Oh yes it has, oh no it hasn’t, been one of those weeks! Seems appropriate as Christmas and panto season is arriving with alarming alacrity.
Having cancelled our floating trading licence after the weather conspired against me continuously in 2023-4, this year I have focused on land-based markets, and this week was the first. Like millions, I love crafting, but on a narrowboat there is only a limited amount of space for all the things I love to make, so the only thing to do is to sell and donate them to charity when we get to the limits!
This year’s first market was the Christmas Lights Switch On Fair in our former home village of Mountsorrel. It was a glorious moment to catch up with people as well as have fun listening to people appreciating the things I have made. It coincided with the river coming out of flood, so we did a quick recce of possible downstream mooring spots en route to the market. We found none. Two wide beams and a cruiser on the next, and some distance away the winter moorings were full but there were some possible towpath spaces where we could use mooring pins but we had other things to think about that day (oh yes we did).
Sunday we turned our thoughts again to moving but the strong wind put us off, and we weren’t at the 14 m-day winter limit anyway, so we snuggled up to the fire and stayed put. Both of us have had a week of seeing lots of people in indoor spaces and it was evident that we hadn’t come away from those meet-ups with only happy memories. At first we thought we’re imagining it, but then the colds sneak up on you (it’s behind you).
They say you shouldn’t marry someone until you’ve lived through a heavy cold with them. Having lived through decades of colds together we would add to that – don’t move onto a narrowboat with someone until you’ve both lived through heavy colds onboard together. It adds real challenge – in a house you can get away and shut yourself in a bedroom with tissues, hot water bottles and your misery. If both of you have colds you can usually find your own space to sweat out the worst. It is very different on a 50ft narrowboat, but narrowboat Preaux is also a delightfully cosy space to just snuggle up and embrace a bit of feeling ill-time. It is also combined of course with regularly donning wellies for a slippery, squelchy walk in the bracing air with Boatdog and myriad wildlife. That is something which probably helps my recovery quicker than anything else (oh yes it does).
We also benefitted from being outdoors each giving a day of volunteering to Canal and River Trust this week. Fence repairs, painting (said new fencing plus overpainting graffiti), and for Boatdog and I, a lot of litter picking.
The river had gone back into flood (oh yes it had) so there was no boat traffic to help through the lock where we were working. It also constrained the distance I could litter pick. A few hundred yards after the lock the river was lapping at the towpath and within a few steps we were splashing rather than walking but also able to pick litter washed up onto the slimy mounds alongside.
These browning mounds are piles of decaying pennywort at the side of the river that has been (at significant expense to CRT) moved out by one of the small weed boats. Once removed from the water it does decay rapidly, but in the water – it creates horrendous dense mats of weed that stifle wildlife, water oxygenation and boat movement. It is one of those baddies (boo, hiss) that is invasive. Originally introduced as an aquatic plant for garden ponds (oh yes it was) it soon escaped to cause chaos to our canal and river network (oh yes it did – BOO HISS).
Opposite our mooring is a warning arrow on a substantial metal pole telling boaters to keep left to avoid the plunging weir. In its own way it has become a collector for the dreaded pennywort, and also a very good indicator of water levels for us (oh yes it has).
We have appreciated that, although we monitor Environment Agency river levels and get alerts from CRT it has been easier this week to keep an eye on levels in situ. At one point we had an alert saying navigation was open as river levels had dropped but the weather clearly wanted to ensure we all knew who was in charge and literally as I walked the dog in sunshine reading that message the clouds gathered (oh yes they did). Arriving back drenched (good thing the stove is now on 24/7) I watched as the boat rose and the river began to flow faster. Within hours we had a navigation closed notification! We all know who’s in charge (oh yes we do!). I’m sure a pantomime dame would make much of regularity of rising and falling river levels… (!)
So we have a new conundrum – 14-day moorings obviously cannot include days we cannot move because we have been advised against navigation, so do we add all the days that we could have moved together to give our 14 days in one spot, or do we start 14 days from each time we are allowed to move? Will the CRT licence checkers do the same? Basically CRT’s website advises just that casual towpath moorings such as the area where we are, are 14-days. It appears that safety, common sense and pragmatism must be the order of the day for us all to achieve the required happy ending in these winter weather conditions.
It does appear that the weather is contributing to a better outcome for the summer too – of the 13 reservoir groups feeding the navigable network all bar one (Grand Union South) have increased. Two lesser used canals, Grantham and Lancaster now have over 93% reservoir capacity, so usage obviously has a bearing. Having said that, the Grand Union North where we were stopped earlier this year because of a lack of water had a reservoir capacity last month of 48.5%, it dropped from the previous month by -0.6% but was a level only 3% higher than its historical lowest in November 2003.
So far from despairing about the rising river levels and sodden fields, the closed roads and dripping coats above the stove, and moaning about lugging our waste trolley through mud, we are welcoming them if it means that for all of us, this summer will be one we are able to handle better as boaters, farmers, consumers of that so precious and vital resource – water. We hope the marriage of winter weather with wise water management will give us all the essential and hoped for happy outcome (oh yes we do).
Pickingupducks 