On the water, the towpaths and in the wider world outside there is a sense of movement all around us – even if we are still static, until at least 12 April it appears! To avoid intense frustration building up we are taking action.
It’s been a busy week for us both workwise but amid everything the vernal (fresh, new) or spring equinox has arrived at long last. Across the globe they mark the point where day and night are almost equal in duration (equi: equal nox: night), unlike solstices which mark longest (June) and shortest days (December).
Leaf buds are appearing along the towpath on what looked like scrubby land between the increasing line of boats and the railway. Trees which since we arrived in December have been patterned only by lichen, snow and ice. Now a vibrant green hue is emerging, highlighting the ends of branches.
Mallard are pairing up along the canal, signalling their interest in each other by the rhythmic head bobbing of courtship. The ducks are looking for suitable spots or already building their carefully cached nests. Other birds too are nesting. As I swept out yet more dog hair from the boat this week a robin eagerly pounced and flew off with the black fluff dangling from its beak. Those who missed out, magpies or small sparrows, are constantly flying back and forth with varying lengths of twigs, moss plucked from the side of the canal or scraps of wool from the nearby fields of sheep and lambs. Along by the Dove Aqueduct we stood watching vibrant coloured male goldfinches with their red masks and hazard warning yellow and black striped wings as they sing “teLLIT-teLLIT-teLLIT”. Next time I will try for a photo which isn’t a blur!
Along the towpath the peculiar tornado shapes of butterbur are opening their tiny pink flower spikes next to the water. These exotic looking plants are easily to spot now when there’s little else around them. Their leaves are beginning to appear too. These will grow huge, and heart-shaped. People used to use these leaves to wrap butter in the past. Extracts of the rhizomes were used for treating headaches, hay fever and in Japan the young buds of their native variety are apparently delicious fried in temura batter. I haven’t been tempted… but maybe next year?
In the past seven days we seem to have had a month’s worth of weather in each 24 hours. Sunshine, warmth, high winds, hail with stones that whiten the paths, gentle breezes and torrential rain which makes for more mud underfoot and paw.
At night the winds bend the trees which we hear creaking along with our mooring ropes have made me fearful not only for my plants on the roof, but for the newly constructed nests. By day the birds, like this female blackbird joyfully puddle-bathing just outside the kitchen window, bring positives to even a muddy towpath.
We managed a spring clean inside during the showers, and outside during a gap in the downpours. We fish out rubbish with our net when travelling, and we’ve been doing that for anything drifting past us whilst we’ve been moored too. Steve was delighted to have his rubbish netting skills caught on camera by Joanna Gould as she and Victor brought Zero back from the water point the other day! He appears at 8 mins 37 apparently!
This week though there’s been little floating debris so we headed on land towards Findern clutching gloves, grabber and bin sacks to collect stuff spotted on walks. We rapidly gathered so much that we had to beg another bin sack from Boat Street, a cafe boat moored near the marina. A quick litter pick whilst walking is something we’ve tried to do wherever we are moored for a while. Let’s be honest we do hope this 3-4 month mooring is the longest we will have have to spend anywhere so this litter pick seemed like preparation for a farewell!
Some of the biggest rubbish culprits wherever we go are dog owners. If we’re out walking our dogs surely we all want to be enjoying the countryside we walk in and preserving it for others to enjoy. Putting dog poo in plastic bags and then discarding them all over the place, hanging in trees or on hedges – WHY???
On the plus side in the hedgeline of the oak wood we came across a very nice intact Fevertree gin glass – that’s been recycled I’m glad to say…sadly no gin was to be found. Cola did his bit too… fishing an old cat food tin from the canal and retrieving discarded cauliflower leaves which he found somewhere…just hope he didn’t nip onto a boat for them!
We collected the usual haul of cans and bottles plus half a plastic garden chair, a lot of pens, sweet wrappers, and plastic containers of all sizes. Steve took the bags to the boaters’ bins at Willington.
Spring cleaning and preparation for what comes next also led us on a walk we wanted to do but which has been partly underwater until now by floodwaters from the Trent.
Crossing the original 1839 toll bridge would have cost a toll of 2d for us both back in the day. When it opened the engineer who designed it had to pay compensation to Mr Pearsall, the operator of the ferry which provided the previous crossing.
Finally we were able to follow the footpath fingerpost along the now lush well-watered fields beside the Trent. Turning alongside a gaggle of Canada geese grazing happily and as ever noisily, we moved away from the river over a series of stiles before coming back to the glistening, gleaming waters on a final bend where the river has carved the sandy soil to take part of the field away. At this point we began climbing up through sprung gates and stiles to the back of Repton, with a view right over the valley to the vast Toyota factory complex at Derby.
Repton this week has a completely different feel to that when we first encountered it because the public school that dominates the village is open again. The whole village looks and sounds different. Shrill commanding whistles blast from sports pitches and on the paths and pavements, navy-uniformed groups of boys or girls (one or the other, never together it seemed) chatter in groups as they walk.
The school was founded in 1557 on land that once housed a Benedictine Abbey and an Augustinian Priory. Its motto Porta Vacat Culpa (the gate is free from blame) from Ovid’s Book of Days or Fasti, is apparently inspired by the remains of the Priory gatehouse. I much prefer Steve’s translation of the motto “You’re to blame for leaving the door open!” Former pupil Roald Dahl would probably have agreed with him – he said wrote that school days were filled with fear and censure. His novel Boy draws on his time at Repton. Boazers and fagging were made bearable by positives like the unique Corkers, a delightfully eccentric master who only pretended to teach maths. Maybe Dahl was one of the schoolboys who sought to decorate the top of the famous Market Cross. Newspaper reports over the centuries tell of chamberpots, underwear and more recently traffic cones adorning its ball-shaped top.
Whilst we are still here, spring cleaning, walking and keeping track of all the changes happening in nature around us feels energising and even exhausting after a particularly subdued winter. This year we are all being tracked too with the census which happens every decade. It’s proving a bit more complicated on water than it ever has on land!
The census provides data about the population but also a moment of reflection as to what will be shown to future generations of our family by this recording. This is our first census as continuous cruisers. It is also is the first when both our daughters are living independently and the first time our grandson will be recorded for posterity.
For the first time this is going to be a census primarily online. Foolishly I thought that meant it would make it easier being cast adrift from the norms of postal addresses, letterboxes etc. Wrong! We are told to call for an access number to enable you to complete the census online and that’s where the”fun” starts… Steve being organised took it upon himself to get our access code before the census night of 21 March even though boaters have been told we can officially complete on any night between 20 and 23. He’s now spent something in the region of 4 hours according to his phone records trying to get the number and as of this moment we are no nearer. We await promised return calls… or the arrival of a census officer calling on moored boats. Will we get access to complete or a £1,000 failure to complete fine? Watch this space as they say!
Next week: Highs, lows and lessons of our first six months as continuous cruisers… and a floating census update
Pickingupducks 
As always an interesting read, making me smile. I feel been confined to our local area has definitely made me mor observant of what’s around me and a sense of responsibility to look after it.
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