Easter Break

A bit of a square view from my loo but I wanted to catch the lambs playing in the field so I took it from above my loo! I found the most beautiful mooring at Burston and since the weather has been cold and drizzly and the canal busy, I decided to see the Easter weekend out here.

The other reason this mooring has given me a break is that, with a bend and bridge one side and reeds the other, I have had no one snuggle up to me for the last two nights which has been a relief after the night before!

It's the first time for weeks I haven't either had loads of pre-cruise jobs to do or haven't been actually cruising so it's been lovely to have a rest. Bonny has been a total 🌟 so far. She has had off lead walks and stayed with me. She has mooched around the mooring untethered and has stayed within sight of the boat. She had a wee moment this afternoon when I told her to come in and it took her a few minutes to obey, but this is a dog who used to take several hours to obey, so she's doing ok!

I'm still struggling a bit with pain in my heel (tendon damage) but I'm hoping it will improve now I'm not spending hours at work walking on hard floors.

Tomorrow I shall be tackling the Stone flight of locks and doing a spot of shopping. Then onto the larger locks at Stoke, followed by the dreaded Harecastle Tunnel, all 2926 yards of claustrophobic darkness!

Challenging my hang ups

I faced a challenge today. I have a real issue when people come too close to me. I get feelings of anger and even fear in situations like crowded public transport or when queuing and people stand really close behind me. In my boating life the feelings are triggered when people moor their boats unnecessarily close to mine. I can just about cope if this is on visitors mooring as there are good reasons for mooring nose to tail. Although having said that, I do tend to avoid visitors moorings unless there is no choice. I particularly don't like mooring opposite other boats where we can see into each others homes.

Today I moored out in the countryside where there was really only space for one good sized boat as there were reeds on one side and a bend on the other. I was so happy to find it vacant and enjoyed letting Bonny run free. But this afternoon, as you can see from the photo, a boat came and moored directly behind me. They had to use four ropes as they moored on the bend and the only mooring ring they could reach was the one I was using so they were very close. It felt very intrusive and even more so when I saw a lady on the boat and smiled but just got a blank stare in return.

I took Bonny off for a walk so I could get my feelings under control. I had made a resolution before this voyage that I would try an address this issue. In the past I would have fumed for the rest of the day and so ruined the mooring for myself. I might immediately run my engine, light a smoky fire or play loud music to encourage the intruder to move on. If it's really intrusive I have been known to confront the other boater and have a blazing row!!

But I don't want to be like that anymore so I walked until  I felt calm and made a plan to help me stay calm. Firstly I posted what was happening on Facebook. I know some people sneer at Facebook 'friends' but I find them really helpful and supportive. I also moved my boat just a foot or so forward, so we weren't sharing the same ring and that helped my feelings of claustrophobia. Lastly I sat outside (with a whisky!) and just looked at both the boats until I could accept there was no threat. All this helped me feel calmer and more content than ever before in this sort of situation. I've got a way to go but I'm really encouraged!

Mooring heaven

The top picture is our beautifully peaceful mooring last night near Wolseley Bridge. Then this morning we cruised for just an hour to reach Great Haywood. The second picture is actually a view from the saloon rather than the loo and you have to squint in order to spot Shugborough Hall in the distance but it's a lovely view!

The weather is more Spring than summer like but Bonny and I are still loving it! There is no reception where we are moored, so after visiting the farm shop for some treats, we were forced to go to the Clifford for a half and their wi fi!

We are out!

The first day of the cruise could not have started better. A sunny day with a cool breeze and a lock flight manned by more volunteer lock keepers than you could shake a windlass at! We were at Kings Bromley Marina for the necessary within a couple of hours.

It was a little tricky as both spots on the diesel dock were taken so I had to station hold in the exposed marina for 15 minutes. One of the boaters on the dock said "You're unlucky. It's usually me that's unlucky like that". To which I replied "I am starting a four month cruise today, I'm the luckiest person I know!"

There was another plus to having to wait. I have only taken the boat out once since November and so my confidence needed a bit of boosting. Managing to hold the boat in one place in a sideways breeze really helped with that.

We were a while in the marina but eventually managed to fill with diesel, empty of poo and get gas and wood. Then off towards Handsacre where there is a brilliant circular walk that Bonny loves. She hadn't been cruising all winter and yet she took up her accustomed place on the roof as if she was born to it!

So here we are, safely moored and gazing at the bright sunshine reflected up from the rape seed blossom. That'll do.

Starting a new adventure

It is the last evening Bonny and I will spend on our home mooring for four months. We are off cruising in the morning and I am very excited. I will endeavour​ to blog regularly as we travel around. We are heading first towards Stoke on Trent to get to the Macclesfield Canal and on to the Peak Forest.

I doubt I'll sleep much tonight but I will take it gently the first few days as it has been hard work getting ready to go. Still I've got four months to relax!

Spring Awakening

Three things can be deduced from this view from my loo: Spring has sprung, I am still on my home mooring and I haven't cleaned my windows recently!

It has felt like a long winter. Not particularly cold but very dark and gloomy. It was also my first winter on the mooring without my good friends Graham and Jan Finch. They have moved back on land and so the mooring was very quiet without them. Working actually helped as it gave me another reason (apart from Bonny) to get up in the morning. It's also been gloomy because of a series of things going wrong which all required money to put right. They ranged from a persistent leak from the boat's coolant system (four leaks in fact - one after the other) to my car deciding to lock me out permanently, which required both door locks to be changed. Add in Bonny developing a touch of arthritis in both shoulders and me having to have 5 teeth extracted and paying £650 for a new partial denture and life has been a touch trying!

However, all will be well as, in only a months time we shall be off cruising! I am very out of practice as, due to weather and a lock closure I have been stationary since November. Still, I am sure my muscles will quickly remember locking and dealing with stiff swing bridges and hauling on ropes in a gale!

My plan, such as it is, is to go up the Maccy (Macclesfield Canal) and down the Peak Forest. Then retrace my wake to Fradley, where I shall then turn down the Coventry and make my way all the way to Oxford where I shall meet up with my lovely friends, Roger and Shirleyann Andrews. We will then explore the upper Thames towards the end of June. When they leave I shall mooch back up The Oxford, possibly detour up the Ashby and then return to my mooring for the beginning of August. I'm then due to house sit for my brother for 3 weeks, before returning to work at the beginning of September.

As my life once again becomes adventurous, I shall be blogging much more often!

Mind forged manacles

So many people say to me that they wish they could change their lives as I have done. I was so deeply unhappy with the life, the job, the existence that I had, that I had two choices: to end my life or change it. I chose to take the risk of living a different life and ended up swapping a house for a boat, a career for freedom and support for self sufficiency.

And I am not special. We are all free to make whatever life we choose. But so many people who say they want change immediately follow that up with the reasons why they can't. "I have a dream but...' But I have a mortgage, but I have dependents, but I don't have the money, but, but, but. But these excuses not to change are merely mind forged manacles. We are all free. It is our choice whether to exercise that freedom. As far as I know we only have one life. It is our choice how we live it and how much we live it. A quote from one of my favourite films rather neatly sums it up; from the Shawshank Redemption: 'Get busy living, or get busy dying!,'