricks. It is being repurposed as high-end residences and businesses, as are many of the older buildings.

After exiting the Stanley Docks, the first thing you see is the iconic Victoria Tower with its 6 clock faces. It was known as the Docker’s Clock as it was used by mariners leaving (or arriving) to set their chronometers to the correct local time.

Travelling deeper into the docklands, the route passes through huge basins with massive bollards and locks. Sailing cargo ships, and later steam ships, would find secure landings here in order to fuel the immense trade flowing in and out of England’s largest northern port.

The world-famous Royal Liver Building, with it’s Liver Birds looking out to sea and inland, is the first of the Three Graces the route passes. Next is the Cunard Building (Customs House), and finally the Port of Liverpool Building.

The time I spent in the centre of Liverpool was pretty cool. I have been to the city several times in the past but being right in there, for almost no cost (as opposed to hugely expensive hotels with the same view) was a bit of alright! While there I visited several museums and galleries, bought some souvenirs, ate at a couple of restaurants, and just enjoyed myself. However, the highlight (and main reason for going) was visiting Wendy across the river in The Wirral (Merseyside). As it turned out, visiting her and her lovely family was not just worth the long cruise up there, it was worth it’s own blog post. Stay tuned…

As usual, here are some random images from the trip.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind June. Once I got back to the marina from the River Weaver, I headed to Ottawa for Robbie’s convocation. Needless to say, that was one of the happiest and proudest days of my life. It all went well, no problems with flights or schedules. We had a nice few days to visit.

Rianne and I then headed to the boat. It was her first time on the canals so I had planned a special trip. A couple of you will remember the route (if you’re still reading this blog!), up the Llangollen, over the Pontcysyltte aqueduct and into the basin at the head of the canal. It’s an iconic route, offering all the best of the inland waterway and we couldn’t have asked for it to be any better! The weather cooperated, very hot at the beginning, a great thunder and rainstorm, a Father’s Day treat, and moderate weather for the longer cruising days.

It was truly an amazing time. Everything went so well, seemed like magic (hehehe). And again, thanks so much to Phil and Angela for the great company and all the help getting back and forth! We can’t wait to return the favours once they come up the mountain in the winter!

My time down on the River Weaver was quite a good experience. I’d forgotten about river travel, the Thames in 2018 and the Trent in 2019 were the last big rivers I had been on. The width (being able to turn around almost anywhere), the huge locks (and lock keepers), and the flow were all good reminders of the difference between a river and a controlled canal. I can’t see the Weaver Navigation staying the way it is though, it’s costing a fortune to maintain and run such a short section. They should probably automate the locks so the boaters can run them (like on the Thames), which would allow more flexible travel without having to keep to ‘their’ schedule. This might entice more people to go down the boat lift and experience it and save on lock-keepers’ salaries. It’s not nice to think about workers losing their jobs but it’s inevitable if things continue as they are.

Going back up the Boat LIft again was still an interesting experience. As much as I enjoyed the river, it was a bit of relief to be back on the ‘regular’ canal. There seemed to be almost constant problems on the Weaver, from the boat lift itself having issues to locks failing and causing delays. On most canals that usually means just turning around and going the long way around. That’s almost impossible on the Weaver, it’s dangerous and expensive to go along the Manchester Ship Canal to Ellesmere Port. It sure would be fun though!

On my return journey, I stopped at Bramble Cuttings, one of the waterway’s nearly legendary mooring locations. It’s on the ‘offside’, opposite the towpath, so doesn’t have people, dogs, or bikes going by. Only three boats at a time too, so very quiet and peaceful. It’s set up nicely with benches, picnic tables, and BBQ stands. Loved it…

Once leaving Bramble Cuttings (2 day maximum stay) I headed back toward my regular stomping grounds around the Nantwich area.

To make a long story longer, I got back onto the Shropshire Canal (Main Branch) and went as far south as Audlum. There I got some allergy medicine from the ‘chemist’ and got more work done. I’ll soon have the hatch cover acceptably de-rusted and painted. As the title hinted at, the days are becoming warmer and make it feel like summer is here. However, the nights are still very cool, getting down to 4 ℃ one night. Luckily as the days go by it seems to be getting a bit warmer, daytime and night.

After a couple of pleasant days at Coole Pilate, and having a visit with Gary and Linda on NB Watercolour, I moved north to beyond Barbridge Junction. Most cruisers head up the Middlewich Branch at this point, as I did previously, but this time I went straight on toward Chester. I got some water and dropped off the garbage and spent a quiet night before returning to Barbridge. Mooring outside the Barbridge Inn, I had a great Sunday Roast and met Phil and Ang for a drink later!

Nothing much after this to report, just idling to the marina to prepare for the return to Ottawa. I’m so excited to see Robbie get his degree, it’s been a tough road for him (and all the other students) having to navigate the Covid restrictions. It wasn’t easy to do lab work remotely. Of course, I’m also very excited to have Rianne fly back with me and experience the canal life!

Here we go again, once more on the boat and cruising the inland waterways of England and Wales. I have no specific plans, I’m thinking it might be good to go into Liverpool and then up the Lancaster Canal. But first I’m biding my time around the Llangollen area as I am flying back to Ottawa in June for my son Robbie’s university convocation! So proud of him, he’s graduating with an Honours Biology degree (with Health Sciences). Just had to one-up me! Well, two-up.

While waiting for that, I dropped down off the Llangollen into Nantwich to visit my good friends Phil and Angela. It was great to have a catch-up. I also observed the coronation of the king, it was interesting to see the various degrees that people either celebrated it or didn’t. I had an appointment in the town, so dropped into the church to use up some spare time and watched part of the coronation in the most British way! They had TVs on, and some displays. Interesting way to view the event!

I also took time to do some work on the boat. The main thing was to get rid of the carpet. I’ve always hated it, it’s hard to keep clean and produces so much dust. Settled on a laminate (I thought I was getting vinyl but this is great). So easy to keep clean…

One of the things I almost did last season was to go down the Anderton Boat Lift to the River Weaver. As it turned out, it was probably good that I didn’t, as it broke down for many weeks and they eventually had to evacuate the narrowboats via the Manchester Ship Canal in a flotilla. It was quite an operation, narrowboats don’t often travel on the ship canal due to very large, ocean-going ships frequenting it!

I figured that this year was a good chance to check it out. Victorian engineering is simply amazing. Built in 1875, it’s a two-caisson lift lock, used to move boats on and off the River Weaver, 50 feet below the Trent and Mersey Canal. It used water-based hydraulic rams until 1906 before corrosion caused its closure.

A redesign added large support pillars and electric motors atop the structure, with the hydraulic rams being removed. This worked well until 1983 when a counterweight caught on something and caused a caisson to drop suddenly, then the other one did too. The lift was closed until a huge effort in 2000 resulted in it being rebuilt and reopened in 2002. They returned it to a hydraulic system, this time with modern rams and fluids. It’s simply an amazing experience. The following video is pretty large (might take a while to load) and is partly sped up, partly real-time.

While spending some quiet time on the river, I had a fantastic visit with Guy. He drove halfway across England to spend a couple of days visiting and cruising around. It was particularly handy that I was moored right near a pub! Despite having fitted out his own boat and spending many years cruising much of the system, he hadn’t been on the boat lift before so we did an up and down trip just for the experience.

It’s been a quick passage from summer boating to winter skiing. The ski season is rapidly waning although my favourite time is approaching, spring! Spring skiing normally (and hopefully) consists of sunny days and soft (“corn”) snow followed by cold and freezing nights. Fast in the morning, forgiving hero snow in the afternoons… weeee!

We’ve had a great season overall, although some strange weather patterns have been through. Very wet through Christmas, foggy in January, dry most of February, then real winter for the first part of March. Finally got some very good powder days, some sunshine, and some very large crowds on weekend! All-in-all, another great season.

Now it’s time to start looking forward to being off-mountain. Robbie’s convocation is in June so I’ll be attending that! I’m very proud of his accomplishments at Carleton, Honours Biology (with a concentration in Health Sciences). Just had to one-up me! Hard-earned and well deserved. Also have to start planning my route when I get back on the canals. Do I go north or south?

Finally, here are some pictures to show a sample of the what I get up to each day up here. Enjoy!

I’m now back in Canada and so begins the loooong wait for the snow to fly. The end of the boating season on the canals came a bit earlier than normal as I was anxious to get home. I think the timing worked out well, the nice weather over there ended just after my departure but the summer continued over here for another month.

Once I returned to the boat from Edinburgh, I had another covid-postponed event to attend. On my first visit to the Shropshire Union Canal in 2019 I happened to stop in Nantwich. Just by chance it was the weekend they were holding the Nantwich Food Festival and I thoroughly enjoyed the many (many!) stalls and pop-up restaurants spread throughout the town. Actually, over the three days I was there I ate far too much but completely fell in love with the area. It is picturesque, friendly, and provides all the amenities a boater needs. And finally, the festival has returned. Yum!

Of course, such an event is always much better with good friends!

While I was in Nantwich I got word that Guy and Rose (more boating friends that long-time readers might remember) would be passing through on their boat. It was so good to see them and have a visit.

Finally, all was prepared with the boat. Roof cleared, clothes and linens bagged, fridge emptied, and damson and sloe gin and vodka bottled! Ready to head to the airport…

The train system in the UK is going through some problems these days. Labour issues and staff shortages are causing many schedule changes and cancellations (I had one cancelled about 5 minutes after the scheduled departure time, while we were all sitting aboard). Although there are always complaints I’ve found it to be efficient, fast, and convenient. This time however, I was sufficiently uncertain of getting to the airport on time that I wasn’t sure what to do. Luckily, a friend offered to drive me directly, although it necessitated booking a hotel near Gatwick. As with so many things, this turned out to be a serendipitous change as I was able to have a visit with Bob and Cate, friends from my 2018 cruise to Bath. Readers of the blog may remember their anniversary party at the end of last season, the Murder Mystery at Epsom Downs. It was fantastic to catch up with them. Interestingly, when I first met Bob and Cate, they were on Guy and Rose’s boat and we all spent several days travelling together.

It’s always a bit of a wrench for me to leave the boat and the canals. I’ve come to really feel at home there, become comfortable living in such a small space and so simply. Having said that, returning home has so many of it’s own joys. Now more than ever…

Coming home early enough to have summer left meant I could go up the mountain with friends and family, go boating on our magnificent waters, and of course, spend more time with Rianne! We’re hoping and planning to spend time on the narrowboat together next year.

In the meantime, ski season is approaching! I look forward to sharing pictures and stories through the winter. Please stay tuned…

Welcome to another (very) delayed post! It’s the usual story, life gets in the way of recording it. But here goes:

Back in 2019 I made plans to travel to Edinburgh to see the Tattoo with Wendy. She’s always wanted to see it and I’m a sucker for bagpipe music. Tickets were bought and plans finalized and, like so many things over the course of 2020 and 2021, we suffered through two cancellations. Finally, summer 2022 arrived with a general ‘to hell with it’ attitude. All of Britain is done with lockdowns, masks, cancellations, and distancing. So the marching bands assembled and the Tattoo was on!

First, a bit of trivia. A ‘tattoo’ in this context has nothing to do with stabbing ink into someone’s skin. It’s the result of an early Dutch word ‘taptoe’ meaning, literally, ‘cask shut’. The police would visit the pubs to shut them down for the night. Later, the word entered the English language during the English Civil War when a drummer would ‘beat a tattoo’ to tell the men to stop drinking and return to their quarters. It has become a military event of great entertainment value, with primarily marching pipe and drum bands.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has been performed on the Esplanade of the castle since 1950, increasing in size and ceremony almost every year. Many (like Wendy), wait a lifetime to see it in person. Needless to say, we were excited.

We arrived in Edinburgh and went right to our accommodation; dorm rooms at the University. They are rented out to tourists in the summer, and it is a clean and inexpensive place to stay. Perhaps a bit noisy as many of the performers were staying there and were somewhat boisterous when they arrived back after the show and the pub but mostly just fine…

Of course, it was raining upon our arrival. England hadn’t seen rain in weeks, but Scotland can always be counted on! History, along with iconic, monumental architecture could be seen everywhere. We spent the first few days exploring, in particular a day at the National Museum. Honestly, one of the best, most interesting museums I’ve ever been in. Every turn was a new surprise, some amazing collection or display. Well worth a full day!

Something that was of interest to me given my background and ‘hobby’ was the Royal Yacht Britannia. She’s at a permanent mooring in north Edinburgh, having been decommissioned in 1997. Built in Scotland and launched in 1953 she’s of similar vintage to the first ships I sailed on (they were built in 1967) and much of it looked very familiar. Well, the operations end of it did at least. The accommodation areas were decidedly more luxurious, although not nearly as much as you would imagine. Spacious and comfortable is a better description, rather than luxurious.

Hop-on, hop-off open-top tour buses are a great way to see a city, once the rain stops. We saw many of Edinburgh’s sights while hearing live descriptions and stories. Lots of fun…

Another nearly full day was spent touring the famous Edinburgh Castle. It dominates the city, an imposing pile of stone atop an ancient volcanic outcropping. The castle is one of the oldest defensive fortifications in Scotland; Castle Rock, upon which is built, has been occupied since at least the early Iron Age (perhaps the Bronze Age), while being home to a Royal castle since at least the reign of Dave I in the 12th century. It was a royal residence up until 1633, thereafter principally used as military barracks. It has been under siege 26 times in it’s 1100 year history, so it’s one of the most attacked castles in the world. It was an amazing experience touring it, even though very busy.

Finally the big day arrived. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The show we had been planning for and waiting to see for nearly three years. The first official Tattoo was in 1950, the the title ‘Royal’ being bestowed in 2010 as a celebration of it’s 60 years of existence. Temporary stands are erected each summer, seating 8,800 people. The show itself goes every weekday evening (and twice on Saturday) throughout August and tickets have sold out every year since 1998 (excepting only 2020 and 2021, for obvious reasons). Anyway, it was as spectacular as expected, truly the highlight of our visit to Edinburgh.

Here are some videos of selected parts of the show. Very sorry for the poor quality, I was trying to watch it at the same time!

The Tattoo was fun, historic, and enthralling. All too soon it was heading back to England and the boat…

It’s been a while since I wrote much as not much of note seems to have happened on the boat. Off the boat I did make a trip home to Canada for a couple of weeks, which was amazing. With all the chaos in the world of airlines and airports, my trip was a dream. Just a couple of short delays, and with no checked bags, I actually arrived home earlier than planned!

Being away has taken on a new dimension so the visit was important, lovely, and too short. I still absolutely love my time on the canal, the gentle cruising and placid pace, but it’s much harder to be away.

But this blog is about narrowboating, so here’s some narrowboating news. As many have probably heard, the UK had a very unusual heat wave pass through. I had seen it coming (on the news, the weather forecasts, and the chicken bones) so I did some pre-oven sleuthing. I checked Google Earth and managed to find a spot not far away where the canal was completely overtopped by a couple of huge trees. I got there, tied up, and put up my sun shade umbrella. With lots of solar power I set up my large fan as well as a small rechargeable one. I was prepared.. (oh, and made lots of ice cubes for the G&Ts)

Altogether, I survived the heat adequately. I got some more painting done, touchups and hidden spots. There are always plenty of jobs to do on a boat of any sort, but a great heavy steel lump offers lots of extra rusty bits to grind, sand, and paint. Over and over and over. Sure glad it’s not salt water…

Almost immediately after the heat wave ended, it suddenly became a typical English summer. Which means rain. Daily. Not a lot, just enough to be a bit annoying. So the second brolly came into use! I find that if I’m cruising when the rain starts, it’s best to get out the umbrella and persevere. It usually stops pretty quickly. I have a large golfing one which works a treat (as they say). And it has seen considerable use in the last week or so…

The third brolly in this saga was less welcome. Cruising along a shallow and narrow waterway, frequented by many other boats, it’s not unusual to pick up weeds or other strange items on the propeller. Narrowboats have a small hatch (‘weed hatch”) just above the prop, for the express purpose of clearing any debris without having to pull the boat out of the water or go diving. In this case it was a bit more complicated. The wires of this particular umbrella were too tough to cut with the tools I had, and the nylon was very tightly wrapped and intertwined. I actually thought that I might not be able to remove it without help, or at least hiking to a distant town to buy bigger cutters and going into the water (yuck).

To make a long story short, after much pulling, tearing, swearing, and prying, I managed to free the propeller…

After all that, it’s been simple. I’ve retraced my route from previous years to arrive at my favourite canal destination, Llangollen, Wales. I love it here and can truly relax and enjoy…if only the sun would return.