Setting a goal and being thwarted can be a challenge. We’ve been thwarted many times in our aim to reach our first ever winter mooring, but last Saturday was the first chance for us to try and make the trip across and up a river to reach our spot – and we went for it.Continue reading “Tenterhooks, astonishment and unbelievable fortune”
Tag Archives: History
Fraud, dripping and fraught navigation
Ey up mi duck – we made it! If you read last week’s update we’ve completed the first part of Plan C. We’ve donned our life jackets (all 3 of us) and hurtled down the Trent before Storm Ashley sends it back into flood, and executed a sharp left turn from the river onto theContinue reading “Fraud, dripping and fraught navigation”
Poo from Peru and centuries of waste recycling
Industrial discoveries are remarkable. Recycling and world trade are nothing new. We were reminded of these this week. Poo from Peru was just one of a Staffordshire mill’s stock in trade until the 1970s. The gloriously named Shirley’s Etruscan Bone and Flint Mill has been in operation since 1857, and remains the last steam poweredContinue reading “Poo from Peru and centuries of waste recycling”
We’re a mine of information this week
For the first time ever we’ve a new reality beginning this week. Soon we shall be moving just a little for some time. Gone will be the long journeys across the country, or countries for a while. They will be something to look forward to and plan for the future, but for now we canContinue reading “We’re a mine of information this week”
Many happy returns
Returning to familiar places, familiar things and retracing your steps can sound faintly boring but it provides new perspectives, new opportunities to see things differently if you are prepared to do so, and can foster moments of familiar comfort, alongside a capacity to still surprise. This week that’s exactly what we’ve been doing on theContinue reading “Many happy returns”
Frustrated, stuck and keen to be part of a solution – but how?
There is only one way to go right now for us, and that’s retracing our steps – literally. We are currently moored some yards from the junction of the Macclesfield Canal with the Peak Forest Canal having come up the Macc this week. Our aim was to head down the Peak Forest Canal via theContinue reading “Frustrated, stuck and keen to be part of a solution – but how?”
Naked men, amazing women, safety precautions and searching
Some weeks are just packed with “things” that bear no relation to each other but create a very satisfying sum of their independent parts. This week proved to be one of those weeks. We crossed into Lancashire – stalwartly flying our Yorkshire Rose flag… and I am no longer complaining about the heat. Now IContinue reading “Naked men, amazing women, safety precautions and searching”
Comfort zone 0: Benefit immense (apparently)
History tells when the Athenians learned the Persians had landed at Marathon en route to attack Athens in 490 BC, a messenger ran to Sparta for help. This first ‘marathon runner’ covered 260 kilometres of rugged terrain in less than two days! A runner (probably the same poor chap) subsequently ran from Marathon to AthensContinue reading “Comfort zone 0: Benefit immense (apparently)”
Giving up
Scouring the news for glimmers of positivity seems an exhausting process – but we all need these to give us hope, not just about the current situation, but for our own wellbeing. Looking around us and making our contribution to improving the world around us can be one way to help us get through bleakContinue reading “Giving up”
Peaking early in 2022
The past is the past – whether two years, two hundred or two thousand years ago. It creates and shapes our future. This week has seen us travelling (for us) the final stretch of the Peak Forest Canal – known as Peak Forest Upper as it stretches into the Peak Forest, through ancient landscapes ofContinue reading “Peaking early in 2022”
Pickingupducks 